ASUS ZENBOOK A14
Not particularly powerful, but more than makes up for this with its gorgeous, thin and light design
ABOVE
At under 1kg, the Zenbook A14 is as portable as they come
SCORE PRICE
£750 (£900 inc VAT)
from
johnlewis.com
The Asus Zenbook A14 is proof that you don’t need to spend a fortune for a stylish thin and light laptop. In fact, signs of having been built to a budget are few and far between. Its shell is made from Ceraluminium, which is what Asus calls aluminium treated with a sort of matte ceramic coating. It’s very compact at 317 x 214mm and a mere 15.9mm thick. And at just under 1kg, it’s ludicrously light.
The Ceraluminium is wear-,scratch- and smudge-resistant, and the construction as a whole feels solid and surprisingly tough. Despite being so slim, the Zenbook still crams in two USB-C 4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 output and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left-hand side, with a single USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port on the right. You’ll need one Type-C port for occasional charging, but that’s not a major issue with this laptop. And while the lack of Wi-Fi 7 is slightly disappointing when it’s a feature of so many rivals, it’s unlikely to be a deal breaker when so many homes and offices still rely on Wi-Fi 6, let alone 6E.