Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA Review: A Sleek Performance-Oriented Notebook

Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA Design

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA looks exactly identical to the previous generation ZenBook 14. In terms of design, it looks as good as any premium thin-and-light laptop of 2020, and it just weighs 1.17KG, making it easy to carry around.

The laptop comes with a semi-metal unibody design, and even the display has slim bezels, which decreases the overall form-factor of the laptop by a huge margin. Even though it is a 14-inch laptop, it feels like a 13-inch laptop.

When it comes to design, the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA can be compared to the MacBook Air. The ZenBook 14 clearly comes out as a winner amongst the two, as it has a thinner design, but unlike Apple, Asus does not compromise on I/O.

The laptop has a full-sized HDMI port, USB-A port, two USB Type-C port (for charging and data transfer), a microSD card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. A majority of the crowd can use this laptop without requiring any additional dongles.

Overall, the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA feels thin yet sturdy and is also light-in-weight, which makes it easy to carry around. On top of that, it has enough horsepower to handle even the high-end tasks (more on this in the performance section).

 

Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA Display

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA has a 14-inch anti-glare display with FHD 1920 x 1080p resolution. The display offers a peak brightness of 300nits, 100 percent sRGB color gamut, and a 90 percent screen-to-body ratio.

The display is adequately bright for indoors, I have enjoyed watching movies and YouTube videos on this screen. However, the brightness might not be sufficient for outdoor usage. Even when it comes to color accuracy, the screen does a good job and looks pretty vibrant.

The top of the display houses the web camera with a bunch of sensors, which helps with Windows Hellow facial recognition. The facial recognition system on the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA works well even in low-light and completely dark conditions without any issue.

Though the display is great on the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA, I felt that the laptop should have come with a touch screen, which would have taken this laptop to another league. Other than that, the display on the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA works fine for both uses cases.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA Keyboard

I have loved keyboards on almost every Asus laptop, and the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA is no different. The keyboard is backlit and the keys feel tactile while typing. Though it is not as good as the keyboard on the Dell Latitude 9510, it does feel great, and writers will have a wonderful time while working on this laptop.

I have written a lot of articles on this laptop and also played games, and in both uses cases the keyboard feels wonderful. It offers three brightness levels, and the bold letters also make it easy to recognize.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA Trackpad

If you love large trackpads, you will also love the trackpad on the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA. The laptop has a big trackpad, again, similar to the MacBook Air, and it has an additional function. The trackpad doubles as a num pad, and you can even control the brightness of the numpad inside the trackpad.

If you are someone who works with spreadsheets, then this will definitely help, as the laptop does not have a dedicated physical numpad. From the keyboard to the trackpad, Asus has worked a lot on these basic laptop features to offer the best possible experience.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA Performance

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA is powered by the 11th Gen Tiger Lake-U Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor with four cores, eight threads, and Intel Iris Xe graphics. This is a 28W (TDP) based on a 10 nm SuperFin manufacturing process, making it an efficient processor when compared to the 10th Gen Intel Comet Lake processor.

This is also one of the first CPUs from Intel to ship with the new Iris Xe GPU, which takes the performance of the thin-and-light laptop to the next level. Hence, you can actually play AAA titles on this laptop, albeit, at lower graphics settings.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA CPU Performance

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA's quad-core CPU comes with a base clock speed of 1.2GHz and can reach up to 4.7GHz. On Geekbench 5, the laptop scores 1458 points on single-core CPU performance, and 3977 on multi-core CPU performance.

Similarly, on CPU Z, the laptop scores 490.2 points on single-core and 2459 points on multi-core CPU performance. On Cinebench R23, the laptop scores 1276 points on the single-core rendering test and 3687 points on the multi-core rendering test.

When compared to the Dell Latitude 9510, powered by the 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10810U processor, the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA with the Intel Core i7-1165G7 outperforms Dell's offering in every benchmark on both single-core and multi-core CPU performance.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA GPU Performance

One of the key highlights of the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA is improved graphics performance. The built-in Intel Iris Xe graphics outperforms the last-gen Intel Iris graphics found on the 10th Gen Intel Comet Lake processors.

On the Superposition benchmark, the laptop offers an average FPS of 18.35 at 1080p resolution and medium graphics settings. Similarly, at 720p resolution, the laptop offered an average FPS of 42.56, suggesting the possible gaming experience.

When it comes to real-world performance, we ran GTA: V on the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA, and the laptop was able to offer an average FPS of 41 at 1080p resolution. Similarly, when the resolution was brought down to 720, the laptop offered an average FPS of 48, offering smooth gameplay.

Though these numbers might not impress a gaming enthusiast, for a thin-and-light laptop like the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA, these are very good numbers, and one can easily get an FPS of over 60 on titles like CS: Go without any issue.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA Battery Life

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA claims to offer 15 hours of battery life on a single charge. However, in my usage, I was able to get an average battery life of 8-9 hours. My typical use-case includes tasks like writing articles, watching videos, and browsing the web.

The laptop also charges via a USB Type-C port, which uses a 65W charger with fast charging technology. Overall, the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA can easily last for an entire day on a single charge even for the heavy user.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA Verdict

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA is a modern laptop with one of the best mobile processors that offer great CPU and GPU performance. On top of that, the laptop also offers an all-day battery life. As this is a light laptop, it is also easy to carry around.

If you are in the market looking for a thin-and-light laptop, capable of handling offering stuff, and can also be used as a gaming machine in your free time, then the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA is one such laptop for sure.