ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The 2024 Asus Zenbook 14 is available at Best Buy for $799.
- It’s affordable, sports the solid hardware, and has a long battery life; all packed into a form factor that weighs less than three pounds.
- As great as it is, this laptop has a tendency to run hot.
The 2024 Asus Zenbook 14 has dropped to $640, a $160 discount. Act fast because the laptop is on clearance. Once all units are sold, they’re gone.
Among the plethora of work laptops, the 2024 Asus Zenbook 14 stands tall. It performs incredibly well, has a comfortable keyboard, a long-lasting battery, and a bright, smooth display. There isn’t a single category where this device doesn’t excel. This Zenbook model was one of the best laptops I’ve used last year, and I still recommend it in 2025.
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One of the reasons why the Zenbook is so great is its sheer versatility. The model I went hands-on with here featured the Intel Core Ultra 5, but there are additional configurations available, including with the Intel Core Ultra 7 and 9 processors supported by Intel’s AI Boost. Its high degree of customizability, combined with the bold form factor, allows the model to still perform well among contemporary work computers.
Energy efficient
One of the Zenbook’s shining features is its longevity. No matter which power mode the machine is set to, expect it to last most of the workday. I performed my usual test of running an endlessly playing YouTube live stream at 720p and 50% brightness.
On Best Performance, the battery ran for about 6.5 hours before dying. On Balanced, it surpassed that time by going over 10 hours. Then, on Best Power Efficiency, the Zenbook 14 lasted a solid 12 hours. Keep in mind these times were all achieved without battery saver turned on. 12 hours in 2025 is still a decent amount of time. More powerful models like the 2024 Asus Pro P16 don’t last as long.
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Asus went with energy-efficient hardware for this laptop. My review unit has an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H bundled with an integrated Intel graphics card and 8GB of RAM. Make no mistake: that is not a particularly high-end configuration. But it doesn’t need it. It manages to perform quite well thanks to a secret weapon: a neural processing unit (or NPU).
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NPUs were a new addition to laptops last year, with 2024 seeing large-scale integration. To oversimplify what they do, NPUs harness AI to boost the performance of CPUs and GPUs by taking some of the workload off them. For example, while testing this laptop, I was able to have 50 tabs open across six windows, all without experiencing a drop in performance.
Sleek design
Alongside the energy-efficient hardware, Asus equipped this laptop with a 14-inch, Full HD OLED display that runs at a variable refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. The screen covers the entire PCI-3 gamut, enabling bright, vivid colors. Full HD may not sound super impressive nowadays, but it still manages to output highly detailed images. Plus, the bezels around the display are very thin, resulting in a display with a 16:10 aspect ratio for wide-angle viewing.
My praise for its design doesn’t stop there. It weighs less than three pounds but manages to be quite durable since its exterior is made primarily from aluminum. Even the screen is tough, as Asus used Corning Gorilla Glass in its construction. However, since it’s so thin, there aren’t a ton of ports on this laptop. All it has is one USB-A input, two USB-Cs, a headphone/earphone jack combo, and an HDMI port — at least the basics are covered.
I appreciate laptops with great keyboards, and the Zenbook 14 does not disappoint. It comes equipped with the company’s patented ErgoSense technology, making the keyboard ergonomically friendly. Each of the keys has a travel distance of 1.4mm travel distance, which lets you type on them without having to press the buttons all the way down. This alleviates some of the stress on your fingers. Also, ErgoSense replicates the key spacing on full-size keyboards, ensuring accurate typing.
Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET
Now you may be wondering: what’s the catch? Is the Asus Zenbook 14 as perfect as you say it is? Well, there are a couple of downsides. One: the speakers are at the bottom of the laptop, facing down. This results in the audio sounding muffled. Fortunately, they’re still powerful enough despite their poor placement. Music sounds great coming from these speakers, but I did notice some audio distortion occurring at high volume.
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The biggest issue is the fact that it can run incredibly warm. You can’t even type on the keyboard or have it on your legs without discomfort. Heat vents are found on the bottom and the side, but they don’t offer much relief. This problem is exacerbated if you try to use the laptop while charging. There’s so much heat that typing on the keyboard becomes uncomfortable. You’re honestly better off not using the laptop during this time.
ZDNET’s buying advice
The Asus Zenbook 14 is a solid laptop with decent performance, a crisp display, sturdy design — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I didn’t even mention the 1080p webcam, the anti-fingerprint coating covering the trackpad, or maybe the best part of all: the affordable price.
You can purchase my review unit’s configuration on Best Buy for $640. The laptop is on clearance, meaning once Best Buy sells all units, there will be no more. If you’re looking for something with extra power behind it, Asus is selling the Zenbook 14 with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor for $1,300.
