Asus ZenBook Pro 14: lots of power, and a second screen integrated into the touchpad

Elegant, sober design and with surprise!

At first glance and without opening it, the ZenBook Pro 14 UX480FD seemed like a computer without too much personality. The device, in the Color Dive Dive Blue or dark blue, looks quite similar to any other Asus, with the logo on the top and a style elegant and sober.

What has caught our attention is that the lower area of ​​the screen is used as a support when opening the laptop; something that turns out uncomfortable when the device rests on our legs. At certain times, these legs will stick into us and not be pleasant at all. This design is designed to promote writing, as we will discuss later.

Although we have said that the laptop lacks closed personality, things change when we open the lid and turn it on. The speakers, located in the upper area of ​​the keyboard, have a gold finish favored by the contrast with the dark color.

The jewel of design is the touchpad screen. This gives a totally futuristic to a laptop that at first seemed sober. When you have been with him for a while you get used to it; But, if you use it in some public place you will see how all eyes are directed to that second screen.

This Asus has dimensions of 32.3 x 22.5 x 1.79 centimeters and a weight of 1.6 kilograms. The truth is that the weight is excessive, making it difficult to transport it comfortably. In this regard, the firm has not hit the nail bearing in mind that there are already many powerful teams without weighing this outrage.

High-quality display

ZenBook Pro 14 integrates a screen 14-inch IPSwith resolution Full HD (1920 x 1080). The panel offers a excellent visual experience, with sharpness and bright colors as protagonists. We believe that any user will be satisfied with the screen, even those from the design sector accustomed to MacBooks.

Color accuracy is due to the quality of Asus’ calibration technology and Pantone technology. This allows you to display a wide range of colors with 100% sRGB and 72% NTSC color coverage. The brightness nor be a problem, we can use the computer both outdoors and indoors Thank you to your 300 nits.

The upper frame of the screen is tiny; Although, we cannot say the same of the inferior one, which is giant. In this sense, the team has a screen-body relationship of the 86%; A good figure to be a laptop.The bezels are minimal, since they are only 5.2 millimeters thick. All these characteristics make it easier to have a immersive experience.

As we have mentioned before, a peculiarity is that the screen also works as a support point. To do this, it incorporates a ErgoLift hinge created for automatically tilt the keyboard and write more comfortably.

The famous second screen

It is clear that the main screen is of great quality, but, is the second level? This second screen is located on the touchpadAs incredible as it may seem, Asus has baptized it as ScreenPad.

The appearance of the ScreenPad is Awesome and attracts the gaze wherever we go. This technology combines the functions of a traditional touch panel and those of an LCD touch screen high resolution. It sounds very nice; but, what is it for?

ScreenPad Features

The ScreenPad can be used in different modes, That change by pressing The key F6. The first of them is him ScreenPad mode, in which we will observe a wallpaper and an upper area with the toolbar.

The first icon responds to the Music Player application, from which we can change the song, adjust the volume, fast forward or slow down the song and enjoy music without interrupting what we do on the main screen. We will also open the player when we put a video of Youtube on the main screen; Although, we will not see the video clip, we can simply use the controls that we have just commented.

The second icon on the toolbar corresponds to a calendar that we can view from the ScreenPad. There is the possibility of synchronizing our Windows Calendar account. The ScreenPad also has a function that makes calculator and another of on-screen numeric keypad.

Extension mode

If we press the F6, we will go to the mode extension screen. As the name indicates, we can use the ScreenPad as a second screen; This complements the main one, just as we could do with a monitor.

If we want to see the main one in high school, just make a trailing motion down on the ScreenPad. With the fingers we can move the pointer and it reacts with speed and precision; however, we believe that the screen is too small as to use it in this way for a long time.

Is the second screen useful?

After testing the device for a few weeks we came to a negative conclusion from the ScreenPad. This is beautiful and striking and it is true that various actions can be performed with it; more, we think that the screen is so small that no one would find it comfortable do a great deal with it.

Including a second screen is an excellent idea; but what does not end up fittingPerhaps the brand should have designed a larger ScreenPad and focused on a more real use. What use is a second screen if we see nothing?

Despite this limitation, it is true that touch functions work perfectly. Pressing F6 we can also use the ScreenPad as a traditional touchpad and even disable it.

Ergonomic keyboard

The computer keyboard is bubble gum and offers a nice touch. The key layout is the QWERTY and it has the common keys; minus the F6, which works to change the modes of the ScreenPad; and the key Enter, which is shaped like a traditional backspace key, which can be confusing at first.

This keyboard is backlit and we can vary the degree of lighting to our liking. The truth is that it gives it a beautiful appearance without dazzling.

Generally speaking, the keyboard is quite comfortable. The hinge of the screen is largely to blame, since it tilts the keyboard automatically, thus adapting to our posture.

The thing changes when we use the computer between our legs, as we have commented before. The support points on the screen are pointed and can be annoying on the legs.

Performance won’t be a problem

This Asus incorporates a processor Intel Core i7-8565U, 16 GB memory RAM and 512 GB SSD. These features guarantee surplus performance for usual actions on a computer, but can we play with him?

It also has a graphNVIDIA GeForce GTX1050 Max-Q, which enables give caa to online video games. Despite not being a gaming computer, the graphics performance hardly differs from that offered by an Nvidia GTX 1050.

Autonomous leftover and decent sound

This Asus ZenBook Pro 14 integrates a 70 Wh lithium polymer battery. The mark indicates that the laptop reaches up to 12.5 hours of autonomy; however our tests have given us a actual use of about 8 hours, while we read on the Internet, we listened to music, etc.

The second screen uses much less battery than we thought, in fact, its impact on it is not noticeable. One aspect that has caught our attention a lot is its fast charge. With it we can charge 60% in just 49 minutes; something that can save our skin on certain occasions.

Regarding sound, the computer incorporates a dual speaker with sound of Harman Kardon. Music will not be a problem, since it offers a powerful and quality sound. It is not the most powerful we have tested; but, we put a remarkable one.

Excellent laptop, disappointing ScreenPad

In general, the AsusZenBook Pro 14 UX480FD has seemed to us a laptop that verges on excellence. Beautiful, elegant, powerful, with an outstanding display and plenty of autonomy. Also versatile, since we can even play with it despite not being gaming.

Nor did we expect less considering that it is for sale by 1,499,It may seem expensive; However, we assure you that it is a fair price and in accordance with its characteristics. What has left us bad mouth taste has been the ScreenPad.

This is the great attraction of the laptop, we were expecting something revolutionary that has turned out to be beautiful facing the gallery nothing focused on real use. It is good that a screen is tactile and that it has many functions; but, if it is not seen to be too small it would have been an effort in vain, as has happened with this computer.

Despite this experience, we do not rule out that the laptops of the future have several screens. Of course, we hope that the screens are larger or we will all be blind.

Get here the ZenBook Pro 14 UX480FD