Meet new Asus ZenBook Flip 14
Relatively recently, Asus has launched a 2-in-1 device called the ZenBook Flip 14 and many people categorized it as revolutionary. Unfortunately, if you choose the maximum available specifications, the laptop / tablet costs around $1,300 (depending on where you buy it from), so not many people have had the opportunity to test it. In case you're interested in such a product, but you don't know if it's worth the investment, here's everything that I know about it:
At a first glance, the Asus ZenBook Flip 14 looks like a well-designed, but classical 2 in 1 device. It weighs 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs), it's just 12.7 mm thick (0.5 inches) and includes a 14-inch display, having an 80% screen-to-body ratio and a 178-degree viewing angle. Since it can be used both as a laptop and as a tablet, the touchscreen is 360-degrees flippable thanks to its ErgoLift hinge and what's really cool is that the keyboard also changes its angle along with the screen to give you the most comfort possible. The screen includes 10-finger touch support, which can come in very handy in certain situations.
ZenBook Flip 14
However, what makes this gadget revolutionary is the fact that it's the first one of its kind featuring a discrete graphics card: the NVIDIA® GeForce® MX150 graphics. This means that it will be a lot better when it comes to video and photo editing or playing games than any other 2-in-1 device that you've used before. Moreover, the ZenBook Flip 14 includes the Nvidia Optimus switching technology, which means that it will automatically detect when you're not performing any graphically-intensive tasks and switch to the embedded Intel card to avoid overheating and draining too much battery power.
360-degree screen rotation and pen support
Besides the discrete graphics card, under its hood you will find an 8th generation 3.7 GHz iCore i7, a 512GB PCIe SSD, 16 GB of RAM and a battery that according to its specifications will last up to 13 hours and includes a fast charging feature, which can bring the battery to 60% power in just 49 minutes of charging. Additional hardware includes Bluetooth 4.2 and dual-band 802.11ac WiFi connectivity, a 720p in-built webcam, a MicroSD cars slot, two USB 3.1 ports, a HDMI port as a well a USB-C port for lightning-fast data transfer (not for charging). Lastly, the product also comes with Windows 10, a keyboard backlight for seeing the buttons in the dark, and works with Windows Ink as well as Windows Hello thanks to its Asus Pen support and the fingerprint sensor embedded in the touchpad.
178-degree viewing angle
On paper everything looks great and so far, $1.300 doesn't seem like such huge price when you think about what you're getting in return, but unfortunately, the ZenBook Flip 14 also has a few disadvantages. For example, the keyboard isn't the greatest for intensive use. Don't get me wrong, it works and it's actually good, but just not one of the best that I've ever used. Another thing that you should be aware of is that although it embeds a discrete graphic card, the GeForce MX150 doesn't work with VR and it's not that great, offering a medium to low performance in some of the most popular games. Finally, the 720p webcam is not great in comparison to the rest of the hardware, the fingerprint sensor will start causing problems when you try to add more than one finger, the speakers face downwards, the power and volume rocker buttons are too close to each other, so sometimes it's easy to mistake one for the other and the bottom vents will get pretty hot, which means that it's difficult to keep the laptop on your lap for more than 30 minutes.
Now that you know pretty much everything there is to know about the Asus ZenBook Flip 14, you can make an informed decision on whether you should buy it or not. As far as I'm concerned, spending $1.300 on the product just for the sake of having a two-in-one device seems a little exaggerated, especially when there are gadgets like AirBar that can turn regular displays into touchscreens, but if you're someone who's constantly on the road and your job requires a lot of graphical and video editing, it may be a worthwhile investment.
