The March of Lower-priced laptops that offer some level of artificial intelligence-focused tuning continue with the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, the latest in a line of affordable, no-nonsense, ultralight laptops that have been on the market for more than a decade. Like the Acer Swift Go 14, the Asus Zenbook 14 (model UM3406HA) comes onto the market at a price well under $1,000. But unlike the Swift Go, the Zenbook is based on the latest Ryzen CPU from AMD. One of the things I was curious about was how the two compare directly.
Acer and Asus laptops have more than a little in common. Both have 14-inch touchscreens with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels, 16GB of RAM and integrated graphics. The Zenbook has a simpler 512GB solid-state drive compared to the Acer’s 1 terabyte model, but the biggest difference is the CPU, an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS on the Asus instead of Acer’s Intel Core Ultra 7.
Photo: Asus
If you walk around the laptop, you’ll notice that the ports are also significantly less well equipped. Two USB-C ports (one USB 4, one USB 3.2; one is for charging), a single USB-A port, and a full-size HDMI output are your connectivity options, overall a significant step down from what Acer offers Offer. Again, all ports are located on the side, as the design of the screen results in the rear edge of the LCD covering the back of the case when the screen is open.
The aluminum frame feels much sturdier than you’d typically find in this price range, but I wasn’t impressed with the overall design. It’s all black and has a lid that has seemingly random lines engraved into it, creating a random geometric pattern that feels more and more like it’s from the ’80s the longer you stare at it.
I like the keyboard, which is compact but thoughtfully designed and offers acceptable key travel, including a copilot key and functional half-height arrow keys. The keyboard backlighting is subtle. The touchpad is large, but hardly too large. My palms tended to touch the corners while typing, but fortunately this didn’t negatively impact the user experience. Harman Kardon speakers are loud and provide plenty of range for every entertainment need.
Photo: Asus
The big question is about performance, and I’m happy to report that the two laptops achieved similar results when compared to the Acer Swift Go. In some tests the Zenbook performed moderately better, in others the crown went to Acer. Functionally identical results were achieved across a range of benchmarks, including major benchmarks like PCMark 10, which measures the performance of popular applications.