ASUS ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402) review – a business convertible that battles spreadsheets and bacteria

Business laptops are rarely related to school. However, ASUS wants us to think that combining the two shouldn’t be taboo. Actually, this laptop should be appropriate both for students and teachers. Of course, the ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402) is a convertible, which allows you to use it as a tablet as well. This includes stylus support, and it is fantastic to see that the Pen is garaged inside the base of the device.

In fact, the base is one of the more interesting parts of the laptop, as it has undergone an antibacterial treatment. ASUS states that the keyboard, touchpad, and palm rest have been covered by this, and it is compliant with the ISO 22196 standard for antibacterial activity on plastics and non-porous surfaces. According to the company, it achieves a score of R>2, where 2 indicates a 99% reduction in bacterial activity. In times like this, this is great news.

What is pushing this device in terms of performance, is a Tiger Lake CPU. The options go as high as the Core i7-1165G7, with it being perfect for photo-related work, and pretty much all types of business computing.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-expertbook-b3-flip-b3402/

Contents

Specs Sheet

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you will find some paper manuals, an optional backpack, and a 65W USB Type-C charger.

Design and construction

Let’s start exploring this laptop from the outside. Its lid is made out of metal, which provides it with a cool touch and strength. The base on the other hand is plastic and shows some flex when twisted. Despite that, it features MIL-STD-810H compliancy. The device weighs 1.61 kg and has a profile of 19.5mm.

Although the lid doesn’t open with a single hand, we are happy to see a glass cover over the display. The bezels, however, seem a bit too thick for 2022. On the bright side, the top one houses an HD Web camera with a privacy shutter.

Weirdly, the base also has a spot for a camera, where you may find a 13MP snapper. Further to the right, you will see the power button, which doubles as a fingerprint reader.

While we are here, we can take a look at the keyboard. It features a backlight, as well as spill resistance, which is great for a business (or any) machine. Typing comfort is good as well with decent key travel and clicky feedback. As we mentioned earlier in the review, this laptop has an antibacterial coating across its keyboard, touchpad, and palm rest. We don’t know if it’s connected, but the entire surface of the base is super rough and has a sparkling texture.

As for the touchpad, it is not the biggest unit out there but it will do the job (that’s what she said). It has the NumberPad functionality, which is enabled by touching the top right corner of the touchpad. Swiping from the top left, on the other hand, opens the calculator.

It’s worth mentioning that the lid goes all the way to the back – of course, this is a 2-in-1. However, the lid sits flat and stable, which makes it comfortable for work with the included stylus.

And on the bottom panel, you will see the two speaker cutouts, as well as the ventilation grills. Hot air gets exhausted from the back.

Ports

On the left side, there is a security lock slot, two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, an HDMI 2.0a, and a stylus garage. Then, on the right, you can see a LAN port, a USB Type-A 2.0 port, a shared SIM card, and MicroSD card slot, an Audio jack, and a volume rocker.

Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

To get inside of this device, you first need to remove the stylus out of its garage. Then, undo all 10 Phillips-head screws, and pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool.

Here, we see a battery with a 50Wh capacity. In our tests, it lasted us for more than 11 hours of Web browsing, or 7 hours of video playback. Before you remove it, you need to unplug the battery connector. Then, undo all 4 Phillips-head screws, and take it out of the chassis.

To access the memory, you have to remove a metal shroud. There, you will see a single SODIMM slot, with additional 8 or 16GB soldered to the motherboard. Storage-wise, you get an M.2 PCIe x4 slot.

AS you can see, the CPU relies on a single heat pipe, a medium-sized heat sink, and a fan. Thankfully, the VRMs are being cooled as well.

Display quality

ASUS ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402) has a Full HD touchscreen display, model number AUO B140HAN04.0 (AUO403D). Its diagonal is 14″ (35.56 cm), and the resolution – 1920 х 1080. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 157 ppi, their pitch – 0.161 x 0.161 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 56 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Its viewing angles are great. We have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The maximum measured brightness is 294 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 277 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 7%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 5880K (average) – warmer than the 6500K optimum 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 is good – 1400:1.

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 the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is an 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 ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402)’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 50% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of ASUS ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display can reproduce 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 = 32 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.

ASUS ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402)’s display doesn’t use PWM at any brightness level. This ensures comfortable work even during long periods of time.

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 display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for ASUS ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402) configurations with 14.0″ AUO B140HAN04.0 (AUO403D) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS 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.

Sound

ASUS ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402)’s speakers produce a sound of good quality. The low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations.

Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.asus.com/Laptops/For-Work/ExpertBook/ExpertBook-B3-Flip-B3402-11th-Gen-Intel/HelpDesk_Download/

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with 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’s 50Wh battery lasted us for 11 hours and 29 minutes of Web browsing, or 6 hours and 59 minutes of video playback.

CPU options

Here, you can pick from the Core i3-1115G4, Core i5-1135G7, Core i7-1165G7.

GPU options

Graphics-wise, you don’t really have choices, as the options depend on the processor you pick. Respectively, this means you get the Iris Xe Graphics G4 or the Iris Xe Graphics G7 with either 80 or 96 EUs.

Gaming tests

CS:GO	HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)	HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)	HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	108 fps	78 fps	38 fps

DOTA 2	HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)	HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)	HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS	116 fps	71 fps	43 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 i5-1135G7 (15W TDP)	0:02 – 0:10 sec	0:15 – 0:30 sec	10:00 – 15:00 min
ASUS ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402)	3.77 GHz (B+57%) @ 91°C @ 52W	3.24 GHz (B+35%) @ 94°C @ 35W	2.92 GHz (B+22%) @ 74°C @ 28W
HP 470 G8	3.09 GHz (B+29%) @ 79°C @ 31W	2.60 GHz (B+8%) @ 80°C @ 24W	2.42 GHz (B+1%) @ 78°C @ 18W
Dynabook Tecra A50-J	3.77 GHz (B+57%) @ 97°C @ 52W	3.22 GHz (B+34%) @ 87°C @ 36W	2.82 GHz (B+18%) @ 76°C @ 28W
Dynabook Tecra A40-J	3.74 GHz (B+56%) @ 96°C @ 51W	3.21 GHz (B+34%) @ 86°C @ 36W	2.91 GHz (B+21%) @ 77°C @ 28W
HP ProBook 430 G8	3.32 GHz (B+38%) @ 97°C @ 35W	2.74 GHz (B+14%) @ 89°C @ 24W	2.29 GHz (B-5%) @ 75°C @ 17W
Acer Swift 3 (SF314-511)	3.15 GHz (B+31%) @ 91°C @ 34W	2.89 GHz (B+20%) @ 91°C @ 28W	2.69 GHz (B+12%) @ 91°C @ 25W
Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (13.5)	3.80 GHz (B+58%) @ 80°C @ 46W	3.62 GHz (B+51%) @ 89°C @ 43W	1.99 GHz (B-17%) @ 60°C @ 13W
ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED K513	3.39 GHz (B+41%) @ 83°C @ 40W	3.28 GHz (B+34%) @ 91°C @ 37W	2.96 GHz (B+23%) @ 85°C @ 28W
MSI Summit E13 Flip Evo	3.65 GHz (B+52%) @ 96°C @ 45W	3.31 GHz (B+38%) @ 96°C @ 47W	3.03 GHz (B+25%) @ 96°C @ 29W
Dell XPS 13 9310 (2-in-1)	3.36 GHz (B+40%) @ 99°C @ 41W	3.16 GHz (B+32%) @ 99°C @ 37W	1.92 GHz @ 72°C @ 16W
Dell XPS 13 9310	3.15 GHz (B+31%) @ 100°C @ 40W	2.73 GHz (B+14%) @ 100°C @ 30W	1.65 GHz @ 73°C @ 15W
Dell Vostro 14 5402	3.02 GHz (B+26%) @ 99°C @ 29W	2.61 GHz (B+9%) @ 99°C @ 25W	2.00 GHz @ 76°C @ 15W
MSI Modern 15 (A11X)	3.59 GHz (B+50%) @ 94°C @ 44W	3.45 GHz (B+44%) @ 95°C @ 40W	3.18 GHz (B+33%) @ 91°C @ 34W
Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga	3.52 GHz (B+47%) @ 94°C	3.24 GHz (B+35%) @ 94°C	2.63 GHz (B+10%) @ 75°C
Lenovo Yoga 7 (14)	3.34 GHz (B+39%) @ 94°C	2.97 GHz (B+24%) @ 94°C	2.39 GHz @ 75°C
Acer Aspire 5 (A514-54)	3.54 GHz (B+48%) @ 87°C	2.01 GHz @ 66°C	2.03 GHz @ 67°C

It is great to see that this laptop can sustain a 28W TDP limit for long periods of time. And at the same time, it finished our stress test with a temperature of 84°C, which is a respectable temperature.

Comfort during full load

When put in the performance preset, this device gets pretty loud. On the bright side, the surface temperature is rather low, with it rarely exceeding the human body temperature.

Verdict

Once again, the software is behind this laptop’s success. The AI-assisted noise cancellation is essential for conference calls, especially when you are outside, or in a noisy environment. However, there is more to the ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402). For example, the antimicrobial coating is something we can’t test but offers next-level security – that of your own health and wellbeing.

In addition to that, the laptop is paired with spill-resistance on the keyboard. Also, it’s good to know that the HD Web camera has a privacy shutter, and while you won’t get an option for an IR face recognition sensor, the fingerprint reader still offers a reliable biometric login solution.

ASUS ExpertBook B3 Flip (B3402)’s IPS touchscreen display (AUO B140HAN04.0 (AUO403D)) has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. Thankfully, its backlight doesn’t flicker, which makes it safe and comfortable for long work periods. On the other hand, it covers only 50% of the sRGB color gamut.

Another essential feature, when working with a touch-enable device is the stylus support. Well, this notebook does not only support styluses, but it has one built into its chassis. It is pretty thin, which may hinder the comfort of use in long periods of time, but it’s good to know you have safe and easy access to it.

Ports. Both on the inside, and out, the laptop offers a good port selection with one SODIMM slot for memory expansion, and one M.2 PCIe x4 slot for storage. And if you need to plug in an external monitor, you can do that either via the HDMI 2.0a connector or through the two Thunderbolt 4 connectors. As a matter of fact, there is a LAN port as well, with the only downside of the I/O selection being that one of the USB Type-A ports only runs at 2.0 speeds.

One, if not the only quirk of this model is its design. It doesn’t look bad, but you have to keep in mind that the rather large bezels around the display result in an overall large footprint. Again, this has its own advantages, like better structural resistance of the display. However, the rough texture of the base may not be the most comfortable thing on your wrists during exhausting workdays.

At the end of the day, you have to keep in mind that this laptop is not intended for professional art or design work. Instead, it provides exquisite note-taking abilities, and great business features like pristine-quality conference calls, due to the noise cancellation.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-expertbook-b3-flip-b3402/