ASUS Zenbook A14 review: With Copilot+, everything's Zen

At a glance

• Processing power

• AI credentials

• The OLED screen

• The keyboard

• Incredible battery life

• Connectivity

Whether you’re after a workhorse for business, or a machine to get creating with, there are features to suit – and all in one of the lightest laptops to have ever graced our desk. This unit weighs just under 1kg, belying the power that’s within.

At its heart beats a Snapdragon X processor – there are two models available, the differences being the power of that processor, and whether there’s 512GB or 1TB of speedy SSD storage onboard, and 16GB or 32GB of RAM.

While new to the PC space, the Snapdragon has proven itself in top-line smartphones over many years and delivers serious punch when coupled with Windows 11. From internet browsing to the Microsoft Office suite, and even some workhorse graphics tools, everything that we threw at it zipped along at a very serviceable clip.

Then we come to the Zenbook A14’s AI credentials. Its task-dedicated NPU is capable of up to 45 TOPS – that’s trillion operations per second. Yes, it’s seriously powerful. This means less waiting around for AI tasks, and more time getting things done.

Good looks never hurt in a laptop, and here the Zenbook A14 really shines. The sleek matte finish is made of a ceramic/aluminium hybrid that’s not surprisingly called Ceraluminum. Not only does it have a premium feel, but it also serves as quite the suit of armour to protect your investment.

Opening the Zenbook A14 up reveals the quite stunning 14-inch, 16:10 ratio, 2K OLED screen. OLED is renowned for being the peak of screen technology, delivering brighter whites and perfect blacks, in this case aided with HDR support.

Testing inside the screen performed brilliantly, and the big surprise was when we went outside to get a bit of fresh air and still found the screen to be crystal clear, even in bright sunlight. The screen also boasts low blue light emission certification to reduce eyestrain.

With its solid keys, the keyboard has very pleasing feel, while the large, one-piece trackpad is super-responsive.

Being the latest in Copilot+ PCs there’s a dedicated key to call it up – to the right of the spacebar – and amongst the usual function keys for brightness and volume there’s also one for the very handy keyboard backlighting, one to turn off the inbuilt Full-HD webcam, and even one for emojis!

Respectable battery life is another must-have for a good laptop, and ASUS have gone above and beyond with the Zenbook A14. It packs a huge 70WHr battery that promises up to 32 hours from one juicing up, enough to get you through any workday with ease.

It’s also worth noting that the charger is satisfyingly small, making it easy to stuff into your laptop bag just in case.

Another critical feature of a laptop is, of course, connectivity. The Zenbook A14 prepares users well for several eventualities, with a full-size HDMI port for connection to an external TV or monitor, one USB-A, two USB-C (one of which is used to connect the power block), and a 3.5mm port for wired headphones or external speakers.

Online connectivity is done wirelessly, with Wi-Fi 6E support as standard. Meanwhile, Bluetooth v5.3 effortlessly handles connectivity for peripherals such as a mouse, external keyboard, or wireless ear gear.

Audio-wise, a pair of stereo speakers performs pretty well for a laptop of this size – it’s certainly more than capable for more intimate presentations, and great for catching up on a TV show or movie when you’re in a space where you don’t have to use headphones.

The Zenbook A14 really is a capable little machine that delivers some very desirable bells and whistles, especially when it comes to up-to-the-minute AI support, and it doesn’t cost crazy dollars to get on board with.

Check your specs

The Zenbook A14 Copilot+ range starts with a Snapdragon X Plus X1P 42 100 processor featuring a 30MB cache, up to 3.2GHz, eight cores, and eight threads, coupled with a 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

The next step up packs in a Snapdragon X Elite X1E 78 100 processor with 42MB cache, up to 3.4GHz, 12 cores, and 12 threads. It comes with 1TB of SSD storage and 32GB of RAM.