ASUS ZenBook 14 Ultra Thin & Light Laptop, 4-Way NanoEdge 14” Full HD, Intel Core i7-8565U, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB NVMe PCIe SSD, Wi-Fi 5, Windows 10, Silver Blue, UX431FA-ES74

Comment

update 03/31: they should remove the numberpad functionality description on this item. I know its optional on some models, but the one sold here in amazon does not come with this numberpad feature. its supposed to be built-in the trackpad and theres a button you press to switch between the numpad and the trackpad just like the ux333/ux433 models, however theres only the fingerprint scanner for the model listed here in amazon. I wouldnt ding a star since overall value proposition is still great imo original review: when i first opened the box, you get 2 extra goodies- a carrying sleeve and an optical mouse! very useful and a nice freebie imo. booting up the unit was fast- well all ultrabooks now that comes with a pcie ssd and windows 10 boots up really quick now less than 10 secs. although checking out the spec sheet- m.2 ssd is only a pcie x2 lane not the x4. crystaldiskmark reveals a 1500+mb read and a paltry 600+mb write. its fine for its use just for daily computing needs and the occasional webrowsing and office work. also dont get confused with this one and that other zenbook 14 the ux433- that one comes with an IR windows hello (as opposed to this ones fingerprint only windows hello capability), a slightly bigger 50whr battery compared to this ones 47whr. battery life is ok for now, im averaging approx. 6hrs on my intended use- power mode set to better performance on the windows slider (not the better battery). I was hoping to get at least 8 hrs of battery life but maybe its just the way i use my computer- brightness set to 50%. Further, the trackpad is windows precision- so its the best that you could get in a windows computer. tracking is good and smooth. Display quality is excellent- colors pop, viewing angles are wide since its IPS and i couldnt detect any light bleeding on the edges- quality control is very good. it gets fairly bright too. i just set mine to 50% most of the time in normal lighting condition. Keyboard tactility is par for the course- great travel distance and the keyboard deck doesnt flex thank god! attesting to the Military grade spec standard its suppose to be certified with. Overall this is a very decent, very beautiful ultrabook and i especially love the mix of materials and color choice- it looks classy, business and professional. also i got it on lightning deal here at amazon saving me 120$ from MSRP although the additional tax lessened the discount to 85$- but still one helluva bargain. I could buy a pair of shoes for that extra savings. Will be updating this review as i got to use it more frequently. All in all, a very good buy!

Show more

Comment

Ive been a long time Zenbook fan and have owned two Zenbooks over the last several years. These older units were really nice for the day. They had a beautiful aluminum case and were super thin. Battery life was descent. The one thing that I always hated was the charging port. The connection was always lose and prone to falling out or being bumped and damaged. I had assumed that Asus would have fixed this issue. Well I was horrified to find out the same old crappy charging port was still being used. My last Zenbook had a backlit keyboard which was amazing when I was in a dark room and wanted to type. I was disappointed to find out that Asus chose not use back lighting on the keyboard. I asked before it was purchased and was told by one person, from the company, it did have it and another person said no. I figured I would wait and see. I went into the Microsoft store and put a similar Asus next to the Matebook pro. The Asus was dim in comparison and colors were not saturated. The screen lacked contrast and had glare. The Zenbook being sold here seemed to have the same screen but with a smaller bezel. The Matebook was so much better. However, for re-sale I knew the Asus was the way to go. I didnt use it for more than 5 minutes once I saw these deficiencies. Honestly, I think Asus is under a lot of pressure to get a Zenbook to market for under 1k. I got a flash sale and bought it for 738 with tax which is a good price. The Matebook is way more. In conclusion,not having a back lit keyboard and the charging port were deal breakers for me.

Show more

Comment

I ordered this notebook in March, after delivery fond that notebook has not numberpad. It has only a fingerprint scanner.

Show more

Comment

I use my laptop every day for a variety of tasks - email, document creation (Word, Excel and pdf), online research, on line research, banking, and shopping, and streaming music, videos, and podcasts. I upgraded from an older Zenbook, which now houses my "archive." My previous Zenbook was fast, but the new 14" is even faster. Everything loads without delay, including video files. Downloads are faster, as are software installs. Screen resolution is excellent and the 14" screen is installed in a 13" chassis. It has a 256gb solid state hard drive, which makes it lighter and faster. The audio is the best Ive encountered, although I frequently use a wireless speaker. The Zenbook is slim and light, making it easy to use away from home I often use it to take meeting notes. For those who care about looks, my new Zenbook is a very attractive light blue aluminum and has blue metallic keys instead of black plastic. I compared to similar Dell and HP products the Zenbook boasts equal performance at a lower price.

Show more

Comment

I bought this for my wife since her 8-year old Macbook Air has been getting old and feeling slow now. I didnt want to pay again more than $1000 for a laptop. All she needs is MSOffice and Chrome, it doesnt matter if it is MacOS or Windows. I wanted a laptop with comparable quality and good looks at a lower price. So in the end, ASUS Zenbook 14 looked like an option. The hardware is actually better than Macbook Air since Zenbook 14 has U series quad-core processor instead of dual-core Y-series processors used in latest gen Macbook Air. I have been using a Y-series dual-core Dell Latitude E7370 Ultrabook and I can tell that the quad-core U-series CPU is noticeably faster. However U-series CPUs require better cooling. My Dell E7370 does not even have a cooling fan and about 1/2 lbs lighter. I think the interesting LCD hinge design of Zenbook 14 actually helps with cooling (more than ergonomics as advertised) by elevating the air intake grill at the bottom for better air flow. When the processor is has work load, I can hear the fans of Zenbook 14. Screen is a very high quality LCD panel, it has accurate colors, good contrast, and brightness. The body looks very much like metal (although I think it is plastic) and there is no excessive flex; construction quality is strong and materials feel high quality. The installed Windows 10 came with McAfee security software which I have uninstalled at once together with some other minor unnecessary software like ASUS application store, LinkedIn, and a couple of games. I have reverted back to default Microsoft security software and I did not feel the need to reinstall Windows. I have updated the Intel graphics, WiFi, and Bluetooth software to the latest versions directly from Intel as well (installing graphics driver required uninstallation of the original). WiFi performance (Intel AC 9560) is pretty good with our TPLink A7 router. The SSD is an OEM Western Digital unit and performs great. Keyboard is backlit with three lighting levels plus it can be turned off. Actually, keyboard backlight was initially off and I had to figure out that the F7 key was controlling it. Oh and the sound! Zenbook 14 has a very good sound system. If there is nobody to disturb around, one can simply enjoy the music/video without the headphones. The battery life looks decent; it can easily last two full movies on battery or typing a document all day. The keyboard has good feeling with decent travel distance while typing. I would still prefer my Latitude 7370 but ... anyway. The trackpad has good sensitivity and response as well. Overall, I think 5 stars rating is well deserved. My wife is happy; not looking back at her old Macbook Air. I would have given 6 stars if the price was $100 lower.

Show more

Comment

EDIT: Trackpad issue: the first laptop I received the trackpad was terribly loose so I returned it thinking something was broken. Ordered another one and had the same issue, but not nearly as bad. Instead of returning it I opened the back up, removed the battery and stuck a folded piece of paper in between the trackpad its springs, problem solved. The fact that I had pisses me off but it was a 5 minute fix that I shouldnt have had to address in the first place. This issue is not only an Asus issue but a host of other manufacturers, google loose trackpad. Overall, this is a beautiful laptop that is priced perfectly and checks all of my boxes. Oh, and dont believe what that Asus representative says in the comments about the number pad being there on the trackpad, it is not. I repeat, THERE IS NO NUMBERPAD! I really dont care though, seems gimmicky and not sure I would use it all that often. ORIGINAL POST: Just received my Asus today. Love this little laptop for the very short time Ive had it, but the trackpad is loose, makes a noticeable noise whenever it slightly press it. Returning and getting a new one, hopefully no issues with that one. Oh, and where is the number pad???

Show more

Comment

I bought this laptop because it seems to pack a lot of bang for the buck as far as processing power as replacement for a 10 year old macbook. I wanted a laptop that could handle the smaller data processing jobs before transferring to a larger super computer. But I also use it for fun like listening to music, streaming videos, and light gaming. I also dual boot linux (ubuntu distro currently, see below why only ubuntu). hardware likes I read reviews of the older zenbook 433 that said the speakers stunk, the screen was dim, and the trackpad felt loose. Asus fixed all these problems! The screen is bright(!) with sharp resolution, and the speakers are VERY LOUD. I usually just play music between 2-10% but you can crank this puppy up if you wanna listen in the shower. The trackpad feels fine, no complaints. The processing power is a good bang for the buck with an intel 8th gen i7, not bad for under $1G. I expect itll be out of date in 2 years but yeah, what chu gonna do? The general feel of the laptop is sturdy and the aluminum finish is a nice find for a laptop under $1G. hardware cons Be aware, the UX431-FN model series DOES NOT COME WITH THE LIGHT UP NUMBERPAD ON THE TRACKPAD. A slight bummer (I tried it out in a store, its not a gimmick, i would have used it, so jealous) but if you want that you can wait for the UX-431FN series to come out and pay mas dinero (written 5/27/19). The keyboard has a wee bit of give. Coming from a macbook (which has zero) this might bug some people. Hasnt bothered me yet, but thought it is worth mentioning. If youre a gamer, this computer does not come with a dedicated graphics processor (GPU) so take that into account if a high performance gaming machine is what youre after. That being said, Ive tried a couple slightly-older fast-paced online zombie first person shooters (left for dead 2 and Killing floor 2) without any problem. One more tiny thing, theres no play/pause button on the keyboard which I am quite used to on my old macbook. Slight bummer BUT on windows 10 you can adjust trackpad settings to play/pause/volume control with 3 or 4 fingers. So thats ok wik me. Review Part 2, LINUX! While this review is being written, most (all?) stable linux distros do not support the whiskey lake iteration of 8th gen intel core processors, at least not out of the box. If using a LTS release, youll get a black screen after booting. The temporary fix of adding "nomodeset" while booting will reveal a very low resolution screen that will chew threw your battery life. There is a patch out there, but I couldnt find much in the way of documentation for it. My ad hoc workaround is just using the latest ubuntu release (disco dingo) and adjusting the boot parameter. It works for now for what I need it for and the screen looks sharp. Newer versions of other lighter linux distros didnt work. Just be aware, brand spanking new hardware isnt always the best for linux.

Show more

Comment

I gambled and bought this to run Linux. To get Linux running smoothly required solving one major hurdle related to the graphics system (you can do a search on Ubuntu launchpad for UX431 to see how I finally solved that), plus a few other minor hurdles. Now it is running Linux smoothly: graphics works, and is fast, sound is excellent (minor tweak to fix a problem where the volume adjustment range is extremely compressed to the low end), Bluetooth works, camera works, WiFi is fast and works out of the box with Ubuntu 18.04. I bought a USB C to Ethernet adapter (Uni, $19) and that worked without hassle too. I havent tried the fingerprint scanner. Physically this laptop is outstanding. Sturdy, with a nice keyboard and screen for my tastes, and good performance for the price. If the Lightning Deal for this machine were still active Id buy another one for a family member. Since my use case (Linux) isnt the expected one for this product, I wont deduct any stars in this review for the hassles I went through getting the graphics system working in Linux. But I do wish ASUS would have tested this in Linux. It would have been a simple matter for ASUS to program the LCD panel with an EDID string that could be recognized by Linux, FreeBSD etc.

Show more

Comment

I was hesitant to buy this with so few reviews, but this is a great laptop for a price. Its lightweight, fast & the graphics are good quality. It doesnt get overly hot or loud, even playing games.

Show more

Comment

There is no number pad. Yes, it is included in the product description. The description is wrong. I am not an expert on all things ASUS; this is only my second Asus Zenbook. From what I can determine, if you have the fingerprint reader there is no number pad. Overall, this new Zenbook is fast. The connectivity is excellent. And it is significantly more durable than older models. Follow-up. The description has been changed removing the number pad. Love this machine. Just bought another for the business.

Show more