The ASUS Zenbook series is known for its slim and lightweight design and premium built quality. It’s been many years since the introduction of the Zenbook lineup, but ASUS continues to improve on it. The Zenbook we see today, is the culmination of many years of dedication and hard work from the designers and engineers from ASUS, continuing its legacy and perfecting the product.
Released earlier this year, the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405 is now refreshed and equipped with the latest Core processor from Intel. Furthermore, ASUS has made some changes in terms of the design to make the Zenbook 14 better than ever. Let’s take a look at some of the key features of this new notebook.
Equipped to perform, without compromising design and battery life
Striving for excellent power efficiency and performance, the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H hits the right spot.
Even though it features 16 cores and 22 threads for serious multi-tasking capabilities, the Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405 still retains a very slim profile. This is made possible with the hybrid architecture found on the Intel Core Ultra 9, which features both Performance and Efficiency cores which kicks into place depending on usage scenario. This allows the system to perform within a specified performance and thermal limit, enabling the sleek design on the Zenbook 14 OLED.
To meet the needs of memory demanding workload, this Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405 is even paired with 16GB of RAM. It is also equipped with Intel’s improved Arc Graphics processor, which is suitable for day to day workloads and simple games. It’s a notch better than the previous generation’s Iris Xe graphics processor.
Sleek Design, Premium Built Quality, Practical Features
ASUS has decided to keep it simple with this iteration of Zenbook. Rather than a huge “in your face” logo on the notebook’s lid, it has introduced a few simple lines which are styled to forms the “A” from ASUS. The “ASUS Zenbook” is only placed at a bottom left corner of the lid, making it a lot more subtle. We can appreciate this simple design over the previous generation’s.
Ensuring usability and practicality, the ASUS Zenbook 14 also features a full-sized keyboard. I felt extremely comfortable typing on it, and got up to my usual speed of typing in no time. Everything was just right, without any quirky key placements and out of place hotkeys.
Unique to ASUS Zenbooks, the UX3405 also comes with the ASUS ScreenPad. This is a useful feature which instantly changes the touch pad into a numpad. It’s useful for users who works around with a lot of numbers. I also appreciate these practical and useful features on the Zenbook, which really makes them stand out from competing products in the market.
The ASUS Zenbook UX3405 also comes with ample number of expansion ports. On the left side of the notebook, we spotted a USB 3.2 Type-A port, which runs at 5Gbps. On the right side, there is a full-sized HDMI port, a audio combo jack and two more USB Type-C Thunderbolt ports. With Thunderbolt ports, the notebook can be supercharged with a whole range of peripherals, such as an external graphics card to further expand the capabilities the notebook.
Of course, one of the main talking point of the Zenbook 14 OLED, is its amazing OLED display. The OLED display fits a large part of the screen, as the bezels are kept thin. It makes the whole notebook look extremely futuristic and premium. Certainly, the OLED display makes the whole notebook stand out. Consuming media content on the notebook was a pleasure, as the high contrast of the panel really make things pop.
As always, we really like the speakers found on the Zenbook notebooks. This version of the Zenbook 14 OLED was no different. Despite its small profile, the speakers found on the Zenbook 14 OLED were able to produce sounds which were outstanding. It was able to reach loud enough volumes that brings out impactful sounds in action packed movies, and also at the same time have a high clarity that makes listening to vocal-focused songs enjoyable. Paired with the excellence of the OLED display, the notebook was able to provide a top-notch media consumption experience.
Specifications
| System Model | ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED UX3405 |
| Processor Model | Intel Core Ultra 9 185H |
| Boost Frequency | 5.1GHz |
| Base Frequency | 2.3GHz |
| Physical Cores | 16 (6 Performance Cores, 8 Efficient Cores, 2 Low Power Efficient Cores) |
| Threads | 22 |
| Base Power | 45W |
| Battery | 75Wh |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR5 |
| Graphics | Intel® Arc™ Graphics |
| Display Panel | 14-inch 3K OLED |
| Refresh Rate | 120Hz |
| Storage | 1TB |
| OS | Windows 11 Home |
| Dimensions, Weight | 31.24 x 22.01 x 1.49 ~ 1.49 cm, 1,28Kg |
Performance and Benchmarks
Battery Life
We talked about battery life earlier. The ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405 has got one of the best battery life we’ve tested so far. In the PC Mark 10 Battery Test, we managed to squeeze out 16 hrs and 1 min for this notebook. We could likely be able to attribute this to the low power efficient cores from the Intel Core Ultra processor. If you need a notebook that lasts you for more than a day of work, the UX3405 excels.
Conclusion
The ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED did not disappoint. By further improving on getting things right and leveraging on the latest technologies available, they have hit another new high. Coupled with the stylish and practical designs, the Zenbook 14 OLED is a product that’s hard not to recommend. If you are looking for a new notebook computer and the price of S1,999 (promotion now) of the Zenbook 14 OLED falls into your budget, then it’s most definitely a product which you can consider.
