ASUS 14.5" Inkwell Gray Review

The ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED is a thin-and-light laptop with one of the best screens you can get and a powerful Intel Core i7 processor. It's held back by weak integrated graphics, making it poor for gaming, but excellent for everyday tasks and media. Shop carefully, as its price varies wildly.

If you're looking for a premium thin-and-light laptop with a killer screen, the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED is a serious contender. It packs a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD into a chassis that's just 1.58kg and 0.7 inches thin. With a price that can swing wildly depending on the vendor, it's a machine that's best for entertainment and general productivity, but we need to see how it stacks up. People searching for a 14-inch OLED laptop with Intel Evo certification will find this on their shortlist, and that display is the main reason why.

The Intel Core i7-13700H is a strong performer, landing in the 81st percentile for CPU power in our database. That means it's well above average and will handle everyday multitasking, photo editing, and even some light video work without breaking a sweat. The 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM is solid, too, keeping things smooth when you have a dozen browser tabs open alongside your apps. The real story, though, is the graphics. With integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics scoring in the 21st percentile, this is not a machine for gaming or serious 3D work. It'll run older titles at low settings, but that's about it. The 512GB SSD is about average for storage speed and capacity.

The value proposition here is tricky because the price range is all over the map, from a sensible $850 to a frankly ridiculous $28,596. At the lower end of that spectrum, this is a compelling package for the screen and CPU performance alone. At the higher end, it's a complete non-starter. Your best bet is to hunt for a deal closer to that $850 mark. Compared to alternatives, you're trading GPU power for that incredible OLED panel and a more Windows-centric experience than something like a MacBook.

This Zenbook sits in a crowded field. The Apple MacBook Pro 14" is its most direct premium competitor, offering a better overall performance package (especially with the M3 chip) and build quality, but at a higher price and with macOS. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14" is another strong Windows alternative with a similar focus on design and display quality. The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 14" offers a gorgeous AMOLED screen and likely better battery life, making it another top contender. The key differentiator for the Zenbook is its specific combination of a high-refresh OLED touchscreen and Intel's H-series processor, which gives it a CPU edge over some U-series rivals, but that's negated by the weak integrated graphics.

Gamers, video editors, 3D artists, or anyone who needs a capable GPU should look elsewhere. The integrated graphics here are a real bottleneck. Also, if you need tons of storage, the 512GB SSD might feel cramped. For those users, consider a laptop with dedicated graphics, like an RTX 4050 model, or look at the Apple MacBook Pro for a more balanced premium thin-and-light.

Should you buy the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED? Yes, but only under very specific conditions. If your top priority is a breathtaking OLED display for media consumption, light creative work, and general use, and you can find it for a good price (aim for the lower end of its insane price range), it's a great choice. The performance is strong for CPU tasks, and it's wonderfully portable. However, if you need any kind of graphical power for gaming, video editing, or 3D modeling, you should skip it immediately. The integrated graphics are a deal-breaker for those uses.