ASUS ExpertBook B9 2021 assessment: lightness personified

Taiwanese electronics big ASUS has been some of the distinguished names within the PC business for some time now. A point out of ASUS laptops usually makes me consider the corporate’s gaming lineup of ROG units first, however the model has an intensive lineup for informal {and professional} customers too. The ASUS ExpertBook B9 is constructed on Intel’s Evo platform and runs the newest Eleventh-gen CPUs. It claims to be one of many lightest 14-inch enterprise laptops on this planet and is priced beginning at Rs 1,15,498. Now I’ve encountered lots of ultrabooks throughout my time as a reviewer, however the ExpertBook B9 has grabbed my consideration as only a few merchandise have earlier than. Learn on to know why on this full assessment of the system.

Contents

Construct, design and show Keyboard and trackpad Efficiency and battery Last Verdict Editor’s score: 4 / 5 Professionals: Cons:

Desk of Contents

Construct, design and show

The ASUS ExpertBook B9 weighs a mere 880 grams. The previous-gen LG Gram 17 is the lightest laptop computer I had used to this point, however this machine from ASUS simply trumps it. I can stability the ExpertBook B9 on one finger, it’s that gentle. The chassis is constructed from a magnesium-lithium alloy which facilitates the featherweight design. The sunshine weight might translate right into a flimsy or weak development, however quite the opposite, the ExpertBook B9 is as sturdy because it will get. It has even handed the MIL-STD 810H military-grade requirements to resist excessive climate situations. At simply 14mm, the laptop computer can be moderately skinny. ASUS has made use of its Ergolift hinge design which props the bottom of the laptop computer at an angle for higher thermal move and typing expertise. It additionally creates a sound chamber on the backside for a a lot louder speaker setup than the load of the system warrants. The hinge permits the lid to be propped up at any angle as much as 180-degrees in an especially easy movement. The lid may even be opened utilizing only a finger with out the bottom lifting up as effectively. The matte-black color is unfold evenly throughout the entire laptop computer, whereas ASUS branding is current within the centre on the lid.

By way of connectivity, the laptop computer has an honest quantity of choices to select from. There are two USB C ports on the left with Thunderbolt 4 connectivity and DisplayPort help, together with an HDMI Port. There’s a micro-HDMI to RJ45 port as effectively, with a appropriate adapter bundled within the field. The suitable of the system has a USB 3.2 Kind-A port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a Kensington lock. Inserting one of many USB C ports on the fitting would have been a more sensible choice in my view, together with the addition of an SD card reader. Wi-fi connectivity choices embrace dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1. The webcam current on the highest bezel comes with IR for facial authentication, whereas a fingerprint sensor is current on the underside proper just under the fitting arrow key.

As for the viewing expertise, the ExpertBook B9 is using a typical 16:9 LCD panel with 60Hz refresh price and FHD (1,080 x 1,920) decision. The anti-glare coating makes it straightforward to view the display screen even when gentle is shining straight on it. ASUS claims a 94 p.c screen-to-body ratio and the bezels do look extraordinarily slim. At its value level, nonetheless, the ExpertBook B9 competes with a number of units that supply wonderful show capabilities. The DCIP3 protection of the ExpertBook B9 stands at about 70 p.c which is nearly common. The brightness ranges are greater than acceptable with 325nits of peak luminosity permitting for snug out of doors viewing. I might advise towards utilizing the ExpertBook for any type of color correction or picture modifying work, as there are numerous machines within the value class that are extra succesful.

Keyboard and trackpad

The ExpertBook B9 provides an honest typing expertise with a standard six-row chiclet-style keyboard. The journey on every key’s 1.4mm which is nice sufficient and the typing may be very a lot on the quiet aspect. The backlighting on the keyboard is minimal and non-adjustable, however it will get the job completed at evening. ASUS has used a spill-resistant design to minimise injury from unintended liquid splashing on the keyboard.

The trackpad is far bigger than what you’d usually see on a 14-inch chassis and is extraordinarily responsive too. It additionally doubles up as a capacitive Numpad with only a long-press on the top-left, and it really works flawlessly. Home windows Precision Drivers permit it to supply responsive gestures and multi-finger help. As I counsel with all laptops, if you’re planning on doing extra intensive duties, it could be prudent to make use of an exterior mouse.

Efficiency and battery

Operating on Intel’s Evo platform, the ExpertBook B9 has been licensed for just a few key issues which permit it to flaunt this ‘Evo’ branding. These embrace waking up from sleep in lower than second, 9 hours of battery life, and enabling as much as 4 hours of laptop computer utilization with half-hour of charging. The Intel Eleventh-gen i7-1165G7 quad-core CPU shouldn’t be a efficiency beast however it actually provides easy multitasking. The skinny chassis shouldn’t be very conducive for thermal administration but when going about your work includes productiveness purposes like MS Workplace, then the ExpertBook has you coated.

Benchmark numbers additionally roughly show this level. On Cinebench R23, the system logged single-core and multi-core scores of 1,081 and three,783. Geekbench confirmed extra of the identical with 1,536 and 4,576 respectively whereas PCMark logged a decent 4,928. Iris Xe graphics deal with the GPU-intensive duties however the system isn’t reallt meant to play AAA video games. Counter Strike: GO and Valorant could be performed on low graphics settings although. On 3DMark’s Time Spy GPU check, the system scores 1,083 which ought to make the system’s graphical capabilities clear. For perspective, a correct gaming laptop computer just like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with discrete graphics manages a rating of over 5,000 on the Time Spy check. I used to be far more impressed with the three,522MB/s Learn and a couple of,426MB/s Write speeds of the 2TB NVMe PCIe SSD on CrystalDiskMark. The ExpertBook is likely one of the few laptops that options twin NVMe M.2 slots in a RAID 0/1 configuration. This leads to extraordinarily quick information transmission speeds to the tune of seven,000MB/s. My assessment unit comes with 32GB of LPDDR4X RAM however you even have the choice to get a 16GB RAM model.

The lightning-fast authentication from the laptop computer’s IR digicam logs me in immediately as quickly because the proximity sensor alongside detects that I’m in entrance of the laptop computer. The fingerprint sensor additionally works as quick, though I very a lot favor the comfort of face unlock. Lest I neglect, the system additionally comes with audio system powered by Harman and Kardon that sound ok at full quantity, however lack depth. ASUS has additionally included AI Noise-Canceling Audio expertise in order that anybody on the different finish of a voice/video name can hear you extra clearly. The laptop computer comes pre-installed with Home windows 10 however it’s also possible to go for Home windows 10 Professional if that’s one thing you want.

The laptop computer is obtainable in 33W and 66W configurations for battery and I’ve the latter one for assessment functions. In easy phrases, the laptop computer has an incredulously good battery life. I haven’t needed to cost the system even after utilizing it for 2 days straight, with about 3-4 hours of Netflix on each days, and typing out this assessment. In numbers, the laptop computer can run for 10 hours straight which is greater than sufficient to get you thru a workday. It additionally helps quick wired 65W charging by way of the USB-C port that may juice up the system by 50 p.c in underneath half-hour.

Last Verdict

The ASUS ExpertBook B9 has been priced precariously on the high with lots of contenders vying for the premium ultrabook class. The system actually has the products to again up its declare with its extraordinarily gentle design, highly effective internals, first rate audio system and actually good battery life. In the event you’re on the lookout for a extremely transportable and easy-to-carry Home windows machine, the ExpertBook B9 is a selection that received’t disappoint.