Asus AsusPro B9440UA (Core i5, 8 GB) Laptop Review

According to Asus, the device is made of a particularly robust MIL-STD 810G-graded special magnesium alloy. Considering the laptop’s size and weight the case does indeed feel very rigid, solid, and well made. On the base, flexing even with intense force was not an issue, and we never managed to coax more than a very discreet crackle out of it. The delicate lid with its very thin bezels can be opened one-handed, and while it flexes more than the base it is still minimal. Applying pressure to the backside of the lid has absolutely no effect on the display.

Besides its black bezels the AsusPro B9440UA is coated in light gray through and through. While the laptop’s nonslip surface is generally susceptible to fingerprints, they are barely noticeable. We liked the device’s generic simplicity and the thin bezels – both made for a very noble and classy overall impression. We found no noteworthy irregularities worth mentioning but for those of our readers looking for the fly in the ointment: when closed the gap between the lid and the base is slightly uneven.

Despite its thickness of only 9 – 15 mm (0.35 – 0.59 inches), the B9440UA’s footprint is significantly smaller than the 14-inch Lifebook U747’s, which at 19 mm (0.75 inches) also happens to be thicker. Lenovo’s 13-inch IdeaPad has the smallest footprint overall; the 13.3-inch HP Spectre is slightly wider than our review unit but at 10.4 mm (0.41 inches) also slightly thinner. In regards to weight the 1.4 kg (3.1 lbs) U747 is the only one breaking ranks – all other competitors weigh in at around 1.1 kg (2.4 lbs).

The notebook itself is equipped with no more than two USB 3.1 Gen. 1 Type-C ports (one on each side at the bottom end of the display lid), of which only one supports Power Delivery and external displays. The external USB 3.0 hard drive we used for testing the device’s USB performance is limited to 100 MB/s, and at 96 MB/s we almost maxed it out with the hard drive connected via the included port replicator.

While an Ethernet connection is in theory feasible using a USB-C to Ethernet adapter the B9440UA’s focus is clearly on wireless connectivity. Consequently, the device is equipped with Intel’s Dual-Band Wireless-AC 8260 (MIMO 2x2, up to 867 MBit/s), a well-known and fast Wi-Fi chip that works in both the 2.4 GHz and the lesser-used 5 GHz band. Bluetooth 4.2 and specialties unique to Intel’s Wi-Fi chips, e.g. Wireless Display, are included as well.

When connected to our reference router, a Linksys EA8500 and from a distance of 1 m (3 ft), we can only attest somewhat decent data transfer speeds with room for improvement. Sending data in particular was rather slow at only 463 MBit/s – we’ve seen better results from other laptops equipped with the same Wi-Fi chip.

Designed with ultimate mobility in mind the B9440UA offers no more than a TPM 2.0 chip and a fingerprint reader, which turned out to be quick and reliable in our tests. Oddly enough, the fingerprint reader is positioned right above the power button in the top right corner of the base.

Speaking of which: Asus offers a one-year limited warranty for devices purchased in the United States. Warranty differs by country though, and devices sold in Germany come with a two-year warranty instead. Please see our Guarantees, Return policies and Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.

Running our Cinebench multi-core loop the score achieved already dropped from 321 to 313 points after the first iteration, and it remained at around 310 to 311 points afterwards. This indicates that the processor is capable of utilizing its full turbo potential for prolonged periods of high load. On battery, however, it consistently scored 321 points throughout the entire test.

Compared to other laptops equipped with the exact same processor the AsusPro B9440UA’s performance was at the lower end of what we came to expect from this CPU. That said, the difference between the AsusPro and the fastest i5-7200U-equipped laptop was a mere 3%, and thus it can almost be attributed to measuring tolerance.

We use PCMark 8 to determine overall system performance. Except for the slower IdeaPad 710S Plus the results were as expected throughout the entire test group, and the B9440UA was on a par with the similarly equipped Lifebook U747. The HP Spectre, which was not only equipped with Intel’s faster Core i7-7500U processor but a faster SSD to boot, consistently scored between 2 and 9% higher.

Subjective performance is very dependent on the existence of an SSD per se, and all notebooks had one installed. Therefore, the Asus booted up fairly quickly and application launch times were somewhere between fast and instantaneous. Excessive multitasking was limited by the fact that our review unit was equipped with only 8 GB of RAM.

Accordingly, 3DMark 11 scores are higher than average. The largest lead was 14%, although that was a singular spike. On average, our review unit was around 10% faster than other HD 620-equipped laptops.

When idle, the fan is off most of the time. Occasional spikes during light usage like web-browsing ramp up revs quickly, but the fan remained at its lowest level and was barely audible in a quiet office environment from the usual distance of around 50 cm (20 inches / 1.6 ft) with one other PC running in the office.

With Prime95 and Furmark running simultaneously the fan runs at full speed but its soundscape remained unobtrusive overall. From our point of view, the fan’s annoyance potential is very limited, and the laptop remains almost inaudible during normal office tasks.

The general rule for laptop speakers seems to be: the less physical volume the harder it gets to achieve acceptable sound quality. Keeping this in mind, the B9440UA’s Harman Kardon speakers were not bad at all. For example, the Smashing Pumpkins song “1979” at full volume sounded natural, rich, and full, which should suffice for medium-sized rooms and offices. Don’t expect any bass though, and highs bordered on being shrill occasionally.

Unfortunately, sound quality varied depending on the song we played. For example, “Something from Nothing” by the Foo Fighters annoyed us with constant fluctuations in volume and highs. Generally speaking, we were under the impression that the speakers had trouble with highs. Decreasing volume does help, and all things considered the speakers exceeded our expectations.

Compared to the rest of its competitors equipped with similar hardware the Asus had the lowest power consumption in all reviewed use scenarios except for maximum load (until the CPU started to throttle, that is). The difference to its closest rival, the Fujitsu Lifebook U747, was an astonishing 10 – 33%. Due to its dedicated graphics card the IdeaPad 710S Plus was the least efficient. Overall, our review unit proved to be very energy-efficient and the charger is amply dimensioned.