It can be hard to pick a Windows laptop with genuinely great value these days. However, the ASUS Zenbook A14 remains our go-to recommendation for practically anyone looking to handle everyday tasks and keep the PC running for a full day.
It's one of the best AI PCs in the entire category, with a lightweight chassis, an incredibly long-lasting battery, and now a solution to its usually high MSRP, available with a new, lowest-ever price of $549.99 at Best Buy. With this discount, it genuinely stands as the best value laptop you could ever buy.
What makes the Zenbook A14 a great laptop?
ASUS' Zenbook A14 is a refined AI laptop with a sleek, minimalist design that's beautiful to look at and practical to carry around, weighing just 980g (2.16lbs). A big part of its appeal is the unique "Ceraluminum" coating, a custom magnesium alloy that keeps it lightweight but scratch-resistant.
The A14 also delivers exceptionally efficient performance for varied workloads in Windows 11, thanks to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus processor and the Windows on ARM platform in general. It'll work with all your favorite apps, and many of them will be running natively on ARM64.
Its 70Whr battery will last over 12 hours (or more, depending on your brightness settings and apps of choice), a 14-inch OLED display capable of producing colorful visuals with a 1200p resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate, while its spacious keyboard and touchpad are responsive and easy to use.
Zachary Boddy, one of our top laptop experts at Windows Central, absolutely adored the ASUS Zenbook A14 in their review for its superb construction and hardware. In fact, most of our team feels the same way about the A14, including our Editor-in-Chief, Daniel Rubino.
If this laptop hadn't needed an extra $100 price hike at launch, on top of its anticipated $900 entry-level configuration, Zachary would've given it a perfect 5/5 instead of a 4/5 review score. Thankfully, that issue has been temporarily resolved, thanks to Best Buy's early Black Friday 40% discount, which has reduced the ASUS Zenbook A14's MSRP from $999.99 to its lowest-ever $549.99.
So, if you want to get this amazing Windows laptop and get started with Copilot while saving $400 in the process, now's the time to do it.
FAQ
Is the Zenbook A14 good for gaming?
The Zenbook A14 can perform well for video editing, media consumption, and digital work productivity in office apps. As for gaming, it can run older 2D games, but it is not designed to run graphically demanding, modern AAA PC titles.
Can the Zenbook A14 overheat?
With its thin chassis, the ASUS Zenbook A14 could stutter due to overheating if its vents are ever blocked. Keep it dust-free with plenty of airflow, and make sure the laptop's drivers are up to date with the latest ASUS firmware to ensure its CPU handles temperature changes.
Can I upgrade the Zenbook A14's RAM and SDD?
The Zenbook A14's RAM is soldered into the motherboard, so you can't upgrade it. The SDD, on the other hand, is upgradeable: you simply need to remove it from its M.2 slot and replace it with a larger SSD with more storage.
Will all my apps work on the ASUS Zenbook A14?
Many Windows apps will run natively on the ARM64 architecture used by the Snapdragon X Plus inside the Zenbook A14, but the remainder will use Microsoft's Prism technology to translate traditional x86-64 code, with a minor performance hit.
Is the Zenbook A14 an AI PC?
Yes, the ASUS Zenbook A14 includes a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) rated with enough TOPS to qualify it as a Copilot+ PC, and, in turn, as an AI PC.
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