ASUS - Zenbook 14" Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce MX350 - 256GB SSD - Light Gray

The main problems I have been seeing from other reviews are the max fan problem and the "invisible keys". Well, I have only experience the max fan issue once and it never came back. But for those who keep experiencing this issue here is a fix: (1.go to device manager 2.choose universal serial bus controllers 3. Right-click on the AMD USB 3.10 eXtensible Host controller and choose properties 4. Choose power management 5. Uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”.) And the solution for the "invisible keys" is just to get a keyboard cover. Here is the link: https://amzn.to/35fHTyJ I really like this laptop and didn't want to return it because it has potential. Even though you can't upgrade the ram, you can still upgrade the SSD. Not upgrading ram shouldn't be a compromise unless you're going to do heavy multitasking and video editing. Other than that it already has a fast processor and the ram usage within apps is fine. (ITS ENOUGH RAM) Please remember to keep updating your GPU for the latest drivers and best gameplay. It runs Fortnite, GTA v, 2k20, and other games pretty well. It has one of the best color accuracy's in laptops, especially for its price, (it's 100% srgb)

Date of Purchase: March 25th, 2021 Date Received: March 28th, 2021 My Thoughts: The Zenbook 14 is a light and compact laptop with a sturdy build. The 3D IR Camera is pretty quick at facial recognition when you power it on and on that note, you can open the laptop with one hand. The laptop keys are big and comfortable to type on. The trackpad is big and pretty nice to use but sometimes, depending on hand placement, you can accidentally click on something you didn't mean to. The keys may be hard for some to see and type without the backlight on but if you know where pretty much every key is, you won't have any trouble typing with or without the backlight. But in a brightly lit room, the backlight may sometimes not be strong enough. [Tips for Backlight: You only need to press F7 to turn it on and off, no need to hold FN + F7. It has 3 brightness levels.] The sound is pretty good even when on top of my lap. It doesn't sound too muffled. This is a pretty color accurate laptop. And probably one of the best for its price range. It's pretty neat since I like using Photoshop. Even though the laptop screen size is on the smaller size, the thin bezels make it unnoticeable and the screen does not seem squished. So far, if this laptop is on sale, I'd definitely recommend it to others!

Overall I'm very happy with this laptop purchase. In my current situation, I would probably buy it again, but there are a few caveats that I'll mention in a moment, but first the pros. PROS - Speed - Price - Size I'm totally impressed with the speed of this laptop, especially at this price-point. I'd researched the processor before buying it and made my purchase largely based on this factor, and I haven't been disappointed. It easily out-performs more expensive laptops. I routinely have several spreadsheets, several documents, as many as several dozen tabs on the internet, and a raster or vector graphics editor all open at the same time and it handles the load just fine. And it's small and lightweight. CONS - Keyboard My only complaint is that the keyboard is unreadable in many lighting situations. Gray text on gray keys with soft gray-blue back-lighting just doesn't work in many of the lighting situations I've found myself in. It looked great in the store, and even now as I'm looking down at the keys it's hard to believe that the distinctly dark gray writing on the keys could blend in with the light gray backgrounds -- then I shift the keyboard to a 45' angel and suddenly the keys are almost entirely blank. Turning the backlighting off in brighter environments helps a bit by increasing the contrast between the dark and light grays. The only other caveats would be that the 14" screen is harder to read than the 15.6" I'm used to, and there's no 10-key pad, which I knew when I bought it. On the other hand, whenever possible I use it with an external keyboard, mouse and monitor. When that's not practical though, I just wear my reading glasses and then twist the keyboard around a lot to see where the keys are.

I always wanted a super thin and light machine where I can do some light gaming on the go, mainly World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, some easier to run Steam games. But my last try was with an Nvidia MX150 based machine, yes the graphics was there but it could barely run them well. To my surprise, the MX350 here is unlike the previous MX150 or MX250, but this is effectively a stripped down GTX 1050. While the GTX card is still far superior, this version of the MX graphics actually pulls ahead where the MX250 was just a name change, the MX350 is not. I can run World of Warcraft in the most busy of places on native resolution, with not the lowest settings (preset 3) and still get above 40fps, that's a win in my books. The bottom does get very toasty, so I suggest not to put it on your lap if gaming, other tasks it's fine. When stressed you can hear the fan but it is very quiet, it's no gaming laptop in the noise department at least. The build quality is what drew me to the machine at first, it has a great screen, pleasant keys and a large track pad, if I were to have a complaint, I would say the backlit keyboard could be brighter, white on grey is very hard to see. The memory runs in dual-channel, and is soldered on, the storage is upgradeable at least. It uses a barrel charger, a shame the USB C on it does not charge, as it uses a 65w adapter, which is also tiny! I got this while on sale for $549, down from the $699 price. Which I think simply can't be beaten. There were plenty of other machines in the sale price that were inferior, in both spec and build quality, 6 cores in this form and price? Yes please!

The Zenbook 14 is thin and light with an overall attractive design. The metal chassis gives it a premium feel and the keys are pleasant to type on. The backlighting on the keys are very dim and only useable in a completely dark room. That said, the key cap labels can be difficult to read in certain lighting conditions because of the glare that reflects off the keys. The camera and microphone are average and does the job for video conferencing. I was surprised to see that there was virtually no bloatware to remove and the set-up was minimal. It's very fast at this price point and you can also do some moderate gaming thanks to the discrete NVIDIA graphics. One downside is the small SSD at only 256 GB. I am happy with this purchase, especially with a nice discount. In fact, I bought two of them.

I like everything about this laptop in the short time I've had it (since yesterday) -- speed, size, features that you can read about elsewhere, all super -- except that the keyboard is impossible to read. I got this for my mother, and the gray letters on steel keys are very hard to read. At night is fine, with the backlit keyboard, but she could simply not read the keys in the daytime. I would "recommend to a friend" only if you're ok with that keyboard. (It feels fine, btw.)

I would give this a 4.90 out of 5 stars. It is a really light computer so it's good to bring around with you. The keyboard feels wider for a 14" laptop. Persnally I think thats great, it makes it feels bigger than it is. The trackpad its self is also bigger than other laptops. The bezel is also very think in which provides a better view of the screen. The reason for a 4.90 and not 5 is because I noticed that the plastic bezel in the right corner of the screen is lifted just a little bit compared to the other side (See pic). I'm not sure if someone was trying to peak inside or something. It isn't as noticeable though. But I gotta be careful of dirt getting in there. Shipping wasn't too bad from the states to where I'm from. Other than that, I'm enjoying this laptop and I'm glad I got to purchase it!

The Asus Zenbook 14" with Amd Ryzen 5 is great. It has super quick boot times from power button to log in 20 sec. I mostly use it for YouTube/Netflix/Prime video/other streaming and it is fantastic for that. The battery in balanced mode which limits the charge to 80% typically last 3 to 4 hours of streaming. Isn't really an issue as I can always just plug it in and have unlimited. The viewing angles are also fantastic. As far as sound through the speakers its all right not amazing. I use my Bluetooth earbuds most of the time though. The best thing about this model and why I purchased it however is that it has a built in micro sd slot. How this is not standard on all laptop is beyond me. It is the easiest simplest way to add tons of storage space.