ASUS went with ceramic for its new Zenbook 14X OLED laptop computer | Engadget

This yr at CES ASUS has an up to date model of its bread and butter ultraportable within the Zenbook 14X OLED. But for 2023, along with revamped specs, ASUS is making an attempt out a flowery new ceramic coating on the laptop computer’s lid.

The course of used to create the coating known as PEO, or plasma electrolytic oxidation. This permits ASUS so as to add a light-weight however sturdy end that’s not solely tougher than conventional anodized aluminum, as a result of it doesn’t require any robust acids or heavy metals throughout manufacturing, it’s additionally extra environmentally pleasant.

In particular person, the Zenbook 14X’s ceramic end feels nice. It jogs my memory of the magnesium chassis Microsoft used on outdated Surfaces, besides that it’s even smoother and higher at resisting fingerprints. The draw back is that as a result of that is the primary time ASUS is utilizing this course of, the ceramic coating is barely accessible in a single colour: sandstone. On the intense facet, if you need one thing a bit extra conventional, there’s additionally a less expensive mannequin with an aluminum end in Inkwell grey.

Other updates on the Zenbook 14X embrace a barely bigger 14.5-inch OLED touchscreen, a sooner 120Hz refresh fee and a taller 16:10 side ratio. And in fact, efficiency can also be getting a bump due to new Thirteenth-gen Intel CPUs, assist for as much as 32GB of DDR5 RAM and even an non-compulsory RTX 3050 GPU from NVIDIA. ASUS can also be including sooner Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and with a barely bigger 70-watt hour battery, I’m hoping we see a small increase in longevity too.

Port choice appears to be like stable as nicely with two Thunderbolt 4 connectors. And with regards to making video calls, there’s a brand new full HD webcam (which is up from the 720p on final yr’s mannequin) with assist for home windows whats up and twin mics with AI noise cancellation, so you need to look and sound higher throughout conferences.

Now I do know a few of you is likely to be dissatisfied that ASUS didn’t discover room for Nvidia’s latest 40-series cellular graphics playing cards. But contemplating that the Zenbook 14X weighs barely greater than 4 kilos and isn’t meant to be your essential gaming machine, it’s exhausting to be too upset.

All advised, between the brand new ceramic coating, the marginally bigger show and revamped parts, the Zenbook 14X is shaping as much as be a fairly well-equipped and classy pocket book. I simply hope different folks prefer it too, as a result of I’d like to see ASUS broaden the colour choices for the ceramic coating to extra shades than simply sandstone. Of course, simply how a lot of a premium you must pay for it might play a job in its success. ASUS has not but launched pricing for the Zenbook 14X OLED, although it’s slated to go on sale someday in Q2 2023.