ASUS - Zenbook 14" Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce MX450 - 256GB SSD - Light Grey

Considering I have a MacBook Pro that I just purchased, this is on par with it. I needed a windows laptop to replace my aging Toshiba from 2007. Yes I know why do I need 2 computers well I actually have 5 kids and their homeschooled so there!!! I love the features, light up keyboard, hdmi port, etc. it’s sleek lite and perfect for lite gaming as well. I looked up for many accessories and couldn’t find many but this laptop is exactly similar to an Asus Zenbook 14 UX425 if your looking for screenguards, keyboard cover etc. It charges pretty fast with the supplied charger. Lasts about 9-10 hours with mild internet surfing. When using it heavily ( coping files from external hdd to hdd and downloading huge files ) it lasts about 6-7 hours from 100% to 27%. It already comes with Windows 11 not 10. In my opinion is way easier to use than Windows 10. Hope this helps anyone looking to an Asus. Also might I add I paid under $500 Oh if you see the photos, I know I was attempting my own custom cover skin so it’s not perfect.

Really good machine well worth the money. My wife loves it.

Smaller than I expected but nice good computer. It works well for when I need to work from home.

very good laptop but it randomly broke a lil bit. -jo horn

I like the product, I think it’s just too early to give you a complete feedback

I picked this up on sale for $569.99 and at that price I recommend it. I also have the previous version (4500U and MX350) and thought I might compare the two before I sell that off this weekend. I should mention that the first thing I did with each of these laptops is put in a 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus SSD. This new laptop is like the old one in that the screws are torx 5, and there are two more hidden under the rubber rear feet of the laptop. Once open, getting to the SDD is straightforward with the typical single PH0 screw (see pics). Also, the rubber feet on this new laptop are much easier to remove than those on the old one. Compared to the older model, this new one is a little larger and a little heavier. Both are noticeable. It charges via USB-C and comes with one more USB-C port and one fewer USB-A port. The audio is better on the new one as well. It also runs much hotter when I compare the same loads between each at the same time. It benchmarks a little higher than the old one, mainly because the 5500U supports SMT/Hyperthreading (so it’s 6-cores, 12-threads, vs the 6-core, 6-thread 4500U) and the Vega 7 integrated graphics are slightly better than the older Vega 6 integrated graphics on the 4500U (clocked 300MHz higher), but quite honestly, in day to day use there is no real noticeable difference. (Note that in the photo of benchmarking results, both computers list integrated graphics, but the benchmarking was done with the NVIDIA cards, that just how the program displays.) One odd thing is that microSD cards are inserted upside down in this MX450 version, while they are inserted right-side up in the MX350 version of this laptop, so take notice and don’t force. It’s an easy thing to forget. Where you do see a bit of performance difference is in the graphics capabilities, for *some* tasks. The MX450 implementation in this new version seems to give about 20% more performance on average. It’s nice, but it’s not earth shattering for gaming – it’s not enough, for example, to suddenly allow you to play a class of game that you couldn’t already play on the MX350 (but it allows you to turn up a few more graphics options). It’s worth noting that the MX450 implementation in the Zenbook 14 is the lowest performance variant of the MX450. (It performs about on par with the 96EU integrated Xe graphics in my Yoga 9i. That laptop has 16GB ram compared to the Zenbook’s 8GB, and therefore allocates more to vram than the 2GB on the MX450.) The new Zenbook is noticeably better than the old one for creative applications that can take advantage not only of the faster GPU, but of the hyperthreading of the 5500U. Unfortunately, this is not the greatest screen for such work, as it simply does not get all that bright (it’s 250 nits compared to the old one at 300, and yes, that difference is noticeable.) A tip about brightness – make sure you go into the Radeon Graphic settings and turn OFF Vari-Bright so the laptop is not constantly dimming its screen to save battery depending on what’s being displayed. In the end, I would probably advise anyone looking into this laptop to also look at last year’s model, see what the price difference is, and then decide where you want to make your compromises. Either can be great choices.

+ Fast, lightweight - Materials seem to be a bit cheap

So far, I think I made the right decision to purchase this laptop, Asus Zenbook. Performance wise, I don't have anything to complain, it's fast enough for me and no tech problems encountered so far. I had a hard time shopping for a new laptop with too many choices laid out in the market. Good thing I got help from one of the Best Buy's tech expert and recommended this Asus Zenbook to me. I got it on sale which is a great thing, I think I got a good deal. For the price I paid, I think it's worth it and I'm really happy with my purchase. The only downside I can tell is there's no number pad on the side but then again, it's a 14" laptop. Still, I'm happy with my new laptop.