The laptop is mainly meant for all the space geeks and is undeniably attractive. It’s made for people like me who are tired of staring at the same black computers that always look the same, plain and boring. Under the hood, it has a lot to offer with the 12th generation Intel Core i9 chipset, 32 GB RAM, and much more.
Moreover, the laptop continues Asus’ OLED tradition with a 2800*1800 OLED display at 90 Hz, a feast for the eyes. But is the Asus Zenbook OLED Space Edition the ultimate special edition laptop we have all been waiting for? We have been using the notebook for a little over two weeks now, and here is our Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition review.
Display
We have come to expect amazing screens from Asus laptops, and the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition does not disappoint. The laptop features a 14-inch 2.8K OLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate, a feast for the eyes. In addition, the display is Pantone-validated and has a screen-to-body ratio of 92%. Everything from binge-watching movies to playing games looks beautiful on the laptop display. Thanks to OLED technology, colors are vibrant, and blacks are deep and profound. Asus has also tried to keep the problem of burn-in at bay with the help of Pixel Shift technology, and Dark Mode enabled by default. The notebook is by no means aimed at gamers, but the 90 Hz is a nice addition as it improves the gaming experience a bit. Beyond that, navigating and scrolling in Windows 11 feels much smoother.
Build and Design
Let us start with the most striking aspect of the Zenbook 14X Space Edition, the design. At first glance, the laptop looks unlike anything else on the market, and the back is full of Easter eggs. The space station theme starts on the back of the notebook and continues inside once you open the lid. All the space nerds out there will surely appreciate the overall design. Another cool feature is the small display on the back that can show various information and is easily customizable via the laptop settings. You can personalize text displays and animations and create a QR code that other users can scan to get the information they need. Asus has not skimped on build quality either: the laptop is made of aluminum and feels very sturdy and well-made. We had no issues with the keyboard or lid, which is good.
With a weight of 1.4 kg, the laptop is also relatively light and easy to carry around or put in a backpack without worrying about breaking, as the laptop is also certified for military use. As for the notebook’s ports, there is a USB Type-A port and an SD card reader on the right side of the laptop. On the left side are two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports supporting USB Power Delivery and an HDMI port. While the availability of ports is good enough for most people, we would have liked to see an additional USB Type-A port as it offers a bit more versatility. A fingerprint scanner above the keyboard works quite well and unlocks the device every time without problems. Before I get into the laptop’s performance, I want to take some time to appreciate the laptop’s unboxing experience. When I first unboxed the laptop, I was impressed with the overall packaging and how everything was put together; even the charger was included in the Space Edition. And that’s not even the best part; the charger box also doubles as a laptop stand; how cool?
Performace
Asus was one of the first brands in India to jump on the Intel 12th generation bandwagon, and the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED is no different. The latest 12th generation powers the laptop Intel Core i9-12900H clocked at 2.50 GHz, along with 32 GB RAM LPDDR5 RAM. The notebook handles everything you throw at it, be it working with multiple Chrome tabs, launching and switching between applications, etc. The Intel IRIS XE graphics card handles the graphical tasks and does a good job. You can play games like GTA 5 and Valorant comfortably on medium to low settings, but anything beyond that can cause the laptop to struggle due to the lack of a dedicated GPU. But that’s okay, considering that the laptop is meant for professionals who need to work on their computer for extended periods and for whom games are not really on the priority list. The included 1TB SSD does an excellent job, and we had no problems moving files from one place to another. Windows 11 trunk times were also quite fast, which is very pleasing. Although I did not have any issues with the laptop’s heat generation, I noticed that the fans got a little too loud for my liking. For all the benchmarking geeks out there, we ran Cinebench, Geekbench, and SSD speed tests, and the results are as follows.
Battery Life and Charging
The Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition has a 63 Wh battery and 100 W fast charging, but how does it perform in practice? Well, let us take a look at it. I usually have at least 15 Firefox tabs running while music plays over the speakers in the background, and for this kind of usage, the battery life was pretty average. I averaged 4.5 to 5 hours on the laptop, which is not bad, but I was hoping for more.
The 100-watt adapter also charges the laptop in no time, so I can not complain. I also tried plugging in my 65W adapter USB-PD, and it worked fine, but I kept getting a slow charging notification, which was to be expected. All in all, you will be happy with the battery life and charging speed of the Space Edition notebook.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The Space Edition theme continues on the keyboard; the space bar and power key are in bronze, a Mars-like hue that is pleasant to look at. Furthermore, the keyboard works very well, registers all keystrokes well, and has a decent key drop as well.
If I had anything to complain about, it would be that the keycaps are a bit wobbly, which detracts from the overall laptop experience a bit. I had no problems typing for hours on this laptop. There is also a three-level backlight, so typing in the dark was not a problem, but a noticeable drop in light detracted from the overall experience. Since this is a 14-inch laptop, you’ll have to do without a full-size numpad on the keyboard deck, but you will not have to sacrifice functionality. Like other Asus Creator series laptops, you can enable a numpad on the trackpad, a nice little addition, and a party trick up your sleeve. The trackpad is fairly smooth and large, allowing Windows 11 gestures to work flawlessly.
Software, Speaker and Webcam quality ft. Connectivity
The Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition runs a pre-activated version of Windows 11, and there are no notable bugs or software issues since Windows 11 has been available for some time. For the speakers, Asus has teamed up with Harmon Kardon, and the quality of the speakers is quite good. However, I would have liked them to be a bit louder; that would have improved the overall experience on the laptop. The quality of the webcam was average at best and could have been much better considering the notebook’s price. As far as connectivity goes, the 14X OLED laptop is very good. There is support for WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, and there is also support for Asus WiFi Master Premium technology, which the manufacturer claims increases WiFi range.
Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition Review: Verdict
In summary, the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition is unique and looks unlike anything else on the market. The space edition retails for Rs. 1,14,990 for the i5 variant, Rs. 134,990 for the i7 variant and Rs. 1,69,990 for the i9 variant respectively. Surely, it’s on the pricier side of thin and light laptops, but it offers many unique features like the overall design and esthetics, customizable outdoor screen, and more. It also has the usual notebook features, such as an excellent display, great build quality, a pleasant keyboard, touchpad, etc. If you are someone who appreciates all the things related to the Space Edition, the laptop is undoubtedly worth the money. All in all, if you are not looking for something as unique as the Space Edition and want to save some money, the recently launched Zenbook 14 is worth a look.
