ASUS announced four new models at the end of last year. As a mobile, I would like to pay attention to “ZenBook 14 (UX433FN)”. It is an attractive machine with a 14-inch liquid crystal with a narrow frame, the latest core i with GeForce, and a device similar to "Pro14".
Is the 14-inch era coming? Is the “lift” trend with a completely narrow frame!?
The body size of ZenBook14 is 319 x 199 x 15.9 mm. Speaking of 14-inch laptops, the traditional ThinkPad X1 Carbon is 323.5 x 217.1 x 15.95 mm in size. The width of ZenBook14 is 4.5 mm, and the depth is 18.1 mm smaller.
When you actually open the liquid crystal and start it, the narrow frame looks cool. A camera is properly installed on the top of the liquid crystal, and it can also be used for WindowsHello face authentication. We are now in an era where we cannot make excuses such as "the upper part of the LCD screen is a bit wide because it has a camera for Hello."
The design of the top plate is the familiar concentric circle pattern and the carved ASUS logo. It comes in two colors, royal blue and item silver.
At a new point, VAIO released a 14-inch notebook called SX14, but this size is 320.4 x 222.7 x 17.9 mm. The SX14 uses the upper part of the liquid crystal to meet the performance of the antenna, so that part is thicker.
When calculating the base area, ZenBook14 is 11% smaller than X1 and 12% smaller than SX. It goes without saying that it is convenient to carry around and use at a hamburger shop.
Another emerging trend is the keyboard (lift), which is similar to the SX14, and the ZenBook14 also has a mechanism that lifts the rear part of the main unit when the liquid crystal is opened. ASUS calls it "ergolift hinge", and the keyboard tilts 3 degrees to make it easier to type.
The mechanism that the keyboard is lifted three times by the lift hinge of the current trend (?).
An interesting unique feature is the "Number Pad", which is similar to the ZenBook Pro 14 touchpad. When you touch the icon in the upper right of the pad in front of the keyboard, a numeric keypad appears and you can enter numbers. becomes like this.
Then how to move the mouse cursor at that time is compatible. Even if the numeric keypad is displayed, moving your finger on the pad will move the mouse cursor, and if the character cursor is displayed, pressing the number on the pad will input the number. It's a good idea and installs the feature nicely.
If you press the icon in the upper right corner of the touchpad, a floating numeric keypad with backlight will appear.
The latest Whiskey Lake U also has GeForce
By the way, the CPU is the latest i5-8265U, the same as the ZenBook Pro 14, the latest Whiskey Lake U generation core. It has an i. So you can expect it to be faster than the Kebby Lake R of the previous generation. In addition to that, what uncles are very much expecting is that NVIDIA's GeForce MX150 is used even though it is a 14-inch mobile notebook. Equipped with 2GB of VRAM, it can be expected to be twice as fast as Intel's built-in graphics, although it is not as fast as GTX.
The fact that GeForce can be installed with this size and thickness means that there is a high possibility that it will appear more and more in premium mobile notebooks in the future.
There is an exhaust port at the bottom of the liquid crystal hinge, and it is a mechanism that flows along the liquid crystal. . . The thin body is beautiful.
The main memory is 8GB and the SSD is PCIe3x2 256GB. The interface is simple with type C x 1 and type A x 2, HDMI and micro SD card slot, headphone combo jack, but it has everything you need. Type C does not support power supply to the main unit, so the AC adapter is inserted into a dedicated terminal.
A design in which the gold part at the rear of the keyboard can be seen from the side. Unfortunately, we do not accept power supply to type C.
The overall width of the keyboard is 280 mm, and although it is arranged in Japanese, the display of "hiragana" is small and refreshing. The keys, which are increasing in Japanese, are arranged neatly without being aligned. Of course, the built-in illumination makes it easy to use even in the dark.
Familiar alphabet notation with a little italics and small hiragana are refreshing.
The keystrokes are also neat, and the settings are a little heavy, so it feels good. It is quiet and safe as a portable notebook.
As an uncle, I would appreciate it if you could prepare the English layout as usual. .
As expected, the CPU speed is twice as fast with GeForceMX
Benchmark test results, but first, I ran a cinebench to see the speed of the i5-8265U. The CPU speed was 665, which was about 10% faster than the i5-8250U's value of around 600. With ZenBook Pro 14, I got up to 775 with the same CPU. Since the Pro was equipped with GTX, two fans were installed. In other words, the difference in cooling capacity is the form that appears in the speed of the CPU. However, the 10% increase in speed of the previous generation Core i is definitely out.
The bottom plate is removed. A single cooling fan cools the CPU and GeForce MX150. The memory is directly attached, but the SSD has an M.2 slot on the lower right.
The value of OpenGL is 88, which of course is nearly 80% faster than the built-in graphics alone, which is around 50. It is the power of GeForce MX150. A value of 2635 was obtained even with the familiar 3D mark Fire Strike. The built-in graphics of the U processor alone is usually around 1100, so thanks to the MX150, the speed is more than doubled. After all, it is "MX that I want to load".
The SSD trial machine is equipped with the same WDC drive as the ZenBook Pro 14, and the benchmark test results are the same. However, the result was that writing was faster than usual.
ZenBook14 has a 50Wh battery. When I set the brightness of the liquid crystal to 100% on the battery bench and set it to the highest performance, it worked for 3 hours and 21 minutes. Even if the GPU is not working, it is an excellent energy saving performance for more than 3 hours under these conditions.
There is no intake port on the fan part of the bottom plate. The speaker in the foreground (bottom of the photo) is of course stamped with the Harman Kardon logo and produces a good sound.
The AC adapter is 19V, 3.42A and 65W output, but is lightweight at 198 grams. The charging time is 32 minutes to charge to 50%, 48 minutes to 70%, and 74 minutes to 90% while operating with the same maximum brightness and maximum speed settings as above, which is also quite fast. It is very reassuring to be charged from zero to 50% in 30 minutes.
Is 14-inch LCD and GeForce the era of mobile notebooks? The actual measurement of the plane was 1.23 kg. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon, a 14-inch model, weighs 1.13 kg, and the VAIO SX14 weighs 1 kg, but it only has a 35Wh battery. It's hard to break 1kg with an aluminum body. Conversely, the largest weapon GeForce, which is not found in rivals, is installed at an additional 100 grams.
If you are aiming for lightness anyway, NEC's LAVIE ZERO and Fujitsu's LIFEBOOK UH-X are the world's lightest 13-inch models, weighing less than 700 grams, so you should go for them. However, since the size of UH-X is 309 x 212 mm, the width of ZenBook 14 is 10 mm longer, but the depth is 13 mm shorter. When multiplied, the base area of ZenBook14 was about 3% smaller. This is the power of the three-sided narrow frame.
Fujitsu's UH (13.3 inch) is on the left, and ZenBook14 is on the right. You can see that the depth is smaller than 13.
The 14-inch liquid crystal has a width of 309 mm. 13.3 inches is 293 mm and the difference is 17 mm. It's a 5% difference between big and small, but it's more than 10% wider in terms of area. Of course, you can feel that it is a "wider screen" than the usual 13-inch notebook.
Last year, Huawei's MateBook X Pro surprised the industry with its 13.9-inch slim profile and the MX150. It is clear that the era of the new 14-inch notebook PC has come. And if you're going to buy a 14-inch, you think it's wiser to go all the way to the GeForce MX150.
Occasionally, even if you just play the A train or SimCity on the go, the speed will be completely different, so it's a good idea for everyone to buy and use it, saying, "I really want an MX."
ZenBook14 on the left and ZenBook Pro 14 on the right. The size of the liquid crystal is the same, but the depth of the body is more dignified because the older sister has the GTX installed.
