Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA review: thin laptop with good screen

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Specs Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA

Design and construction

Laptop screen

Keyboard and trackpad

Sound and webcam

Connectors and ports

Performance and Cooling

Storage and games

Autonomy Asus Zenbook 14 OLED

Total

Should I buy

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED laptop review – video

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (2022) is a premium thin laptop with a 12th generation Intel processor and the next update in the lineup.

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Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA is designed fordaily tasks and content consumption. The new Asus ultrabook has a nice design and compact size, making it easy to take the device with you anywhere. The Intel Core i7-1260P chipset is responsible for performance, while the 14-inch 2880×1800 pixel OLED display is well suited for videos and movies.

Read also: Huawei MateBook 16 review – AMD Ryzen 5 laptop with 16-inch FullVIEW 2.5K display

Specs Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA

Screen

14-inch OLED, 2880×1800 pixels, 90Hz refresh rate, 16:10 aspect ratio, 600 nits peak brightness

CPU

Intel Core i7-1260P (12 cores, 16 threads, base frequency 2.1 GHz, overclocked to 4.7 GHz, L3 cache 18 MB)

Intel Core i5-1240P (12 cores, 16 threads, base frequency 1.7 GHz, overclocked to 4.4 GHz, L3 cache 12 MB)

Video card

Intel Iris Xe

RAM

8/16 GB LPDDR5 on board, not expandable

Inner memory

512GB/1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 Performance SSD

Connectivity and connections

Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), dual band 2x2, Bluetooth 5.2

operating system

Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro

Webcam

720p HD

Ports and connectors

1×USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, 2×Thunderbolt 4 with external display/power support, 1×HDMI 2.0b, 1×3.5mm combo audio jack, MicroSD

Battery

75 Wh, 2S2P, 4 cells, Li-Ion

Dimensions

31.36×22.06×1.69 cm

Weight

1.39 kg

Colors

Blue (Ponder Blue), light green (Aqua Celadon)

Price

From 1500 $ (80 thousand rubles)

Design and construction

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA has a simple and minimalistic design - the back cover is crossed by several stripes, and a small logo can be seen in the corner.

On the bottom surface there is nothing butfans and trademarks. Two colors are available for sale: blue (Ponder Blue) and light green (Aqua Celadon). The hinge is designed so that when the laptop is opened, the top of the keyboard is raised slightly to allow better airflow from below. The display tilts at any angle up to 180 degrees - in the maximum position, the screen actually lies on the table.

The body of the Zenbook 14 OLED is almost entirely aluminum - plastic can only be seen around the display and in the hinge area.

Aluminum has a nice matte finish, but iteasily gets dirty with any touch. In addition, it is inconvenient to open the laptop, there is almost nothing to catch on with your fingers. But the lower part of the case does not rise, and the display is light enough to be lifted with one finger.

Laptop screen

As the name implies, one of the main features of the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is the 14-inch display.

Its resolution is 2880×1800 pixels,90Hz refresh rate and 10bit color depth. There is also support for HDR10. As is the case with most OLED panels, it has an incredibly wide color gamut, with sRGB and DCI-P3 color spaces having full coverage while Adobe RGB has 97%.

By default, the colors are saturated and the color temperature is cool, but the settings can be changed in the MyASUS app.

The color profiles to choose from haveproblems with the accuracy of shades, if you plan to work with graphics, you will have to adjust the display for a long time. But OLED technology provides high contrast with perfect blacks. Viewing angles are good - there is no hue shift when viewed from the side either.

However, the color temperature changes slightly depending onside of cold shades. This is a small problem, but it is worth remembering when working with graphics. The refresh rate of the panel reaches 90Hz, although the default mode is 60Hz. To set the frequency to 90 Hz, you need to go to the Intel Graphics Command Center program, where you can also change the color depth from 8 to 10 bits.

The HDR mode on this screen looks great,although the brightness only reaches 330 nits in SDR, it can go up to 600 nits in HDR. True, you need to first enable the option in Windows settings and calibrate the display.

On sale there is a version with a regular screen, soand touch - in the latter, the brightness is limited to 550 nits. The OLED panel in the Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA has some minor light reflection issues, so it's sometimes difficult to make out content in bright light, even at maximum brightness.

Keyboard and trackpad

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA has a standard TKL island-style keyboard (without a block of separate numeric keys).

The buttons in the top row (F1-F12) haveadditional functions that are activated by pressing the Fn key, to the left of Win. The top row also houses the power button, with a built-in fingerprint scanner. In the lower right corner are arrows in the form of an inverted letter T, it is easy to find by touch.

The keyboard is comfortable for typing - between the buttonslong distance and good feedback. There is a backlight with three levels of brightness, and the inscriptions on the keys remain clearly visible in the dark. The only annoying thing is that the backlight automatically turns off after a few seconds of inactivity.

Under the Zenbook 14 OLED (2022) keyboard is a large trackpad with a comfortable surface and gesture support.

Its main feature is virtual digitalkeyboard Asus NumberPad, which is activated by pressing the button in the upper right corner. After that, numbers and arithmetic signs are projected onto the surface of the trackpad.

Sound and webcam

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED has two speakers on the bottom sides.

Their sound is not the best, the volume is low, although the quality can be improved in the Dolby Atmos program. However, I advise you to connect headphones.

The top frame houses the 720p webcam. The quality of shooting here is average, and there is no support for Windows Hello technology, so unlocking can only be done through the fingerprint scanner.

Connectors and ports

Most of the connectors on the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA are located on the right side of the laptop.

Here you will find a full size HDMI 2.0b, headphone jack, two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C and a microSD card slot. On the left was only USB-A 3.2 Gen 2. Thunderbolt 4 also charges – it’s a pity that both ports are on the same side, so you won’t be able to connect the adapter on the left.

In addition, both USB-C and headphone jacklocated too close to each other. To increase the amount of internal memory, only a card reader is added - although a slot for a full-size SD memory card would not hurt here.

As for wireless connectivity, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 are available to the user.

Performance and Cooling

The tested version of the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (2022) runs on an Intel Core i7-1260P processor with a maximum core clock speed of 4.7 GHz.

Used as a video cardintegrated graphics Iris Xe (1.4 GHz), and in the MyASUS program you can adjust the speed of the cooling fans and select the operating mode: Productive, Standard or Quiet.

If you select the first one, the fans will spin formaximum speed and quite a lot of noise. In Standard mode, the rotation speed is lower, although the noise is the same under heavy loads. Quiet mode has 40% lower fan speed and 35% lower performance, but you won't hear any noise.

In performance mode i7-1260P processorshows itself well. The laptop is well suited for multi-threaded processes, as evidenced by the Cinebench test, where the laptop scores 1750 points in single-core and 10489 in multi-core mode. When working with graphics, 16 GB of RAM may not be enough, but for small projects it is enough.

If you need fast 4K video rendering, you'd be better off with a more powerful device.

Cooling system in Asus Zenbook 14 OLEDThe UX3402ZA is poorly implemented, and 12th generation Intel processors are notoriously hot. The chip often exceeds the critical mark of 100°C even when performing not the most demanding tasks, which causes throttling. The underside of the laptop gets hot, making it nearly impossible to work on your lap.

Luckily, the keyboard and trackpad are only slightly warm when using the Asus laptop on a desk, no problem.

Storage and games

The 512GB Samsung 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 SSD is fast, with read speeds of 6769MB/s and write speeds of 5075MB/s.

Alas, the performance in games is a bitdisappointing because the Iris Xe's integrated graphics don't pull modern titles even at the lowest 1080p settings. At best, you can run old or competitive games.

The Shadow of the Tomb Raider laptop Asus Zenbook14 OLED UX3402ZA is capable of 28 fps at low settings at 1080p. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at its lowest settings and 1080p is 96 fps, while Doom Eternal will give you a maximum of 33 fps.

Autonomy Asus Zenbook 14 OLED

The Zenbook 14 OLED has a 75Wh battery capacity and includes a 65W USB-PD adapter.

In 50 minutes, it restores 60% of battery power, and when performing everyday tasks like web surfing and watching videos, you can count on 5-6 hours of battery life.

If you turn on the Quiet profile and set the frequency60Hz refresh, the run time will increase, although it is not the longest compared to competitors. In the MyASUS app, you can choose to what percentage you want to charge the battery: up to 60, 80 or 100%. The lower this number, the longer your battery should last - if you use a laptop at home, set it to 60%.

Total

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA is a good laptop with a compact and thin body.

Its main advantage is excellentOLED display, although the model boasts other features. The internals are quite powerful for everyday tasks, the keyboard is comfortable, and the trackpad is large. Windows 11 won't be to everyone's taste, but there's a handy MyASUS app with lots of customization options.

On the other hand, the Core i7-1260P processor is stronglyheats up when the cooling system is not coping well with it. The placement of the connectors is a bit poor, the battery life is not the longest, and the Iris Xe graphics card is not suitable for gaming.

Should I buy

In general, the Zenbook 14 OLED has more advantages, so Asus turned out to be a successful and compact laptop.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED laptop review – video Premium 2.8K OLED display | Zenbook 14 OLED Unboxing Alexander ShamanAlexander has been writing for a long timealmost two decades. Initially, he collected technology news for local media. His love of science fiction awakened a huge thirst for knowledge. Trying to understand how it works and whether it can work better, he becomes so carried away, as if he is immersed in a trance. For this, among colleagues in TehnObzor, he received the nickname - Shaman. An excellent Asus ultrabook for the usual things Design and ergonomics95/100 Display and multimedia95/100 Keyboard and input devices95/100 Connectors and ports80/100 Performance90/100 Communications and connections90/100 Autonomy work85/100 Total 90Zenbook 14 OLED UX3402ZA from Asus is a great ultrabook for work and any everyday tasks, although you should look elsewhere for games and heavy projects.Pros and consCompact designPremium buildSuperb OLED displayComfortable keyboard and trackpadPerforming Intel Core i7-1260PMediocre webcamInconvenient location of connectorsThe processor gets very hot under load