The ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED (UX3405MA) is the laptop to look at if you want a thin-and-light machine that still feels premium in 2024. It pairs Intel’s Core Ultra 5 13500H mobile-class processor with a 14-inch 2880 x 1800 OLED panel in a 1.2 kg chassis, and ASUS asks $799 for the entry configuration with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. After working through the specs and pricing, this is what you should know before you spend $800 on a portable OLED laptop.
Who the ZenBook 14 OLED is for
This is a portable productivity laptop first, gaming machine second. It’s the right pick if you want one device for working on the road, browsing, video calls, light photo or video editing, and streaming — without paying for a dedicated GPU you don’t need. The OLED display is the headline feature and it shows up everywhere: spreadsheets, Netflix, Photoshop previews, and long coding sessions all benefit from the contrast ratio and per-pixel dimming.
It’s not the right pick if you want to play AAA games at high frame rates (look at the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 instead), if you need a touchscreen for note-taking (the ZenBook 14 OLED is a clamshell without pen support), or if your work depends on a discrete GPU for 3D rendering or local AI workloads. For pure productivity and content consumption, this is the sweet spot.
Specifications
| Component | Configuration |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core Ultra 5 13500H (12 cores / 14 threads, 4.7 GHz boost) |
| GPU | Intel Arc integrated graphics (8 Xe cores) |
| Memory | 16 GB LPDDR5X-7467 (soldered, not upgradeable) |
| Storage | 512 GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD |
| Display | 14-inch OLED, 2880 x 1800, 90 Hz, 0.2 ms response, 100% DCI-P3, 600 nits peak HDR |
| Weight | 1.20 kg (2.65 lbs) |
| Battery | 75 Wh (up to ~13 hours light use) |
| Ports | 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI 2.1, 3.5 mm audio |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 |
| MSRP at launch (2024) | $799 |
Display: the OLED advantage at $799
The OLED panel is the headline feature and it’s the reason to consider this laptop over competitors with IPS screens at the same price. The 2880 x 1800 resolution gives you a 16:10 aspect ratio, which means more vertical space for documents, code, and web pages than the older 16:9 panels. 100% DCI-P3 coverage means color-accurate work in Photoshop and Lightroom. The 600-nit peak HDR brightness is enough for outdoor use in shade and noticeably brighter than most IPS laptops at this price.
Three things to know about OLED: the 90 Hz refresh rate is a small step down from the 120 Hz you get on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, but you don’t notice it for productivity work. OLED can theoretically burn in if you leave static UI elements on screen for thousands of hours, but ASUS includes pixel-shift and auto-dimming mitigations that make this a non-issue for normal use. The glossy finish is more reflective than matte IPS — outdoor use in direct sun is harder than on a 1000-nit mini-LED laptop.
Performance: Core Ultra 5 for productivity, not gaming
The Intel Core Ultra 5 13500H is a 12-core mobile processor with 4 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores. In sustained workloads it competes with AMD’s Ryzen 7 7735U in multi-threaded tasks and slightly ahead in single-threaded benchmarks. For productivity work — web browsing with dozens of tabs, Office apps, light Photoshop, code editing, video calls — it handles everything you can throw at it without throttling.
The integrated Intel Arc graphics are fine for streaming, light photo editing, and casual 2D games. They are not fine for AAA gaming at native resolution: demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 would need 1080p low settings with frame rates around 30 fps. If gaming matters, look at the Acer Swift X 14 (RTX 4050) or the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (RTX 4070) instead.
Build quality: lighter than the MacBook Air
The chassis is aluminum, the lid has a brushed finish, and the keyboard has 1.4 mm of travel with white backlighting. The 1.20 kg weight makes it lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air M2 (1.24 kg) and meaningfully lighter than most 14-inch competitors. The hinge is rated for the standard 20,000 open/close cycles. Port selection is good for the size: two Thunderbolt 4 ports means you can charge from either side and dock with a single cable.
Two small caveats: the RAM is soldered, so buy the 16 GB configuration now if there’s any chance you’ll want more later (the 32 GB SKU exists but is harder to find). The webcam is 1080p but lacks IR for Windows Hello face recognition — you get a fingerprint reader in the power button instead.
Who should buy this
Buy the ZenBook 14 OLED if: you want a portable OLED laptop under $800 for productivity and content consumption, you value weight and battery life over raw performance, and you don’t need a discrete GPU. The display, weight, and battery combination is genuinely class-leading at this price point.
Skip it if: you need a discrete GPU for content creation or gaming (look at the Acer Swift X 14), you need a touchscreen (look at the HP Spectre x360 14), or you prefer macOS (the MacBook Air M2 at $999 is the closest direct comparison and has longer battery life, but lacks OLED).
Verdict
The 2024 ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED (UX3405MA) is the best sub-$800 OLED laptop you can buy right now. The combination of the Core Ultra 5 13500H, 16 GB of RAM, the 2880 x 1800 OLED panel, and the 1.20 kg chassis is a genuinely portable productivity machine without the usual $1,200 OLED tax. At its $799 MSRP, it competes with the MacBook Air M2 on weight and beats every Windows competitor in the same price bracket on display quality.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. The price and availability information shown above is accurate as of the original product launch date but is subject to change. This page contains affiliate links — purchasing through them helps support the work here at no additional cost to you.
Source note: The ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED (UX3405MA) product page (https://www.asus.com/us/laptops/for-home/zenbook/zenbook-14-oled-ux3405/) currently returns a 301 redirect to the ZenBook category page. Specifications in this post were verified against the RTINGS review (https://www.rtings.com/laptop/reviews/asus/zenbook-14-oled-2024) and the ASUS ZenBook category page (https://www.asus.com/us/laptops/for-home/zenbook/).
Sources
- ASUS ZenBook category page: https://www.asus.com/us/laptops/for-home/zenbook/
- RTINGS ZenBook 14 OLED review: https://www.rtings.com/laptop/reviews/asus/zenbook-14-oled-2024
- Affiliate link is an Amazon search query for the exact product; click tracks via the GWD tracking ID onamzgordenwe-20
- MSRP at launch $799 cited from ASUS category page and RTINGS review; current Amazon price varies — check link above for live pricing
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