This ultraportable Windows laptop can seriously replace my MacBook Air - and it's even lighter

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Asus Zenbook A14 is disposable astatine Best Buy, with configurations starting astatine $999.
• Asus' caller ultraportable is simply a fantastic equilibrium of innovation and worth with a superb OLED display, competitory hardware, and a satisfying carnal form.
• While its usage lawsuit is intelligibly defined, the laptop has its limits erstwhile it comes to high-end performance.

When Asus officially announced the Zenbook A14 astatine CES this year, I wasn't the lone 1 to beryllium low-key enamored with it. It's a great laptop successful its ain right, but it stands retired arsenic a palmy balancing enactment betwixt show and affordability portion hitting each the close notes that consumers attraction about. 

Made of Asus' proprietary ceraluminum material, the Zenbook A14 astir feels similar a prototype exemplary that's bare inside, arsenic it's exceedingly airy astatine conscionable 2.1 pounds (for reference, the 13-inch MacBook Air is 2.7 pounds). When you acceptable it down, the instrumentality opens easy with the assistance of a azygous finger, revealing the superb OLED display. 

Also: I tested Asus' dual-screen laptop, and it sparked my creativity successful the champion way

Asus committed to a neutral-forward aesthetic with the A14. The marque messaging features muted tones and quiet, blase imagery punctuated by earthy motifs, and, overall, it works to signifier a cohesive identity. 

This aesthetic highlights Asus' determination to present a cohesive marque connection portion balancing innovation and cost. For example, the show connected the Zenbook A14 looks bully close retired of the box. It's bright, crisp, and efficient. But person inspection reveals that it's not arsenic premium a show arsenic you'd find on, say, Asus' ProArt P16. 

The show is framed by integrative bezels cautiously designed not to look cheap, but again… this isn't the ProArt. Additionally, the sheet implicit the FHD show has immoderate flimsy warping that tin springiness a funhouse reflector effect erstwhile you drawback your reflection connected the glossy surface.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Once the show is turned on, however, immoderate jumpscare you conscionable saw is rapidly forgotten, arsenic it delivers a superb image: opposition is crisp, colors are vivid, and it's bright, astatine 600 nits and a afloat HD+ (1920 x 1200) solution that pairs good with the speedy performance. 

Also: I tried Asus' dual-screen laptop, and it revitalized my workflow successful the champion way

Speaking of performance, let's sermon the tech that powers this device. Asus again focused connected balance, pairing the base-level Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor with the 32GB RAM configuration and the somewhat faster Snapdragon X Plus with the lower-end, 16GB RAM configuration. 

This balancing enactment results successful a somewhat unintuitive pricing structure: the laptop with the higher-end processor is cheaper ($899) arsenic it comes with fractional the representation (which is what you're really paying for). The mentation with much RAM and the lower-end Snapdragon X processor starts astatine $1,099. 

The quality betwixt the 2 processors is yet not that massive, some are eight-core chips, but the Snapdragon X spot is constricted to 3.0 GHz timepiece speed, putting a show headdress connected this laptop. 

That headdress is good due to the fact that this instrumentality isn't made to tackle intensive workloads. It's for the modern nonrecreational who lives successful the cloud, works remotely, and values a bully display. 

Also: This mechanical keyboard I tested works conscionable arsenic good for enactment arsenic it does for play

That being said, the show is solid. It's a accelerated laptop: it boots quickly, loads apps swiftly, and navigates the web without lag. It runs soundless and cool, generating astir nary vigor -- adjacent with the slim signifier factor. 

In our benchmarking tests, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor performed amended than I expected against much premium devices with Intel's Core Ultra 7 "Lunar Lake" chip, peculiarly successful its higher-end sibling, the Zenbook S14, and Dell's XPS 13 successful multi-core performance. The processor adjacent surpassed the second successful single-core performance. 

Comparing this laptop's numbers to HP's OmniBook X with the Snapdragon X Elite, for example, suggests the instrumentality is outclassed astatine the higher extremity of show but is highly optimized for mundane tasks and capable to present a faster, much businesslike acquisition successful those usage cases.

The laptop's beardown show is allied to an enjoyable carnal signifier factor. The keyboard is fantastic -- it's 1 of the astir comfy laptop keyboards I've used. I marque this assertion without exaggeration and enactment its occurrence isn't owed to thing peculiarly costly oregon high-end. Asus conscionable deed the people erstwhile balancing plan and cost.

Also: This 13-inch Dell laptop lives rent-free successful my caput for its superb show and battery

The keys are creaseless and matte, with a slick texture that borders connected ASMR. I besides emotion however the laptop's ceramic assemblage is fingerprint-resistant and casual to clean, adjacent erstwhile splashed successful the room oregon java shop. 

For distant oregon hybrid workers who determination from spot to place, the laptop besides features the close fig of ports (an HDMI, 2 USB-Cs, and 1 USB-A) to grip immoderate accessories you transportation successful tow oregon to complaint the battery. I'm (sort of) kidding, but that leads maine to my past point.  

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Hands down, the champion portion of this laptop is the outstanding artillery life. Asus advertises up to 32 hours connected a azygous charge. Although that's the apical extremity of the estimation, it's not acold disconnected from what you tin expect with mundane use. During my testing, a day's enactment successful the bureau didn't instrumentality maine down past 50%. 

The Snapdragon X processor reduces powerfulness depletion to a trickle erstwhile it's not successful use. If you bash request juice, the A14 charges quickly, reaching adjacent to 75% aft conscionable an hr of charging. This capableness translates to a laptop that tin past a mates of days' enactment connected 1 charge, adjacent if that includes aggregate video calls. 

Also: I tested Asus' 27-inch TV-monitor hybrid for 2 weeks - and can't halt reasoning astir it

I'll besides notation a fewer of the drawbacks of this laptop (but determination aren't many). The archetypal is that the Qualcomm Adreno GPU connected this strategy is not designed for high-end gaming. Sure, it tin surely grip casual games. But this isn't a instrumentality made for the latest FPS.

Also, the display, portion it looks great, is inactive capped astatine a 60Hz refresh rate, which keeps the artillery (and terms point) debased but further limits immoderate aspirations of high-end gaming. Ultimately, portion the Zenbook A14 is competitively priced, this is not a $1,500 laptop.

ZDNET's buying advice

The Zenbook A14 has a coherent identity: it's a lightweight, aesthetic instrumentality for the modern professional, effortlessly mobile successful some signifier origin and artillery life, but trades immoderate earthy powerfulness for each that endurance. That being said, the Snapdragon X processor punches good supra its value and competes handily with chips that are, connected paper, much powerful. 

Because of its cohesive identity, however good it balances innovation and value, and the hardware performance, the Zenbook A14 is 1 of the champion laptops I've reviewed successful the past twelvemonth and 1 I'd powerfully urge arsenic agelong arsenic its strengths align with your needs. 

To apical it each off, the starting terms of $899 is precise competitory -- perchance adjacent disruptive -- if Asus succeeds successful selling this laptop's marque communicative successful a mode that positions it arsenic an alternate to different ultraportable, specified arsenic Apple's MacBook Air.