ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401) review – one of the most powerful convertibles out there

By the end of this review, you might just be in love with the Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401). You know, convertibles are not always enjoyed by the masses, because they often have conceptional disadvantages, when compared to their clamshell counterparts. The biggest setbacks we’ve seen so far are regarding the cooling and the structural integrity of the 360° laptops.

However, the laptop we have with us today is a bit different. Later on, you will see that the cooling is built really well, especially when you consider that the laptop comes with a ULV processor inside. There is nothing weird about that – after all, the Core i7-1165G7 is very capable, while its integrated GPU will give you the needed boost in productivity tasks, or in some light games.

Let’s not forget the 16:10 OLED display. You get two options – a 4K 60Hz unit, or a 2.8K 90Hz one. In our opinion, the 90Hz one should be the better choice, since its resolution is still pretty high, while the faster refresh rate will definitely be felt in everyday use.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-zenbook-14-flip-oled-up5401/

Contents


Specs Sheet

ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401) - Specs

  • Samsung ATNA40YK04-0 (SDC4154)
  • Color accuracy  2.2
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 1000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 16GB
  • OS
  • Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro
  • Battery
  • 63Wh, 3-cell
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 311 x 223 x 15.9 mm (12.24" x 8.78" x 0.63")
  • Weight
  • 1.40 kg (3.1 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
  • 2x USB Type-C
  • Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • 2.0b
  • Card reader
  • MicroSD
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.0
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • HD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Array Microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice rec.
  • Speakers
  • Speakers by Harman Kardon
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you will find the mandatory paperwork, a 100W USB Type-C charger, and a dedicated stylus.

Design and construction

This notebook is absurdly thin at 15.9mm and weighs only 1.40 kilos. This is impressive for a convertible, because, as you know, accommodating a 360° hinge mechanism requires more space inside.

In addition, the laptop is built out of aluminum and is pretty sturdy. Interestingly, the lid was basically as tough as a rock, thanks to the glass cover of the touchscreen display.

You can open the lid with a single hand, which is great. There, you see thin bezels around the display, with the top one housing an HD Web
camera. Not only does the screen go all the way to the back of the laptop, but it also gently lifts the backside of the base by a couple of
millimeters.

Then, you get the keyboard. It is a side-to-side unit with large keycaps, relatively long key travel, and satisfying clicky feedback. As you can see, there is basically zero space for a NumPad.

This is where ASUS’ state-of-the-art NumberPad comes in. It is a capacitive unit, placed within the touchpad, and is really useful on some occasions. Additionally, the touchpad features a glass surface, which makes the gliding experience really smooth.

Finally, the bottom panel houses the two speaker cutouts, as well as the ventilation grill. The hot air here is exhausted from the sides, which is something we rarely see in the convertible space.

Ports

On the left side, there is an HDMI 2.0b connector and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. Then, on the right, you get a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 2) port, an audio jack, and a MicroSD card reader.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

You need to undo 10 Torx-head screws to access this laptop’s internals. After that, pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool, and lift it away from the chassis.

Inside, we see a 63Wh battery pack that lasts for nearly 11 hours of Web browsing or about 9 hours of video playback. To take it out, unplug the connector from the motherboard, and remove all 6 Phillips-head screws securing the battery in place.

Although the memory here is soldered to the motherboard, you can pick between configurations with 8 or 16GB of LPDDR4x RAM. As for the storage, you get one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, which supports Gen 4 drives.

In terms of cooling, there are two heat pipes, leading to two heat sinks, and two fans. Thankfully, the VRMs are also being cooled.


Display quality

ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401) is equipped with a 90Hz OLED panel, Samsung ATNA40YK04-0 (SDC4154). Its diagonal is 14.0-inch (35.5 cm), and the resolution – 2880 x 1800p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 243 ppi, their pitch – 0.1 x 0.1 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 36 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The maximum measured brightness is 361 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 362 nits (cd/m2) as an average, with a maximum deviation of only 1%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6500K – matching the 6500K temperature for sRGB.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective.
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio here is incomparably better than that of the IPS and TN panels and is mathematically infinite.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401)’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 100% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976 and 100% of DCI-P3 providing a punchy and vibrant image.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc.

Below you can compare the scores of the ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401) against the sRGB standards.

You can also see a comparison between the default settings (left), and the “Gaming and Web design profile” (right) in the P3-D65 color space.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 2 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


Health impact – PWM / Blue Light

PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

Unfortunately, ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401)’s panel uses low-frequency PWM for brightness adjustment up until 80 nits. Afterwards, we detected small pulsations, which makes the display generally safe in this aspect (after 80 nits). Keep in mind that we did our tests with the “OLED Flicker-Fre Dimming” function disabled from the “My ASUS” app.


Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401) configurations with 14.0″ Samsung ATNA40YK04-0 (SDC4154) (2880 x 1800p) OLED panel.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401)’s Harman Kardon speakers produce a sound of very good quality. It’s also clear of deviations across the entire frequency spectrum.


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.asus.com/Laptops/For-Home/Zenbook/Zenbook-14-Flip-OLED-UP5401-11th-Gen-Intel/HelpDesk_Download/

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This device was paired with a 63Wh unit which lasted us for 10 hours and 53 minutes of Web browsing, or 8 hours and 44 minutes of video playback.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.


CPU options

This laptop comes with the Core i5-1135G7 or the Core i7-1165G7.


GPU options

Respectively, the graphics options include only the integrated solutions found inside the processors we just mentioned.


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS198 fps151 fps81 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS148 fps107 fps70 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i7-1165G7 (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401)3.93 GHz (B+40%) @ 93°C @ 59W3.50 GHz (B+25%) @ 94°C @ 43W3.45 GHz (B+23%) @ 94°C @ 42W
ASUS ZenBook 14X OLED (UX5401, 11th Gen)3.76 GHz (B+34%) @ 94°C @ 53W3.46 GHz (B+24%) @ 94°C @ 43W3.31 GHz (B+18%) @ 94°C @ 39W
ASUS ExpertBook B1 B14003.67 GHz (B+31%) @ 87°C @ 51W3.38 GHz (B+21%) @ 93°C @ 39W3.26 GHz (B+16%) @ 94°C @ 34W
HP ZBook Firefly 14 G83.24 GHz (B+16%) @ 90°C @ 45W2.92 GHz (B+4%) @ 74°C @ 30W2.25 GHz @ 61°C @ 18W
Dell Latitude 14 54203.80 GHz (B+36%) @ 98°C @ 51W3.27 GHz (B+17%) @ 98°C @ 35W2.78 GHz @ 96°C @ 26W
HP EliteBook x360 1040 G83.43 GHz (B+23%) @ 98°C @ 40W2.84 GHz (B+1%) @ 88°C @ 27W2.43 GHz @ 69°C @ 17W
HP Elite Dragonfly G23.17 GHz (B+13%) @ 98°C @ 34W2.34 GHz @ 76°C @ 18W2.14 GHz @ 73°C @ 16W
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Pro (14)3.90 GHz (B+39%) @ 85°C @ 61W2.57 GHz @ 69°C @ 26W2.37 GHz @ 57°C @ 20W
HP Pavilion 14 (14-dv0000)3.08 GHz (B+10%) @ 91°C @ 40W2.79 GHz @ 89°C @ 29W2.13 GHz @ 71°C @ 18W
Acer TravelMate P4 (TMP414-51)2.99 GHz (B+7%) @ 94°C @ 33W2.66 GHz @ 93°C @ 27W1.86 GHz @ 68°C @ 16W
Acer Swift 3X (SF314-510G)3.74 GHz (B+34%) @ 95°C @ 45W3.45 GHz (B+23%) @ 95°C @ 37W3.09 GHz (B+10%) @ 85°C @ 28W

Well, the dual-heat-pipe, dual-fan cooling solution has done its magic. This laptop can sustain 3.45 GHz almost indefinitely. If you are wondering, how can this ULV processor maintain 42W of power usage for long periods of time, take a look at the VRMs. Yep, you can’t, because they are hidden beneath a cooling shroud, meaning they shouldn’t overheat.

Comfort during full load

While both fans are giving almost all their worth, they are not too loud. As you can see, the IR image reveals two cool spots right above the fans, while the warmest spot on the keyboard is right about in the middle.


Verdict

At the beginning of the review, we told you that you may fall in love with this device. Now that we have laid all our thoughts on it, we would like to know if you do like the laptop. Interestingly, unlike most 2-in-1s out there, this one feels like a regular notebook, that just has the option to open fully without breaking.

Its cooling is truly remarkable and shows us the full potential of the Core i7-1165G7. In fact, it shows us more than the CPU is capable of. It also obliterates light titles like CS:GO and DOTA2.

ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP5401)’s touchscreen panel has a high resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a 90Hz refresh rate with blazingly quick pixel response times. Furthermore, it covers both the sRGB and the DCI-P3 color gamuts completely, which results in a super vibrant and saturated image. Although the panel uses PWM for brightness adjustment, ASUS offers a DC dimming function, which should eliminate the issue, but will have a minor effect on the image quality (it can’t really be seen with a naked eye).

Inside the box, you will find a dedicated stylus. It has support for 4096 pressure points and works really well with the 90Hz refresh rate of the display. We were also surprised to see a USB Type-A port, besides the two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, the MicroSD card slot, and the HDMI 2.0b connector. That’s quite a versatile port selection, compared to some of its competitors.

Well, there is a downside to having such a thin chassis, and it is the lack of memory upgrade options. On the bright side, the soldered memory comes in 8 or 16GB configurations and is fast enough to provide a ton of bandwidth to the iGPU. Plus, the single M.2 PCIe x4 slot supports Gen 4 drives.

Battery life is pretty good as well, especially considering the high res display options, which are a big antagonist to long screen-on times.

All in all, the laptop is well-built and deserves your attention regardless if you are a professional, or someone who just wants a 2-in-1 notebook for the sake of it.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-zenbook-14-flip-oled-up5401/

Pros

  • Great performance from a ULV chip
  • Strong aluminum chassis
  • 100% sRGB and DCI-P3 coverage + HDR support
  • High resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio
  • Deep blacks and virtually infinite contrast ratio
  • NumberPad + Stylus inside the box
  • 90Hz refresh rate with fast pixel response times
  • Fingerprint reader + MicroSD card slot + 2x Thunderbolt 4 ports


Cons

  • Uses PWM below 80 nits
  • Soldered memory

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Andy
Andy
1 year ago

I am seriously wondering how you got those battery figures? I only run microsoft word with 40% brightness. No background applications and with battery saver mode on. Dont even get close to 5h30. Never!