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

The 14-inch Asus ZenBook 14 UX435EG incorporates the quirky ScreenPad — a little secondary display screen embedded in the touchpad that supports a range of uses, which you will never uncover on laptops from any other maker. The ZenBook range’s standard slender-and-light-weight create is current and suitable, and although the price tag of £1,399 (inc. VAT £1,165.eighty three ex. VAT) could possibly appear to be a small large you do get an 11th-generation Intel Core processor and discrete Nvidia graphics. This product 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 considerably considerably less amazing when you notice that Asus is the only laptop manufacturer that does ScreenPads. 

However, the ZenBook 14 UX435EG is in fact modest at 31.9cm large and 19.9cm deep, and also slender at 1.59cm thick at the entrance, growing to 1.79cm at the back again the place it demands to accommodate a variety of ports and connectors. The body weight of 1.19kg can make it an ideal laptop for carrying close to, and the create is impressively robust. The aluminium alloy chassis substance implies I could not bend the lid in my arms, and it lends a great deal of solidity to the foundation way too. Asus states the ZenBook 14 UX435EG meets MIL-STD 810G, but if you never want to ding the etching on the outside the house of the lid, you could possibly nevertheless want to use a protecting sleeve when carrying or storing this laptop. 

Acer can squeeze a 14-inch display screen into a chassis that’s scarcely greater than the display screen by itself many thanks to its minimal-bezel NanoEdge display screen, which delivers a (claimed) 92% display screen-to-body ratio. Acer presents us two separate measurements for the little shorter-aspect bezels: 2.6mm calculated involving the edge of the non-lively display screen display screen place and the inside edge of the circumstance, and 4.4mm calculated from the edge of the display screen to the inside edge of the chassis. For the leading and base bezels, which are thicker, we just get measurements to the edge of the non-lively display screen: 6.1mm for the leading edge and three.3mm for the base. The relatively deep leading bezel accommodates the IR webcam with Home windows Hi assistance.  

The display screen by itself is a 14-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) LED-backlit IPS touchscreen. It really is shiny, obvious and sharp with 400 nits maximum brightness, but fairly reflective. The touch responsiveness on my critique product was exemplary. 

The excellent display screen is complemented by a Harman Kardon-accredited dual speaker set up that delivers good-high quality sound, despite the fact that leading volume could be louder. If you use the integrated audio subsystem for voice or video clip phone calls, the AI-assisted sound-cancelling audio capacity could occur in beneficial. There are four modes to select from: Normal, Stability, Solitary Presenter and Multi-Presenter. 

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The keyboard manages to be the two ‘clacky’ and ‘thunky’. Heavier-handed typists could possibly uncover the sound degree a small annoying, and there is certainly a honest total of flex. However, the keys are large and well spaced, and I was ready to touch style at my standard velocity. The touchpad is offset a honest way from the room bar, which took a small obtaining utilized to, but it’s relatively large and extremely responsive.  

The ScreenPad is the most notable characteristic of this laptop — and in fact of a expanding selection of Asus laptops. The simple plan is that the touchpad doubles up as a second display screen — a five.sixty five-inch FHD+ (2160 x 1,080) Tremendous IPS panel that delivers a range of productiveness-maximizing shortcuts, controls and utilities. 

So, for case in point, there is certainly a utility for automating keyboard sequences identified as Fast Critical, a characteristic for launching selected groups of apps with a pair of faucets, and a handwriting recognition utility. You can even switch material involving the key display screen and the ScreenPad — despite the fact that the pad is so modest that it’s only simple for a modest selection of features. You can find also a potentially handy selection pad.  

Asus supplies an API for third get-togethers, so possibly additional features and even bespoke apps could possibly seem in the upcoming. The ScreenPad is easily toggled on and off via a Fn key, for those times when you just want to use the simple touchpad options. 

Every single time I have reviewed an Asus laptop with a ScreenPad I have found it appealing to engage in close to with, but not an indispensable addition to my each day computing. If it ended up a long lasting characteristic of my each day laptop I could possibly use it additional, but I are unable to be confident. For now, it’s an intriguing but unproven Asus-precise characteristic. 

The ZenBook 14 UX435EG is driven by an 11th generation Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor with discrete graphics courtesy of Nvidia’s 2GB GeForce MX470 chipset, along with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. This is a extremely well-specified ultraportable laptop — hence the price tag tag. There are other configurations, but these are not at this time accessible in the Uk.  

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There are two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, 1 of which is occupied when the laptop is charging, a single USB three.2 port, a full-dimension HDMI port and a three.5mm headset jack. You can find also a MicroSD card reader.  

On its website, Asus basically estimates battery daily life from the 63Wh battery as ‘outstanding’. Around 3 hrs of a usual working working day all through which I mainly labored into website apps, browsed, listened to songs and viewed video clip, the battery went from a hundred% to seventy four%. On that foundation, you ought to be ready to get a day’s work performed on battery power, if you happen to be jogging mainstream workloads. 

Conclusions

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX435EG is well built and has an up-to-day, large-stop configuration. The keyboard is noisy but extremely comfortable to use, the 14-inch IPS display screen is excellent and all-working day battery daily life ought to be no problem for know-how staff. The ScreenPad could be an acquired taste, but you will never know if it fits you right until you shell out some time with it.

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