ASUS Zenbook 14, 14 Full HD LCD, Intel Core i7-8565U, 16GB DDR3 RAM, 512GB PCIE G3x2 NVME SSD, UX433FA-DH74

Pros: +Very slim for such a powerful laptop. +Weighs just little more than a tablet - making it easy to take anywhere - won't tire your arms with one hand use. +Unit is very sturdy & solid – keyboard area does not warp or bend while the wrist is resting on it – monitor does not wiggle or move when I place it down – mousepad is great. +Asus's “ErgoLift” design is awesome – the lid also supports underneath the laptop for airflow & cooling – also makes typing comfortable and not protrude out too far. +The shiny metallic finish gives it a high-end look compared to the rubber black finish designs – distinguishable amongst other laptops. +AMD Ryzen processor is super-fast while multitasking with multiple graphics intense software running. +AMD Radeon RX Vega graphics card ran fast for photos – handled After Effects renders. +I used: Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere, After Effects with Boris FX, MS Office + more – no issues. +Photo & graphic renders were very fast for a laptop. +For a slim laptop, plenty of USB inputs – all 3.0 - super-fast transfer speeds +Full HDMI port! +Power from USB ports did not fluctuate like my last laptop. +Power & charging LED's are on the side – white LED's - less annoying when using the laptop at night. +Smooth surface - gives enough grip while holding under the arm for transport. +14” LCD screen has good viewing angles – matte finish for less glare from overhead lights, bright screen - 1080p resolution – clear & sharp colors – very satisfied overall. +Slim bezels - feels like more room at bottom of the screen for timeline in Premiere (I don't know why, but it just does to me). +Solid hinge - easy to open – stays in place - keeps lid closed tightly. +IR camera is awesome - Windows facial recognition login worked flawlessly – super-fast – accurate every time. +Keys are good sized for this type of laptop – didn't accidentally press two keys while typing. +Power button is located on a top row within the keyboard – my other laptop always gets turned on accidentally in my backpack as things shift around. +I like that Asus made the top row of keys be the “functional” keys instead of the “f” keys – 1 button push for volume +/- +Keyboard lights up for use at night. +The mousepad is good sized - very sensitive with gesture support in Windows. +The Harmon Kardon speakers are quite amazing – they sound very good with even some bass - very clear – “full-sounding” comes to mind. +1TB hard drive – super-fast file saves & transfer speeds - converting video formats was fast - no stuttering or lags. +16GB DDR4 memory – Windows 10 runs smooth – fast opening/closing apps, I can open & use Photoshop, Lightroom, Chrome with multiple tabs, MSWord, 4-5 explorer windows open and a photo-viewing app without issues +Intel Wireless Card - Fast Wi-Fi & Bluetooth connections +The battery lasted over 3+ hours with heavy Photoshop & Illustrator usage with a client at a coffee shop. +ASUS software has useful features. +Great power brick design - small footprint – flexible & tough rubber cable (approx. 5 ft?). Cons: -The back of the LCD screen can flex with some force – maybe add more support material because this makes me think I shouldn't put weight on top of this laptop when carrying in my backpack. -The cable on Asus's power supply should have a hinge to point the cable upwards or downwards (when plugged in) rather it just sticks out of the square power brick upwards when plugged into a power strip laying flat on the ground – I've had incidents where I accidentally bump into the cord that sticks out of the power brick. -Though fast, I've had some issues with the Wi-Fi card not powering back on or not automatically connecting to a Wi-Fi after waking up from Sleep – sometimes it won't detect any Wi-Fi networks. -After 30+ minutes, it gets warm to the touch, but not hot, underneath the laptop when using intense CPU or GPU programs like Photoshop, Premiere, Lightroom, playing online games, etc. No issues while web surfing or watching movies. -14” screen could be bigger, maybe a 17” would fit me better. Overall Review: As my primary laptop for over a month, using it for productivity work, leisure & a travel companion, I am quite impressed with this laptop. Coming from a much bigger & heavier laptop with a Nvidia graphics card, this thin & slim profile Asus laptop means I can carry it around in a small pouch anywhere I go AND still be able to do my graphics work, which deals heavily with photo & video editing software and use it to surf the net and watch my movies all on one device. Not having to always look for a desk to pull out the heavy bigger laptop was…” refreshing”, and not a task anymore. I do admit, the only thing I do miss is the larger monitor on my huge laptop whereas this Asus laptop only has a 14” screen – but it's much brighter & colors are crisper – a minor issue compared to lugging a heavy laptop, a bulky power brick and a laptop cooling stand (because it gets too hot underneath my old laptop). I thought a glossy finish to the LCD screen would be best, but I can see that the matte finish to the screen is just as good. It does reduce the glare of the office lights above my desk. I also noticed that editing photos were much better and video scrubbing was smooth. I don't know what it's called when there's screen tearing, ghosting or after-shadows when watching/editing videos, but I didn't see them here at all. The build quality is awesome. The chassis, which I believe is made of aluminum, feels sturdy and great to hold since it's thin. The hinge feels solid and doesn't move when I lift the monitor to open. On my last laptop, the monitor would retract down a little after lifting it open so I always had to open it wider to compensate for the weak hinges. Plus, I feel it's very lightweight so I can carry it with just one hand. There's enough space on the left and right side of the mousepad to hold and use the laptop while walking down the hall to my boss's office for meetings, etc. I love that because I can do my last-minute quick edits while walking to his office & not be late. This is my first time using the Windows Facial Recognition feature – and I have to say that I am quite impressed with the results. Of course, there are the flaws of using facial recognition – but the cameras on this laptop do an awesome job to recognize my face every time I turn it on. I love the two red lights that blink when the room has little to no lights to recognize my face, and, it's fast. It's super-fast and quite accurate each time I use it. I was a bit hesitant with the AMD Ryzen CPU at the start. I read good reviews about the CPU for gaming but haven't read much for productivity. I'm sure reviews are out there; I just personally haven't read any and I've always used Intel CPU's with Nvidia graphics cards. AMD Ryzen CPU's rock!!! This laptop is screaming fast running Windows 10 and it also handles all my graphic needs for productivity and I am always multitasking. Asus did a great job with whatever they had to do to make AMD's CPU & GPU work with their hardware underneath the hood – all without any issues. I have not had any hiccups at all doing my work. Of course, renders take longer than my full PC but I can't take my PC to the coffee shop while talking with my clients. The keyboard is great, but not the best. However, I type on it every time I use it and so far, it feels comfortable, the keys are not too cramped, typing got faster once I got used to it (as every product takes some getting used to) and individual keys light up for nighttime typing. I especially love that the top row can be used to control the laptop functions – now I don't have to always hold the “Fn” key to mute or increase brightness. I hardly use the F1-F12 top row keys anyways. For productivity, I've always had to use much larger laptops with a good graphics card. The laptops with integrated graphics were smaller but too sluggish and never had enough juice for rendering large graphics, photos and video files. This light, thin Asus laptop is on my highly rated list for productivity. It's powerful enough to handle the intensive editing for graphics, video & photos – and handles your daily web browsing & checking your emails like a champ. The AMD & Asus combo laptop is super-fast – I'll be using this daily from now on – possibly even upgrading to a 17-inch version if they have one.

I have had a few Asus laptops over the past 6 years. My first two ultrabooks are still in operation today. Amazing that based upon the miles that both these laptops have on them, it still operates as well today as they did when I opened them for the first time. No real wear and tear major issues. My third venture into the gaming laptop did not fair so well. I bought it at the start of pandemic and the screen broke. It was a big let down, but it did not determine this laptop purchase. So far a nice sturdy laptop with fantastic battery life.