This year's MacBooks are the best laptops you can buy right now, according to many publications. They will be for a lot of users.
A few Windows-based alternatives have been springing up in the Zenbook line, offering the build quality, display, and performance to match Apple's best. The 13-inch Zenbook 13S OLED option has proven to be a worthy M2 MacBook Air competitor, and eyes have been on the 14-inch Zenbook 14X OLED as a potential rival to the fan-equipped M2 MacBook.
I was able to test a real unit for performance and battery life this week after taking an early look at the Zenbook 14X. In a number of important areas, the Zenbook beats the MacBook, but it loses in one important category.
$1979.99 at Amazon$1999.99 at Asus$1979.99 at Walmart
$1299.00 at Apple$1299.00 at Best Buy$1399.00 at Amazon
The Zenbook and the MacBook have the same dimensions. The Zenbook has a weight of 3.09 pounds. The Zenbook is thinner than the MacBook.
The Zenbook feels heavier when I lift it with one arm. They are both light and thin.
It's a small window.
This design has been around for a long time.
The news is old but newer.
The Zenbook is slightly more affordable than the MacBook Pro, but I don't think it will be a big deal for most shoppers.
The Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition has a Core i9-12900H processor, 32 gigabytes of RAM, and 1 terabytes of storage. Some retailers have it listed for $1,9799.99, but it is only priced at $1,999.
If you wanted to buy a 13-inch MacBook Pro with 1 terabytes of storage, you would have to pay $2,099, a premium of $100. Both the Zenbook and the M2 MacBook are within the realm of what a consumer ultraportable costs. The base version of the MacBook Pro is $2,499.99.
If you don't want to spend a lot of money on a Zenbook, you may be better off buying a MacBook Pro with 16 gigabytes of memory and 512 gigabytes of storage. It will depend on what your daily needs are.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro is often on sale these days, and you can get a 16 gigabyte / 512 gigabyte model for just over $2,000. The model to go for if you can get by with 512GB of storage is the 14-incher.
When you could be in space, why buy a regular Zen book?
The 13 incher is this one.
This is the bigger one.
There are no MacBooks that can compare here. Both of these laptops are very sturdy. The M2 Pro has the same design as the MacBook Pro models of the past. All things considered, the 14-inch device still looks like a MacBook.
The Zenbook 14X is similar to a spaceship. There are design elements on the lid and keyboard deck that evoke a shuttle and cockpit. I would always choose the Zenbook's styling.
Where display is concerned, the Zenbook 14X is the winner. The Zenbook has a 14-inch, 16:10 screen with a resolution of 2880 x 1800. The 13-inch MacBook Pro has a lower resolution screen with a slower refresh rate. I prefer the Zenbook over the MacBook because it has a crisp and bright screen, and I like the deep blacks.
The Zenbook has something called the ZenVision display on its lid, a 3.5-inch panel that can display your music, the time, battery percentage or other statistics, a business card, text of your choosing, or cute little astronauts animation. I think it is the window of the spaceship. I like the ZenVision display more than the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro.
The Zenbook has a feature that can be found on all kinds of laptops. When you use the Zenbook on your lap, the hinge folds slightly under the keyboard deck, raising it a few degrees off the ground to give you better air flow. One thing you need to deal with is the fact that the MacBook doesn't have it.
Some of my favorite keyboards are still made by the same company.
I like this one and the click is great.
The Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition is a Windows laptop that can compete with Apple's chips in tasks that use a lot of power. Some of the best performance I have seen from a laptop of this size has been put up by this one. I don't think it will have a problem with general office work.
The Zenbook is powerful for its size and did better than both the M2 and the M1 Pro MacBooks on many of our benchmark tests. When it comes to graphics performance, both of Apple's products are ahead of the curve. The MacBook is a better buy if you use a lot of graphics. If you are going to be gaming a lot, skip all of these models and get something like the Zephyrus G14, because the gaming benchmarks are just for testing.
The unplugged performance of the Macbook is better. The machine puts up the same scores. The Zenbook scores did not go down when it was unplugged. The Geekbench score dropped to 20,700 on the battery.
There is a reminder if you forget what laptop you use.
None of the business on the Zenbook is related to the Touch Bar.
The Zenbook is left in the dust by the Macbook.
I used the M2 MacBook Pro for over sixteen and a half hours. I was given 10 hours by the M1 Pro. The Zenbook only lasted me around a quarter of that time with the same workload and brightness settings. I averaged four hours and 35 minutes out of this machine over the course of a number of trials.
The extra hours on the MacBook may be worth the extra money. If you don't have a lot of money, a lower-specced MacBook Pro may be worth the extra time.
The efficiency problem with Intel's processors needs to be fixed. There is a striking gap between the two other competitors. It is one of the worst results I have seen from a non-gaming laptop this year, and I would really like to see at least seven hours from a device of this price. The ROG Zephyrus G14 lasts me close to two times as long as it does now.
If you didn't feel guilty about not charging, that's good.
You have to open it to know the battery percentage.
The Zenbook is a poor buy for most people, but the MacBook Pro is a better buy. The futuristic design of the 14X comes at a high price. If you want a portable device to bring out and about, the extra hours of freedom from an outlet that the MacBook gives you should be worth it. If you can find it on sale, the 14-inch MacBook Pro is an excellent alternative for those who want to compromise on storage, memory, and battery life.
If you want a Windows alternative to the MacBook Pro but don't care about battery life, this Zenbook is a good choice. No Apple laptop has ever been as fun as this one is. It would have been better if the chip inside it was from Advanced Micro Devices.
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