Content creators and editor would have all the reasons to be happy with an ASUS ZenBook Flip UX363 laptop. At 13.9 mm thin and weighing only 1.3 Kg, this laptop is always ready to go wherever you need some computing power with you.
Despite being this thin, the ASUS ZenBook Flip UX363 packs an HDMI port, a USB Type-A port and two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, allowing you to connect all sorts of peripherals - from monitors to external chargers, storage or input devices.
More incredible is that it is also a convertible laptop, which you can change into a fully working, Windows 10-based tablet-style computer - including touchscreen and stylus support, by simply flicking its screen all the way around.
The stylus support includes up to 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity so you can easily work your way through illustrations and photo editing as well note-taking directly on the screen. The optional ASUS Pen feels really nice in terms of weight and balance when held and glides effortlessly on the screen, with quick response for actions (and drawing on the screen is always so cool).
The 13" 1920 x 1080 FHD OLED screen is another high point on this laptop, covering 100% of the sRGB colour space and a very narrow bezel that is only 3.9 mm on each side, giving you plenty of space to work. It is also super bright and bears the Pantone Validate sticker, meaning it can accurately reproduce Pantone colours, giving you a visual edge when working on professional branding and design.
The combination of this screen with the built-in Intel Xe Graphics allows you to use HDR for both the internal display as well as external HDR displays that you might have. This also includes the use of wide colour gamut (WCG) apps.
The result is a brilliant and bright display that looks great for both digital design work as well as streaming high-quality content but beware it will automatically disable HDR if the laptop is operating on battery only.
Like the screen, the keyboard is also an edge-to-edge peripheral so you have keys with good size and spacing between them. And don't let the lack of a numeric keyboard be a problem as its touchpad doubles as a backlit number pad, activated with a touch on the top right corner of the touchpad. From that moment a standard number pad shows up on the glass trackpad thanks to its backlight. Touching the number of the operators will input those into your current application, while finger gestures and long touches retain their original functions. Very ingenious - although I had to invoke the On-Screen Keyboard first to activate NumLock otherwise these wouldn't work as expected.
On top of the hardwired connections mentioned before, the ASUS ZenBook Flip UX363 also supports the new WiFi 6 (802.11ax). When connected to a router that also supports this standard the ASUS ZenBook Flip UX363 can work to intelligently use the available bandwidth so that network operations are smooth and faster than before.
For business applications (or those security-conscious home users), the ASUS ZenBook Flip UX363 has a Windows Hello-compatible camera that works really fast and does a good job of authentication. It also has a TPM chip for security, which can be used with things like Windows Bitlocker to encrypt your SSD - just beware that the review unit received here came with Windows 10 Home edition and you really need Windows 10 Pro for Bitlocker management.
The battery life is good. ASUS tested the laptop and promises up to 14 hours of battery life and I have had some good runtime out of a full battery. It conveniently charges from the USB-C port so if you forget your original charger, other USB-C PD chargers will do the trick and can charge very quickly indeed.
The MyASUS application helps you keep your laptop running with the latest drivers, BIOS and system software as well as giving you tools to manage power utilisation, cooling policies as well as noise-cancelling features for your microphone. The software also allows you to customise Gamma and colour temperature but only when not using HDR mode.
In addition to MyASUS, it also comes with a trial version of the McAfee antivirus package - which is not my personal preference but it's an option for new users, although Windows Security by itself already does a good job of protecting your new computer.
All this package is supported by an 11-gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 Processor 2.8 GHz (although ASUS also makes an Intel Core i5 model available) and options of 8 or 16 GB RAM (I wouldn't suggest anything less than 16 GB RAM for design work). The 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD provides the storage and speed you need to work with the large files that are common with this activity.
Overall the design package looks appealing and the grey colour is nice. The review unit had tones of copper on the logo and the keys on the keyboard making it quite striking.
When releasing new 11th-gen Intel-based laptops ASUS promised machines that would cater for content creators and editors on the move and it seems they've managed to deliver that.
