Asus Zenbook 14 Q425 review: an $800 laptop that’s worth it

Everything else aside, I’ve always been impressed with Asus’ build quality. Like most Asus laptops I’ve reviewed, the Zenbook 14 Q425’s aluminum chassis and lid resist all bending, flexing, or twisting. I have no idea how Asus manages to make a lid that’s as thin as the MacBook Air’s but doesn’t exhibit that laptop’s slight bendiness. The rest of the Zenbook feels just as solid. Even the hinge is equally well done, allowing the lid to be opened smoothly with one hand and keeping it in place.

The Zenbook 14 Q series can be purchased with either an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H or Core Ultra 7 155H chipset. Both are members of the 14th-gen Meteor Lake series, and they offer the aforementioned NPUs for on-device AI to go with new Low Power Efficient cores that promise better efficiency. Both are 28-watt chipsets, with the Core Ultra 5 125H offering 14 cores (four Performance, eight Efficient, and two Low Power Efficient) and 18 threads running at up to 4.5GHz and the Core Ultra 7 155H with 16 cores (six Performance, eight Efficient, and two Low Power Efficient) and 22 threads running at up to 4.8GHz.

I reviewed the latter, and it provided the same fast CPU performance as every other laptop sporting the same chipset. It’s as fast as the previous generation of 45-watt chips and can meet the most demanding productivity needs. While the fans spun up in performance mode, they were never too loud and the chassis and keyboard deck never got more than warm. We haven’t tested a Core Ultra 5 125H, but it should provide plenty of performance for productivity users.

The integrated Intel Arc graphics are about twice as fast as the earlier Intel Iris Xe, but that’s still about half as fast as entry-level discrete GPUs. So, the Zenbook 14 Q425 isn’t as impressive as a gaming laptop or creator’s workstation.

One thing I hoped to see from Meteor Lake was improved efficiency. So far, that hasn’t been the case with many laptops I’ve reviewed — but the Zenbook 14 Q425 is a step in the right direction.

The Zenbook benefits from a very large 75-watt-hour battery, which is a healthy capacity for a 14-inch laptop. While it has an OLED display, it’s also “just” FHD+ resolution, whereas some of its other midrange laptops have higher-res 2.8K panels. In our web-browsing test, which plays through a list of complex websites, it performed very well at roughly 12.5 hours. That’s well above the class average and competes strongly against AMD’s more efficient chips. And when looping our test video, the Zenbook 14 Q425 lasted for an impressive 18 hours.

That’s much better than the other Meteor Lake machines in the comparison group, including other Zenbooks, and it’s only significantly behind the industry-leading MacBook Air. You’ll get a full day’s work in productivity workflows and the usual web browsing, media consumption, and email tasks. That’s more like it.

Asus has been a leader in pushing OLED displays to lower-priced laptops, and that’s what we see here. However, some other 14-inch Zenbooks have had 2.8K (2880 x 1800) displays that are sharper than the Zenbook 14 Q425’s FHD+ (1920 x 1200) panel. And this one is limited to 60Hz, when the industry is shifting to 120Hz and faster.

However, I found the Zenbook 14 Q425 to sport a very nice display. I noticed some pixels while staring at text, but most people wouldn’t. According to my colorimeter, its colors were excellent at 100% of sRGB, 97% of AdobeRGB, and 100% of DCI-P3, with accuracy at a Delta-E of 0.90 (less than 1.0 is excellent). The contrast was also excellent, as usual, with inky blacks, and there’s enough brightness at 361 nits for anything but the best high dynamic range (HDR) performance.

I would have preferred a 120Hz refresh rate, but otherwise, this is an excellent display that will please productivity users and creators. The lower resolution and slower refresh rate likely contribute to the Zenbook 14 Q425’s great battery life, making them net benefits for most people.

The audio is provided by a pair of downward-firing “Super-linear” speakers that Asus says increase the diaphragm’s amplitude by 50% and volume by 2.25 times. They definitely get loud, but at full volume, there was considerable distortion and highs were way too bright. It sounded a lot better at around 50% volume, where distortion disappeared, while still being loud enough. The bass was even able to make an appearance, and dialogue sounded snappy. Now, the audio didn’t match the excellent system in the MacBook Pro, but it was certainly enjoyable for streaming YouTube and Netflix, which surprised me.

The Zenbook 14 Q425 is similar to some other Asus 14-inch laptops, but it’s not identical. It’s less expensive than the company’s other recent models and cuts a corner in display resolution.

But it shares the typical Asus build quality, has a very good keyboard and touchpad, and its battery life matches its excellent performance. If you’re looking for a 14-inch laptop that won’t break the bank, the Zenbook 14 Q425 comes recommended.

Editors’ Recommendations