Asus ZenBook 14 UX435EG review: ScreenPad-equipped ultraportable gets updated hardware Review

The 14-inch Asus ZenBook 14 UX435EG incorporates the quirky ScreenPad — a small secondary monitor embedded in the touchpad that supports a vary of takes advantage of, which you will not discover on laptops from any other maker. The ZenBook range’s standard skinny-and-light make is existing and right, and although the rate of £1,399 (inc. VAT £1,a hundred sixty five.eighty three ex. VAT) might seem a little higher you do get an eleventh-era Intel Core processor and discrete Nvidia graphics. This model updates the ZenBook 14 UX434FL, which I reviewed in August 2019.

At its launch Asus proclaimed the ZenBook 14 UX435EG to be “the world’s smallest 14-inch laptop with ScreenPad”, which is fairly significantly less extraordinary when you observe that Asus is the only laptop producer that does ScreenPads. 

Even now, the ZenBook 14 UX435EG is without a doubt little at 31.9cm wide and 19.9cm deep, and also skinny at one.59cm thick at the front, soaring to one.79cm at the back again the place it demands to accommodate various ports and connectors. The excess weight of one.19kg makes it an great laptop for carrying close to, and the make is impressively sturdy. The aluminium alloy chassis product implies I could not bend the lid in my fingers, and it lends a lot of solidity to the base also. Asus suggests the ZenBook 14 UX435EG meets MIL-STD 810H, but if you you should not want to ding the etching on the outside the house of the lid, you might however want to use a protecting sleeve when carrying or storing this laptop. 

Asus can squeeze a 14-inch monitor into a chassis that’s hardly much larger than the monitor itself thanks to its small-bezel NanoEdge monitor, which provides a (claimed) 92{d11068cee6a5c14bc1230e191cd2ec553067ecb641ed9b4e647acef6cc316fdd} monitor-to-entire body ratio. Asus provides us two different measurements for the small brief-side bezels: two.6mm calculated amongst the edge of the non-active monitor display spot and the within edge of the scenario, and 4.1mm calculated from the edge of the monitor to the within edge of the chassis. For the top and bottom bezels, which are thicker, we just get measurements to the edge of the non-active monitor: 6.1mm for the top edge and 3.3mm for the bottom. The relatively deep top bezel accommodates the IR webcam with Windows Howdy assistance.  

The display itself is a 14-inch FHD (one,920 x one,080) LED-backlit IPS touchscreen. It’s vivid, apparent and sharp with 400 nits utmost brightness, but somewhat reflective. The touch responsiveness on my evaluation model was exemplary. 

The excellent monitor is complemented by a Harman Kardon-certified dual speaker set up that provides fantastic-excellent seem, whilst top volume could be louder. If you use the built-in audio subsystem for voice or online video phone calls, the AI-assisted sound-cancelling audio capability may well appear in practical. There are 4 modes to choose from: Ordinary, Balance, Solitary Presenter and Multi-Presenter. 

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The keyboard manages to be both equally ‘clacky’ and ‘thunky’. Heavier-handed typists might discover the sound degree a little annoying, and you can find a truthful volume of flex. Even now, the keys are big and very well spaced, and I was ready to touch style at my standard speed. The touchpad is offset a truthful way from the house bar, which took a little getting made use of to, but it really is relatively big and incredibly responsive.  

The ScreenPad is the most noteworthy aspect of this laptop — and without a doubt of a expanding range of Asus laptops. The basic plan is that the touchpad doubles up as a second monitor — a 5.sixty five-inch FHD+ (2160 x one,080) Super IPS panel that provides a vary of productivity-boosting shortcuts, controls and utilities. 

So, for example, you can find a utility for automating keyboard sequences named Swift Vital, a aspect for launching selected teams of applications with a few of faucets, and a handwriting recognition utility. You can even change information amongst the primary display and the ScreenPad — whilst the pad is so little that it really is only sensible for a little range of capabilities. You can find also a perhaps helpful range pad.  

Asus supplies an API for 3rd functions, so perhaps much more capabilities and even bespoke applications might surface in the future. The ScreenPad is simply toggled on and off by means of a Fn crucial, for these instances when you just want to use the basic touchpad features. 

Each time I’ve reviewed an Asus laptop with a ScreenPad I’ve discovered it fascinating to engage in close to with, but not an indispensable addition to my everyday computing. If it have been a long lasting aspect of my everyday laptop I might use it much more, but I won’t be able to be sure. For now, it really is an intriguing but unproven Asus-particular aspect. 

The ZenBook 14 UX435EG is powered by an eleventh era Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor with discrete graphics courtesy of Nvidia’s 2GB GeForce MX450 chipset, alongside with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. This is a incredibly very well-specified ultraportable laptop — that’s why the rate tag. There are other configurations, but these are not at present readily available in the United kingdom.  

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There are two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, a person of which is occupied when the laptop is charging, a single USB 3.two port, a complete-dimension HDMI port and a 3.5mm headset jack. You can find also a MicroSD card reader.  

On its web page, Asus just offers battery existence from the 63Wh battery as ‘outstanding’. More than a few several hours of a regular doing the job day during which I mainly worked into net applications, browsed, listened to audio and viewed online video, the battery went from a hundred{d11068cee6a5c14bc1230e191cd2ec553067ecb641ed9b4e647acef6cc316fdd} to seventy four{d11068cee6a5c14bc1230e191cd2ec553067ecb641ed9b4e647acef6cc316fdd}. On that basis, you should be ready to get a day’s function finished on battery ability, if you are functioning mainstream workloads. 

Conclusions

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX435EG is very well produced and has an up-to-day, higher-conclusion configuration. The keyboard is noisy but incredibly comfortable to use, the 14-inch IPS monitor is excellent and all-day battery existence should be no issue for expertise employees. The ScreenPad may well be an acquired style, but you will not know if it suits you until finally you shell out some time with it.

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