ASUS ExpertBook P5 P5405 14" Misty Grey Review

The ASUS ExpertBook P5 is a 14-inch laptop that's trying to do a bit of everything. It's got a sharp, fast 144Hz screen, a ton of RAM, and a surprisingly light and compact body. But with an Intel Arc integrated GPU and a middling CPU score, it's clear where the compromises are.

This is a machine built for portability and general productivity, not raw power. It's for the person who wants a single, sleek device for work, web browsing, and media, and who values a great screen and lots of ports over gaming chops or top-tier CPU performance.

Performance is a mixed bag. That 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM is fantastic for multitasking, and the 1TB SSD is plenty fast. The 8-core Intel CPU lands in the 55th percentile, so it's fine for everyday tasks but won't win any speed contests. The real story is the GPU. The Intel Arc integrated graphics, while having 16GB of VRAM, only scores in the 59th percentile. It's fine for video playback and light photo editing, but its gaming score of 23.5/100 tells you everything you need to know. Don't buy this for games.

At $1350, the value proposition gets tricky. You're paying a premium for that excellent port selection, the high RAM, and the compact design. But you're getting a relatively weak CPU and a GPU that can't game. If your workflow lives in a browser and office apps and you absolutely need all those ports, it might be justifiable. For most people, that's a lot of money for average performance in a sleek package.

Stacked up against competitors, its role is clear. The Apple MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Max) will run circles around it in CPU and GPU performance, but costs way more and has fewer ports. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is a gaming beast that makes this ASUS look slow, but it's also much heavier. The real competition might be the ASUS Zenbook Duo or other ultrabooks. The ExpertBook P5 wins on pure port selection and RAM, but loses on raw power and likely battery life. It's a niche pick.

Buy the ExpertBook P5 if you're a business user or frequent traveler who needs every port under the sun, values a light bag above all else, and does zero gaming. Its 32GB of RAM future-proofs it for years of browser tabs. But if you need any kind of graphics power, want longer battery life, or just want more speed for your dollar, look at a gaming laptop like the Legion or a more balanced ultrabook.