ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) Review — putting the Zen in Ryzen

ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406)

9.2

The sleek design, potent AMD processor and long battery life combine to deliver a premium experience at a surprisingly low price point.

What's Good?

• The iconic Zen design and ultraportability
• Ryzen-powered Zen
• A lesser display, but still an excellent one
• Port galore… well, mostly

What's Not?

• A true fingerprint magnet
• PenTile matrix may be visible to some
• Ports on the right gets in the way

Following in the footsteps of its successful predecessors, the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) arrives as a refined iteration in the premium laptop space. Geared towards the modern digital nomads with a demanding lifestyle, it boasts the latest AMD Ryzen processor, a stunning OLED display, and a sleek, portable design. Let’s delve into the details and see if this Zenbook lives up to its name.

ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) — What’s Good?

The iconic Zen design and ultraportability

First impressions matter, and the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) makes a strong one. The signature ASUS monogram lid adds a touch of understated elegance, ensuring you’ll look sharp whether negotiating a deal or unwinding at a coffee shop. The high-quality aluminum chassis feels reassuringly sturdy yet deceptively lightweight, making it a perfect travel companion.

Speaking of which, it’s a mere 1.2kg light and 14.9mm thin, a far cry from last year’s Zenbook 14X OLED (UX3404) which tipped the scales at 1.5kg. More exciting however is the massive 75WHr battery, that ASUS claims will deliver over 17 hours of battery life. Of course, these figures are to be taken with a grain of salt, and as our tests show, it gets really close, but not quite there.

Ryzen-powered Zen

The beating heart of the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) is the latest AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor. With the Ryzen 8040 series, AMD has focused on AI instead of CPU or GPU performance gains. So the figures you see above are generally unchanged from last-gen, although AMD has tweaked the base TDP by lowering the base clock, possibly allowing it to sip less power than last-gen’s offering. With that said, it does quite handily trounce the Core Ultra 5-powered Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405).

Only the NPU has gotten generational improvements, going from 10 TOPs in the Ryzen 7 7840HS to 16 TOPs in the Ryzen 7 8840HS. But we won’t really be looking into that today, since there aren’t that many workloads that can test the chops of the NPU. The above is just what we managed to extract via UL Procyon. The Ryzen 7 7840HS here is paired up with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, so we should be looking at decent multitasking and great efficiency from the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED.

And I would say the highlight of this laptop would be the efficiency and the resulting battery life. ASUS Malaysia is seemingly laser-focused on delivering maximum battery life. Instead of a fancier 3K panel, we have a lower-res FHD+ 60Hz OLED panel. Overall, the downgrade paid its dividends. Battery life figures are ridiculously good at over 15 hours. The only laptop that beat it here is the Zenbook 14 Flip OLED that has a weaker i5 P-series processor.

While the higher performance numbers across the board was a nice surprise, what really impressed me even more were the thermals and power consumption figures. I noted lower peak power draw (51W vs 60W), but a higher sustained power draw, presumably thanks to lower temperatures allowing for more aggressive boosting. Despite sharing a similar design with the Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405), sustained temperatures were 8°C lower with average power draw being 6W higher, at 30W.

A lesser display, but still an excellent one

You probably noticed that I mentioned FHD+ 60Hz OLED in the paragraph above. Yes, it wasn’t a typo. While ASUS has been touting up to 3.2K and even 4K panels recently, the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) gets a blast from the past with a 1920 x 1200 OLED panel. With that said, it’s still way better than any LCD-based display I have seen. It is only if you look too closely, that you might see the PenTile subpixel matrix rear its somewhat unsightly head in the form of slightly less sharp text. That’s one of the drawbacks of lower resolution OLED panels, but you would still have to be uncomfortably close to the screen to notice it.

Nonetheless, the screen still delivers on deep blacks, vibrant colors, and incredible contrast. This translates to an immersive experience, whether you’re working on high-resolution photos, devouring a movie, or simply browsing the web. The 180-degree hinge adds to the versatility, allowing you to lay the laptop flat for presentations, collaborative brainstorming sessions, or comfortable movie marathons. Overall, still a great display, just not as good as the one in the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405).

Port galore… well, mostly

When it comes to connectivity, you’re well covered. A full range of I/O ports allows you to connect all your essential peripherals with ease. We’re talking USB4 and USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports with full power delivery and display output capabilities, a full-sized USB 3.0 port and also HDMI 2.1 (TMDS). My only issue with the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) is that the ports are on the wrong side of the laptop. But hey, we spoke with ASUS about this grievance and they said that this layout was preferred by some users as it meant heat was vented to the left, instead of towards their right hand holding their mouse.

ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) — What’s Not?

A true fingerprint magnet

Just so you know, I am really nitpicking here to highlight this minor flaw. The ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) is really as close to a perfect ultraportable Windows laptop as they can be. The lid is quite fond of collecting fingerprints, and the Jade Black finish here really makes it visible. The Ponder Blue of the Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405) was also quite bad, but this, this is worse. I took quite a long time to try and wipe off the fingerprints, and as you can see, some still remain.

ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) Specifications

ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) — should you buy this?

The ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406) is a compelling option for the digital nomads out there who need a powerful and portable laptop to keep up with their demanding lifestyles. The sleek design, potent AMD processor and long battery life combine to deliver a premium experience for just RM4,299. While I would have preferred it more if the display was the sharper 3K 120Hz panel found in the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405), I think it may have played its part to lower the price point and extend the battery life.

The excellent super-linear speakers and the refined ErgoSense keyboard that is now more silent also helps cement the Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406)’s position as a premium Windows ultraportable laptop. This is yet another great choice for those seeking a premium, well-rounded laptop that can handle business, creativity, and entertainment. And this far south of RM5,000, it’s almost a no-brainer.

For more info: https://www.asus.com/my/laptops/for-home/zenbook/asus-zenbook-14-oled-um3406/

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If you are interested in the 2024 Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405) or (UM3406), we would really appreciate if you purchase it via the links below. The affiliate links won’t cost you any extra, but it will be a great help to keep our lights on here at HelloExpress.

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