ASUS ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition review: an out of this world laptop
The ASUS ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition is a collector’s edition laptop with several upgrades over the standard ASUS 14X OLED model. The laptop has a unique space-themed design, imprinted Morse codes, and a dedicated OLED display. Keeping up with the entire theme, the laptop also comes in a special box with some ASUS limited edition stickers and accessories. The Limited Edition laptop was announced at CES 2022 to mark the 25th anniversary of the ASUS P3600 laptop being sent to serve aboard the Mir space station for 600 days in 1998.
To me, the laptop feels like a weird crossover between the standard ZenBook 14X OLED and VivoBook Pro 14 OLED. What ASUS has done is replace the mini ASUS touchscreen touchpad on the 14X OLED with ASUS NumberPad 2.0 and the unique ASUS Vivobook branding on Vivobook Pro 14 with a ZenVision display. Apart from aesthetic changes, the laptop also features the latest 12th Gen Intel H series Alder Lake processors. I have been using the laptop for a week now and here’s my opinion of it.
ASUS ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition specifications
| Specs | ASUS ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition |
| Display | 14inch 2.8K OLED 90Hz touschreen |
| Chipset | Intel Core i9 12900H | Intel Core i7 12700H | Intel Core i5 12500H |
| GPU | Intel Iris XE |
| RAM | up to 32GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 512GB|1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD |
| OS | Windows 11 Home |
| Connectivity | 2 x Thunderbolt 4.0 (data, display, power) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-A), HDMI 2.0b, 3.5mm combo jack, micro SD |
| Webcam | HD, privacy shutter |
| Audio | 2 x 2W Stereo speaker |
| Battery | 63Wh (100W fast charging) |
| Price | Rs 56,999 | Rs 59,999 | Rs 72,999 |
Design and display
As mentioned before, the ASUS 14X OLED Space Edition follows a space theme and the brand claims that the design is inspired by a spaceship cockpit and spaceship dashboard. The laptop has unique patterns and motifs engraved on it with the text – Ad Astra Per Aspera (Through the hardship to the Stars) etched in Morse code on the lid. Apart from that, the laptop features a Zero-G Titanium colour, which is the same colour used on space equipment.
ASUS also claims that the laptop doesn’t only look the part but is also designed to survive the gruelling space travel conditions. The laptop is said to comply with the US Space Systems Command Standard SMC-S-016A testing protocols apart from the MIL-STD 810H durability standards. This means the laptop can survive extreme vibrations, high temperatures up to 61-degree Celsius, low temperatures up to -24-degree Celsius, and more. The aluminium build of the laptop also ensures that it’s pretty lightweight at around 1.4kg.
The ASUS 14X OLED Space Edition laptop comes with a host of I/O ports for every requirement. On the right side of the laptop, you’ll find a micro-SD card reader, audio combo jack, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports. As for the left side, there’s one HDMI 2.0 port and two Thunderbolt Type-C ports for quicker charging and faster data transfers. The laptop supports 100W fast charging and ASUS has also included a 100W brick in the packaging.
What stands out about the design of the laptop is the 3.5-inch OLED display located on the lid. The ZenVision display can show time, date, battery status, music equalizer, custom message, Microsoft Teams status, a business card, an animation, or a custom message. By default, the display is set to show space-theme animation, which can be changed from My ASUS dashboard.
The ASUS NumberPad 2.0 is the second noteworthy element, which turns into a dedicated number pad with a single press of a button. There’s another button that lets you control the brightness of the number pad. Lastly, the space bar and power button have been treated with an orange accent to continue with the space theme along with the space imagery and morse code on the palm rest. The fingerprint scanner works fast and accurately, which is a bonus. There’s an HD 3DNR webcam with an electronic privacy shutter on the top bezel, which works commendably well with good resolution output.
Coming to the display, the ASUS 14X OLED Space Edition laptop is fitted with a 14-inch OLED touchscreen screen with a 2,880 x 1,800 screen resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. With a taller 16:10 aspect ratio and 92% screen-to-body ratio ASUS has ensured a fine balance between media consumption and productivity. The touchscreen panel is extremely responsive with optimal viewing angles and brightness (550nits).
If I had to nitpick, the display is quite reflective and there’s no anti-glare or anti-reflective layer either. Having said that, the display on the ASUS 14X OLED Space Edition is one of the best displays I have come across on laptops so far in my tenure. ASUS has also ensured that creators would love the display by offering features like 10-bit colours, 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, and an amazing black rendition with a 1000000:1 contrast ratio.
Keyboard, trackpad, and audio
ASUS has equipped the ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition with all its Ergo goodies like the ErgoSense keyboard ErgoSense touchpad with NumberPad 2.0, and ErgoLift hinge mechanism. The ErgoSense keyboard is a full-sized chiclet-style QWERTY keyboard with a good distance between the centre of the keys for comfortable typing and a decent travel distance for a satisfying click. If you like a clicky keyboard, you’ll enjoy the springy texture of typing on this laptop.
As for the NumberPad 2.0, it turns on and off with a single touch and also allows brightness adjustment with a single click as well. The touchpad is soft and responds well to the gestures and touch inputs by the users. ASUS has colour matched the keyboard and the touchpad with the rest of the body for continuity, which looks great. My work involves primarily of writing and I completely enjoyed typing on the ASUS 14X OLED Space Edition.
Coming to the audio, the ASUS 14X OLED Space Edition is equipped with two downward-firing Harman Kardon-certified speakers with Dolby Atmos and Smart Amp, which ASUS claims can offer 350% louder sound with zero distortion. Unfortunately, I did experience a little distortion when listening to audio at higher volumes.
Performance and battery life
Coming to the meat of the matter, ASUS is offering the 14X OLED Space Edition laptop with Intel’s new 12th-Gen ‘Alder Lake’ Core i9, Core i7, and Core i5 options. I received the top-end Core i9 model for the purpose of the review. During my stint with the laptop, with multiple Edge tabs open, several Excel sheets running in the background, Slack, WhatsApp Desktop, and basic photo editing, the laptop performed quite well. It does get hot when performing intense tasks like editing but the IceCool thermal technology with two heavy-duty heat pipes and two 87-blade fans keeps the thermals in check.
As for synthetic benchmarks, the ASUS 14X OLED Space Edition outputs 5,292 points in PCMark 10 benchmark. In 3DMark, the Intel Iris XE graphics scores 1,924, which is a decent score, and the laptop should be able to handle casual gaming very well. I ran the Cinebench R23 benchmark on the laptop, which returned 1,594 single-core and 7,243 points, which are on the lower side for some reason but don’t reflect in the day-to-day performance. The laptop features 32GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. You can check the CrystalDiskMark numbers in the slider above to get a number on the read and write speeds.
During my time with the laptop, the 63Wh battery lasted me all of 5-6 hours on a single charge, which is decent. The best part was 100W fast charging support, which topped up the battery fully in around one hour.
Bottomline
The ASUS ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition is priced at Rs 1,69,990 in India. Goes without saying that you’re paying the premium for the space-inspired design, Titanium-G colour scheme, and extras bundled in the box. Having said that, the ASUS ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition is meant for enthusiasts and is a collectible, which is not meant for everyone. If you can shell out the moolah it commands, you’ll have one of the best ultra-portable notebooks in your hands. This wraps up my review of the ASUS ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition. Do you think this is something you might be interested in or would you rather spend the money on some or other alternative? Let me know in the comment box below.
Pricebaba’s rating: 8 /10
What works:
- Stunning design
- Brilliant display
- ZenVision Display is useful
- Good Keyboard
- Fast charging
What doesn’t:
- Average battery life
- Average audio
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