Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition Review

Asus' Zenbook models have always been commended for having solid performance while putting an emphasis on size, portability, and battery life.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition models are an interesting take on the laptop formula because they celebrate a bit of history.

You see, in 1997, ASUS launched the first laptop P6300. That same model was later chosen for a mission to the MIR space station. Victor, one of the astronauts on that mission, reported that ASUS notebooks were the most reliable of those taken on the mission, with zero issues during more than 600 days in space. To celebrate that historic moment, Asus has chosen to build a very special "space edition of the Asus Zenbook 14X"

Design

Not diverting too much from the original Zenbook 14X, it's got an all-metal chassis made of aluminium alloy and has a finish that Asus calls, the Zero-G Titanium colour. You'll find most of the design changes are heavily influenced with the golden age of space travel and draw influences from the MIR Space Station and include hints of morse code.

The design of the palm-rest area continues the space-capsule and morse-code themes. The pattern on the left is the MIR space station pattern comprised of multiple lines and two lines added on both sides of the touchpad is inspired by a cockpit. The arched lines on the lid symbolize the look of a space capsule, and one of the lines is a symbolic morse code of the Latin proverb ad astra per aspera, Through Hardships to the Stars!

The lid of the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition features an exclusive ZenVision display, with a layout that's inspired by a datasheet of a spaceship. The ZenVision display is a 3.5-inch OLED panel that supports 256 x 64 resolution and 150-nit brightness that doesn't impact battery. It can display animations, QR codes and text overlays that are space themed.

The keyboard has titanium keys and with the sensor and power button integrated in this model. Making this slightly heavier than most regular Zenbook 14X models but only by a little, it still weighs under 1.5 kilograms. Since the internals are redesigned to handle airflow and heat better this means that there's more room now for ports that include two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 3.5 mm jack, a full-size USB-A, and an HDMI port and a microSD card slot.

This also means there's a taller keyboard and larger click pad in this model.

Other than that, the Space Edition has the same 16:10 touchscreen. The touchscreen supports 2880 x 1800 resolution, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 0.2ms response time, up to 550-nit peak brightness, and 0.0005 nits of deep black brightness

Besides an ultrawide colour gamut of 100% DCI-P3 and HDR content support, the display is also certified VESA DisplayHDR 500 True Black and is PANTONE Validated, assuring accurate colour and high dynamic contrast reproduction.

Performance

Powered by Intel's 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 H-series processors the Space Edition is designed to maximize single-thread performance and responsiveness for compute-intensive workloads like gaming and 3D design. It also supports higher speeds and bandwidth of LPDDR5 memory, faster connectivity of Intel Wi-Fi 6E, and takes advantage of the Thunderbolt 4 ports

The ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition features an onboard memory design to allow for a thinner and lighter chassis, and it still provides up to 16 GB capacity and fast 4800 MHz LPDDR5 clock speeds to provide plenty of processing power. Models in the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition features an M.2 slot with up to an optional 1 TB PCIe4.0 x4 NVMe SSD and support for up to 6500 MB/s read performance.

Overall performance is consistent with the Zenbooks of the same class and the Space Edition doesn’t divert from that benchmark and where battery life is concerned, you should expect to get about 9 hours of use on the battery and 6 hours with intense multitasking.

Asus also has included USB-C Easy Charge support so the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition can be used with a wide range of standard USB-C chargers (5V-20V) an ultrafast charging with a PD (Power Delivery) certified charger, including the 65 watt fast-charge adapter supplied with the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition. Easy USB-C Charging ensures 4.5-watt charging when connecting to non-Power Delivery chargers, including portable chargers or USB Type-A to USB-C chargers. When using a Power Delivery charger, the charging speed will match the connected adapter's power output, up to a maximum of 65 watts. With the supplied charger, it goes to full charge within two hours.

Verdict

Asus has made some solid OLED models and if you're a fan of anything Space related then the Space Edition is something you need to consider. There’s a powerful 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 H-Series processors powered by DDR5 memory and solid storage transfer speeds.

If you're looking for a laptop that's a multipurpose driven machine and you want to take full advantage of using Thunderbolt 4, the Space Edition does it well. It's a unique take on celebrating the legacy of delivering solid hardware in extreme environments and the OLED display remains as beautiful as ever.