The Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED laptop recently debuted in India, and it comes with a 360-degree “ergo-lift” design. It essentially means that the keyboard gets slightly tilted in the clamshell form for a better typing experience, but users can also use the notebook as a tablet, thanks to the screen’s 360-degree rotation capability. However, the selling point is the OLED display that Asus ZenBooks and VivoBooks are adopting aggressively. The company recently launched the Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED, which received a mixed reception in our review. Asus Zenbooks, on the other hand, are Asus’ premium line of productivity-focused laptops, but can the new Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED deliver what it promises? Here’s our breakdown.
ASUS ZENBOOK 14 FLIP OLED PRICE IN INDIA
Customers can choose between three storage variants, and the RAM configuration remains standard across the new ZenBook Flip models. The Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED’s price in India starts at Rs 91,990 for the variant with AMD Ryzen 5 5600H CPU + 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD. The middle variant with Ryzen 7 5800H CPU + 16GB RAM + 1TB SSD costs Rs 1,12,990 and the top model with Ryzen 9 5900HX carries a price tag of 1,34,990. We received a review unit with Ryzen 7 5800H processor paired with AMD Radeon GPU. The laptop features a metallic black finish, which is pretty standard across Asus notebooks.
At this price range, one can even consider purchasing Apple’s M1-powered MacBooks and it’s not an easy road for Asus with Zenbook 14 Flip OLED.
ASUS ZENBOOK 14 FLIP OLED DESIGN AND DISPLAY
The new Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED comes with an “ergo-lift” design that tilts the keyboard mildly to offer a comfortable typing experience. We also get a centrally-aligned trackpad, which I usually like, as it offers more space to rest your palms. The hinge mechanism is solid, and users can smoothly use the notebook in ‘tent-mode’ to watch video content or as a tablet for reading and even gaming.
Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED features 360-degree “ergo-lift” design. (Image: Abhik Sengupta / News18)
In terms of build, the laptop gets an aluminium alloy lid and chassis that is as sturdy as it sounds. To top it up, the device gets US MIL-STD-810 standard to ensure tough durability. Sadly, the lid does not get an anti-fingerprint coating, and it will leave fingerprint smudges. Our packaging included a sleek laptop sleeve to protect from dust. It also ensures easy portability, but the sleeve cannot fit the charging adapter.
The chiclet keyboard on the laptop provides decent feedback that won’t disappoint customers who spend long hours typing. The power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner for security that was responsive during our review period. There’s no physical shutter for the 720p webcam, but users can use the dedicated hotkey to control its visibility.
The trackpad on the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED has a smooth finish with a good amount of travel. A dedicated switch will convert the trackpad into a numb-pad – a good addition for those who spend hours on spreadsheets.
But the highlight of the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED is its 14-inch touch-enabled OLED screen with 2.8K (2880 x 1800 pixels) resolution that offers a rich viewing experience. Be it gaming, editing, reading, or watching content – there’s nothing to complain about Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED’s display performance. Users can also increase the refresh rate up to 90Hz from the advanced display settings. Although it is not as smooth as the 120Hz or 144Hz refresh rate screens, you won’t be dissatisfied with the viewing/scrolling experience.
If I have to nitpick, I’d suggest that the screen with anti-fingerprint coating would have sufficed. To be fair, many touch-enabled laptop screens do not come with this coating, and a handy solution could be Amazon Basic’s Microfiber Cleaning Cloth (pack of six), which costs just Rs 299.
ASUS ZENBOOK 14 FLIP OLED PERFORMANCE
The last Asus notebook-cum-tablet that we reviewed – the Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED, did not offer reliable performance due to a sub-standard processor and lack of heat-dissipating vents. The new Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED, on the other hand, delivers highly reliable performance and the dual-fan cooling system works efficiently. I mostly used the laptop for work (regular web browsing, watching content) and light photo editing, and the fan noise was hardly audible. Switching between web tabs and multiple folders was smooth – thanks to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, 16GB of RAM, LPDDR4X RAM, and NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD storage.
Using the laptop in different viewing modes was also smooth, and my favourite is the tent mode to watch movies. As expected, the movie-viewing experience was immersive, and the fan noise again remained barely audible. The speakers of Harman Kardon deliver clear audio with hardly any bass.
In terms of benchmarks, the Asus Asus ZenBook 14 Flip OLED attained 5,249 points which is not bad at all. In the 3D Mark’s Sky Driver test for DirectX 11 graphics hardware, the two-in-one laptop scored 13,069 points. We couldn’t test demanding games due to the short-term availability of the laptop, but it was able to run Asphalt 9 smoothly.
The keyboard has multiple backlit modes, and the laptop gets stylus support. Asus sent us the Asus Pen Stylus (sold separately), which features a smooth-cylindrical design but it is not as versatile as the Asus Pen 2.0 that I enjoyed using on the Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED. Because of the wide grip and smooth finish, the stylus will be sufficient for regular scribbling but don’t expect too much creativity out of it.
Connectivity options are also standard – we get two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports (support display/power delivery), a single HDMI 2.0b port, a Micro SD card reader, a 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port. On the wireless side, there’s Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0, which is more than enough for most users. Lastly, there’s also a 720p webcam that is average at best.
The Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED carries a 63Whr battery that takes roughly 1.5 hours to charge with the bundled 100w adapter. I was getting roughly six to seven hours of battery backup during regular work cycles with 90Hz refresh rate enabled. This could expand if you use the laptop to watch content or reading with light web browsing and standard refresh (60Hz) enabled.
ASUS ZENBOOK 14 FLIP OLED VERDICT
The Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED is a solid 2-in-1 notebook that offers a great display performance. Paired with decent battery backup, touch support, rotating screen, and noiseless fans (in most use cases) – the laptop is easily worth recommending.
As always, the pertinent question remains who should go for this costly notebook. For regular customers planning to buy an affordable 2-in-1 notebook with a reliable display, the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (5410) at roughly Rs 62,000, is a good option to consider. For upcoming creators wanting a more colour accurate display – the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED will not disappoint. For enterprise users, the laptop can fulfil most demands, but a 14-inch display for spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel is quite average.