This is my detailed review of the Asus ExpertBook Ultra B9406 series.
This is the top-of-the-line offer in Asus’s ExpertBook commercial lineup meant for businesses, but it’s a perfectly viable consumer laptop for those interested in a higher-tier, higher-performance ultraportable. What matters is that Asus target stricter reliability standards and offer improved warranty conditions for their ExpertBooks, from 3 years default to up to 5 years as an extra. That’s important.
Now, back to the Ultra, I’ve been using this notebook over the last several months, and it is one of the flagship Windows ultrabooks available in stores these days: premium and lightweight build, latest-gen OLED touch display with a matte coating, a compelling implementation of the Intel Panther Lake Core Ultra X7 hardware, a large battery and decent efficiency, good IO, and punchy audio.
What’s the catch, though? Well, this still isn’t widely available in stores, and it costs an arm and a leg where you can find it. It goes for 2500 to 2800 EUR over here in Europe, but that’s partially because Asus only offer it in higher-tier variants with 64 GB of RAM. That might change later on. Nonetheless, that’s XPS and X1 Carbon level pricing, but it’s a fair level given you’re getting a product that matches and even arguably outmatches those options. It’s not without some quirks, though, some of them even potential deal-breakers, as you’ll find out in a bit.
Down below, I’ve gathered my thoughts and impressions after using this notebook for about three months. I just wanted to give it more time and use it for longer, given what it is and how much it costs.
Specs Sheet – Asus ExpertBook Ultra
Asus ExpertBook Ultra B9406CAA, 2026
Screen 14-inch, OLED, 16:10 aspect ratio, touch, matte (Gorilla Glass Matte),variant with Polymer OLED display available as well
Processor Intel Panther Lake Core Ultra Series 3,
Video Intel Arc B390 iGPU, 2.5 GHz, 122 TOPS
Memory 32 GB LPDDR5x-8533 (soldered), up to 64 GB
Storage 2 TB SSD (Samsung PM9E1), single M.2 2280 gen5/gen4 slot
Connectivity WiFi 7 (Intel BE211), Bluetooth 5.4
Ports left: 1x USB-C TB4, 1x HDMI 2.1 TMDS, 1x USB-A 3.2 gen2, mic/headphone
Battery 70 Wh, 90W USB-C charger
Size 310 mm or 12.24” (w) x 212 mm or 8.38” (d) x 10.9 – 16.4 mm or 0.43”-0.65″ (h)
Weight 2.45 lbs (1.1 kg) + .35 (.77 lbs) for the USB-C charger, cables1 kg for the variant with the Polymer OLED display
Extras clamshell format with a 140-degree hinge,
There are no lower-specced configurations offered for the 2026 ExpertBook Ultra series at this point, but that could change later in the year.
Design, build quality – ultra lightweight chassis At a first glance, this is a standard Asus ultrabook design, available in two color variants, one lighter and one darker. Our unit is the lighter silver variant, fancily called Morn Gray. If given the choice, I’d probably get the darker Jet Fog, though.
Aesthetically, this is quite a sleeper laptop, with an Asus logo on the lid and minimal ExpertBook branding on the inside, under the screen. Rather weird, I would have expected a more unified design with ExpertBook written on the lid as well, like on Zenbooks or ThinkPads.
Nonetheless, this is compact, slim and lightweight, at around 1.1 kilo for this variant, but is quite a performer as well with an advanced cooling module inside, as we’ll discuss further down in this article.
As far as the weight goes, Asus plans on offering two display variants for this series and they affect the total weight: this variant with the Tandem OLED touch matte panel weighs 1.1 kilos, and there’s a lighter version with a Polymer OLED display mentioned at 1 kilo, which will perhaps be available later at some point.
Asus used a variation of their ceramic aluminum material for the entire chassis and outer shells of this series, which partially explains how they are able to keep this at only ~1 kilo. It’s not the same Ceraluminum implemented on the Zenbook A14 and S14 lineups, though, this is a magnesium-aluminium alloy with a nano ceramic coating that adds in toughness, scratch resistance, and smudge protection (especially on this lighter silver variant, I’d expect smudges to show off to some extent on the darker color).
It feels like fine sandpaper or matte paint to the touch, so a little harsh on the fingers, and I’d argue the overall feel isn’t quite as nice as on the metals available on a MacBook, XPS or Zenbook S14 (the inner deck). Nonetheless, that’s just a first impression and the practicality of this finish will quickly grow on you.
And btw, here’s how this ExpertBook Ultra looks next to the Apple MacBook Air 13.
And here it is next to the Asus Zenbook S14, for comparison.
Ergonomically, the surfaces are friendly to the touch as mentioned already, and all the edges and corners are comfortably dulled and rounded. Furthermore, there are no LEDs or light in the line of sight, and the rubber feet provide good grip on a flat surface.
Well, there is actually this thing called ExpertLumi lighting, which is a bar LED implemented under the display that glows based on specific actions. I just disabled it as soon as possible, but you could look into its functionality and decide if it makes any sense for you or not.
The hinge, however, is quite weak on this early-generation review unit. Asus mentions that they retooled the hinges to make it easier to open up the display with a single hand, but the consequence is the fact that the display doesn’t stay in place when you pick up the laptop and move around. For regular desk use, that’s fine, but for on-the-go use, it’s a nuisance that you will notice. I’ve seen this complaint mentioned in some YouTube videos as well, and Asus came back and mentioned they’re addressing the weakness in the retail units. But make sure to double-check on your device.
On top of this, the display only leans back to about 140 degrees and not flat or closer to flat, which bothers me greatly on such a portable design. Lenovo and Dell offer flat opening angles on their business laptops, and Asus should have done better here.
My other nit with this design is the oversized touchpad with haptic action. But more on that in a bit. While we’re discussing the inputs and main deck, I must mention the speaker grills flanking the keyboard, as this laptop integrates quad-speakers with punchy and good quality audio.
And then there’s the IO, with a full-size HDMI and USB, an audio jack and two USB-C ports spread on both edges, so you can conveniently plug this in on either side, based on need and preference. There’s no card reader or lock, but otherwise, excellent IO for a notebook of this size.
As an important extra detail, Asus mention they’ve reinforced the ports to allow prolonged usage, as part of their additional standards and requirements for commercial notebooks. One of the reasons they’re able to give 3-5 years of warranty for this series (and most of their other ExpertBooks).
Keyboard, haptic touchpad The keyboard is a slight variation of the 14-inch Asus ultrabook layout they put in Zenbooks and Vivobooks.
The keycaps are smooth to the touch and get a small indent in them. Their finishing isn’t as rough as on the Zenbook A14 and rather closer in feel to the regular Zenbook 14s.
The stroke is deeper than on a MacBook Air or Zenbook S14, at 1.5 mm, thus the feedback is more consistent. The keys are quiet to type on, I’d say even quieter than on regular Zenbooks. The keyboard is splash resistant as well.
Particularities of this layout are the larger Up and Down arrows and the integration of a finger-sensor in the power button, which is placed in the top-right corner. That means you might go for it by mistake when looking for Delete, and while the key is flatter and requires extra force to activate, you should disable it in the settings so you don’t accidentally put the computer to sleep when you might hit it.
The keys are backlit with white LEDs, and while they do get fairly bright, the contrast with the light-gray keycaps is still limited. I’d switch off the lighting during day use, and the software can do that automatically for you with the help of the integrated light sensor.
The touchpad is huge, it’s a glass surface, and it’s a haptic implementation. I know many swear by haptic touchpads such as the ones on MacBooks, but I, for one, am not their fan.
For this one in particular, regular swipes, taps and gestures worked fine, but specific actions such as clicking and dragging were buggy quite often. This is an early unit, and the behavior should hopefully be addressed with later software updates, but I still struggle with it even a few weeks after launch. Make sure to look into any issues in your retail unit.
Furthermore, this touchpad stretches from just under the keyboard all the way to the front lip of the device, without any separation space, and that means ghost swipes and touches can happen quite often, especially when using this on the lap and clothes come in contact with the surface. I notice the same issues on my MacBook Air, but that’s more of an issue here, as the touchpad goes flush at the front.
Aesthetically, sure, this approach looks spectacular, but in real life I would prefer the functionality of a regular touchpad with extra top/bottom borders. Now, if you’re using your laptop on a desk most of the time, perhaps you won’t even notice this aspect. But for my use, the experience leaves to be desired.
As far as ergonomics go, Asus includes an IR camera (as part of the camera ensemble at the top of the display) and a finger-sensor (integrated in the power key) on this series.
Display – 3K matte touch OLED The display on this ExpertBook is the most advanced OLED available in this format today, a Tandem OLED with 3K resolution and up to 120Hz refresh with VRR, as well as much brighter than the regular OLEDs available in the space. Furthermore, this is covered in Gorilla Matte glass and supports touch.
We’re looking at close to 600-nits of sustained brightness and 1400-nits peak HDR, which, paired with the non-glare coating, makes this perfectly usable in bright-light office spaces and outdoors. The experience is night and day compared to the regular glary OLEDs out there.
On the other hand, the matte finish adds a slight amount of grain, which can also be explained by the digitizer touch layer. That means whites and full light backgrounds appear a little muddy, but even so, the screen door effect is not as strong on this Tandem OLED as on older-generation touch OLEDs. I’d reckon most might not even notice it, but it is still there, especially visible when reading texts on white backgrounds.
That aside, this panel is superb. Blacks and contrast are still the standards expected from OLEDs, and color coverage is still wide-gamut at 100% DCI-P3. But sure, perhaps the colors might not appear quite as popping due to the matte finish. Furthermore, the panel offers VRR with up to 120Hz refresh rate and fast 1ms response times.
All in all, this is arguably the best display available on a mobile notebook today. You’ll still want to use it smartly, especially at high brightness levels for extended periods of time. And you’ll still have to acknowledge that PWM flickering is used for brightness modulation at all levels, but at around 1KHz, a frequency that won’t bother most eyes. In this regard, this offers the flicker-free screen dimming option in the myAsus app, but that means you’ll have to adjust brightness through the app and not with the regular Windows options and the F4/F5 keys.
Down below, the ExpertBook Ultra with the matte Tandem OLED display is illustrated next to the Zenbook S14 with the regular glossy OLED.
For what it’s worth, Asus mentions a Polymer OLED display variant available for this series as well, as showcased further down. This is a little dimmer and goes up to 144 Hz, plus it allows the overall laptop weight to drop to 1 kg.
Just be aware that there could be two display options available for this ExpertBook, so you can choose the right one for your needs.
Hardware and performance – Intel Panther Lake Intel Core Ultra X7 Our test model is a top-specced configuration of the 2026 Asus ExpertBook Ultra, code name B9406CAA, with an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor and Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics, 32 GB of LPDDR5x-8533 memory, and a very fast 2TB gen5 SSD.
Disclaimer: This is a review unit offered by Asus. The latest tests included are based on the software available as of early-April 2026 (BIOS 304, MyAsus 4.0.60.0 app, Intel V32.0.101.8362 driver). This software package is still fairly young; thus, some aspects can change with future updates.
Spec-wise, this series is based on Intel’s Panther Lake hardware platform, with Core Ultra Series 3 processors and Arc B390 integrated graphics. Panther Lake is an updated SoC (System on a Chip) architecture for 2026.
The CPU on this review unit is the Core Ultra X7 358H, a hybrid design with 16 Cores (4x Performance, 8x Efficiency, and 4x Low-Power Efficiency) and 16 Threads. The Performance Cores are built on the latest Cougar Cove architecture, while the Efficiency cores are built on the refreshed Darkmont architecture, as explained in this indepth article on Panther Lake laptops . The hardware provides a major increase in performance over the previous Arrow Lake and Meteor Lake platforms, as well as power efficiency unmatched in the past even by the Lunar Lake models.
An Intel Core Ultra X9 388H configuration should be available for specific versions of the ExpertBook Ultra series in some markets, but from what I can tell, no lower-specced configurations are planned.
The RAM on this notebook is onboard, with 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 on this unit. Configurations with 64 GB of RAM are available as well; in fact, most of the available retail units ship with 64 GB of RAM at the time of this article.
As far as graphics go, the Panther Lake X processors bundle an Arc B390 iGPU with updated 3rd generation Xe3 Cores. The B390 implements 12 of these Execution Cores on the die.
For storage, Asus opted for a lightning-fast PCIe gen5 Samsung PM9E1 SSD drive here, but retail models ship with gen4 SSDs by default, especially those with 1 TB SSDs (which you can upgrade if needed).
The SSD is the only upgradeable component on this laptop. To get inside, you need to remove the back panel, which is held in place by a handful of Torx screws. They’re of different sizes, so make sure you put them back in their right place.
As far as the software goes, this ExpertBook gets the standard MyAsus app, which allows control over the power profiles, battery, screen, and camera settings, updates, etc.
There are three performance/thermal profiles to choose from:
Performance – allows the hardware to run at ~45W sustained, with the fan ramping up to ~40-42 dB;
Balanced/Standard – limits the hardware at ~30W in sustained loads, with the fan ramping up to ~35 dB;
Whisper – limits the CPU at ~15W to favor fan noise of sub 30 dB.
These are powerful and quiet profiles for a laptop of this kind, especially as the fan noise rarely goes over 40 dBA on Performance, even with sustained loads – it does ramp up to 42 dBA at times, though. However, the much quieter Standard mode is perfectly fine for most use cases, for multitasking and even for gaming, as you’ll see in a bit.
But first, here’s what to expect in terms of speeds and temperatures with daily chores such as streaming video, editing text, or browsing the web.
Productivity Performance and Benchmarks On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance in the Cinebench R15 loop test.
On Performance mode, the Intel Core Ultra 7 358H processor peaks at around 65W of power for brief seconds, and then stabilizes at 45W, with temperatures in the high-80s C and fan levels under 40 dBA. That’s with the laptop bumped up from the desk.
The scores average around 2800 points, which is competitive by today’s standards, although not quite as fast as some other mobile platforms at similar power levels. More on that in a bit.
On Standard, the system limits the fan to around 35 dBA and the power stabilizes at 30W, with temperatures in the mid-70s C. The scores average around 2300 points, 20% lower than on Performance.
Whisper mode is quieter, at sub 30 dBA, but this limits the processor to around 15W, with the scores dropping to 1500 points. That’s about 60% of Performance mode.
Finally, our sample performed alright on battery power, stabilizing at 25W of power in Performance mode. However, that’s much lower than the plugged-in Performance profile. Things might change with software updates, though.
All these are illustrated in the graph below.
To put these in perspective, here’s how this Core Ultra 7 358H implementation fares against other hardware platforms available in current and past-generation thin and light laptops .
It’s faster than Intel’s Panther Lake H and Arrow Lake H platforms, and much faster than Lunar Lake V. At the same time, AMD platforms with Zen5 CPU cores (Strix, Gorgon Point, etc) score 15-35% higher at similar power levels. That’s because those implement 8x full-performance cores, and not the hybrid mix offered by the Intel hardware.
Furthermore, the Snapdradon X2 Elite hardware scores 20-30% higher in multi-threaded performance as well. However, I haven’t included the exact results here as Cinebench R15 is not properly compatible with Snapdragon X2.
We then went ahead and further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test and in Blender. We measured similar behavior, power limits, fan noise, and temperatures.
We then ran the 3DMark CPU profile test.
Finally, we ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook, on the Performance profile. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time. This unit passed the test both flat on the desk or raised on a stand, which means the performance is not impacted in longer-duration sustained loads as the heat builds up. Flat on the desk, thermals are a little higher.
Benchmark results and performance summary With that out of the way, let’s get to some benchmarks. We ran our standard set of tests with the laptop on Performance mode (45W sustained TDP) and the screen set at its default 2.8K resolution.
Here’s what we got.
3DMark 13 –CPU profile: max – 10181, 16 – 10203, 8 – 6513, 4 – 4278, 2 – 2271, 1 – 1169;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 14292 (Graphics – 17035, Physics – 28231, Combined – 4838);3DMark 13 – Solar Bay: 29303.3DMark 13 – Steel Nomad Light: 6095.3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 7474 (Graphics – 6878, CPU – 14693);3DMark 13 – XeSS: XeSS Off – 17.12 fps, XeSS On – 40.12 fps, 134.3% performance difference.
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 3779;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 10597;
Aida64 Extreme, memory test: 109499 MB/s read, 120443 MB/s write, 90.7 MHz latency;PCMark 10: 9399 (Essentials – 11208, Productivity – 14843, Digital Content Creation – 13547);GeekBench 6.3.2 64-bit: Multi-core: 16506, Single-Core: 2825;CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 3060 cb, CPU Single Core 302 cb;CineBench R23: CPU 19777 pts (best run), CPU 18371 pts (10 min loop test), CPU Single Core 2051 pts (best run);CineBench 2024: CPU 1109 (10 min run), CPU Single Core 122 pts;CineBench 2026: CPU multiple threads: 4533 (10 min run), CPU single thread: 504 pts.
And here are some work-related benchmarks, on the same Performance profile:
Blender 4.3.2 – BMW Car scene – CPU Compute: 2m 08s ;Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 5m 42s;Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute, OneAPI: 1m 08s;Blender 5.0.1 – BMW Car scene – CPU Compute: 2m 06s ;Blender 5.0.1 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 5m 22s;Blender 5.0.1 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute, OneAPI: 53s;
SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax 07: 38.15;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia 06: 30.14;SPECviewperf 2020 – Creo 03: 45.09;SPECviewperf 2020 – Energy 03: 10.40;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya 06: 155.74;SPECviewperf 2020 – Medical 03: 22.33;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX 04: 5.66;SPECviewperf 2020 – Solidworks 07: 52.17;SPECviewperf 15 – 3DSMax 08: 17.87;SPECviewperf 15 – Blender 01: 18.88;SPECviewperf 15 – Catia 07: 9.90;SPECviewperf 15 – Creo 04: 26.97;SPECviewperf 15 – Energy 04: 9.39;SPECviewperf 15 – Enscape 01: 13.80;SPECviewperf 15 – Maya 07: 80.21;SPECviewperf 15 – Medical 04: 21.01;SPECviewperf 15 – Solidworks 08: 25.02;SPECviewperf 15 – Unreal Engine 01: 38.27;V-Ray Benchmark: CPU – 13631, CUDA – 384.
This is a competitive mobile platform and the implementation allows for solid performance with decent thermals and fairly quiet noise levels.
On the CPU side, the Core Ultra 7 358H offers excellent single-core performance and good multi-threaded capabilities. However, as mentioned already, alternative AMD and Qualcomm platforms are 10-40% faster in multi-threaded loads. I’ve added a comparison table further down.
On the GPU side, however, the Intel B390 outmatches the Radeon 890M and Adreno X2-90 implemented in competing platforms by a higher margin. However, the Radeon 8060S bundled with AMD Strix Halo and Gorgon Halo Ryzen AI Max+ hardware is still the champion iGPU, and by a significant margin. And don’t forget that Strix/Gorgon Halo is generally implemented in higher-powered designs.
Panther Lake Core X7 358H vs. Arrow Lake Core Ultra 9 285H, Lunar Lake Core Ultra 7 258V, Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Here’s a very brief comparison of these results on the Panther Lake implementation versus a few other Intel, AMD and Qualcomm platforms available so far in this space.
ExpertBook Ultra B9406, ExpertBook Ultra B9406, Zenbook S14 UX5406, Zenbook S14 UX5406 ,Zenbook A14 UX3407 ,Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme Zenbook S 16 UM6506 ,
3DMark – Fire Strike 14237 (G – 16808, P – 28972, C – 4893)
13328 (G – 15941, P – 27065, C – 4457)
6471 (G – 7118, P – 26862, C – 2295)
8993 (G – 9984, P – 21713, C – 3429)
9632 (G – 10079, P – 25526, C – 4251)
7505 (G – 7946, P – 25618, C – 3031)
3DMark – Time Spy 7474 (Graphics – 6878, CPU – 14693)
6982 (Graphics – 6475, CPU – 12556)
3329 (Graphics – 2960, CPU – 11393)
4443 (Graphics – 4155, CPU – 7323)
4077 (Graphics – 3650, CPU – 12152)
3598 (Graphics – 3241, CPU – 9599)
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme 3747
3626
1579
2108
–
1600
CineBench R23 (best run) 19809 cb – multi core,
17334 cb – multi core,
16705 cb – multi core,
9930 cb – multi core,
–
17484 cb – multi core,
Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute 5m 42s
6m 47s
6m 58s
11m 43s
3m 33s
5m 12s
PugetBench – DaVinci After Effects –
–
–
530
–
688
SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 38.15
37.82
17.79
23.69
–
40.95
SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 30.14
30.18
15.55
18.94
–
33.25
SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 155.74
156.71
82.45
98.87
–
125.32
We’ll have a more detailed article comparing these findings in the near future.
Standard and Whisper modes, much quieter at 30-35 dBA You might be interested in a quieter experience on this ExpertBook, even if the Performance profile is not that noisy at around 40 dBA.
Here are some benchmark results for the Standard mode, in which case the fans won’t go over 35 dBA, and generally run around 30 dBA:
3DMark 13 –CPU profile: max – 10178, 16 – 10083, 8 – 6259, 4 – 4117, 2 – 2199, 1 – 1137;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 13342 (Graphics – 16080, Physics – 26181, Combined – 4429);3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 6482 (Graphics – 6358, CPU – 12037);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 3626;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 15324 cb, CPU Single Core 2055 cb;Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 6m 47s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 37.82;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 30.18;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 156.71;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 23.24;SPECviewperf 2020 – Solidworks: 53.05.
This mode limits the CPU at around 30W of sustained power, with quieter fans and lower internal temperatures. The results take a minor hit, at around 80-95% of what the system delivers on Performance mode, which means this Standard mode is excellent for mixed use in a quiet device.
There’s also the even quieter Whisper mode, in which case the fan won’t go over 30 dBA, but the CPU is power-capped at around 15W in this mode.
3DMark 13 –CPU profile: max – 6005, 16 – 5915, 8 – 3944, 4 – 2947, 2 – 2041, 1 – 1113;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 8803 (Graphics – 10607, Physics – 19692, Combined – 2836);3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 4546 (Graphics – 4196, CPU – 8624);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 2273;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 10220 cb, CPU Single Core 2074 cb;Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 9m 52s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 32.17;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 25.98;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 115.85;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 6.32;SPECviewperf 2020 – Solidworks: 48.80.
With this sort of power limit, the results are generally 50-60% of what the system delivers on Performance mode. Thus, this isn’t where I’d keep the laptop for any sort of sustained work.
Gaming Performance We then ran a couple of DX11, DX12, and Vulkan games on the Performance profile of this Core Ultra 7 358H – Arc B390 configuration, at FHD+ resolution, with Low/Lowest graphics settings. I threw in a few other platforms for comparison.
Low settings ExpertBook Ultra 2026, Zenbook S14 2026, Zenbook A14 2026, Zenbook S14 2024, Zenbook S 16 2024,
Cyberpunk 2077 54 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
24 fps (12 fps – 1% low)
44 fps (37 fps – 1% low)
–
–
Cyberpunk 2077 112 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
56 fps (26 fps – 1% low)
–
–
–
Far Cry 6 90 fps (70 fps – 1% low)
46 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
66 fps (44 fps – 1% low)
52 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
54 fps (46 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 72 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
48 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
error
45 fps (32 fps – 1% low)
40 fps (30 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 103 fps (58 fps – 1% low)
62 fps (45 fps – 1% low)
error
66 fps (26 fps – 1% low)
72 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 110 fps (75 fps – 1% low)
74 fps (50 fps – 1% low)
98 fps (72 fps – 1% low)
78 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
60 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
Doom, Dota 2, Witcher 3 – recorded with MSI Afterburner in game mode;
Tomb Raider – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities.
All these games are playable here with these settings, including newer titles. Of course, you can only expect so much from a portable laptop with integrated graphics today, but this is still faster than the alternatives, except for the very few Strix/Gorgon Halo configurations.
XeSS and Frame Generation play a serious role in increasing framerates where supported. For instance, here’s what we got in Cyberpunk 2077:
(DX 12, Low Preset, XeSS Off, FG Off) – 54 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
(DX 12, Low Preset, XeSS on Balanced, FG Off) – 76 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
(DX 11/12, Low Preset, XeSS on Balanced, XeSS FG) – 124 fps (50 fps – 1% low)
And here’s what to expect if you plan on running games on the quieter modes. Standard profile is a solid choice for gaming as well.
ExpertBook Ultra 2026, Performance – 45W, Standard – 30W, Whisper – 15W, FHD+ 1200p, <30 dBA
Cyberpunk 2077 54 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
52 fps (34 fps – 1% low)
30 fps (18 fps – 1% low)
Far Cry 6 90 fps (70 fps – 1% low)
86 fps (64 fps – 1% low)
50 fps (38 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 72 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
70 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
46 fps (32 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 103 fps (58 fps – 1% low)
102 fps (57 fps – 1% low)
68 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 110 fps (75 fps – 1% low)
108 fps (75 fps – 1% low)
70 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
With that out of the way, let’s go through some CPU/GPU logs.
First, here’s what we measured while running games on Performance mode with the laptop flat on desk: consistent performance with constant 2.5 GHz GPU speeds and temperatures in the high-70s to low-80s Celsius.
Nothing changes in thermals or performance when we bump the laptop on a stand to favor better airflow underneath the chassis. That’s rare on ultraportable designs.
Standard mode limits power to 30W, which is barely enough to keep the iGPU running at full speed. But internal temperatures drop to low-70s Celsius, while the framerates are barely impacte.
Finally, Whisper mode limits power to only 15 W, and thus, the iGPU only runs at about 1.2-1.3 GHz. That impacts the framerates significantly.
Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers, and others The cooling module inside this ExpertBook includes dual fans, dual radiators, two heatpipes connecting separately to each heatsink, and an extra heatpipe over the VRMs. The fans are of a higher capacity than normally implemented in devices of this sort.
I’ve also included a clip from Asus’s guide that better explains the particularity of this cooling module:
For comparison, this is the cooling module on the Zenbook A14, which only allows for 25-30W sustained power at 45 dBA on Performance mode.
All in all, the cooling on this ExpertBook Ultra keeps the hardware properly in check. Internal temperatures rise up a fair bit on Performance mode, but they rarely go over 70 degrees Celsius in Standard mode, which still delivers 90% of the capabilities, and at quieter noise levels.
As far as the noise levels go, expect 40-42 dBA on Performance, 30-35 dBA on Standard, and sub-30 dBA on Whisper mode.
With daily use, the fans keep idle for the most part on Whisper/Standard, and they are still hardly noticeable when they eventually kick on here and there with more intensive multitasking. They’re not as quiet as on the Snapdragon-powered Zenbook A14.
As for the external temperatures, the chassis keeps cool with light use, with the warmest spot at around 30-32 C.
With demanding loads, a warm spot of around 43-45 degrees C develops on the top side of the chassis. The touchpad and keyboard, and generally the areas that you’re mostly coming in contact with, stay in the mid-30s. These are fair temperatures for a powerful ultraportable chassis.
*Gaming – Standard mode – playing Witcher for 30 minutes, fans at <35 dB
For connectivity, there’s the latest-gen Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 through an Intel B211 chip on this Intel Panther Lake configuration. Everything performed fine during my time with the laptop.
There’s no WWAN 4G/5G option available for this series, for what that’s worth.
Audio is handled by a set of 6x speakers that fire upwards and downwards. In fact, Asus implemented a set of dual-sided main speakers and an extra set of tweeters. As a result, this is one of the better-sounding Windows ultraportables available out there, with loud volumes and fairly clean and rich quality, for this segment. It’s one of the few Windows laptops that come close to the MacBook Air 13 in audio quality.
The camera, on the other hand, looks awful. It’s 2MPx and placed at the top of the display, but the image quality on my unit is meh in good light and unusable in poor light. Not sure if that’s an issue with my early unit or a software/driver issue at this point, or just what you should expect from this lineup, but I would expect much better from a business-oriented series. Make sure you look into this more closely in other reviews and when you get your unit.
There’s IR functionality with Windows Hello support offered here.
Battery life – excellent runtimes There’s a 70 Wh battery inside this 2026 Asus ExpertBook Ultra, properly sized for a laptop of this weight.
Here’s what we got in our battery life tests, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~50 brightness). I’ve also set the Windows 11 power mode to Best Power Efficiency.
<5 W (14 h of use) – idle, Whisper Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;6-8 W (~8-11 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Whisper Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;5 W (~13-14 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Whisper Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;5.5 W (~12-13 h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Whisper Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;7-10 W (~7-10 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Standard Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON.
These are fair runtimes, plenty in most cases for a full day’s work. However, they’re not quite on par with the Snapdragon X2 Zenbooks tested recently, or with a MacBook Air. Furthermore, they’re a match for other Intel and AMD platforms released in the last two years, and not an improvement.
This configuration ships with a 90W USB-C charger, a dual-piece design with long cables and a hefty brick. It’s quite bulky and doesn’t match well with this ultralight laptop. I would have hoped Asus would offer one of their newer-gen designs with a more compact brick and detachable cable here, the kind they bundle with the Zenbook S14 series.
Price and availability- Asus ExpertBook Ultra At the time of this article, the Asus ExpertBook Ultra B9406 is listed in some stores, but mostly over here in Europe.
There’s mostly a single configuration available, with the Core Ultra 7 358H processor, 64 GB of RAM, and 1 or 2 TB of SSD storage. There’s a roughly 300 EUR difference between them, with the 1 TB version going for 2500 EUR and the 2 TB version (which is a gen5 drive) going for 2750-2850 between markets.
I’m not seeing configurations with 32 GB of RAM in stores yet, and I can’t find the series available on the US market either. I did notice listing at $3999 – $4999 CA$ in Canada, though.
Follow this link for updated prices and configurations in your area .
Final thoughts- 2026 Asus ExpertBook Ultra review This ExpertBook Ultra is so darn close to perfection, and yet the designers let a few quirks slip by, and they could be just enough to ruin this for some (many, even) buyers. The haptic touchpad without a front border and the limited screen angle are my main nits with it, while aspects such as the bulky old-style included charger or the poor webcam quality come as less important nuisances, but still aspects I’d preffer not having to accept at this level and at this price point.
Otherwise, if you’re fine with these aspects and have the budget and need for this sort of laptop, I’d reckon this will do very well for you.
The premium lightweight chassis and the matte OLED touch display are surely strong selling points for this lineup, alongside the punchy speakers and how well this performs on the Standard profile at quiet fan levels. It’s uncommon for most Windows laptops to offer such a well-polished middle-ground profile. On top of these, the warranty offered with this ExpertBook at 3-5 years is an extra to consider in your purchasing decision.
As far as the competition goes, the refreshed 2026 ThinkPad X1 Carbon offers a 180 screen, a better camera, and a better touchpad experience, and has been revised with similar hardware and power settings for this generation, as well as an improved framework that allows improved repairability. And then there’s the 2026 Dell Pro Premium, but that’s a lower-performance device that doesn’t quite play in the same league, and the HP EliteBook X series, but that’s way heavier at 1.5 kilos. So, pretty much the refreshed X1 Carbon, which hopefully I’ll get to properly test soon.
Anyway, this wraps up my time with the Asus ExpertBook Ultra series. Let me know your thoughts in this series, and get in touch in the comments section for any questions or feedback.
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Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com . I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.
Beroun
April 30, 2026 at 8:04 pm
I was looking forward to this review. I need a very bright matte screen and those are hard to find nowadays. This or the new Framework Pro 13 will be my next laptop, unless rampocalipse takes so long that new better laptops come out by then
Curious, here in Spain this laptop is ONLY available with the 356H and 32GB of ram, around 1900-2200€, no 64GB or X7 options available!
pusemuck
May 3, 2026 at 3:36 am
what a great little 1kg machine, this ticks almost everything i want in a laptop.
finally a proper matte oled screen combined with good brightness that one can use finally also outside – hope gorilla glass matte will be adopted by other manufacturers.
great audio, great gpu, idle/low fans in everyday work.
hoping they are doing also a 16" model, with the A14 it took a generation.
insane price though, waiting for a lower specced version to be available in europe soon.
thanks for testing.
Ede Wolf
May 5, 2026 at 1:33 pm
I can't find this device ANYWHERE to buy!
Yarek
May 9, 2026 at 10:38 am
Asus always does that – they announce a laptop and it is nowhere to buy for next 6 months…and when they are they announce another one…