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Updated January 30th, 2019 at 16:46 IST

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX433 is ridiculously compact and surprisingly affordable

Asus seemingly wants to build the true all-screen ultraportable notebook. And it wants to build it faster than Dell, or HP, or Acer, even Apple

Reported by: Saurabh Singh
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Asus seemingly wants to build the true all-screen ultraportable notebook. And it wants to build it faster than Dell, or HP, or Acer, even Apple – rivals that share the same ambition. Its new Zenbook family consisting of 13.3-inch (UX333), 14-inch (UX433), and 15.6-inch (UX533) models, launching in India today, is yet another step in that direction. Interestingly, Asus always manages to cut short on compromises, while also cutting down on borders, with its ZenBooks. They are surprisingly affordable too by ultraportable notebook standards. The UX333, UX433 and UX533 are no different. 

I have been using the Zenbook 14 UX433FA equipped with 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM, a 1080p IPS display, 512GB PCIe 3.0 x2 SSD, a Whiskey Lake Core i7-8565U CPU and discrete Nvidia GeForce MX150 GPU, as my daily driver for over a week now and I have been impressed with everything that it offers. The new Zenbook 14 blows competition out of the water in terms of pure value for money. That’s not to say that it is perfect though.  

The Zenbook 14’s full metal chassis comes in blue or silver. Asus retains its signature spun-metal finish design and adds a rose gold trim panel into the mix that instantly makes the laptop stand out as both premium and different. It weighs about 1.09kg, and it’s 15.9mm thick. Where it falls short in thinness (as opposed to something like the Dell XPS 13) it more than compensates for in all-round depth thanks to extremely thin bezels (and no speakers up-top: instead, they lie along the front edge). Asus says it’s about the same size as an A4 sheet of paper and even though that’s marketing mumbo-jumbo, the 14-inch ZenBook is comparable to a 13-inch XPS. It’s ridiculously compact is what it is. 

The new ZenBook 14 blows competition out of the water in terms of pure value for money. That’s not to say that it is perfect though 

It’s not all screen and no bezel even though Asus claims a whooping 92 per cent screen-to-body ratio (it is a crazy 95 per cent in the case of the ZenBook 15, according to Asus). But you’d think it is. For the most part. This is because Asus has hidden the bottom bezel behind the keyboard, so the whole thing looks like all screen and no bezel. When it isn’t. But it is certainly the most bezel-less ultraportable laptop that you can get at this point of time. That, it is able to position the webcam (that is also Windows Hello-ready) where it is meant to be, is just an icing on the cake.  

Regardless, the near all-screen design of the ZenBook 14 is made possible largely because of its ErgoLift hinge that also serves two other purposes, improving cooling and audio out. The hinge is quite sturdy and also allows for a slight tilt (up to a maximum of 3 degrees when the lid is opened to its maximum angle of about 145 degrees) that helps in comfortable typing. It’s like a portable Surface, the ZenBook 14, only with a pre-attached keyboard.  

That keyboard is excellent by the way. Keys are spacious and have ample travel (1.4mm) which is pleasantly surprising considering the ultra-compact nature of this laptop. But because this is an ultra-compact laptop, Asus had to think of an alternate way to accommodate the num keys. The company is taking inspiration from its more premium ZenBook Pro 15 here, miniaturizing the ‘trackpad as a second screen concept’ to offer a backlit NumPad on the ZenBook 14. By pressing a dedicated capacitive toggle on the top right corner of the trackpad, you can turn the whole thing into a virtual touch-sensitive NumPad. And you can continue to use the trackpad as a cursor even when the NumPad is activated. While the idea is certainly out of the box, users’ mileage may vary. Some may use it, many will forget it. Having said that, some haptic feedback would have been nice though, for those who will be using it.  

The 14-inch ZenBook has a resolution of 1920x1080 and 16:9 aspect ratio. While it’s kind of amazing that Asus has been able to cram 100 per cent sRGB, its odd 300 nits of brightness feels lacking when compared with competition. Club that with its glossy nature, and things start to crumble when you’re out and about in direct sunlight.  

Under the hood, the ZenBook 14 has either a quad-core Core i5 (8265U) or i7 (8565U) processor, 8GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of storage. The WLAN and RAM modules are soldered but it is possible to upgrade the SSD. The UX433FA model that I’ve been using also packs an Nvidia MX150 discrete graphics card, which means it is capable of handling demanding games. Not the latest and greatest of games at their highest of settings, but at least it will let you play them better than comparable ultraportable notebooks like the new MacBook Air. It will also let you do some thorough photo and video editing from time to time. Asus also has a 16GB RAM option, but it is not bringing that to India for now. 

The ZenBook 14 excels in almost all the departments and should be on top of your list when you’re out in the market looking to buy a premium Ultrabook

The ZenBook 14 is slim and all, but its real USP is how it manages to run inaudible (even though it is not fanless) and cool as a cucumber almost all the time. Unless of course you’re out stress-testing it. Or at times, when you’re charging it.  

Asus claims up to 13 hours of battery life and while it’s nowhere close to that figure in actual usage, the ZenFone 14 manages a respectable seven-eight hours on single charge which is more or less in line with what competition has to offer. Sadly, the ZenBook 14 charges via a proprietary charging port at a time when rivals are increasingly moving on to the USB Type-C standard. 

Connectivity options on the ZenBook 14 include dual-band 802.11ac gigabit-class Wi-Fi, HDMI, USB Type-A 3.1 (10 Gbps), USB Type-C Gen. 2, USB Type-A 2.0, micro-SD reader, 3.5mm audio jack and Bluetooth 5. The lack of Thunderbolt 3 support could irk some buyers.  

So, let’s wrap things up, shall we? I really like the Asus ZenBook 14. It has a refreshing new design (the fact that it doesn’t try to think and act like a MacBook is refreshing), an excellent near bezel-less display (ideal for wide-screen content consumption), a fantastic keyboard and trackpad (for those who like to type a lot), plenty of power (with dedicated graphics), and good battery life. Like most Asus laptops, the ZenBook 14 will also be available in multiple configurations starting at Rs 72,990, going all the way to Rs 1,00,990. Limited USB Type-C ports are surely a concern, but all in all, the ZenBook 14 excels in almost all the departments, and should be on top of your list when you’re out in the market looking to buy a premium Ultrabook. 

Also Read: CES 2019: Asus ZenBook S13 Launched With World’s Slimmest Display Bezel

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Published January 30th, 2019 at 16:25 IST

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