ISSUE 379|COMPUTERSHOPPER|SEPTEMBER (^201981)
ULTRAPORTABLES
ASUS CLAIMSTHATits ZenBook 14
UX433FAis“the world’ssmallest14in
laptop”–abold statement, but judging
by its dimensionsof 319x199x15.9mm,it
appearsto be true.
This is an almost unbelievably compact
laptop,not entirelydevoid of bezels but
with an ultra-slimframe that makes it the
size of asvelte13in model. It’s light, too,
weighingin at 1.2kg, and has another
neat design trick besidesits thinness.
The bottom of the lid curls aroundthe lip
of the base’s rear edge,sowhen opened,the
base tilts upwardsslightlyforboth better
airflow and amore comfortable,inclined
typing surface.
Laptops this slim often skimp on ports,
but Asus has done right by the ZenBook 14
UX433FA. On the leftedge is afull-sized
HDMI output,one USB3.1port and aUSB
Type-C port, while the right edge serves up a
microSDcard reader,USB2 port and a3.5mm
audio jack. The absenceof Thunderbolt 3
connectivityis conspicuousbut, other than
that, the ZenBook 14 meets expectations.
RUNNINGTHE NUMBERS
The backlit keyboardwill feel cosy and familiar
to anyonewho’s used aZenBooklaptop in the
past three years. Keytravel is perfectly judged
and, while the generallayout of the chiclet
keys is as standardas it gets, that just means
there aren’t any unusualkeyplacementsor
sizes. The only potential issue is that when
the central keys are pressedhard, there’s a
noticeableamountof give to the surrounding
chassis.This and the tinny,distortion-prone
speakersare the only hints of substandard
build quality,thankfully.
The ZenBook 14 UX433FAalso has what
Asus calls a‘NumberPad’ –atrackpadwith
digital numerickeypad, which can be
summonedby pressingafinger to the
(annoyingly unmarked)sensor just beside it.
It’s an interestingsolutionforthose who want
asmall laptop but could also make frequent
use of anumber pad, somethingthat’s usually
the first thing to be leftout when designing
an ultraportable.The trackpadmostly
functionsas normalwhen the numberpad
is switched on, too–you can still scroll,
click and use shortcuts.
It is indeed anice feature,
althoughaphysical button would
have been vastly preferable to a
touch sensor forturning it on and off.
ASUSZenBook 14
UX433FA
★★★★★
£979•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
Ifyouwant14inchesofdisplayspaceina
tinypackage,thisisaboutyourbestbet–
evenwithsomemissteps
The latter is tooeasy to activateaccidentally,
and there’s no wayofdisablingthe
NumberPad completely,soitrepeatedly
poppedup againstour wishes.
Similarlyirritatingwas the display’s glossy
finish. We were constantlydistracted by
streaksof light reflected from overhead
lighting,and had to make aconsciouseffort
to keep the ZenBook 14 UX433FAfacing
awayfrom light sources.The good news is
you can buy the UX433FA-A5128T model,
which has amatt-finish displayand otherwise
identicalspecs, for£960, which is slightlyless
than the versionwe were sent.
Part of the problemis below-average
displaybrightness:amaximumof 312.1cd/m2,
accordingto our tests. The high contrast
ratio of 1,323:1 is better,althoughsRGB gamut
coverage of 84% is also rather middling.Both
the MicrosoftSurface Laptop and Dell XPS 13
have much more vibrantscreens,althoughat
least the Full HD resolutionof Asus’s laptop
keeps everythingsufficientlysharp.
HIGH SEVEN
Performancealso comes close to the XPS 13,
which is arespectableachievementforthe
cheaperZenBook.In our 4K benchmarksit
finishedwith an overall score of 89,just six
points behind the XPS 13 and –perhaps more
notably–five points ahead of the Surface
Laptop 2model we tested, which also costs
more.That spec includesaCore i5-8250U,so
it was always going to be at adisadvantage
againstthe ZenBook’sCore i7-8565U.
The Asus also has alarger 512GB SSD,
which is capablewhen it comes to speed. The
AS SSD benchmarkrevealed asequentialread
speed of 1,444MB/sand asequentialwrite
speed of 664MB/s,enoughthat you won’t be
held back when moving files around.
Since the ZenBook 14 UX433FArelies
solely on integrated graphics,it’s not much of
agaming machine:it produced44fps in Dirt
Showdown,but only at 720p and with High
settingsinstead of Ultra. Then again, a
dedicated GPU would force compromiseson
battery life, which would be ill-advised;lasting
7h 51m in our video playback test, this laptop
might squeezeaday of light use out of a
single charge,but can’t competewith the
longevity of rivals such as the XPS 13.
ZEN PAL
You’re spoiledforchoice when it comes to
luxury laptops, beggingthe questionof why
the ZenBook 14 UX433FAdeservesyour cash.
Forastart, it’s well priced, being the only
laptop with an Intel Core i7-8565Uforless
than £1,000.Second,it’s incredibly
compactfora14in laptop,thanks to
that 92% display-to-bezel ratio.
The digital numberpad could have
been executed better,but there will be
users who find it genuinelyuseful, and
those who don’t can mostly ignore it if
they’re careful about accidentallyactivating
the sensor.That just leaves the reflective
screen as amajor problem,but then that can
be sidestepped by buying the matt-finish
versioninstead. We haven’t tested this, but
since it has all the same internals, there’s no
reason to suspectit will run any worse.
c. jardin
(C. Jardin)
#1