ASUS ZenBook 14 UM431D Review: What we think of the most affordable ZenBook
The ASUS ZenBook 14 UM431D with AMD Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU has been launched in Malaysia. The relatively attractive pricing of RM2,999 makes it one of the most affordable premium ultrabooks available in the market.
Most Affordable ZenBook?
Before this, if you tell me that an ASUS ZenBook could be owned without having to spend a fortune, I would seriously think if you either got scammed or buying as used. That being said, AMD’s strategy of attacking Intel’s blindspot in the laptop product line up is paying handsomely. As recent years Intel putting most of their budget and focus on pushing Intel Core i7 chips, the Core i5 and Core i3 market have been pretty much left in the auto-pilot mode. Laptop brands would whip up whatever they could come up and the end result is usually low build quality or expensive.
This particular ZenBook 14 UM431D while competitively priced, still dons the signature ASUS Zen design as well as full metal chassis. It is not a plastic body ala VivoBook style. You get the NanoEdge slim display bezels, ErgoLift display hinge and most impressively the all-new quad-speaker configuration for an outstanding laptop audio experience.
The 14-inch IPS display at the front has a 1080p full HD resolution and 100% sRGB colour gamut. For everyday computing and lightweight multimedia related works such as Adobe Lightroom, this display works perfectly well within our expectations except for the brightness. When compared with other laptops, the ASUS ZenBook 14 UM431D, has a lower maximum brightness which will affect those who prefer to sit at an outdoor cafe.
Performance Trade-Off
While the desktop Ryzen chips are extremely popular, the mobile Ryzen, on the other hand, has a rather lukewarm response. Well, we can’t really blame them as AMD’s product and pricing strategy for laptop division is completely different from its desktop counterpart. Unlike Intel who focuses heavily on their high-end computing solution such as the Intel Core i7 chips, AMD put more emphasis on the value.
In terms of raw performance, don’t expect a 15W TDP chip to give you miracles. On the bright side, it does run relatively cool which also translates to quieter performance.
While ASUS has 2 different SKU available for the UM431, Malaysians will only have access to the basic model which comes with 8GB soldered RAM and standard touchpad. While 8GB RAM is pretty sufficient for standard use, opening the task manager reveals the Radeon Vega 8 actually took up 2GB of the memory as VRAM.
The internal storage can be easily upgraded through the single M.2 slot which is currently occupied by the 512GB NVMe PCIe 3.0×2 SSD.
Battery Life
The combination of 15W chip and 47Wh battery makes this a laptop that is capable of full-day operation. Well, don’t expect a full 24 hours of continuous usage but a single full charge that could last 9 hours is just about right for you to leave the charging adapter at home or at the office.
Who is this for?
At this point, some of you might be asking who is this laptop for? The Ryzen 5 3500U being a power-efficient chip means this laptop is not for those who are looking for a mobile workstation. Instead, the ZenBook 14 UM431D is exceptional for users who are looking for an affordably priced ultrabook with a premium build quality. At the price of RM2,999, apart from their existing Chromebook Flip which obviously doesn’t run Windows, this is the easiest recommendation I could come up with if you don’t want a plastic-build laptop. Students and working professionals will definitely appreciate what ASUS has to offer in the ZenBook 14 UM431D.
