Asus offers many ZenBook 14 models, and it frightens me out. The UX433, for instance, is a 2.6-pound slim-bezel model. There’s also the Flip 14, an elegant convertible. The UX431, on the other hand, is an option that’s mid-priced at $900. Then there’s the UX425 which Asus released quietly earlier in summer, and that contained a few changes to the classic ZenBook design. It was announced earlier this month the UX435, which has a small secondary display instead of the touchpad and the UX425EA.

In the last couple of days, I’ve been trying out my ZenBook 14 UX425EA (specifically, the UX425EA-SH74). The ZenBook 14 isn’t available yet, but Asus is aiming for an October release in mid-October. It’s hard to tell what differentiates this UX425EA from the crowd of ZenBooks before and below. It has the same shiny metal lid, folding hinge, and sleek construction. However, the attention of everyone is at this specific ZenBook because of the processor. The UX425EA is among the first machines, including Intel’s quad-core Core I7-1165G7 (of the 1st Gen Tiger Lake line).

I was able to test the top Core i7-1185G7 model in the Intel benchmark design earlier in the month, and the performance I witnessed from Intel’s latest integrated graphics was fantastic. Therefore, I was expecting high-end results for the 1165G7, which is very similar to it, too, particularly in the realm of gaming. I began this test with two major concerns: will the 1165G7 outperform its Intel predecessor (the 1065G7 that is the processor in the most recent Dell, the XPS 13), and can it outperform AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800U (part of Lenovo’s IdeaPad Slim 7)? Both questions are yes, but not as bad as I was expecting.

THE APPEAL OF THE ZENBOOK IS IN ITS PORTABILITY

First, a quick ZenBook 14 crash course. The value of this line (and particularly the UX425) is its portability and performance. The UX425 is lightweight for a 14-inch laptop, weighing 2.49 kilograms (1.13kg), and is thin in size at 0.54 millimeters (13.72mm). This is the best laptop for medical school. Asus can fit into a chassis that doesn’t feel bigger than most 13-inch laptops. It has a 90 percent screen-to-body proportion due to the thin (2.5mm) bezels alongside the screen. (The lower and top bezels appear both more prominent than those of the Dell XPS 13, but they’re still not bad — 6.2mm and 10.9mm and 10.9mm, respectively.)

GOOD STUFF

• Graphics performance that is strong and integrated
• Light and easy to carry
• Touchpad turns into a numeric pad
• 1W screen option

BAD STUFF

• No audio jack
• No fingerprint sensor
• Webcams are not great.

Two other features differentiate the UX425 from other laptops. One is a 1W screen option that could help extend the life of batteries — Asus states that it uses 63.6 percentage less power than the majority of laptops do.

The ZenBook’s battery test results were not awe-inspiring, however. The test consisted of using the device for my typical work routine (using about twelve Chrome tabs to download copies, uploading and uploading data, Google Sheets, Zoom calls, and various other work-related tasks) with a Better Battery profile of around 200 Nits of brightness. It ran for seven 20 minutes and seven hours. It is the best laptop for remote work. It’s similar to the results we observed on our Dell XPS 13, but it’s nowhere near the life span for Lenovo’s IdeaPad Slim 7, which was 13 and an hour and a half. The charging speed was fine, but not astonishment took 58 minutes forty seconds and 58 minutes to charge up to 60% (during moderate usage).

The other option is NumberPad 2.0. A light Numpad appears when you press a tiny icon at the top left corner. (This requires a strong press, and I’ve had to do it several times.) This is an excellent design (how many times do you see a numbers pad on a laptop that’s 14 inches wide?), and it performed as expected. I didn’t anticipate that you could make use of the touchpad and select items when the Numpad is down, and the ZenBook did not misinterpret my swipe as tapping or the reverse. I put my hands on the Numpad and clicked around with no problem. It is also possible to swipe down from the upper-left edge of the touchscreen and bring up the Calculator application (regardless of whether the numpad’s on or off).

There are some other things to consider. Design-wise it’s a great notebook. UX425 is the most ZenBook you can get and features Asus, its signature circular swirl on its lid. It also has an anesthetic that I’d like to call “industrial chic.” Asus states that the UX425 has passed the MIL-STD-810G tests standard, meaning it’s has passed a plethora of temperature tests, drop testing, vibration tests in addition to altitude testing. There’s a lot of flex on the lid and some traces in the keyboard, which means I’m not blown away by the construction quality. The chassis is solid enough to not be worried about the possibility of crashing it around.

The port options are good; however, there’s one odd thing missing. There are 2 Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports (you can thank the 11th generation chip for that) and one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A One HDMI 2.0, as well as a MicroSD reader. Are you noticing an issue? There’s no audio connector; Asus nixed that for the UX425. If you’re completely transitioned to wireless headsets and microphones, take this little attention; however, it could be a problem for those who want to utilize wired devices. The ZenBook does come with a dongle. However, the idea of having to make use of a valuable USB-C port to plug headphones into a laptop makes me feel sad.

.To authenticate, it’s possible to use a webcam compatible with Windows Hello but has no fingerprint reader. It’s not the best camera for video calls. I didn’t get washed out in bright spots. However, there were instances when my face appeared completely dark, even when I was in a dark location.

Additionally, the keyboard comes with an additional row of keys on the right, including Home PgUp, PgDn, and End. There are several hotkeys to choose from, such as one that shuts off your webcam, another that locks the entire device, another that blocks the touchpad, and one that allows you to snap a screenshot that will open Asus the command center.

ASUS ZENBOOK 14 UX425EA SPECS (AS REVIEWED)

• Processor: Intel Core i7-1165G7 1.2-2.8 GHz (12M Cache, up to 4.7 GHz)
• RAM: 16GB LPDDR4X
• Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• Weigh: 2.49 1 lb (1.13 kg)
• Dimensions 12.56 8.19 x 8.19 and 0.55 inches (319 x 219 13.9 mm) 13.9 millimeters)
• Battery: 67Wh
• Display: 14-inch , 1920 1080 x 1080 IPS-level display
• Camera HD infrared camera
• Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 6

The ZenBook configuration is priced at $1,099. It also comes with the 1165G7 model with Intel’s integrated graphics Xe, and the device also comes with 16GB of RAM, 1TB of internal storage. It also comes with a battery with 67Wh and a 1920 1080×1080-pixel panel screen (with the power draw of 1W). There’s also a model priced at $899 with 8GB of storage and 512GB of RAM. The extra storage could be worth the price for those who wish to play games. The 512GB capacity can be a lot of space, and I’ll always suggest buying the most RAM you can afford.

The ZenBook was a solid performer throughout my day and loaded pages much faster than in Ice Lake systems I’ve recently tested. The laptop’s bottom was warm at some points (concentrated in the right). However, its keyboard, touchscreen, and wrist rests were cool throughout my testing, and I didn’t hear the fans. When gaming, the CPU did not exceed the temperature of 95° Celsius.

It finished the export of 5 minutes, 33 seconds of 4K video in just 11 minutes and 28 seconds. This is quicker than Iris Plus systems like the Surface Laptop 3, the XPS 13 2-in-1, and the LG Gram 17. There was a notable performance gap between this device with the Core I7-1185G7 design reference, but it completed the same job in only eight minutes.

In terms of gaming, Intel’s biggest wager in the form of Tiger Lake is on its integrated graphics, Xe that it claims will provide nearly two times the graphics power of earlier generations. Although the ZenBook did outperform its 1065G7 counterpart XPS 13 along with the 4800U-powered IdeaPad Slim 7, it did not give them the audio beating that the design reference led me to believe.

AGREE TO CONTINUE: ASUS ZENBOOK 14 UX425EA

Every device today requires that you agree to certain terms and conditions before utilizing it. They are agreements that nobody is aware of, and it’s difficult to study and understand every one of these contracts. However, we began counting precisely how many times you’ll need to press “agree” to use devices while reviewing them since these are agreements that most people do not read and cannot negotiate.

To make use of this Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA, you must agree to:

• Request your region and keyboard layout
• Windows 10 License Agreement and Asus License Agreement
• Microsoft account
• Windows Hello PIN
• Sign up for an Asus account

These agreements can be voluntary:

• Connecting to Wi-Fi
• Windows Hello facial recognition
• Privacy settings, such as online speech recognition finding my device as well as typing and inking advertising ID locations, diagnostic data, and personalized experiences
• Sync to an Android phone
• OneDrive backup
• Microsoft 365
• Set up Cortana
• Create a McAfee account as well as an Asus account
• Your email address will be saved on your device.

There are seven legal agreements mandatory and 15 additional agreements to make use of for the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA

The system was able to run smoothly for easy titles, with an average of 200fps in League of Legends and the game’s 92fps when playing Rocket League‘s maximum settings. (The XPS 13 averaged low 160s for the former and 70fps for the latter.) Overwatch, however, was slow at maximum settings, with an average of 43 frames per second in Epic while 62fps when playing Ultra. This is better than its counterparts, the XPS, and it’s better than the Slim 7 but still closer to them than the reference 1185G7 (which was averaging 59fps for Epic and 89fps for Ultra).

Also, it’s not a laptop that you would buy for gaming with a serious focus. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was not playable at 1080p, and it averaged 29fps at the lowest setting. This is higher than the Ice Lake XPS 13, which averaged 17fps and less than the 1185G7 benchmark platform (I would suggest using any of them to play the game).

In the end, these results are a step up from Ice Lake and Ryzen 4000, and it’s a decent improvement. However, they also serve as an indication that no Tiger Lake systems (and not all chips) are made equal the configuration I’m using isn’t as advanced as Lenovo’s 4800U as I’d hoped it to be.

At just $800, I’d consider the ZenBook an absolute bargain. For $1100, it’s an excellent purchase. It’s lightweight and practical like ZenBooks are known to be. From the outside, it’s not a class in which it’s bad and certainly not a category in which it’s among the top in the classification (apart from the NumberPad, which is amazing but isn’t suitable for every person).

THERE’S NO CATEGORY WHERE IT’S TERRIBLE AND NO CATEGORY WHERE IT’S THE BEST IN ITS CLASS

There’s also the processor. It indeed delivers the highest gaming performance we’ve ever seen from integrated graphics outside of testing. However, it’s not a leap forward instead of the leap forward that the 1185G7 was portrayed to be. Considering AMD’s advantage in multicore performance, I’m not sure if that’s enough to make Intel the new supreme ultraportable powerhouse. Tiger Lake is certainly a superior competitor to Ice Lake. Ice Lake was — however, the fight isn’t over.