Asus Zenbook 14 (Q409ZA) OLED
Worth: $749
CPU: Intel Core i5-1240P CPU
GPU: Intel Iris Xe
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB SSD
Show: 14-inch, 2880 x 1800 pixels, 16:10, 90Hz
Battery: 10:52
Measurement: 12.35 x 8.69 x 0.67 inches
Weight: 3.06 kilos
The Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED is supplied with Asus’ beloved NumberPad 2.0, a touchpad that doubles as a numeric keypad. It will possibly additionally fast launch the Calculator app, permitting you to make use of the touchpad for enter, making it a super characteristic for one-the-go quantity crunchers. You might be considering, “Oh, so that you’re speaking about accountants and monetary analysts, proper?”
Unsuitable!
Hell, even for those who hate math, the NumberPad 2.0 will probably be extraordinarily helpful to you — it’s just like the geeky sidekick you by no means knew you wanted. From figuring out how a lot you possibly can spend on a Valentine’s Day present on your important different to determining whether or not you possibly can afford that luxurious journey to the Maldives.
Weighing simply 2.9 kilos and sporting a thickness of solely 0.67 inches, this sub-$800 pocket book is a perfect journey companion that received’t break the financial institution — or your again. As a cherry on high, the battery life on this unhealthy boy is spectacular. In any case, what good is a journey buddy that retains you shackled to an outlet?
And let’s not overlook about that gorgeous OLED 90Hz show. The 16:10, 14-inch, 2.8K panel on this Zenbook 14 is a visible deal with. Sadly, nevertheless, my pleasure begins to wane once I talk about the efficiency numbers. Don’t get me flawed — they’re not unhealthy by any means. Nonetheless, the Zenbook 14 is up in opposition to some stiff competitors. Stick round to seek out out if the Zenbook 14 earned a spot in our Greatest 14-inch laptops checklist.
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED value and configurations
Our evaluation unit comes with a twelfth Gen Intel Core i5-1240P CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB of DDR5 RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 14-inch, 2880 x 1800-pixel, OLED show with a 16:10 side ratio. It sometimes prices $749 at Greatest Purchase. (opens in new tab)
The one colour possibility for the ZenBook 14 Q409A is Ponder Blue.
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED design
I can’t cease caressing the ZenBook 14’s lid — it simply feels. so. easy! The lid, and the chassis in its entirety, consists of aluminum and a wealthy darkish hue Asus calls “Ponder Blue.” Although I’ve a sub-$800 in my fingers, it seems and feels premium AF.
Impressed by Kintsugi, the Japanese artwork of repairing damaged ceramics with a lacquer blended with silver or gold, the lid options refined strains that mimic that mended-after-being-shattered look. I want the strains had been extra conspicuous, maybe emanating putting golden hues in opposition to the dark-blue chassis, however ya know, you possibly can’t all the time get what you need. C’est la vie!
Open the lid and also you’ll discover an island-style keyboard with giant white letters and symbols superimposed on dark-blue keys. What caught my eye is the ability button — it’s enveloped inside a silver body so that you don’t mistake it for the close by Delete key. The touchpad is one other characteristic that grabbed my consideration; it’s fairly spacious (we’ll dive extra into its efficiency later).
Flipping to the laptop computer’s underside, you’ll discover three rubberized ft, giving the pocket book respiratory room between the floor and the underside. You’ll additionally uncover two bottom-firing audio system and a small vent.
It’s price noting that the ZenBook 14 handed a number of demanding MIL-STD-810H assessments, which implies it meets the U.S. army customary for sturdiness and reliability. In different phrases, this pocket book can endure excessive temperatures, shocks, drops and vibrations — inside purpose after all.
Weighing 2.9 kilos and being solely 0.67 inches thick, the Asus Zenbook 14 is a slim, featherweight laptop computer. Nonetheless, it’s heavier than its stiffest competitor, the MSI Status 14 Evo A12 (2.7 kilos, 0.6 inches).
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED ports
The Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A has a good collection of legacy and trendy ports that ought to fulfill your wants.
On the left facet, you’ll discover a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-A port. The appropriate facet affords an HDMI 2.1 port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports for fast charging, quick switch speeds and connecting to 4K screens, a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card reader.
Want extra ports? Try our finest USB-C hubs and finest laptop computer docking station pages.
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED show
As you possibly can inform by its title, the Zenbook 14 clearly has a 14-inch panel and an OLED show. Delving deeper into the display screen’s specs, it has a 2880 x 1800-pixel show with a 90Hz refresh fee, a 16:10 side ratio and a 0.2ms response time.
Asus additionally boasts that this Pantone-validated show has a 90% screen-to-body ratio, due to the slim bezels that encompass the panel. Should you spend hours upon hours engaged on a laptop computer, you’ll be relieved to know that this show emits 70% much less dangerous blue mild.
The ZenBook 14 isn’t a convertible with a 360-degree hinge, so it will possibly’t rework into pill nor tent mode, nevertheless it does have a 180-degree hinge that facilitates a lay-flat posture. One use case for that is straightforward sharing for somebody sitting reverse from you (merely flip the display screen), however reality be advised, I don’t discover lay-flat hinges to be all that advantageous in on a regular basis life.
I watched the John Wick: Chapter 4 trailer on YouTube, and rattling, Keanu Reeves has by no means seemed so good. As Reeves’ again confronted the digicam, he seemed to the best, permitting the sunshine to hit the facet of his face. I may see all of the tiny strains and pockmarks that adorn the seasoned actor’s pores and skin. Behind Reeves is a round constructing adorned with purple LED lights — and wow — the brilliant ruby hues pop!
Textures are putting on this OLED show, too. Invoice Skarsgård seems urbane in his go well with, and the display screen is so sharp, I can inform that his refined waistcoat is made from twill. As Reeves fought enemies on a stone staircase, the moist cobblestone construction that flanks it shined below the road lights, telling the viewer that it not too long ago drizzled. Colours, particulars, textures — you title it — look crisp on this show.
Now, let’s see if our testing matches my anecdotal expertise. Based on our colorimeter, the Asus Zenbook 14’s panel covers a whopping 96% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. Take into account, nevertheless, that the common mainstream laptop computer covers 104% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, so the Zenbook 14 doesn’t fairly meet that threshold. Nonetheless, it did handle to beat its competitor, the MSI Status 14 Evo A12M, which solely covers 81% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, which is predicted as a result of it doesn’t have an OLED panel — it sports activities a daily ol’ full HD show.
Asus claims that the Zenbook 14 delivers 600 nits of peak brightness, however in keeping with our testing, the brightest a part of the show solely reached 377 nits. The common brightness of the show is 375 nits. On the plus facet, this beats the brightness common of a typical mainstream laptop computer (360 nits) and the MSI Status 14 Evo A12M (295 nits).
We additionally seemed into the Zenbook 14’s colour accuracy with the Delta-E check. It has a rating of 0.23 (nearer to 0 is healthier), which beats the Status 14 Evo A12M (0.31).
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED audio
I examined the Asus Zenbook 14’s Harman/Kardon-certified Dolby Atmos stereo sound system by firing up The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears (Remix).” No, the music didn’t sound like heavenly angels or something, however the sound high quality was crisp and sharp — and I’d be psychological to anticipate extra from a sub-$800 laptop computer.
At max quantity, it sounded too tinny. On the plus facet, the audio that emanated from the bottom-firing audio system is loud sufficient to take over my giant testing room. Because it seems, Asus outfitted the audio system with a “quantity enhancing” dual-channel sensible amplifier that may drive the dual audio system to most quantity whereas stopping long-term injury to its delicate coils.
As such, in comparison with the common amplifier, the sensible amplifier system delivers 350% extra quantity to the audio system, in keeping with Asus. And from an anecdotal viewpoint, I consider it.
You possibly can tune the sound by way of the MyAsus app. There are 5 presets: Dynamic, Recreation, Film, Music and Voice. After testing all of them, I most well-liked the Dynamic profile because it performs computerized changes to ship one of the best sound.
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED keyboard and touchpad
As talked about, the Zenbook 14 sports activities an island-style, numpad-less keyboard, however once I examined it, I used to be disenchanted by its tactile efficiency. The keys aren’t bouncy and springy sufficient for my style.
I take advantage of the HP Envy 14 as my each day driver, and with it, I scored 95 WPM on the 10FastFingers.com typing check. Nonetheless, on the Zenbook 14, my rating dropped to 88 WPM. I felt that it took slightly longer to transition from key to key as a result of there isn’t adequate “launch energy” — the keys are too mushy.
On the plus facet, the 5.5 x 2.5-inch touchpad on the Zenbook 14 Q409A is very large. Like I stated on the outset, the touchpad doubles as a calculator. Say hiya to NumberPad 2.0! To activate it, merely lengthy press the calculator icon on the top-right nook of the touchpad. You should utilize NumberPad 2.0 as a extra handy method of working with numbers (as a substitute of reaching out for the numbers stretched throughout the keyboard). You may also launch the Calculator app by lengthy urgent the atom icon on the top-left nook.
You possibly can flip off NumberPad 2.0 by lengthy urgent the calculator icon. The touchpad responded precisely and swiftly to Home windows 11 gestures, together with two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom.
Now, let’s speak in regards to the energy button that additionally serves as a fingerprint scanner. I’m not a fan of this button-as-a-reader characteristic as a result of it’s straightforward to bump into the “Your machine is having bother recognizing you. Please attempt once more” error. This isn’t a problem particular to this laptop computer — I merely wasn’t using the best approach. A PR rep from one other OEM advised me the trick is that you just’re not presupposed to roll your finger on the fingerprint reader per se. As an alternative, consider your finger because the minute hand on a clock and place it in several positions and angles — from 3pm to 9pm.
Using the trick, I used to be in a position to efficiently arrange the reader; logging in with my fingerprint was a breeze.
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED efficiency
The Zenbook 14 is filled with an Intel Core i5-1240P processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD.
I swarmed the Asus pocket book with 30 Google Chrome tabs from resource-hungry DailyMail.com; two had been enjoying 1080p YouTube movies concurrently. (It’s price noting that across the sixth tab, you possibly can hear the followers kick in, however they’re library quiet and much from disruptive.) Switching from one tab to a different, I skilled some lag, nevertheless it didn’t final greater than a second or two. I launched a brand new Google Doc and began typing away; there have been no noticeable slowdowns.
The Asus Zenbook has the identical CPU as its rival, the Status 14 Evo A12M, and delivered a multi-core rating of 8,590 on the Geekbench 5.4 general efficiency check. Sadly for the Asus laptop computer, this doesn’t beat the MSI laptop computer’s butt-whooping rating of 9,549. On the plus facet, each beat the rating of the common mainstream laptop computer (6,611).
On the Handbrake video transcoding check, the Zenbook 14 stumbled. Changing a 4K video to 1080p decision, the Asus laptop computer took 8 minutes and 40 seconds to finish the duty. The Status 14 Evo A12M took solely 8 minutes and 31 seconds to transcode the video. The common mainstream laptop computer takes 11 minutes and 19 seconds to transform 4K video to 1080p.
The Zenbook 14’s 256GB SSD was a complete gradual poke on our file-transfer check. It duplicated a 25GB multimedia file in a single minute and 49 seconds at a fee of 245.57 MBps. This trudges behind the Status 14 Evo A12M 512GB SSD’s breakneck, ultra-zippy time of 28 seconds, which interprets to a file-transfer fee of 954.2 MBps. Sadly, the Asus pocket book couldn’t beat the file-transfer fee of the common mainstream laptop computer both (481.85 MBps).
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED graphics
No, the Zenbook 14’s Intel Iris Xe built-in GPU (additionally outfitted contained in the Status 14 Evo A12M) just isn’t superb for gaming (try our finest low cost gaming laptops web page), however we determined to place it to the check anyway with our Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark.
The MSI laptop computer, with a rating of 23 frames per second, beat the Asus pocket book (21 fps) by a hair. Each scores aren’t something to put in writing house about, nevertheless, contemplating that the common mainstream laptop computer sometimes delivers 32 fps on the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark.
Scoring a 14,618 on the 3DMark Evening Raid benchmark, a check that determines how effectively a GPU handles dynamic reflections, post-processing results, and extra, the Zenbook 14, didn’t outperform the Status 14 Evo A12M (15,181) and the common mainstream laptop computer (14,967).
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED battery life
OK, so the Zenbook 14 has been struggling to beat the Status 14 Evo A12M to date. However guess what? The Zenbook has another trick up its sleeve: energy effectivity.
On the Laptop computer Magazine battery check, which entails steady net browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the Zenbook 14 lasted 10 hours and 52 minutes. The Status 14 Evo A12M, alternatively, solely lasted a tragic 8 hours and 45 minutes. Yikes! Nonetheless, each runtimes beat the common mainstream laptop computer (8 hours and 33 minutes).
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED warmth
The Zenbook 14 is slim and compact, so naturally, dissipating warmth is a problem. After enjoying a 15-minute, 1080p video, its hottest temperature — 104 levels Fahrenheit — was discovered radiating on the middle of its underside. As such, you could wish to hold the Zenbook 14 off your naked lap.
Different areas, just like the touchpad (78 levels), keyboard middle (84 levels) and general backside (94 levels) remained cool below strain, falling beneath our 95-degree consolation threshold.
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED webcam
Filled with a 720p webcam, no, the digicam isn’t the sharpest device within the shed, however what I really like about it’s its colour replica. Carrying a scorching pink bathrobe, the image on the webcam recreated the putting colour completely. It may even decide up on the glittery tint featured on my silver curtains.
I additionally noticed a motion-tracking characteristic, guaranteeing that I’m all the time within the middle of the body. Within the MyAsus app, you possibly can activate options comparable to Lighting Optimization (detects the lighting situations and dynamically adjusts the webcam’s settings for many optimum outcomes) and Background Blurring (blurs the background for privateness). With the previous, in dimly lit environments, I noticed that the digicam would sharpen the image to compensate for the poor lighting.
Privateness-concerned customers will love that Asus added a webcam defend that may be activated by way of the F10 key.
Asus Zenbook 14 Q409A OLED software program and guarantee
To my shock, the Zenbook 14, which runs on Home windows 11, is mild on bloatware. I really like that the entire video games, together with FreeCell and Minesweeper, are consolidated right into a single app referred to as Solitaire and Informal Video games. Aside from that, you’ll discover your customary fare of Microsoft apps, together with Telephone Hyperlink, Paint, Information, Edge, and Xbox.
MyAsus is probably the most important app on the Zenbook 14. Right here, you possibly can handle your pocket book’s battery well being, fan profiles, OLED show, and way more. You may also run system diagnostics and entry buyer help.
The Zenbook 14 ships with a one-year restricted guarantee. See how Asus fared throughout Tech Help Showdown and Greatest and Worst Manufacturers, our annual particular stories.
Backside line
The Asus Zenbook 14 excels within the one area that issues probably the most to laptop computer consumers: energy effectivity. Whereas the common laptop computer in its value vary solely delivers about 8 hours of battery life, the Zenbook 14 can final for practically 11 hours.
Plus, I dig its ultra-wide touchpad, refined Japanese art-inspired design, military-certified construct high quality, a colourful show, and a feature-filled webcam. Sadly for the Zenbook 14, nevertheless, it’s up in opposition to some stiff competitors with the MSI Status 14 Evo A12 available on the market.
The Status 14 Evo A12, with a price ticket of $899 at Newegg (opens in new tab), is slimmer and lighter, delivers higher efficiency on graphics and efficiency, and has higher airflow, however take into account that its 8-hour runtime and regular-degular 1080p show isn’t as spectacular
Personally, I’d go for the Zenbook 14 as a result of I’m a stickler for battery life, however in order for you a laptop computer that squeezes out extra efficiency at a budget-friendly value, the Status 14 Evo A12 could also be the most suitable choice for you.
