Zenbook 14 (UM3402) advantages:
* Much longer battery life than 14X
* Cooler to the touch than 14X, but more likely to hear fans
* $70 cheaper at Walmart ($630)
* 14" makes it more compact than 14X @ 14.5"
* Charger brick also more compact. 390 grams (14X) vs 221 (14) grams
* Lighter and slimmer profile - superior grab-n-go (14X bulkier)
* SD card reader
14X (UX3404) advantages:
* Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 ports (14 is just USB-C) 2x USB 4.0 ports (14 2x USB 3.2)
* Quieter under load and pretty much silent in whisper mode
* Better webcam (1080p vs 720p)
* Better for gaming (1.69 TFLOPS vs 1.13) ~50% faster!
* Significantly higher single (30-35% faster) and multi-core (68%) performance, though differences may not be noticeable - overall much better pick for productivity workloads like encoding/video editing; 14 cores and 20 threads on the 14X; 8C/16T on the 14)
* Users with both models report the 14X may have a more premium build
* Superior cooling system (14X maxes at 47 dB under load, versus 52.5 dB on the 14 -- major difference if doing full workloads)
* Superior audio via Harmon Kardon speakers
* Faster RAM
* Faster NVMe (PCIe 4.0 vs 3.0)
* Display: 120hz vs 90hz on the 14, though I wouldn't consider this a major factor at all
* Display: Review suggest the 14X display produces better whites and color balance; also little brighter
* Display: 14X has ambient light sensor for dynamic display brightness
Subjective Differences
* 14 uses fingerprint unlock; 14X only offers IR face unlock
* Display: 14.5" 14X vs 14" on 14
* Touchpad slightly bigger on 14X (13x7.6cm vs 13x7.4cm)
* 14X glass touch pad; 14 plastic
Summary
14 and 14X are both great laptops regardless. If battery life and cool-to-touch is most important, the 14 is a great pick and you also save $70.
For productivity workloads, 14X is better with a lot more processing power and CPU cores.
https://nanoreview.net/en/laptop-....4_d.2_r.2
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expiredDr.W posted Dec 18, 2023 1:55 PM
ASUS Zenbook 14X Laptop: i7-13700H, 14.5" 2.8K 120Hz OLED Touch, 16GB DDR5, 512GB
$700
$1,000
30% off
+ Free Shippingat Best Buy
Top Comments
By itself, the 14X is the best deal for a thin and light with OLED and touch right now IMO. I use it for school and media consumption. With 1440p netflix streaming at 80% brightness the battery goes down to 4-5 hours. I find that the sweet spot is 1440p at 60% brightness, I get 7 hours with this. The trick with the high performing H-series intel CPU is to always keep it running in power efficiency mode and keep the fan off. I never run into any performance issues running multiple (10+) windows and tabs, mostly office apps and firefox, as well as youtube in the background. With that kind of usage I get anywhere from 5-8 hrs a day, depending on the workload. I can usually get another hour if I turn off 120Hz and use 60Hz instead.
It is a joy to use. The screen is the biggest strength, but the keyboard, speaker and large trackpad are great too. Unlike some others I actually really like the integrated numpad, I don't accidentally turn it on and it's good for when I need it. I don't do excel daily though, so I can't say for sure if it replaces a real numpad.
Compared to the 14 from Walmart that has AMD: this 14X is probably the worse option, IF you don't care for face ID. Screen size difference is negligible, and (max) performance feels about the same. However the battery life on the 14 is a lot better, as I can run the other machine at 90Hz and faster performance, brighter screen, for slightly longer battery life. I reckon if I used the 14 as conservatively as the 14X I could push 10 hours easily. That said, face ID on the 14X is very convenient and the 14 only has fingerprint ID.
That said, the 14X battery life isn't too bad. It's actually very impressive for an H-series thin and light and like I said, if you treat it like a U-series then you get better performance than an actual U, with the best battery life.
In short, if you like battery life and fingerprint ID, go with the 14 AMD. If you need face ID and don't mind a worse battery life, go with the 14X. Either way for less than $700, you can't go wrong with either options and it's hard to find an OLED screen in a better package in this price range. Heck I think this outright beats some of the $1300+ options out there from players like Dell, HP and Lenovo.
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99 Comments
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However, I have the spend $250 get $25 back on 3 of my cards - so I today I got one at a store and split payments on 3 cards to get extra $75 off - hopefully my eyes can get past the grainy screen.
Had the Walmart AMD on store pickup but may pick this one up instead. Any thoughts between the two?
By itself, the 14X is the best deal for a thin and light with OLED and touch right now IMO. I use it for school and media consumption. With 1440p netflix streaming at 80% brightness the battery goes down to 4-5 hours. I find that the sweet spot is 1440p at 60% brightness, I get 7 hours with this. The trick with the high performing H-series intel CPU is to always keep it running in power efficiency mode and keep the fan off. I never run into any performance issues running multiple (10+) windows and tabs, mostly office apps and firefox, as well as youtube in the background. With that kind of usage I get anywhere from 5-8 hrs a day, depending on the workload. I can usually get another hour if I turn off 120Hz and use 60Hz instead.
It is a joy to use. The screen is the biggest strength, but the keyboard, speaker and large trackpad are great too. Unlike some others I actually really like the integrated numpad, I don't accidentally turn it on and it's good for when I need it. I don't do excel daily though, so I can't say for sure if it replaces a real numpad.
Compared to the 14 from Walmart that has AMD: this 14X is probably the worse option, IF you don't care for face ID. Screen size difference is negligible, and (max) performance feels about the same. However the battery life on the 14 is a lot better, as I can run the other machine at 90Hz and faster performance, brighter screen, for slightly longer battery life. I reckon if I used the 14 as conservatively as the 14X I could push 10 hours easily. That said, face ID on the 14X is very convenient and the 14 only has fingerprint ID.
That said, the 14X battery life isn't too bad. It's actually very impressive for an H-series thin and light and like I said, if you treat it like a U-series then you get better performance than an actual U, with the best battery life.
In short, if you like battery life and fingerprint ID, go with the 14 AMD. If you need face ID and don't mind a worse battery life, go with the 14X. Either way for less than $700, you can't go wrong with either options and it's hard to find an OLED screen in a better package in this price range. Heck I think this outright beats some of the $1300+ options out there from players like Dell, HP and Lenovo.
By itself, the 14X is the best deal for a thin and light with OLED and touch right now IMO. I use it for school and media consumption. With 1440p netflix streaming at 80% brightness the battery goes down to 4-5 hours. I find that the sweet spot is 1440p at 60% brightness, I get 7 hours with this. The trick with the high performing H-series intel CPU is to always keep it running in power efficiency mode and keep the fan off. I never run into any performance issues running multiple (10+) windows and tabs, mostly office apps and firefox, as well as youtube in the background. With that kind of usage I get anywhere from 5-8 hrs a day, depending on the workload. I can usually get another hour if I turn off 120Hz and use 60Hz instead.
It is a joy to use. The screen is the biggest strength, but the keyboard, speaker and large trackpad are great too. Unlike some others I actually really like the integrated numpad, I don't accidentally turn it on and it's good for when I need it. I don't do excel daily though, so I can't say for sure if it replaces a real numpad.
Compared to the 14 from Walmart that has AMD: this 14X is probably the worse option, IF you don't care for face ID. Screen size difference is negligible, and (max) performance feels about the same. However the battery life on the 14 is a lot better, as I can run the other machine at 90Hz and faster performance, brighter screen, for slightly longer battery life. I reckon if I used the 14 as conservatively as the 14X I could push 10 hours easily. That said, face ID on the 14X is very convenient and the 14 only has fingerprint ID.
That said, the 14X battery life isn't too bad. It's actually very impressive for an H-series thin and light and like I said, if you treat it like a U-series then you get better performance than an actual U, with the best battery life.
In short, if you like battery life and fingerprint ID, go with the 14 AMD. If you need face ID and don't mind a worse battery life, go with the 14X. Either way for less than $700, you can't go wrong with either options and it's hard to find an OLED screen in a better package in this price range. Heck I think this outright beats some of the $1300+ options out there from players like Dell, HP and Lenovo.
By itself, the 14X is the best deal for a thin and light with OLED and touch right now IMO. I use it for school and media consumption. With 1440p netflix streaming at 80% brightness the battery goes down to 4-5 hours. I find that the sweet spot is 1440p at 60% brightness, I get 7 hours with this. The trick with the high performing H-series intel CPU is to always keep it running in power efficiency mode and keep the fan off. I never run into any performance issues running multiple (10+) windows and tabs, mostly office apps and firefox, as well as youtube in the background. With that kind of usage I get anywhere from 5-8 hrs a day, depending on the workload. I can usually get another hour if I turn off 120Hz and use 60Hz instead.
It is a joy to use. The screen is the biggest strength, but the keyboard, speaker and large trackpad are great too. Unlike some others I actually really like the integrated numpad, I don't accidentally turn it on and it's good for when I need it. I don't do excel daily though, so I can't say for sure if it replaces a real numpad.
Compared to the 14 from Walmart that has AMD: this 14X is probably the worse option, IF you don't care for face ID. Screen size difference is negligible, and (max) performance feels about the same. However the battery life on the 14 is a lot better, as I can run the other machine at 90Hz and faster performance, brighter screen, for slightly longer battery life. I reckon if I used the 14 as conservatively as the 14X I could push 10 hours easily. That said, face ID on the 14X is very convenient and the 14 only has fingerprint ID.
That said, the 14X battery life isn't too bad. It's actually very impressive for an H-series thin and light and like I said, if you treat it like a U-series then you get better performance than an actual U, with the best battery life.
In short, if you like battery life and fingerprint ID, go with the 14 AMD. If you need face ID and don't mind a worse battery life, go with the 14X. Either way for less than $700, you can't go wrong with either options and it's hard to find an OLED screen in a better package in this price range. Heck I think this outright beats some of the $1300+ options out there from players like Dell, HP and Lenovo.
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By itself, the 14X is the best deal for a thin and light with OLED and touch right now IMO. I use it for school and media consumption. With 1440p netflix streaming at 80% brightness the battery goes down to 4-5 hours. I find that the sweet spot is 1440p at 60% brightness, I get 7 hours with this. The trick with the high performing H-series intel CPU is to always keep it running in power efficiency mode and keep the fan off. I never run into any performance issues running multiple (10+) windows and tabs, mostly office apps and firefox, as well as youtube in the background. With that kind of usage I get anywhere from 5-8 hrs a day, depending on the workload. I can usually get another hour if I turn off 120Hz and use 60Hz instead.
It is a joy to use. The screen is the biggest strength, but the keyboard, speaker and large trackpad are great too. Unlike some others I actually really like the integrated numpad, I don't accidentally turn it on and it's good for when I need it. I don't do excel daily though, so I can't say for sure if it replaces a real numpad.
Compared to the 14 from Walmart that has AMD: this 14X is probably the worse option, IF you don't care for face ID. Screen size difference is negligible, and (max) performance feels about the same. However the battery life on the 14 is a lot better, as I can run the other machine at 90Hz and faster performance, brighter screen, for slightly longer battery life. I reckon if I used the 14 as conservatively as the 14X I could push 10 hours easily. That said, face ID on the 14X is very convenient and the 14 only has fingerprint ID.
That said, the 14X battery life isn't too bad. It's actually very impressive for an H-series thin and light and like I said, if you treat it like a U-series then you get better performance than an actual U, with the best battery life.
In short, if you like battery life and fingerprint ID, go with the 14 AMD. If you need face ID and don't mind a worse battery life, go with the 14X. Either way for less than $700, you can't go wrong with either options and it's hard to find an OLED screen in a better package in this price range. Heck I think this outright beats some of the $1300+ options out there from players like Dell, HP and Lenovo.
I have the AMD Zenbook from Walmart and I see the grain and I'm on the cusp of needing reading glasses. Compared to the HP from Costco (I have it too) a few days ago the screen is more vibrant on the HP but probably not as color accurate compared to the Zenbook. The Zenbook looks washed out in comparison for colors on the yellow, orange and red end of the color spectrum (not sure if this is the digitizer). Whites look slightly dirty too but are probably accurate. HP looks very vibrant if not slightly too much on reds and oranges. Whites are crisp without looking cool.
Build quality is definitely better on the Zenbook, no flex in the deck or screen. Keyboard and trackpad are better. If it's just a media machine, not an office computer, it's probably not a huge deal. HP keyboard and trackpad are fine and I probably would not know any difference if I didn't have both. Build quality is definitely less on the HP. There is some flex in the deck and in the screen. The outer finish (not screen) on the Zenbook is a finger print/smudge magnet and it looks dirty after minor handling. Zenbook runs warmer and fan is on more than the HP.
I keep wondering if I even need a PC or should jump completely over to Apple. I just can't pay $1100 for a MacBook Air 15 with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. I could probably swallow it if it was 512GB SSD. I know 8GB RAM is ok on those.
Looking for a laptop as a gift primarily for use for drawing with a Wacom tablet. So a nice screen is my main consideration, but the recipient also plays some basic games.
Plugged in, maxed fan, the 14X is faster than the 14. At the
lowest settings, the i7 is faster as well. The Ryzen doesn't beat the i7 in speed. However, I find that the Ryzen 7 is much more battery efficient than the i7.
Which is why I keep the 14X at the lowest performance setting. This is where I never hear the fan turn on, and heat is minimal. I have to run my fingers along the bottom to feel anything.
The 14 with the Ryzen can run at "balanced" setting with fans auto on. Naturally there is a tiny bit more heat and sound. But it beats the i7 in its slowest setting, AND still has longer battery overall.
I can confirm that the battery difference is about 3 hours or so after playback around 10 minutes.
My thoughts I think for a casual user the Ryzen would make more sense.
If there is a need for tasks that need more processing power then the 14x makes more sense.
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