The new ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED entered my testing lab (my desk) burdened with heavy expectation. After all, ASUS has been having a couple of very interesting years, not just with the company's industry-leading foray into OLED technology as standard, and not just because they've done some unique stuff like the Zenbook Duo, but also because some of last year's favourite laptops for me came from ASUS. That includes both this new Zenbook's big sibling, the powerful Zenbook Pro 16X, and its ultra-lightweight one, the Zenbook S 13 OLED.
So how could the Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405) ever live up to the lofty standards set by its predecessors? Especially now that ASUS' lineup has been simplified a lot, a move that includes dropping all bespoke graphics-card entries from the Zenbook range, instead relying on a new AI-boosted chipset and Intel Arc graphics? After a few weeks using it as my daily driver at work, running extensive benchmarks and trying out creative software on it, and even trying a bit of gaming, turns out it handles itself quite well indeed. Well enough to overpower all the other lightweight laptops out there? Maybe...
