Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED laptop review: MacBook Pro rival with 120 Hz OLED display

With its new Zenbook Pro 14, Asus is offering a powerful multimedia notebook for content creators, thus putting it in direct competition with the Apple MacBook Pro 14. In addition to the current Raptor Lake processors from Intel, Asus installs the new RTX GPUs from Nvidia, whereby our test device even has the GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU installed. One special feature is the screen, which is a 2.

8K OLED touchscreen with 120 Hz. However, all this hardware comes at a price – our test device with a Core i9 13900H , an RTX 4070, 32 GB RAM and a 2 TB SSD costs a whopping EUR 3,500 (~US$3,750) and is therefore priced directly against the MacBook Pro 14 (M2 Max). 14-inch devices with these performance values are rare, which is why we also list some 15-inch models as comparison devices.

Visually, the new Zenbook Pro 14 looks quite restrained and there is only a small ProArt logo on the display lid. Asus does not add any other visual elements otherwise. The surfaces are smooth, which quickly results in fingerprint smudges and the regular wiping away of these.

The notebook appears very elegant in the dark color Tech Black , but the manufacturer stickers on the palm rest are massively annoying. The large sticker with the laptop’s features on the right side can be easily removed, but the four smaller stickers on the left side cannot. Who wants an Amazon Alexa sticker on their device when you’ve paid EUR 3,500 (~US$3,750) for it? Asus uses a metal chassis and both the base unit and the display lid are extremely stable and torsion-resistant.

The base unit also looks quite slim, which is made possible by the tapered sides. This is in stark contrast to the Apple MacBook Pro 14 , for example, in which the base unit appears very bulky, although it is actually thinner than the Zenbook. This is definitely not an extremely thin notebook, but this is not a point of criticism in view of the powerful components.

The two display hinges are well adjusted, but cannot completely prevent a certain teetering when changing the opening angle. The maximum opening angle is ~135 degrees. The screen edges of the 16:10 panel are very narrow, especially on the sides, and the overall screen-to-body ratio is a good 85%.

In a direct comparison, the MacBook Pro 14 in particular is somewhat more compact in all areas, but there are no large differences in weight. Due to the high-performance hardware, some 15-inch devices in our comparison field naturally require a little more desk space. The included 200-watt power supply adds an additional 556 grams to the scales.

Since the rear area of the base unit is occupied by the cooling, the connections are distributed over the middle of both sides. Using all ports at the same time may result in a workplace that appears very cramped. Nevertheless, Asus provides all the important ports, including USB-A, USB-C and HDMI.

The rear USB-C port also supports Thunderbolt and should also be used if you want to work on an external monitor, since this is the only way to use the iGPU on the external monitor. The other USB-C port and the HDMI output always use the dedicated GPU, which consumes unnecessary power, especially in simple tasks. The Zenbook offers a fully-fledged SD card reader that also achieves very high transfer rates.

In conjunction with our reference card (Angelbird AV Pro V60), we recorded maximum transfer rates of more than 250 MB/s and a little over 100 MB/s when copying image files. Wireless network connections are handled by Intel’s AX211 module, which supports Bluetooth 5. 2 in addition to the current Wi-Fi 6E standard.

We were unable to connect to the corresponding 6 GHz network of our Asus reference router, but performance in the 5 GHz network was very good and we had no issues with WLAN. A USB Ethernet adapter for wired networks is also included in the scope of delivery. Asus installs a 1080p sensor in the upper screen bezel for the webcam.

The picture quality is a little better than the old 720p models, but you should not expect miracles. An IR module is also installed, which enables facial recognition via Windows Hello. The lower case cover is fixed in place with a total of nine Torx screws (T5) and can be removed easily.

You then have access to the two fans, the battery and the single SODIMM slot for a RAM module. However, the WLAN module and one RAM module are soldered. The keyboard offers a key travel of 1.

4 mm and offers average input overall. Considering the thickness of the case and also the price, more could have been done here, especially since the keys tend to rattle a little overall. For example, we liked the keyboard of the ROG Zephyrus G14 (1.

7 mm travel) better. In terms of layout, you also have to get used to the single-row Enter key as well as the small arrow keys. Lastly, there is a three-stage white backlight that can be activated via sensor.

Asus has devised a special feature for the touchpad, namely the so-called DialPad , which is installed in the upper left corner. This ring gives the user additional options and the integration with Adobe apps works very well. In everyday use, for example, the brightness and volume can be adjusted here.

This all works well, but the dedicated special keys and shortcuts in creative apps usually work faster. Moreover, you notice the raised ring during simple operation of the pad, which works well overall, but clicks a little loudly. Of course, the capacitive touchscreen can also be used as an option, and an active stylus is also included, which also made a good impression, especially when editing images.

Asus equips the Zenbook Pro 14 with a high-resolution OLED touchscreen. The resolution of the 14. 5-inch panel (16:10) is 2880×1800 and the subjective picture impression fundamentally very good, but the picture quality is slightly grainy due to the touchscreen.

Screen activity is very smooth thanks to the high frequency. In the technical data, the manufacturer specifies a brightness of 400 cd/m² or a maximum of 550 cd/m² for HDR content. However, the panel does not quite reach that in our measurements, as we determined an average of almost 360 cd/m² for normal SDR content (i.

e. everyday things). The contrast ratio is extremely high, which is due to the low black level.

In terms of HDR content, we recorded a maximum of 584 cd/m² with a small bright image section and around 460 cd/m² with an almost completely white image. Windows’ HDR settings are deserving of criticism, because in order for HDR content to be really shown, HDR must first be activated in the settings. However, all color profiles are then discarded altogether and the various color profiles of the MyAsus software are no longer available.

Apple’s implementation of HDR in the MacBook Pro 14’s mini-LED panel is clearly superior here and much higher brightness values are also reached. We measured the OLED panel with professional CalMAN software (i. e.

X-Rite i1 Pro 2) using the default Native profile as well as Display P3. Colors appear a little oversaturated in the Native profile, which results in even more vivid image quality, but some colors overshoot the important limit of 3. The Display P3 profile, on the other hand, provides extremely accurate colors and allows for direct image/video editing.

We were unable to improve the display further with our own calibration, which is why the corresponding profile for download is not provided here. An sRGB profile is also available. The P3 color space is completely covered.

The OLED panel’s response times are very fast, but we detected PWM flickering at all brightness levels. DC dimming is used down to a brightness level of 50%, and classic PWM with a frequency of 240 Hz is used below that. Asus itself advises not to go below this brightness and to use the flicker-free OLED dimming function in the MyAsus software instead.

We discussed this in detail in the review of the Zenbook S 13 OLED and the functionality is identical here. Outdoors, the highly reflective touchscreen is problematic because you always have to deal with reflections, even on cloudy days. The viewing-angle stability is very good overall.

Only from certain (wide) angles do you notice a blue cast, which is typical for OLED panels. The Zenbook Pro 14 is only available with the Intel Core i9-13900H and 16 GB of RAM is soldered. A SODIMM slot is available, which is equipped with either 16 or 32 GB of RAM, depending on the model.

As for the graphics card, you have the choice between the GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop and the RTX 4070 Laptop, of which the latter is installed in our test device. There are three different performance modes in the MyAsus software: Whisper , Standard and Performance . The table below shows the TDP/TGP values of the modes.

We used Performance mode for the following benchmarks and measurements, since the graphics performance of the GeForce GPU in particular is otherwise significantly lower. In everyday life, however, you can easily use one of the other two modes without issue. The Zenbook also has a MUX switch that can be used to completely disable the integrated GPU.

However, switching requires a system reboot. The Intel Core i9-13900H is a high-end mobile processor with 6 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores, which is why a total of 20 threads can be processed at any given time. Apart from the slightly higher clock rate, however, there are no differences to the Core i9-12900H .

The performance in the Zenbook Pro 14 is very good thanks to the high power limits, although it must also be stated here that the Intel chip is only marginally faster than the new AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS with 80 watts, despite the significantly higher power consumption. In our CB R15 multi-loop, the i9-13900H drops to 90 watts after a few runs, where it is also slower than the 7940HS. On the other hand, the single-core performance of the performance cores is still very good: we see an advantage of around 15% over the current AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS here.

The main rival Apple MacBook Pro 14 is clearly at a disadvantage in terms of raw CPU performance, but the power consumption of 34 watts is also significantly lower. The MacBook also has the advantage that performance remains constant in battery mode. The Zenbook’s CPU, however, drops to a meager 30 watts without the power supply, resulting in a performance loss of around 45% in multi-core tests.

More CPU benchmarks are listed in our tech section . System performance is excellent, which is confirmed by both the good benchmark results and our subjective performance impression. We experienced no issues with the Zenbook Pro during testing.

In our standardized latency test (web browsing, YouTube 4K playback, CPU load), the test device shows slight limitations when using real-time audio applications under the present BIOS version. Our test device is equipped with the Micron 3400 NVMe SSD, which offers a storage capacity of 2 TB (of which 1. 79 TB is available after the first start-up).

It is a fast PCIe 4. 0 SSD, although the devices from Samsung and SK Hynix achieve slightly higher transfer rates. But this does not play a major role in everyday use; it is much more important that performance remains stable under sustained load.

More SSD benchmarks are listed here . Nvidia’s new GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop CPU with 8 GB VRAM is used as the dedicated graphics card. According to the driver, we have the 120-watt variant installed, but we were only able to draw a maximum of 95 watts from the GPU (120 watts briefly in the stress test).

Since the GPU only consumes a maximum of ~105-110 watts during gaming, this matters little and overall performance is very good, especially in view of the compact 14-inch chassis. Hybrid mode is active by default, but the integrated GPU can also be deactivated completely if required (which requires a reboot). In the synthetic benchmarks, for example, the Zenbook Pro 14 is also significantly faster (60-80%) than the 50-watt variant of the RTX 4070 Laptop in the new Dell XPS 15 and overall also noticeably faster than the old RTX 3070 Ti in the Razer Blade 15 .

GPU performance also remains completely stable under sustained load, as it easily passes the Time Spy stress test at 99. 5%. On battery power, however, GPU performance is limited to 60 watts, which reduces the performance by about 23%.

More GPU benchmarks are available here . Even though Asus advertises the Zenbook Pro 14 as a creator laptop, it’s also great for gaming. The performance of the RTX 4070 Laptop is completely adequate for smooth gameplay in QHD resolution, even in the latest gaming titles.

Gaming performance also remains completely stable during longer sessions. More GPU benchmarks are listed in our tech section . For everyday tasks (or as long as you do not need GPU performance), you should use Whisper or Standard mode if possible, since the Zenbook Pro 14 then often remains silent.

You should also test out Standard mode for gaming, as performance will still be sufficient in many cases and the device is much more pleasant at just under 41 dB(A) compared to just under 49 dB(A) in Performance mode. No other electronic noises, such as coil whine, were detected. The fans are often deactivated while idling or during light tasks, but the case does get a little warmer at around 30 °C in some places.

Nevertheless, Asus has the temperatures under load well under control because the keyboard area remains harmless at a maximum of 42 °C in the stress test and during gaming. On the underside, there is a hotspot that reaches a maximum of 51 °C in the rear center area, so you should avoid direct skin contact here. The graphics card levels off at around 75 watts in the stress test and remains at this value.

The processor is a bit more erratic and is usually around 35 watts with constant short upward spikes. The speakers deliver good sound quality overall. Only the bass could be a bit stronger.

While definitely adequate for occasional videos and some music, you should preferably use a headset for gaming due to the fans. The power consumption of OLED screens depends largely on the displayed content. We measured a maximum of just under 12 watts in idle with the dark standard background, but this can increase further in the presence of bright pictures.

As soon as you watch HDR content, consumption rates increase to up to 28 watts. We registered up to 208 watts for a short time in the stress test, but this quickly leveled off at ~140 watts (also applies to games). Overall, the 200-watt power supply is sufficient.

The 76 Wh battery only delivers average battery runtimes because the OLED screen needs a lot of power. We carried out the tests at 60 Hz (for 120 Hz you can subtract around half an hour). Video playback at 150 cd/m² (corresponding to 73% of the maximum SDR brightness in the test device) ran for a decent 8.

5 hours, but only 7. 5 hours in the WLAN test or just under 6 hours at full brightness. An HDR YouTube video at maximum brightness drains the battery in 3.

5 hours. The MacBook Pro 14 lasts considerably longer in all aspects. A full charge takes around 105 minutes when the device is switched on; 50% of the capacity is available after less than half an hour.

Asus’ new Zenbook Pro 14 is a powerful 14-inch device aimed at creative users and thus competes directly with the Apple MacBook Pro 14. Hence, the manufacturer installs the latest components from Intel and Nvidia: both the Core i9-13900H and the GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop offer lots of performance for such a compact device. The Zenbook also offers significantly more performance than larger multimedia laptops such as the new XPS 15 von Dell from Dell.

An OLED screen with 120 Hz is used as the display. The subjective image quality is very good overall, but bright areas appear slightly grainy due to the touchscreen. In addition, PMW is used from a brightness of 50% and below.

As on other Asus OLED laptops, there is a software feature that allows the OLED to be dimmed without PWM, but users have to activate this via the software each time. The various color profiles are very good; the Display P3 in particular is extremely accurate and requires no subsequent calibration. However, the color profiles are not available in HDR mode, and the HDR function simply works much better in the Apple MacBook Pro and its mini-LED panel also achieves significantly higher brightness values.

The focus is on performance: Thanks to the Intel Core i9-13900H and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, the new Zenbook Pro is a very fast 14-inch notebook. However, the OLED screen struggles with a minimally grainy picture quality and compromises also have to be made in terms of battery life. The device is noticeably bulkier than many other 14-inch laptops, but the components are cooled well enough and there are enough ports.

The manufacturer also hides the thickness of the case very well thanks to the tapered base unit. However, for the full performance of the GeForce RTX 4070, users need to activate Performance mode, where the fans become noticeably louder. The keyboard is also only average, which is a little disappointing in view of the high purchase price.

The additional DialPad on the top left of the touchpad is also more of a gimmick. The implementation of the Adobe apps works very well, but in the end, shortcuts and key combinations work faster. By default, the screen brightness and volume can also be adjusted using the DialPad, but this also works much faster with the dedicated special keys.

Another drawback is the battery life (especially with 120 Hz activated), not to mention the price, which in our case amounts to a whopping EUR 3,500 (~US$3,750. 00). A big competitor is of course the Apple MacBook Pro 14 , which has disadvantages in terms of raw CPU & GPU performance, but is the better laptop overall.

Furthermore, the MacBook is not an ideal choice if you also want to use the laptop for current games. Another interesting competitor comes from Asus itself: Although the ROG Zephyrus G14 is primarily a gaming machine, it can also be used just as well for creative purposes (also available with the RTX 4070 laptop GPU). The matte mini-LED or IPS panel (depending on the configuration) even confers some advantages over the OLED screen.

Global availability of the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED appears limited. The laptop is priced at $1,799. 99 on Asus’ estore, but is currently out of stock.

Prices and availability are as of 12. 06. 2023 and are subject to change.

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