TechRadar Verdict
The Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED has the full package: great looks, handles work and play like a boss, thin and light, an amazing OLED touchscreen, a solid sound system - the list goes on. Too bad it’s so difficult to actually buy one!
Stunning, thin, lightweight
Excellent OLED touchscreen
Great keyboard and touchpad
Performs exceptionally well
Availability is a cruel joke
Webcam is a bit sub-par compared to everything else
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Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED: Two minute review
The Asus Zenbook Pro 15 FlipOLEDis part of the Zenbook line ofUltrabooksfrom Asus. And unlike many other Ultrabooks and2-in-1 laptops, this particular series is known for its balance between quality and surprising affordability. This model in particular is, simply put, one of the best laptops we’ve ever laid our hands on.
It’s near-perfect in almost every category, from the ergonomic design of the keyboard and mouse that makes typing incredibly comfortable and typo-free, to the gorgeous OLED screen that displays any game or movie with beautiful clarity, to the slim form that still manages to have a well-developed ventilation system. Its port selection is great and it has a solid sound system too.
Not to mention that its performance is top-notch, outstripping most of its otherUltrabookcompetitors including the Asus ZenBook 13X OLED Space Ed. on the benchmarks. This is a laptop that not only can handle any sort of productivity task without issue — even multipleYouTubetabs playing videos simultaneously — but can also play most low-end and mid-range video games.
This is an Ultrabook that excels at what it does and looks sexy while doing it too. The dark blue color it comes in is gorgeous, the white backlight on the keyboards is not only practical for late-night typing but makes the dark color pop, and its slender form factor gives it a lightweight and portability that doesn’t sacrifice ventilation, port selection, and screen size. At first glance, it’s perhaps one of thebest laptopswe’ve reviewed in ages.
In fact, the only real criticism we have is the webcam which, despite being HD, isn’t particularly impressive. Visual quality largely depends on the lighting of whatever room you’re in and a slightly subpar lighting setup dramatically alters the quality of your image during a conference call. It’s not the worst webcam out there but it falls in line with the common trend of laptops sacrificing picture quality for thinner bezels. It’s a shame, as this is an issue that would affect more people due to remote work being so ubiquitous in our current work life.
Currently, its price is quite affordable, with it being between $1,400-$1,5000 in most US retailers. A truly impressive price point for an Ultrabook of this caliber. However, its availability is nonexistent in the UK and Australia, which sadly poses a significant price jump for those who want it badly enough to go through the hassle of importing it.
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED: Price and availability
Here is theAsus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLEDconfiguration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Intel Core i7-12700HGraphics: Intel Iris Xe GraphicsRAM: 16GB LPDDR5XScreen: 15.6-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1620) OLEDStorage: 512GB SSDOptical drive: NonePorts: 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, 1 HDMI 2.1 TMDS port, 1 3.5mm combo audio jack, 1 DC-in, 1 Micro SD card readerConnectivity: Wi-Fi 6E(802.11ax) (Dual band) 2*2 + Bluetooth 5Camera: 1080pWeight: 3.97 lbs (1.80 kg)Size: 13.98 x 9.02 x 0.74 inches (35.52 x 22.90 x 1.89 cm)
The pricing is difficult to track for the Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED, as it’s only in a few US retailers currently.Amazonhas it listed for a low price of $1,450 (around £1,240 / AU$2,200), which is excellent for an Ultrabook, though it’s for the Ryzen 9 5900X CPU variant with the RTX 3050 Ti graphics card and not the newer Core i7-12700H CPU and mobile Iris Xe Graphics GPU that our version is outfitted with.
As you may already have guessed, this means that at the time of this writing outside the US the availability of the Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED is pretty much nonexistent - so regions like the UK and Australia are out of luck if they’re looking to buy. There is always the option of paying extra to import it, but shipping fees can be brutal and you’ll obviously be saddled with a US-specific keyboard layout too.
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED: Design
The Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED is an incredibly designed Ultrabook. As much as we hate the overuse of this term when it comes to tech hardware, it’s genuinely hard to describe its svelte, sleek form factor and gorgeous Azurite Blue paint job as anything other thansexy. Its super-thin body sacrifices very little for its slender design, with a robust port selection and a ventilation system so efficient it rivals some gaming laptops.
The physical ports include one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one HDMI 2.1 TMDS port, one 3.5mm combo audio jack, one DC-in, and one Micro SD card reader. In other words, whatever needs you have for this laptop it can cover. If only it had one more Type-A port - then the port selection would be flawless.
And if you’re looking for an Ultrabook that also behaves like a 2-in-1, it folds completely in half and has one of the most responsive touchscreens on the market. This laptop works as an excellent creativity machine due to that and its 4,096 pressure levels, 5-350 g pressure tip force, 266 Hz sampling rate, 500 nit brightness, 100% DCI-P3, and a customizable color gamut. It’s too bad it doesn’t come with a stylus out of the box because the one provided by Asus for our review works exceptionally well.
The keyboard is custom-built to be a perfect writing machine. The keycaps are oh-so-slightly curved inwards, not enough to actually see but enough that it guides your fingertips to the center of each key while typing. Coupled with the larger keys and wider keyboard that even fits in a numpad and you have an Ultrabook that makes typing for hours as comfortable as possible. The touchpad is also silky-smooth, ultra-responsive, and resists fingerprints to boot.
The crown jewel of this laptop is the OLED screen which is, according to Asus, the ‘world’s first 2.8K120Hz OLED’ laptop display. Despite it not being a gaming laptop, its refresh rate beats out some high-end monitors, which couples well with its phenomenal performance during our suite of benchmark tests. Not to mention the absolutely ridiculous 0.2ms response time, which once again is better than some gaming monitors out there.
Overall, the Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED looks and feels like a truly premium product - a great choice ofbusiness laptopfor professionals who need both power and flexibility from their hardware.
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED: Performance
What surprised us the most during testing was just how well and consistently it performed during our suite of benchmarks, which includes Cinebench, Geekbench, and 3DMark 10’s Timespy, Night Raid, and Fire Strike tests. The Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED scored higher overall than most other Ultrabooks in its class - including theMicrosoft SurfaceLaptop 5, theAcerSwift 3 OLED, and theDellXPS 13 Plus.
The Dell XPS 15 and Asus ZenBook 13X OLED Space Edition won in some cases, like the Geekbench single core and the 3DMark 10 Fire Strike for the ZenBook 13X, and the entire 3DMark 10 suite for the XPS 15. However, even those two laptops were tied or lost to this laptop for the rest of the tests.
In real-life applications, the Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED performed superbly, handling a multitude of productivity tasks while conference calling and playing YouTube videos without breaking a sweat. And thanks to the ultra-wide keyboard, it was easy to type at maximum speed without errors or succumbing to the fatigue that would normally occur when squeezing our hands into a more narrow keyboard.
Here’s how theAsus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLEDperformed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark:Night Raid:20,354;Fire Strike:5191;Time Spy:2093Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 15,296 pointsGeekBench 5: 1784 (single-core); 12,366 (multi-core)PCMark 10 (Home Test):5964 pointsBattery Life (TechRadar movie test):8 hours and 48 minutesCivilization VI (1080p, Ultra):50 fps;(1080p, Low):17 fps
The sound quality is quite good as well. For one, this laptop is loud, yet each instrument and any singing voices present come through distinctly. For most people, this Ultrabook has great sound — period. However, there’s an odd and slight tinniness to its speakers that only becomes audible when you compare it to an even more superior sound system, like the one found in the Surface Laptop 5.
If we had to point out one glaring weakness, however, it would be the webcam. Despite it being 1080p, featuring automatic lighting correction, and coming through on an OLED screen, the camera quality is average thanks to small bezels hampering it. The image is quite clear in very bright lighting but anything lower than that and the quality tanks. So unless you have an excellent lighting setup, expect your visage to look pretty mediocre.
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED: Battery life
For an OLED laptop with high screen brightness, the battery life is excellent. It lasts on average almost nine hours continuously streaming a movie, and a bit longer than that while performing daily work-related tasks. Considering that its battery is a 96WHr unit compared to other competitors having nearly half of that amount, and you can see why that number is so impressive.
And while its main charger is a standard port, it gets about 80% of its total battery charged in a little over an hour. The ZenBook Pro 15 Flip OLED also supports power delivery via a Thunderbolt 4 port, so if you purchase a compatible Thunderbolt 4 charger, it’ll be even faster.
Should you buy an Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED?
Buy it if…
You want an OLED ultrabook with a great battery lifeThis is one of the best OLED laptops out there, bar none. You get an incredibly sharp, bright, and clear image quality that’s perfect for movies and games, and the touchscreen is phenomenal too.
You want a powerful work-and-play machineThis ultrabook can handle the most demanding of work days, while also handling creative editing projects, while also handling low and mid-range games. It can literally do it all and do it well.
You want a laptop that’s stylish and thinThis is a beautiful laptop, from top to bottom. Not only is the Azurite Blue coloring stunning but it has a thin, lightweight, and balanced form factor that makes it a joy to carry around and show off.
Don’t buy it if…
You need a great webcamThe webcam is very, painfully average compared to the rest of this phenomenal package. It’s best to purchase your own if you need a camera that works better in all lighting.
You actually want to purchase this laptopLook, we really don’t have much to criticize here, but sadly the availability of this laptop is abysmal - especially for non-US regions. So good luck trying to actually track down this laptop to purchase right now.
Also consider
Acer Swift 3 OLED (2022)Its sleek and slim form factor, combined with an OLED screen, great sound quality, and an excellent keyboard and trackpad, makes this a luxurious Ultrabook. Not to mention the affordable pricing, making this a budget Ultrabook.Read more:Acer Swift 3 OLED review
Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022)The follow-up to one of the best laptops ever released, the 2022 MacBook Air is svelte and sleek with a larger screen and the same outstanding battery life. While it doesn’t quite beat out its predecessor, it’s still a solid laptop though its steeper price tag is disappointing.
Check out ourApple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review
Razer Book 13While Razer is known for its incredible gaming hardware, with the Razer Book 13, the iconic company took a turn into the professional space and made one of the best laptops for work ever, which even starts at a lower price than the Surface Laptop 5.
Read more:Razer Book 13 review
Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED Report card
How We Test
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Named by the CTA as a CES 2023 Media Trailblazer, Allisa is a Computing Staff Writer who covers breaking news and rumors in the computing industry, as well as reviews, hands-on previews, featured articles, and the latest deals and trends. In her spare time you can find her chatting it up on her two podcasts, Megaten Marathon and Combo Chain, as well as playing any JRPGs she can get her hands on.
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