The new Asus Zenbook 14 OLED 2024 has one major flaw

Asus' Zenbook 14 OLED 2024 is an interesting 14-inch ultrabook that may have shown many positive aspects during our test, but its one big weakness gets pretty annoying in everyday use. On the one hand, the device is very light, weighing only 1.2 kg and even so, you don't have to make any compromises when it comes to the metal case's stability. The same can be said for its hinge, whereas our dark-blue test device proved to be quite the fingerprint magnet. Its input devices are decent and the laptop includes all of the most important connectivity standards—with the exception of a card reader.

Straight out of the box, the OLED panel shows very good picture quality with extremely accurate P3 and sRGB color space profiles. You don't have to calibrate the display after purchasing. Moreover, the screen achieves great HDR brightness levels of over 600 cd/m², however, its surface is very reflective, leading to outdoor use being difficult at times.

Intel's new Meteor-Lake processor delivers very good performance values under short-term load but unfortunately, this comes at the expense of a higher 64-watt power limit. This overwhelms the proprietary 65-watt power supply and its cooling is simply too weak, as its single fan already jumps into action during simple tasks. A stronger cooling unit surely would've been the better choice in this aspect. In addition, we noted electronic noises (likely coming from the SSD) that could get annoying in everyday use. This means the new Zenbook 14 is practically never quiet. In certain situations (e.g. watching videos), the laptop's excellent speakers may mask these issues, but these noises will be especially annoying if you are trying to get work done. 

Aside from this, there are only a few points of critique to name. Of course, its RAM is soldered on, but this shouldn't be an issue for the configurations with 32 GB RAM. Plus, the missing card reader issue can be solved with the help of an external one. Its runtimes are also good, although it does depend on which brightness level you use. All further information on the new Zenbook 14 OLED is available in our detailed review.