Earlier this year, we published a review of the Asus ZenBook 13 UX325JA. Then the almost identical 14-inch laptop ZenBook 14 UX425JA was mentioned briefly. This review is about that laptop. Are there any differences from its 13inch counterpart?
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425JA-HM046T
price € 1299, –
Processor Intel Core i7-1065G
Memory 16 GB
Screen 14 inch IPS (1920x1080p)
Storage 1 TB ssd (NVMe 3.0 x2 M.2)
Dimensions 31.9 x 20.8 x 1.4 cm
Weight 1.17 kilos
Battery 67 Wh
Connections 2x Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 (Gen 1), HDMI, Micro SD card reader
Wireless Wifi 6, bluetooth 5
Extras Sleeve, USB-C headphone adapter, USB network adapter
Website www.asus.com
8 Score 80 
- Pros
- Impressive battery life
- Twice Thunderbolt 3
- Matte screen
- Bright screen
- Negatives
- Casing creaks a bit
- No 3.5mm audio output
Like its little brother, the UX425JA a nice laptop to see. The metal used feels excellent and the gray version that our test model came in looks nice. The top features the circular brushed pattern that is so characteristic of Asus laptops, and unfortunately the same goes for the fingerprints. Fortunately, the rest of the case is not that sensitive to fingerprints. The laptop comes across as sturdy, but just like its little brother, the housing of this UX425JA also creaks a bit when you move the screen, for example, although it is a lot less prominent. The weight of 1.17 kilograms is excellent, this is a laptop that you can always take with you. You do not have to worry about scratches, because Asus again supplies a suitable sleeve.
Connections
ZenBook 14 has two USB-C ports, and these also include Thunderbolt 3 ports. You use them not only for peripherals, but also to charge the laptop. Connecting a screen via USB-C is also possible and the laptop is also equipped with an HDMI connection. On the other side, a USB-A port and a micro-SD card reader have been placed, with which you have a nice and usable package of connections. As on the 13-inch model, the headphone jack is unfortunately missing. You will receive a USB-C adapter for headphones and a USB network adapter is also included in the package. included and because the laptop is equipped with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, you can fortunately charge and use headphones at the same time. The WiFi is provided by a WiFi6 card from Intel.
Performance
The tested version UX425JA-HM046T is identical in configuration to the previously tested 13-inch UX326JA-AH006T. So you get an Intel Core i7-1065G, a relatively economical, yet powerful quad-core processor. The chip is combined with 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB NVME SSD. This is an Intel 660P with a read and write speed of 1553.45 and 1640.98 MB / s. The combination of hardware scores 4029 points in PCMark 10, which is slightly slower than the score of 4267 that its little brother achieved in the same benchmark.
It is nice that the cooling does its job inaudibly during lighter work. That does change with heavier work, then the cooling starts audibly.
The ZenBook UX425JA, like its little brother, is equipped with a battery with an impressive capacity of 67 Wh. Asus promises a battery life of up to 22 hours. This task is when using an extra economical screen that is present on the tested version. Those 22 hours is a bit optimistic, but with normal use, 13 hours is certainly achievable. And in PCMark 10’s Modern Office battery benchmark, which simulates light daily office tasks, the battery lasts even 14 hours and 59 minutes.
To work
The 14-inch screen has a matte finish and offers good image quality with remarkably good brightness. The keyboard also ticks nicely and is equipped with background lighting in three brightness levels. Unlike its smaller brother, the keys are a bit bigger. It only saves a millimeter, but this allows you to tap blind faster.
The glass touchpad works very smoothly and with a size of 13 x 6.5 cm it is also nice and large. Asus has applied a trick we saw before: click on the top right corner and an illuminated numeric field will appear. What’s new is that you can now also open the Windows calculator with a swipe and set the brightness of the backlight in the touchpad. Unfortunately, I have not found a setting to associate another program with this swipe.
A fingerprint scanner is missing, but the webcam is equipped with a smoothly working facial recognition so that you can log into Windows without entering a password. The image quality of the 720p webcam itself is not spectacular, but more than sufficient for video calling.
Conclusion
The ZenBook 14 UX425JA is just like its smaller brother a nice laptop for everyday use: it is compact, light and performs normal activities quietly. The housing is beautiful, but unfortunately creaks a little. With twice Thunderbolt 3, USB-a and HDMI, you have enough connection options despite the compact dimensions. Unfortunately, a 3.5 mm connection is missing, for that you need a USB-c adapter that Asus does, fortunately, supply.
The biggest plus is the large battery with which you can effortlessly advance more than a working day. In short, a perfect laptop for on the go. I like the larger screen myself and would certainly prefer this 14-inch version over the previously tested 13-inch version.
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