Asus ZenBook 14 UX433 Review: A Great MacBook Air Alternative

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This is the unboxing and review of the Asus ZenBook 14 UX433FN by AMDtech.

#AsusZenBook14 #UX433 #Asus

Specs:

Finish / Color
Royal Blue, Icicle Silver

Operating System
Windows 10 Pro
(ASUS recommends Windows 10 Pro)

Windows 10 Home

Processor
Intel® Core™ i7-8565U processor

1.8GHz quad-core with Turbo Boost (up to 4.6GHz) and 8MB cache

Intel® Core™ i5-8265U processor

1.6GHz quad-core with Turbo Boost (up to 3.9GHz) and 6MB cache

Graphics
NVIDIA® GeForce® MX150

2GB GDDR5 VRAM

Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics 620

Display
14” LED-backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 standard display

14” LED-backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 anti-glare display

Four-sided frameless NanoEdge design with 92% screen-to-body ratio

2.9mm-thin side bezel and 3.3mm bottom bezel1

Wide 100% sRGB color gamut

178° wide-view technology

Memory
8GB / 16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 onboard

Storage
1TB PCIe® 3.0 x4 SSD

512GB / 256GB PCIe® 3.0 x2 SSD

Interfaces
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C™ (up to 10Gbps)
1 x USB 3.1 Type-A (up to 10Gbps)
1 x USB 2.0 Type-A
1 x HDMI
1 x MicroSD card reader
DC-inHDMIUSB 3.1 (up to 10Gbps)USB-C™ 3.1 Gen 2Audio jackUSB 2.0MicroSD card reader
Keyboard and Touchpad
Keyboard

Full-size backlit, with 1.4mm key travel

Touchpad

Glass-covered with integrated NumberPad; intelligent palm-rejection

Precision Touchpad (PTP) technology supports up to four-finger smart gestures

KeyboardNumberPad (optional)
Audio
ASUS SonicMaster stereo audio system with surround-sound; smart amplifier for maximum audio performance

Array microphone with Cortana and Alexa2 voice-recognition support

3.5mm headphone jack

Long-travel voice coils for improved low-frequency response

Certified by Harman Kardon

Camera
3D IR HD camera

Wireless Connectivity
Wi-Fi

Dual-band 802.11ac gigabit-class Wi-Fi

Bluetooth

Bluetooth® 5.0

Battery and Power
Up to 14 hours battery life3

50Wh 3-cell lithium-polymer battery

65W power adapter
(Output: 19V DC, 65W)
(Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal)

Weight and Dimensions
Height: 1.59cm (0.63 inches)

Width: 31.9cm (12.56 inches)

Depth: 19.9cm (7.83 inches)

Weight4:
With anti-glare display: Approx. 1.09kg
With standard display: Approx. 1.19kg


31.9cm
(12.56 inches)19.9cm
(7.83 inches)1.59cm
(0.63 inches)
Included in the Box
ZenBook 14 (UX433)

Protective sleeve

65W power adapter
Plug Type: ø4 (mm)

Included Software
ASUS Battery Health Charging

Quiet Fan

[lifeneedsmorechill]

As an actual owner of this laptop (the Asian version) other than the trackpad, everything works awesome for me. As a student, its fast charge time along with long battery life is a godsend for me. The keyboard is also very comfortable to type on for my assignments, but the numbered track pad is utter rubbish though, it has no tactile feedback so sometimes I don't even know if the touch was registered.

I have the one with the mx150 and this machine can surprisingly game. I play the occasional Dota 2 and can even get Xcom2 running at 720P with mostly medium settings. BUT I have to use a third party software throttlestop to undervolt the laptop so it doesn't throttle like crazy and cause this really strange stuttering in games.

The lack of thunderbolt 3 makes no difference to me, since i already have a dedicated desktop for my gaming and video rendering needs, the usb C charging could have been nice but the aesthetics of this laptop won me over the others in the same category.

[antquin]

I bought this Laptop and it is fabulous!!! fast on start (7 seconds after power-on is ready to work), fantastic face recognition and very fast during work! Great display and battery Life!

[jaliz]

I just bought this laptop. Love the look and it's performance!

[Gianluca_ads]

I like you reviews, I think they are among the best I viewed so far. Best of all is that video shoots show the notebooks during real life use, and you spend time showing how display looks like (more side shoots would be also useful). Also I appreciate the unboxing, although the warrior knife it's a bit... odd. But at the end this is nice too

[PKandME]

What makes thunderbolt 3 so special, why do you need it?

[Shreyansh]

Hows the hinge holding up after long duration use?

[tomtankengine]

TL:DR - a gorgeous looking device, with a crisp screen, clicky keyboard and surprisingly good trackpad. However, the thermal design is absolutely atrocious. Even with undervolting, I'm seeing immediate throttling in games, down to unplayable framerates.


Purchased this laptop for AU$1700 (~US$1200) and I have to say, I'm impressed for the most part. The one aspect of this device that I was concerned about was the display; although the bezels are incredibly slim, every review I read insisted the panel was almost unusably dim. However, I can comfortably say this isn't the case. Although it is certainly dimmer than MacBooks and the such, it reaches a comfortable level of brightness for indoor and outdoor use.


The ports have been entirely adequate. My usecase means I haven't missed the omission of Thunderbolt 3, though of course this could be different for yours.


The chassis is surprisingly rigid, considering the other ZenBook products I've used. The flex in the keyboard deck is only noticeable when you apply substantial pressure, and the hinges are well tuned, allowing for one-hand opening. The Royal Blue colour is luxurious to say the least; videos don't do its shimmering concentric pattern and gold trim justice.


The keyboard and trackpad are good - for the most part. The keys themselves have a nice clicky actuation and decent amount of travel. I honestly find the clickiness of the strokes quite soothing when typing at speed. The backlighting is a bonus, with three intensities of blue-ish white glow. The trackpad is a nice smooth surface, with Precision drivers and a nice satisfying click. I have noticed some issues with lag and sticking, though it seems to be occurring less and less frequently.


Now onto the elephant in the room; the performance. Don't get me wrong, for everyday productivity this little device zips along without breaking a sweat. On top of that, I'm clocking consistent 8+ hour battery lives at full brightness (albeit using Optimus to disable the MX150) However, as soon as you boot up a game, the whole thing loses face with me. When playing a moderately demanding game like Battlefield 4 on medium settings at 1080p, the framerate hovers around 60FPS - for about 30 seconds. Then the fans begin to wind up and the framerate plummets to sub-20. It really is disappointing, as it negates the point of adding a discreet graphics card. Even with undervolting, the throttling is absolutely atrocious. I am considering reapplying the thermal compound in a last-ditch effort to bring the temperatures down.


Ultimately, I give this laptop a solid recommendation for everyday productivity. But if you want to play even the lightest of games, look elsewhere.

[vmk]

Have this laptop albeit with the mx150 in it. The brightness is definitely higher than 238 at around ~270. Don't know if its because it's the FN version and not the FA. SRGB was around 99.2% and Adobe RGB was 76% for my unit. The Touch pad did have some skipping issues but new drivers fixed it for the most part and haven't encountered it again. It's also very light and feels lighter than it actually is due to the smaller profile. How does it compare with other laptops, well, build quality wise if I give the xps 100% I can definitely give the zenbook 98%, Cool factor wise I definitely can say this wins over the XPS and the Macbook for me, the numpad definitely is a cool party trick. With I/O for me I would actually rate this over XPS and Macbook any day, Sure it does not have TB3 but I do not plan to play games on a 14" laptop anyway. With 1 Type-C, Full size HDMI, 2 USB 3 and Micro-SD card reader definitely help me with carrying this around without dongles hanging all over the place and get my work done. I do regret that this does not support Type-C charging but the battery lets me get through a day of work without an issue ~8.5 battery with Wi-FI on and 50% brightness and occasionally plugged in to a External Display. And finally price, it costs only around 60% of a Dell XPS with the same specs and 80% of the Macbook Air (Not a Fair comparison though due to Zenbook perfomance >> Macbook AIR). Therefore for most Asian countries where this laptop is lot cheaper than it's competitors I would say I would rate this a bit over than the Macbook Air and the XPS.

[damjandugalic]

Got this laptop a month ago and I'm very pleased with it! In case you are wondering if it's worth your money here is my experience with it.
Cons:
* Trackpad - Honestly I do feel like it's been blown out of proportion in the product reviews because it's really not that bad and im able to work on the laptop just fine.
What has to be mentioned though is that NO DRIVER UPDATE CAN FIX IT because it is not a driver problem but an isolation one. Solution: If you decide to open it up adding thin isolation between the trackpad and the battery should solve it.
* Loud coil whine - This is my big personal issue with it, sometimes it does make me regret buying it
* Bloatware - I Heard people complain about bloatware but if you follow the instructions properly at your first boot nothing unnecessary will be installed
* Keyboard back light - it works fine but i think they could have done a much better job at it


Pros:
* Amazing screen and colour accuracy - you can not get this screen from any competitor for that price range
* Great battery life and charges fast
* Good keayboard. It wasn't love at first sight but it made me change my mind after a few days of use.
* MX150 version is great I play some diablo and hearthstone on it.
* Ergo hinge makes it very comfortable to use and obviously looks great

[thewiedzmin]

If you keep getting better with this rate you will blow up no doubts!

[aandrei]

I had the UX533 version and the display was good but significantly less bright than the one on my Dell XPS 15. The problem is that the UX533 is priced similarly to the XPS 15 and it's nowhere near as well built or as powerful. My UX533 also had a massive scratch on the touchpad and it also rattled.

[Trader_Gabe]

I’m excited! Ordered my 14’ today with the MX250 graphics, i7-10510U, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD. Where I live the XPS, Macbooks and ThinkPads are absolutely untouchable in terms of price. This is the best I could do - paid $1, 560 for it. Considering I’m selling my previous desktop rig for $1, 170, a bargain doesn’t even begin to describe the final price I paid for it.

[ug]

Only review which confirmed RAM is not upgradable, great job 👏👏 it's a deal breaker coz even 16 GB ram is not much for development .

[andrewjones]

Thanks for the thorough overview. I've been looking at reviews of this specific machine and this is the best I've seen so far.

[benaya]

finally, a real review from a real pro! keep up the good work!
I just bought this one, but the ux433fn, with geforce mx150.
in my opinion - great overall.
I used to have thinkpad edge e330, and unfortuately nothing can't compare to the thinkpad keyboard by far. other than that - screen gets black for a few seconds if I heavy load the graphics card. touchpad is amazing, it has 2, 3, and 4 fingers specific functions.
I study computer science, and the reason I bought this is heavy loads on android studio, and it really works like a charm. I only hope to get used to this grade b keyboard and things will be perfect.

[rafaelmendoza]

One year later it only works if connected to the charger, sent into Asus still have the same problem.

[goldsilver]

Thanks for the review! I ordered the version with MX150 GPU and will be getting it next week. Hopefully it will be worth it.

[jessicaagriani]

Should I buy this Asus or Macbook Air 2020? I only use this for browsing, do some spreadsheets, power point, and words.

[maverickbonato]

238 nits display, no thunderbolt 3, trackpad issues, quite a bit of bloatware and subpar thermal although not a dealbreaker, why would I buy this over a matebook x pro? Or an XPS or even a Lenovo C930? It's not THAT MUCH more affordable, a big nono from me but nice review :)

[ohwhatworld]

I can't make my mind up whether it is horribly thick or not?
maybe it just looks thicker on video? How does it feel/look in real life? Is it comparable to a MacBook Air?