ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED UX3404V Review – Subtle, Portable, Yet Powerful

In a age where we very much on mobile devices, users are demanding something more powerful yet portable at the same time, and to me, something light, thin yet it is able to harness the performance for today’s needs is something that is important for all tasks, works, even editing to an extent.

So I guess that’s enough of the intro, why dont we take a look at the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED, which is part of the Zenbook series primarily focuses on lightweight laptop that combines a pretty packed in powerful internals for all intended purposes for everyday use.

Unboxing Contents

Upon unboxing you will find the following

• ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED UX3404V Laptop
• User Manual/QSG
• Sleeve
• USB-A to RJ45 gigabit ethernet adapter
• TYPE-C, 90W AC Adapter

Design

The ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED UX3404V’s design fits almost anywhere you need a laptop, whether you’re sitting in a cafe surfing or doing important work at your desk in the office. Weighing only 1.56 kg and only 16.9 mm thick, it is easy to carry and transport, putting in the bag is totally stress free and leaves more space in the bag for other accessories and companions. It’s basically a pretty powerful laptop that can be used universally. This laptop looks lightweight and portable, and is extremely sturdy with a versatile ergonomic hinge that adjusts down to a flat surface, able withstand multiple openings and closings of the lid. Certified to US Military Standard MIL-STD 810H, it can withstand drops and some torture. Overall, it’s a good companion for students, travelers, and executives, and has a great footprint that allows it to sit on small tables and give you plenty of room to work while the back design is also has Plasma Ceramization Coating with some lines along it giving it a classic feel and look to it.

Ports wise, the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED UX3404V came equipped with 2 x Thunderbolt 4 that supports charging and data, 1 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1 x HDMI 2.1 and a combo 3.5mm audio jack. I should say what is provided is quite a handful of ports available but if you need more, getting a USB C expansion port would be great for extending accessories and peripherals further should you wanted to.

Despite this, the keyboard and trackpad are accurate on the chiclet design that ASUS has been using for several years, and the design still looks fresh and comfortable to type on, and the trackpad ErgoSense is fairly sizable with Windows Precision Drivers for Windows 11, and with a touch on ASUS NumberPad 2.0, you can turn the trackpad into a NumPad if needed. Typing is a delight because to the 0.2mm key travel and does comes with white LED backlight, which is smooth and free of sounds and wobbles. It also had Windows Hello for password authentication and unlocking.

ASUS is looking towards an environmental friendly move, therefore 30% PCR plastics is used but without compromising quality, function, and durability, this will be a good initiative and most brands has started to follow the same trend as well towards saving the earth.

There are two color options: Inkwell Grey and Sandstone Beige, and the Sandstone Beige featured a wonderful eco-friendly new ceramic-like surface on the lid. A new plasma ceramization technology was utilised to generate a ceramic-like covering with an 8H hardness that repels fingerprints and is resistant to fading and wear. This environmentally friendly technique is halogen-free and produces low harmful emissions, therefore protecting aluminum while having a lower environmental effect.

Display & Audio

This laptop has a gorgeous high definition 2880 by 1800 pixel, 14.5 inch OLED glossy display that exhibits deep rich colours whether you are altering your visual while working or simply viewing your favourite streaming platform with HDR certified contents. It has a peak brightness of over 600nits, making it appropriate for most bright and gloomy environments. It contains a blue light filter, which improves viewing comfort and angles.

For those who work specifically on design, you get a 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut range, which gives good colour ranges while working, and the 120Hz dynamic refresh rate lets you have a smoother display according to your usage balanced with the apps needs while just scrolling your contents with the display with Pantone Validated Display and a 0.2ms response time.

In terms of audio, despite its sleek and light appearance, it boasts an exceptionally strong set of speakers positioned at the bottom of the laptop that can be rather loud and clear with Dolby Atmos and Harmon/Kardon speakers, however there is no distortion so far even when listening to songs at full blast intensity. Furthermore, there is an integrated smart conference feature that combines IR AI FHD webcam and audio to focus just on your vocal/voice with your facial together, decreasing background noise.

Benchmarks & Performance

The ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED UX3404V under the hood is quite powerful yet last you on battery usage as it featured the Intel 13th Generation Processor with up to 32GB of LPDDR5 Soldered RAM, 1TB PCIE Gen4x4 Storage and of course Intel XE Intergrated Graphic which is a modest combination of internals. Working with just the battery with the combination of spreadsheets, Photoshop, web browsing, some light gaming and streaming will pretty much last you about 7 to 8 hours if set to battery efficiency making it great if you forget to bring your charger along, and this will last you the whole working day without much of a challenge. Recharging will take about 2 hours or so and that is pretty fast to get you back again to your mobile work places or cafe again in almost no time with the included 90W USB C charger. To add, there is also an optional model with dedicated NVDIA GeForce 3050 4GB GPU but the review unit we received came with Intel XE, but should you need more in graphical intensive tasks, getting one with the dedicated graphics is better

Aside from that, there is not much ASUS included software, only a few here and there such as MY Asus and a couple of others, which does not bother me at all, because you may need to use some of it later in the future, especially if you rely on or are quite accustomed to ASUS based apps or its companion such as dynamic refresh rate settings, color settings, Battery Care settings, etc, so I would say this portion is all good.

With that, I’ll also give the benchmarks in case you’re curious about the score, which, in my opinion, is within the range of the CPU and the accompanying internals within. Upgrade wise, your only choice is the NVME drive, the rest including the memory were all soldered in the motherboard, and that’s pretty much about it.

Technical Specifications

Verdict & Thoughts

The ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED UX3404V is a one-size-fits-all portable laptop that is worth having because of its versatility and practical classic design, plenty of ports ready to be used, but it also comes with an updated latest Intel 13th Generation Processor for all your tasks, with cores and threads that can be productive in both plugged in and battery mode which in fact lasts you almost whole working day. Its size and form factor make it light and portable, making it ideal for mobile content creation, light gaming on the go. This is one of the laptops that is worthy of being suggested for individuals who enjoy the view that is appropriate whether you are just casually using it or really getting things done with multimedia features that are basic yet viable as a laptop.

Pricing & Availability

It is now available from RM4,999 for the Core i5 model with Intel XE graphics as of the time of the review. The ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED UX3404V can be found on sales via all Online and Retail channel from ASUS Online Store and ASUS Authorised Resellers nationwide.

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