Taiwanese consumer notebook vendor Asus has unveiled the latest addition to the ZenBook 14 series – the UX435EG. With a price tag of P79,995, the device builds on the ZenBooks released mid-2020 with major upgrades that include Intel TigerLake i7 processors, dedicated Nvidia discrete graphics, the improved ScreenPad 2.0, and Thunderbolt 4 ports.
The Asus ZenBook 14 will be running Windows 10 Home by default, although Asus strongly recommends Windows 10 Pro for business to users. In a nutshell, the differences between the two is that the latter offers more security and features like an encryption tool, cloud updates, remote desktop, and assigned access.
An aluminum top and bottom case envelops the device with a Pine Grey paintjob. The military-grade chassis houses the 14” Oled LCD Full HD display panel with more than 300 nits of brightness and 1080p resolution. The anti-glare display supports a full sRGB color gamut and produces around 92% screen-to-body ratio.
The Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor powering the ZenBook 14 has a base clock speed of 2.8GHz up to 4.7GHz. It comes with an integrated Intel Xe Graphics and a dedicated Nvidia GeForce MX450 — an entry-level graphics card for laptops. It has a 16GB LPDDR4X onboard memory and a 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD.
The Asus ZenBook 14 comes with an HDMI 2.0b port for 10K resolution and 120Hz support, a 3.5mm combo audio jack that is making a comeback for the series, a staple USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, two Thunderbolt 4 ports for power delivery and standard DisplayPort, and a micro-SD card reader.
For audio needs, the ZenBook 14 has a built-in speaker and a premium harman/kardon array microphone that supports voice control via Cortana. The smaller 3-cell Li-ion 63Whr battery is not replaceable and weighs 0.24 kg. Meanwhile, the backlit keyboard uses a chiclet design and offers a decent key travel.
The ScreenPad 2.0 seen on the laptop is powered by the ScreenXpert software and includes convenient utilities like Quick Key — a one-tap automation for pre-programmed complex keyboard sequences, handwriting for natural text input, and the number key function for rapid data entry.
The device comes bundled with BIOS password protection, firmware TPM, the MyAsus software service portal, battery health charging, Tru2Life video enhancement software, McAfee, a laptop sleeve, and a USB-A to RJ45 gigabit ethernet adapter.
