ASUS recently launched its newest Zenbook lineup in the Philippines, and one of the devices included in the bunch is a special edition of the Zenbook 14X OLED.
The Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition was created especially to celebrate the space journey of the brand’s P6300 laptop, which, in the entirety of its 600-day timeframe, did not overheat or break down.
While definitely not a perfect product, we’d still like to share five things that we really like about this space-themed laptop.
Just Unboxing it is a Journey
One look at the box of the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition and you’ll know that there is something special inside.
The inner box is finished in a glossy RGB coating that reacts beautifully to light. ASUS did not skip on the details, and have put in Morse codes that pay tribute to the MIR Space Station, Space Travel in General, and 25 years since the P6300 laptop made it to space.
Unlike the usual packaging, you also get a Welcome Card. and a set of stickers in a package that’s reminiscent of what you’ll see in space movies. You can even use the box for the accessories as a stand for the laptop. That’s not something you commonly see in laptops – being able to re-purpose the packaging to reduce waste.
A Unique Look
More than a laptop, the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition is a celebration of 25 years since the ASUS P6300 traveled to space via the MIR Space Station for a 600-day journey.
This theme is showcased in just about every part of the laptop, from the lid which bears morse codes that are inspired by space travel, to the inside. Even the color of the device, Zero-G Titanium, is a tribute to the actual element that’s used in spacecraft construction.
The silver keys also jive with the overall look, while the spacebar and power button are in a different color to provide a stark contrast.
Then of course, there’s the 3.5-inch ZenVision OLED display, which you can use to show preset animations, or your own customized text. You can even promote yourself or your brand with a QR code that leads to your website or social media page.
One of the Best Displays on a Laptop
Apparently, ASUS thinks that OLED is the way to go, so it equipped its new Zenbooks with bright, vibrant, color-accurate panels ideal for productive and creative work, as well as entertainment.
Being a limited-edition laptop, of course, the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Ed is equipped with no less – you get a 14-inch PANTONE-Validated OLED panel with a 2.8K resolution, 0.2ms response time, 90Hz refresh rate, and 550 nits of peak brightness, while also covering 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
Not only does this display deliver deep blacks and rich colors, but it also offers improved detail in dark areas, and retains good clarity regardless of the brightness level. It works well for photo editing, just as well as for watching your favorite movies, or even a bit of casual gaming on the side.
Great for Productivity and Entertainment, Plus a Bit More
What good is a good-looking laptop if it can’t back it up with the performance to tackle your everyday productivity and entertainment workload?
The base model of the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition packs a 12th Generation Intel Core i5-12500H processor, and there’s also a variant with a Core i7-12700H. Both have 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM plus a 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 Performance SSD for the i5 model, and twice the storage for the i7 variant.
While I can’t speak for the i7 variant as the unit we have is the one with the i5, apart from fast boot times, the laptop can breeze through the typical productivity apps like MS Office, and even simple photo editing tasks like resizing and zooming in are smooth. You should also be able to do a bit of simple video editing, just don’t expect similar performance to say, a full-pledged workstation with a high-end CPU.
Multi-tasking works well too, and thanks to that 90Hz refresh rate, even browsing websites and simple animations on the user interface have that fluidity that you won’t get on 60Hz.
Of course, a lot will probably ask, can you play games on this laptop? Certainly, and I’m not pertaining to space pinball or solitaire. Well, probably not the resource-intensive AAA titles. I did try to play Tales of Arise here, and it was smooth at native resolution, getting 55 fps on average with mixed settings, mostly on high.
ASUS’ IceCool thermal technology also employs two heat pipes and two fans designed for better flow rate with less noise, allowing the laptop to perform well even when under intense workloads.
A Full Suite of Ports for Your Devices
ASUS made sure to fit the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition with all the ports you’ll need to connect your other devices to improve your workflow and productivity.
You get a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, both of which support display and power delivery, a microSD card reader, which is not present even in some more expensive laptops, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack.
Despite the laptop being 15.9mm thin, they still managed to fit in a full-sized HDMI 2.0b port, so you can easily connect to a display without having to use a dongle.Speaking of which, you can even connect a USB-C dongle to add even more ports.
While it has its share of shortcomings, it’s a fact that ASUS has done a good job in putting together a laptop that’s in a lot of ways, one-of-a-kind, and the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition will probably go down in history as a great attempt at thinking out of the box, and doing something that was never done before. It’s unique, and yet, it sticks to the core of what the Zenbook lineup is all about – delivering a premium user experience that only ASUS can bring.
Pricing
The ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition is priced at PhP84,995 and PhP99,995 for the Core i5 and Core i7 variants, respectively. For our full review, click here.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
