Asus’ new Zenbook A14 laptop, if it wasn’t clear from the name, is its answer to the MacBook Air. Sporting Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chip, Asus’ fancy ceraluminum material across the whole chassis, and a sub-1kg weight, the A14 is built from the right stuff to go toe-to-toe with the Air.
Not only has it earned its place as one my favourite Windows laptops, it also proved itself as a contender for the ultra-portable crown. The A14 has a battery that keeps on chugging, solid performance, it’s super easy to carry around and Asus managed to do all this while keeping the price ($1,299) reasonable.
Sure, the A14 isn’t a perfect laptop, but Asus gets enough right that the few missteps are easy to forgive, especially in cases where it helps keep the cost down.
Specs
- Display: 14-inch 1920 x 1200 pixel OLED 60Hz panel with LED backlight
- Processor: Snapdragon X
- Memory: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Dimensions: 31.07 x 21.39 x 1.34 ~ 1.59 cm
- Weight: 0.98 kg (2.16 lbs)
- Camera: FHD camera with IR for Windows Hello
- Operating System: Windows 11
- Battery: 70WHrs
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
- Ports: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2x USB-4 Gen 3 Type-C, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm audio
- Graphics: Qualcomm Adreno
Note: the above specs are for the specific A14 configuration I tested. All A14 spec options are available on Asus’ website.
Design
I first got my hands on the A14 at a CES preview event in late 2024, and right from the start, I was intrigued. I already really liked Asus’ ceraluminum material, which I wrote about at length in my Zenbook S 14 review. The material combines ceramic and aluminum for what Asus says is a more durable, wear-resistant finish. While the S 14 only features ceraluminum on the lid, the A14 makes it a whole-body experience, which pays off.
The laptop feels really unique and it’s super light, weighing in at just 0.98kg (2.16lbs). The weight, combined with the size, makes the A14 feel ultra-portable. I can slide it in my backpack and it’s like it’s not even there. It’s not the thinnest laptop out there, but it’s slim enough that I don’t have any complaints. Plus, there’s the whole thinness versus battery life tradeoff – I’ll get into battery life more below, but suffice it to say the A14 comes down on the right side of things, offering a slightly thicker chassis and excellent battery life.
One gripe I have with the design is that there’s some notable flex in the laptop’s lid. It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but the flex contributes to a slightly cheap feeling and makes the display a bit bouncy. I suspect the culprit here is the laptop’s weight. Because it’s so light, Asus had to ensure users could open the lid easily without lifting the whole laptop. And while the company did an excellent job tuning the hinges for a really smooth opening, I suspect the company slimmed out the lid as well, potentially causing the extra flex. Whatever the cause, it’s a minor issue overall, but contradicts the premium ceraluminum finish.
The Zenbook A14 sports an OLED panel, which is always welcome, but it’s not the best. It’s bright enough most of the time, but it isn’t super high-res and maxes out at 60Hz. The colours and contrast are also both fine – the display didn’t exactly wow me, but it wasn’t disappointing either. Some people might find the display specs disappointing, but I’m not too bothered by them.
In my eyes, higher resolutions are wasted on laptop-sized screens and it can be tough to see the difference between an FHD+ display like what’s on the A14 and QHD or UHD panels. Plus, the extra resolution can hurt battery life by drawing more power for all the extra pixels and by making the GPU work harder. Similarly, as much as I like 120Hz screens, the increase in refresh rate draws additional power, so I’ve increasingly kept my laptops locked to 60Hz to extend battery life. Ultimately, it comes down to what you care about, but I think Asus made reasonable tradeoffs here.
It goes on and on and on and on and on…
Another thing I really like about the Zenbook A14 is it features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chip, and the benefits are very clear. On the performance side, everything feels snappy. I had no issues running apps, and while some people might have the odd app that doesn’t work great on ARM, I think the vast majority of PC users at this point can use Qualcomm’s chips without fear.
But the benefits of Snapdragon X go beyond just good performance – these chips run great on the go as well as at home. One of my biggest issues with x86 chips from Intel and AMD is that performance can be great when the laptop is connected to a charger, but it drops off when unplugged, especially when using the ‘best efficiency’ power mode to extend battery life.
But on the A14, performance was great regardless if I had the laptop plugged in and regardless of the power mode settings. For example, when testing Geekbench 6, the A14 put up very similar numbers when unplugged on the ‘balanced’ mode (2,077 single-core, 10,222 multi-core) to ‘best performance’ while plugged in (2,117 single-core, 10,220 multi-core).
The thing that really sold me on the battery life was when I went over 24 hours without plugging in and still had 30 percent battery left. That 24-hour period started around 4pm on a Monday, when I unplugged the laptop to go work on my couch. I finished up my day at five and closed the laptop, but I never brought it back to my office to charge. It spent the night unplugged, then I tossed it in my backpack Tuesday morning when I left my place in Hamilton to head to MobileSyrup’s Toronto office. The A14 kept chugging all day – I worked on it during my 75-minute train ride, and then I used it all day at the office without plugging in. When I wrapped up my day a little after 5pm, it still had a little over 30 percent battery left, and it held that all night long until I finally plugged it in on Wednesday morning.
At this point, it’s increasingly clear that anyone who cares about battery life in a laptop should be getting an ARM-equipped machine, whether that’s a Windows PC with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip or a MacBook with an M-series processor. Intel and AMD still have their place, but I have yet to try an x86 PC with a battery life as good as this.
Everything else
Asus nails most of the other features on the A14.
The keyboard is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed typing on it, even though it’s slightly less tactile than I prefer. The key travel is good and it feels suitably premium.
Similarly, the trackpad feels fantastic. The size is great, it’s clicky and my fingers glide across it with ease. It also supports the same gestures as the Zenbook S 14 if you’re into that kind of thing.
The webcam and speakers are fine. Neither are particularly great, but they work well enough for meetings and watching the odd video.
Worth the money?
The A14 starts at $1,299 in Canada, which is an attractive price for what’s on offer. That price puts the A14 on par with the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air and well under the M3 version. It’s also in line with or slightly under many of the other Snapdragon-equipped Windows laptops available in Canada.
Ultimately what it comes to is what trade-offs you’re willing to make. I found the Zenbook A14 fit perfectly into my work style, offering great performance and battery life, and I didn’t mind the lower-res display. But some might rather have more premium features like high-res, 120Hz screens. Those options are out there, but they cost a little more.
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