Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition review (UX5401ZAS model)

37 Comments

  1. Joe Mass

    April 29, 2022 at 6:34 pm

    What are your thoughts on this vs a Dell XPS 13 Plus with the faster processor for data science use for someone who travels? I am torn between them. How much faster is this – really.

    • Andrei Girbea

      April 30, 2022 at 9:41 am

      I'm working on reviewing the i7-1260P, i5-1240P and compare it to the other options on the market. Should be up next week or so

    • Radek

      October 19, 2022 at 10:13 am

      I am also deciding between this (i7 option) and Dell 13 XPS Plus. Mostly for non-gaming, MS office work. Seems to be the two best powerful/best looking/premium options. Comparison would be super appreciated.

      • Andrei Girbea

        October 19, 2022 at 10:24 am

        Noted the suggestion, but the comparison might take a while, I'm swamped with a lot of other articles right now.

        Shortly, the ZenBook is slightly more powerful and has a slightly better cooling module. It also has a larger battery, more standard inputs, better IO, and an OLED display.

        The XPS is an XPS so, in theory at least, benefits from better support and warranty, it's a bit more compact and lightweight, and offers some extra configuration options that are not available on the Zenbook (mostly for screens, but also some specs).

        Generally, if you're OK with an OLED on your laptop and the design particularities of the ZenBook, I'd lean towards it. The inputs on the XPS, the IO and the smaller battery are the potential deal-breakers for me. Tough call, though.

        BTW, I'd also consider something like an ROG Flow X13 or some of the 13-14 inch models built on Ryzen 6800U hardware that should be available in the near future. Hope this reply helps.

      • Radek

        October 19, 2022 at 12:28 pm

        I actually like OLED and the design, ZenBook that is then. Many thanks for the reply.

  2. Brad331

    May 3, 2022 at 6:00 am

    "I’d also add that there’s no card reader option on this series, if that’s something you might want."

    The MicroSD card reader is on the right side! It looks like another cooling vent so it's easy to miss.

    • Andrei Girbea

      May 3, 2022 at 10:23 am

      Thanks, that was an editing mistake. I meant there's no full-size SD card reader. Updated!

  3. Brad331

    May 17, 2022 at 8:58 am

    You mentioned that your "sample did not perform as expected on battery with the current BIOS, fluctuating between 10-45 W". You said "I can’t properly judge this notebook’s performance on battery, as the current BIOS is not ideally optimized for it. We’ll need to update on this at a later date." Has Asus acknowledged this problem and/or promised to fix it in a later BIOS update?

    My Space Edition throttles to 400MHz (due to "Electrical Design Point/other") periodically when under load on battery. Unless I put it in Whisper Mode (which limits PL1 to ~17W), I get this catastrophic throttling when doing any serious work on battery.

    • Brad331

      May 17, 2022 at 8:59 am

      I should add that updating to BIOS version 301 (released on May 9) DID NOT alleviate this problem.

      • Jody Massey

        May 19, 2022 at 1:24 am

        A quick google search shows that when the CPU reaches max temp, it drops to 400 for chip safety.

      • Brad331

        May 19, 2022 at 11:47 am

        Jody, if you look at the screenshot Andrei linked in his reply below, the CPU was not close to reaching max temp yet still throttling to 400MHz. Also, if you were to monitor "Performance Limit Reasons" in HWiNFO, you'd see "Electrical Design Point/Other" instead of "ProcHot" as the throttle reason. This suggests that the system is running into a hard current draw limit instead of gracefully controlling the power draw like other laptops do.

      • Andrei Girbea

        May 19, 2022 at 12:12 pm

        Yeah, that behaviour is not normal. The i9-12900H can run fine on sustained battery-use sustained in many other products, including portable designs such as the Flow Z13, albeit at lower sustained power than when plugged in. See this log for the Z13: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/stress-cinebenchr15-perf-battery.png

        @Brad I'm following up with Asus on this, will get back if/when I have any reply.

      • Brad331

        May 30, 2022 at 10:40 am

        I uploaded a video to demonstrate this problem: youtube.com/watch?v=sL0aY3ntYnI

      • Andrei Girbea

        May 30, 2022 at 10:52 am

        I don't have any feedback on this yet

    • Andrei Girbea

      May 17, 2022 at 4:08 pm

      I didn't get to follow up on that. That throttling is weird, I haven't experienced it on this laptop or others, as you can tell from the HWinfo logs included for daily use activities. Not sure what to advise here, other than sending back and asking for a replacement if possible in your area.

  4. Jody Massey

    May 18, 2022 at 11:31 pm

    This appears to be the fastest touchscreen laptop of its size. Would you agree? If not, why & what is faster?

    • Andrei Girbea

      May 19, 2022 at 10:02 am

      ROG Flow X13/Z13 are more powerful. This is fast in GPU loads, but not as well balanced in GPU chores

      • Jody Massey

        May 19, 2022 at 6:01 pm

        It looks like X13 only has up to an AMD Ryzen™ 9 5980HS, but the Z13 can have an i9-12900H.

        I assume the i9 will be in the X13 soon. Should I wait?
        I really hate tablets vs laptops.
        Also – these appear to be the fastest of anything with up to 14" touchscreen laptop (not just 13.4") – is that what you think as well?
        Your site is the best!

      • Andrei Girbea

        May 19, 2022 at 6:08 pm

        The X13 is AMD exclusive and available with up to a Ryzen 9 6900HS in the latest 2022 generation. Z13 is intel exclusive. You'll find review for both on the site. They're the most powerful sub-14-inch options available at this point

  5. aaiio

    June 22, 2022 at 9:55 pm

    Hi,

    You have
    > PWM: to be discussed.
    in review but i cannot find any reference to that. Is PWM noticeable in this laptop ?

    • Andrei Girbea

      June 23, 2022 at 11:24 am

      Sry for the omission, we don't have the right tools to test for PWM, but flickering is not a concern on these new-gen Samsung OLEDs , compared to older-gen options

  6. chuy lugo

    June 26, 2022 at 3:43 am

    hello, i been a mac user for 10 years, now im between continue with mac (macbook pro with m1 max) or updating to a windows laptop, which one will have a similar performance to the m1 max? i always have use both windows and macos on my mac, so software will not be a game changer, do u have any suggestions? thanks alot, great reviews by the way!

    • Andrei Girbea

      June 26, 2022 at 11:10 am

      I haven't properly looked into the M1 max. This ZenBook 14x or the Dell XPS 13 Plus are among the most powerful ultraportables on the market. Something like the ROG Flow X13/Z13 should also be considered for extra capabilities, especially on the GPU side.

      • Chuy lugo

        June 26, 2022 at 11:15 am

        Thanks alot for the reply.. And which cpu do u think it's best on laptops those laptops the Intel. I9 12th or the rysen 9?? Thanks alot

      • Andrei Girbea

        June 26, 2022 at 11:19 am

        it's not that simple, because each implementation is different based on thermal design and power settings. At up to 45W, 12th gen Intel and Ryzen 6000 are about on par, with an advantage for Ryzen at lower power, and for Intel at higher power. Most ultraportables run at lower power sustained.

        Thing is, there are few Ryzen 6000 options available at this point. Some with a Ryzen 9 6900HS, and almost none with the Ryzen 7 6800U. Yet

  7. Muhammed Patel

    July 17, 2022 at 5:32 pm

    Hi there, this was quite a bit of information for a noob like me lol, I just want to know if it would be suitable for Graphic Design? Particularly CorelDraw and the Adobe Suite? If not, what would you recommend in a similar price range that would better suit my needs?

    • Andrei Girbea

      July 18, 2022 at 10:49 am

      Should be OK. Do you need this sort of a compact format? and do you need 32 GB of RAM? There are a few other more powerful options worth considering, but most are either bigger/heavier or more expensive.

  8. Dave

    July 24, 2022 at 5:26 am

    I'm debating this laptop vs the zephyrus g14 (2022) vs xps 13 plus, mainly for work. I was leaning toward the 13 plus but reports of dell qc issues lately worried me.

    I'm a salesforce consultant and concurrently run office, a screen recording app, a video conferencing app, and multiple browsers with 10s of tabs each. Sometimes also use Inkscape and GIMP to put together visuals. Possibly some gaming from time to time. I need a device that will multi-task well; I was last using an m1 MacBook with 16gb of ram and it regularly slowed or momentarily froze on me.

    What would you suggest?

    • Andrei Girbea

      July 24, 2022 at 9:50 am

      You should be fine with all. The G14 is the better balanced option and the more capable multitasker, but the others should do well for what you need – bar the gaming experience, as they are Iris only graphics. Up to you. You're not going wrong with any of them.

      You'll want at least 16 GB of RAM, and if possible, even 32 might help for those loads.

      • Dave

        July 24, 2022 at 3:12 pm

        Thank you! I'll look for a g14 with 32gb of RAM. I appreciate the input!

  9. Gabriel Alves

    September 6, 2022 at 7:34 pm

    We're having a dabate over here in Brazil, about what appears to be a kind of weird "variant" sold by Asus itself in our market. It's the "standard" version (the blank one, sans the tiny OLED screen). The submodel is UX5401ZA. Same Samsung OLED panel, same i7 CPU comparing to some Space Edition models. The thing is: NO TOUCHSCREEN. Not even under Linux or after BIOS updates. I've found at least one other owner confirming this characteristic on his model. The product page does not mention it at all, but Asus' ads in various ecommerce websites do.

    @Andrei, have you seen this in any of this model variants around? It appears the brazilian version is the only one so far. Disappointing IMO, but not enough to make me return it.

    • Andrei Girbea

      September 19, 2022 at 9:36 am

      Configurations vary between areas. You should ask your local Asus reps about it. Asus offered the OLED 14-inch panel in both touch and non-touch variants on their laptops, so perhaps yours is non-touch.

      One way to tell is to look closely at the screen while running a white background. If the image is smooth over the white background, then you have the non-touch version. if there's a slight grainy mesh noticeable over the whites, then it's the touch with the digitizer.

  10. Sarthak

    October 1, 2022 at 7:34 pm

    Hi @Andrei
    Im stuck choosing between this laptop with i5 config and new d13 oled 6800u, im only leaning towards this one because of the 90hz screen. Any suggestions?

  11. Arlen Tsao

    January 16, 2023 at 8:43 am

    Do you know if the battery life has improved by now with BIOS or software updates? I really want this laptop but the average to below average battery life is holding me back. Kind of strange how a Zenbook Duo with two screens can achieve better battery life than this.

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