what we love
- Excellent performance
- Solid battery life
- Light
- Bright and crisp 14-inch touchscreen
- Ports!
what we don’t do
- Battery life is not as good as M series MacBooks
- Does not work with all USB-C monitors
- Fans engage with too many Chrome tabs
I’ve been an Apple Mac user since 2016, when I bought a MacBook, upgrading my clunky old laptop to Windows 8 (those were the days), and I haven’t looked back since. I was also lucky enough to be gifted MacBooks to use for various jobs since then, so I’ve been fully involved in Apple computers for eight years at this point. That’s why I was so pleasantly surprised by one of the latest Windows 11 laptops from PC maker Asus, as it put my MacBook Pro away in the closet.
I’ve been using the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED for over three months as my main work machine since Asus got in touch to ask if I’d like to try it out, and I’ve taken some time to reacquaint myself with Windows after a long hiatus. I’ve reviewed a few Windows laptops over the years, but it took several weeks for my hands to get used to the feel of the keyboard and use Ctrl instead of Command to copy and paste text. But they also enjoyed a calculator cleverly hidden under the mouse pad that lights up when needed and good quality Harman Kardon tuned speakers for my Google Meet calls.
The specific model I have been testing is the Asus Zenbook 14 UX3405MA running Windows 11 Home software. The version I used costs £1,399, so it’s not a cheap machine by any means and has a very powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, a 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreen, 32GB of RAM (upgraded from the 16 normal GB for sale here). , 1TB of storage, and a large battery that can last almost a full eight-hour workday if I don’t push it too hard. All this in a sleek dark blue laptop with two USB-C ports, one USB-A, and one HDMI port for all my monitoring and charging needs. Best of all, it only weighs 1.2 kg.
The calculator is below the trackpad and is revealed with the press of a button (Image: Asus)
This has been a revelation partly because of what I was using before. My employer had given me a crispy 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro, the last of the Intel MacBooks. Apple has since moved on to snappy M-series processors made in-house that deliver incredible battery life and excellent performance; my 2019 MacBook Pro can’t offer any of those things.
A huge 2kg machine that has been used by other employees since 2019 and shows its five years. It barely lasts an hour and a half when not plugged in, and when charging it gets almost too hot to touch. Performance is terrible despite the high-end specs and frequently freezes. It’s been a nightmare to use, so it’s no surprise that the Zenbook feels like an upgrade.
It is very useful to have a touch screen on a laptop
But I haven’t missed macOS as much as I feared. Windows 11 gets a lot of criticism for being clunky, but on this premium hardware, it’s very good. I can quickly open split-screen mode to read documents and create a new Google document, and the hardware has performed admirably with difficult-to-run software like Photoshop. The fans kick in when multiple apps are open, and Google Chrome is usually the culprit, but overall the Zenbook hardly breaks a sweat.
It is also very useful to have a touch screen on a laptop. There is a debate about whether they are necessary or not, a debate that exists simply because Apple refuses to put touch screens on its MacBooks. Let me tell you, it’s great. I don’t use it all the time, but when I want to quickly pinch to zoom in on a Photoshop project or need to use my finger to sign a document, it’s quick and easy and saves a lot of time.
The Zenbook 14 is lightweight and well-built (Image: Asus)
14 inches is also the best size for a laptop screen. It’s big enough to split-screen apps, but not so big that it barely fits in my backpack. Asus has also included an excellent OLED panel on the Zenbook 14, with excellent brightness and a silky 120Hz refresh rate that keeps text and apps scrolling smoothly without ghosting.
As a writer, the keyboard is satisfyingly loud but also pleasantly quieter than the one on my MacBook Pro, and I didn’t use my external keyboard when I connected it to a monitor, preferring to use the one I already had on the laptop. That said, not all USB-C monitors worked with the Zenbook, which was annoying.
On the plus side, the USB-A port is very useful for charging phones and smartwatches, and for connecting my overhead webcam. No MacBook has a USB-A port anymore; Apple can put one in, but it chooses to push customers toward USB-C and its expensive dongles.
I haven’t missed macOS as much as I feared
Dell and Microsoft itself often receive praise for the premium design of Windows laptops, but I love the look and feel of the blue Zenbook. It’s lightweight but practical in its construction, with no Alcantara fabrics like on Microsoft Surface laptops that tend to wear out and get dirty. The dark material also shows no fingerprints, unlike Apple’s latest “midnight” MacBook Air, charming but easy to boot.
My appreciation for the excellent Zenbook 14 is partly due to the terrible experience I had with my crappy old MacBook Pro, but I still don’t want to go back to that particular Mac and have enjoyed my time with Windows. If anything, it has reminded me that the dispute over which platform is better is reductionist and meaningless. The Asus Zenbook 14 is a great laptop, and that’s it. £1,399 is expensive for a computer for most people, but you can get an Intel Core i5 model for £1,099 with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. That’s twice the storage and RAM you’ll get in the base MacBook Air for the same price.
That MacBook Air might steal the headlines with its excellent M3 chipset and excellent battery life, but the Zenbook 14 is a great option for Windows 11 fans and performs quite well in daily use. I may never use the Mac again even if a new one arrives on my desk soon, and I didn’t expect to say that when I first made the switch.
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