Editor's note: Zachary isn't being hyperbolic about this laptop. As someone with 10 years of experience with laptops, I can say this is one of my favorites and a contender for laptop of the year. This $599 price is absurdly low for the quality of the device, which has fantastic battery life. Don't just take my word, 113 reviews on Best Buy give it a 4.7 out of 5, and for good reason. — Daniel Rubino, Editor-in-chief, WindowsCentral.com
No matter who you are, it can't be denied that Windows laptops have improved dramatically in recent years — at least in the upper mid-range and premium segments.
Cheap and affordable Windows laptops are still notoriously boring and oftentimes simply bad, and they look even worse when put up against the Apple MacBook Air, which you can now get for less than $800 at BestBuy.com.
I just started using one such laptop, and I can already tell the direction my review is going to go. Amidst all the mediocrity, though, there has been one shining star: the ASUS Zenbook A14.
I can't overstate how much fun I had reviewing this laptop, and I still consider it one of the best (and most underrated) Windows laptops you can buy right now. For the Back to School season, it also happens to be 40% off, or just $599.99 at BestBuy.com, and absolutely nothing is even approaching being a better deal than that.
As light as air, but rock solid throughout
ASUS may have cleverly avoided borrowing the "Air" moniker from Apple, but don't think the Zenbook A14 is a cheap MacBook knock-off.
The Zenbook A14 is clad entirely in ASUS's unique "Ceraluminum" material, which is basically magnesium coated with ceramic. It makes for an incredible look and feel unlike most laptops, but it also makes the Zenbook A14 one of the lightest 14-inch laptops you can buy — less than a single kilogram (2.16lbs, to be exact), and over 20% lighter than Apple's best-seller.
The Zenbook A14 may be a lot lighter than most laptops, but it doesn't sacrifice build quality, battery capacity, or ports to achieve it.
Despite being so light, the Zenbook A14 honestly feels fantastically solid. It's a premium fit and finish not seen often in the value segment, and I adore it. ASUS still managed to shove in a massive 70Whr battery, too, and a full array of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4-compatible USB4 ports, a legacy USB Type-A port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Up front, you'll find a gorgeous OLED display. Sure, it's "only" FHD+ (or 1200p) and 60Hz, so it's not as silky smooth and sharp as the most premium laptop screens, but it's still a big upgrade over your average budget laptop. It's punchy and colorful, and is great for productivity, creation, and media consumption.
I frankly adore this hardware, but that's not all that makes the Zenbook A14 stand out in my eyes.
Reliable performance and all-day battery life
Windows laptops are also known for having comparatively terrible battery life to Apple's MacBooks, and while Intel and AMD have both made massive strides in that department, there's a reason Apple does so well here: ARM64.
Basically, the mobile chipsets we've all benefited from in our phones are being upsized and super-charged for our laptops. Apple makes its own silicon for the MacBook, and the ASUS Zenbook A14 utilizes the best available on the Windows side: the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series.
Apple still has the edge in overall performance, but don't get it wrong — the Zenbook A14 is no slouch. This 8-core chipset breezes through what 95% of people do on their computer 95% of the time, including web browsing, email, Microsoft Office, video conferencing, media consumption, light photo and video editing, and even casual gaming.
The Zenbook A14 is the perfect showcase for the benefits of Qualcomm's ARM64 chipsets.
The biggest benefit, though, is efficiency. Barely over 2lbs, and the Zenbook A14 can still power through an entire day of work. In my testing, it was more than reasonable to get 10-12 hours of screen-on usage without having to lower performance or disable features.
There are some people who need a more traditional x86 processor from Intel or AMD, either for hardcore gaming or really specific use cases, but for the majority of people, the benefits of Qualcomm's chipsets are obvious. The Zenbook A14 is the perfect showcase for those benefits.
My only major complaint with the Zenbook A14 in my review was that its starting price was higher than we expected (and the configuration that I first tested wasn't as impressive as the model that's on sale now). Now the Zenbook A14 is 40% off, though, and I genuinely can't think of another laptop I'd recommend anywhere around this price point.
The ASUS Zenbook A14 (2025) is $599.99 at BestBuy.com for a little while longer, so be sure to take advantage.
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