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日本ASUS ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 review – AMD processors on a solid convertible
This is your regular 2-in-1 beast, the ZenBook Flip 14 but dressed in a cooler silver clothing and being Red-oriented in its views. No, we’re not talking about communism, but of AMD and their ULV processor line-up. So, if you happen to be an artist, a creator and simultaneously being a fanboy of the Red Giant, this very laptop could be quite a decent option for you.
Yes, it is pretty similar to the ZenBook Flip UX463 and UX563, but instead of a ScreenPad, there is a feature called NumberPad. Essentially, you get all of the generic NumPad characters and numbers, embedded onto your touchpad. It can be easily activated, and while many of you are hardly going to use it, it is good to know that it is there.
Of course, one of the most important qualities of a 2-in-1 laptop is its ability to spin and be used as a tablet. For that, ASUS is offering a dedicated Pen optionally found inside the box.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-zenbook-flip-14-um462/
Contents
Specs Sheet
ASUS ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 review – AMD processors on a solid convertible - Specs
- HDD/SSD
- up to 1000GB SSD + up to 1000GB HDD
- M.2 Slot
- 1x 2280 PCIe NVMe 3.0 x2
- RAM
- up to 16GB
- OS
- Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Home
- Battery
- 42Wh, 3-cell
- Body material
- Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum
- Dimensions
- 322 x 210 x 18.9 mm (12.68" x 8.27" x 0.74")
- Weight
- 1.60 kg (3.5 lbs)
- Ports and connectivity
- 1x USB Type-A
- 2.0
- 1x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
- 1x USB Type-C
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
- HDMI
- Card reader
- MicroSD
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11ac
- Bluetooth
- 4.2
- Audio jack
- 3.5 mm combo
- Features
- Fingerprint reader
- Web camera
- HD IR
- Backlit keyboard
- optional
- Microphone
- Array microphone with Cortana voice-recognition support
- Speakers
- 2x Speakers, Harman Karbon
- Optical drive
- Security Lock slot
All ASUS ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 configurations
What’s in the box?
As we mentioned, there is the option for a dedicated stylus, inside the packaging. Additionally, you receive a 45W power adapter, which is incredibly small. You also get a protective sleeve and a USB Type-A to RJ-45 dongle. Pretty much, the same little extras, you would get with the ZenBook Flip UX463.
Design and construction
A sleek silver matte finish on an aluminum chassis. This is what best summarizes the design of the ZenBook Flip 14 UM462. Interestingly, it looks like a more flexible version of the ZenBook 14 UM431, which is also an AMD-based machine. Somewhat expectedly, the 2-in-1 version is both thicker and heavier, at 18.9mm and 1.60kg respectively, versus 15.9mm and 1.39kg for the clamshell model. Ultimately, both the lid and the base are exceptionally strong and prone to twists and bends.
Its lid cannot be opened, using a single hand, but yet again, there are very few convertibles that offer you this option. Nevertheless, we see a camera on its orthodox location, plus something interesting from the hinge mechanism – ErgoLift. This is essentially the same technology used on the ZenBooks and VivoBooks from the past couple of years. What it does is, it lifts the back of the device, which provides more fresh air and a more comfortable typing position.
Speaking of typing, this notebook is equipped with a backlit keyboard. It has decent key travel (1.4mm according to ASUS) and satisfying clicky feedback. Now, interestingly, the arrow keys feel like they are part of a completely different keyboard. They have a short travel and a very soft, unnatural feedback.
Usually, 14-inch laptops rarely feature a NumPad section. However, ASUS has something in its sleeve, and it is unsurprisingly called – NumberPad. Naturally, it is a software that works together with the touchpad and registers inputs as numbers and symbols. How do you know where to press? Well, the aforementioned numbers and symbols are illuminated from underneath the glass cover of the trackpad and the entire feature is enabled by pressing the specific icon in the top right corner for around a second.
While it is nothing like a hardware button, it is still good to see it there. In terms of usability, the glass cover helps greatly with the gliding properties of the touchpad.
On the bottom plate, you are going to find a thin, yet rather long ventilation grill, as well as two speaker cut-outs. Hot air is being directed towards the display.
Ports
On the left side, you can see the barrel-style plug ASUS uses to charge this notebook. Additionally, there is an HDMI connector, a USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) port and a USB Type-C 3.1 (Gen. 1) port. Then, on the right, you can find a MicroSD card reader, a USB Type-A 2.0 port and a headphone jack. This is also the residing place of the Power On/Off button, which can be easily distinguished by touch and gives clicky feedback upon the press.
Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance
This laptop’s bottom panel is held in place by 10 Phillips head screws, as 8 of them are clearly visible and two are hidden beneath the back feet. In order to access them, you can just pop them away easily with a flat tool. Then, you can use the same tool (preferably plastic) to pry the plate itself.
Hiding inside there is a single heat pipe that cools of the Ryzen processor. It’s good to see that this heat pipe is relatively bulky, and the heat spreader is rather long.
Just beneath the processor, you’re able to see the soldered memory chips. Sadly, there are no SODIMM slots for expansion. However, there is a single M.2 PCIe x2 slot for fast NVMe SSD storage.
On the battery side, we see a 42Wh unit.
Display quality
ASUS ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 is equipped with a Full HD IPS screen, model number BOE NV140FHM-N63 (BOE07E9). 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).
Viewing angles are comfortable. We have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.
The maximum measured brightness is 316 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 298 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 11%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6650K (average) – slightly colder than the 6500K optimum for sRGB. The average color temperature through the grey scale before profiling is 6570K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 65% Brightness (White level = 140 cd/m2, Black level = 0.137 cd/m2).
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 acceptable – 1020:1 (1010:1 after profiling).
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 in 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 Flip 14 UM462’s color gamut coverage.
Its display covers only 90% 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 ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).
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 = 35 ms – a rather slow panel.
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 ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 doesn’t use PWM to adjust its brightness at any level. This makes it comfortable for extended periods of use, without harm to your eyesight in this aspect.
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.
Conclusions
ASUS ZenBook Flip 14 UM462’s IPS panel has a Full HD resolution, good contrast ratio, wide viewing angles and covers 90% of the sRGB color gamut. Moreover, it lacks PWM, which makes it comfortable and easy to look at during long time periods.
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 Flip 14 UM462 configurations with 14.0″ BOE NV140FHM-N63 (BOE07E9) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS.
*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 Flip 14 UM462’s speakers are not very loud, but produce sound with good quality. They are tuned by Harman Kardon and their tones are clear throughout the entire frequency range.
Drivers
You can download all of the drivers and utilities for this notebook from here: https://www.asus.com/2-in-1-PCs/ASUS-ZenBook-Flip-14-UM462DA/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. As we said, the battery pack on this notebook has a 42Wh capacity.
We got 9 hours and a half of Web browsing and 7 hours and a half of video playback.
In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.
For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.
CPU options
Currently, the ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 is available with a choice between the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U and the Ryzen 7 3700U.
Results are from the Cinebench 20 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)
Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)
GPU options
Respectively, the graphics card options feature only the integrated Radeon Vega 8 and Vega 10.
Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Gaming tests
| CS:GO | HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) | HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Radeon Vega 8 | 59 fps | 44 fps | 31 fps |
| DOTA 2 | HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) | HD 1080p, High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Radeon Vega 8 | 80 fps | 40 fps | 24 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.
| AMD Ryzen 5 3500U (15W TDP) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASUS ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 | 3.10 GHz (B+48%) @ 65°C | 2.94 GHz (B+40%) @ 76°C | 2.22 GHz (B+6%) @ 62°C |
| ASUS VivoBook K570 | 3.07 GHz (B+42%) @ 63°C | 2.93 GHz (B+40%) @ 64°C | 2.48 GHz (B+18%) @ 57°C |
| Lenovo V155 (15) | 3.18 GHz (B+51%) @ 63°C | 2.92 GHz (B+39%) @ 71°C | 2.73 GHz (B+30%) @ 74°C |
| Lenovo IdeaPad S540 (14″) | 3.24 GHz (B+54%) @ 60°C | 3.08 GHz (B+47%) @ 66°C | 2.95 GHz (B+40%) @ 72°C |
| ASUS ZenBook 14 UM431 | 2.95 GHz (B+40%) @ 65°C | 2.92 GHz (B+39%) @ 68°C | 2.24 GHz (B+7%) @ 56°C |
Many of the latest AMD-equipped laptops maintain significantly lower temperatures than those fit with Intel CPUs. Unsurprisingly, the ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 is not an exclusion, as it ended the test at 62C and 2.22 GHz.
Comfort during full load
On the outside, we monitored warm but not too hot temperatures.
Verdict
As a 2-in-1 the ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 is in the more uncomfortable position of possibly satisfying professionals. We are talking about artists, content creators, photographers and more. Some of them might be pleased to hear that this device is equipped with a MicroSD card reader. Sure, more of the people prefer the full-sized SD card reader, but it is still better than nothing, isn’t it?
Professionals are also going to like the addition of a stylus that’s included inside the box. While there is no way of mounting it to the laptop, so you don’t keep searching for it, while you are not using it, it is good that it is basically included in the price of some units. We are definitely seeing the ZenBook Flip 14 UM462 as an option for architects and Web designers, who need to craft something on the go.
For that, you will need a good battery life. We were able to get 9 hours and a half of Web browsing and 7 hours and a half of video playback. Ultimately, expect to shorter screen on times when you are using more processing power. On the bright side, the charger on this device is exceptionally small – marginally larger than the one on an iPad.
On the downside, there is a prominent lack of a Thunderbolt 3 support and an even more prominent lack of RAM expansion inside. Only integrated memory. At least, you can upgrade your storage with an M.2 PCIe x2 drive.
ASUS ZenBook Flip 14 UM462’s IPS panel (BOE NV140FHM-N63 (BOE07E9)) has a Full HD resolution, good contrast ratio, wide viewing angles and covers 90% of the sRGB color gamut. Moreover, it lacks PWM, which makes it comfortable and easy to look at during long time periods.
By the way, we really enjoyed the touchpad and the keyboard. The former being equipped with the NumberPad feature ASUS developed some time ago, while the former has a backlight, clicky feedback, and decent travel. Except… the arrow keys. We can’t really stress how different these keys feel, compared to the rest – the exact opposite – short key travel and mushy, soft feedback.
Whether you prefer AMD or Intel, you can go for either the ZenBook Flip 14 UX463 or the UM462. Sure there are some prominent differences, like the ScreenPad for the Intel-equipped machine, but it also costs a few hundred bucks more.
Pros
- Great build quality
- ErgoLift hinge and a NumberPad touchpad
- Covers 90% of sRGB (BOE NV140FHM-N63 (BOE07E9))
- It doesn’t use PWM to adjust screen brightness (BOE NV140FHM-N63 (BOE07E9))
- Decent battery life
- MicroSD card reader onboard
- (Optionally) includes a protective sleeve bag, a USB Type-A to RJ-45 dongle and a stylus inside the box
Cons
- No memory upgrade options after purchase
- Lacks Thunderbolt connection
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-zenbook-flip-14-um462/
