Customers are impressed with the ZenBook Flip 15's touch screen, performance, and price. They appreciate the laptop's fast speed, military-grade sturdiness, and excellent battery life. However, some customers have concerns about the speakers, sound quality, limited USB ports, overheating, and lack of USB-C PD charging.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
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Pros mentioned:
Screen quality, Ssd
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Better than Chicken
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Posted . Owned for more than 2 years when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I thought i would miss the 17.3" screen on my previous laptop i replaced with this Asus 16". However, the narrow bezel and improved portability (smaller footprint) makes this Asus a winner. Oh yeah, the boot speed of the ssd is amazing. Bye bye hard drives. Winner winner, 'Asus 16" ssd' dinner.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Screen quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Better screen than my $3500 Sager with a RTX 2080
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This is worthy of being a flagship product from ASUS.. They have outdone themselves
Where to begin..
I have a 17.3" Gaming Laptop, a Sager NP9176. This is an enthusiast level gaming laptop with 32GB DDR4 Ram, a Desktop i9 9900k CPU and RTX 2080.. and this Asus Zenbook Q538's screen blows it out the water
I play Modern Warfare on Ultra at 1080p, 120-140fps on my Sager.. have yet to play games on these but honestly I am expecting atleast a 60fps on any modern games knowing with experience of gaming laptops and the new Intel Xe chip stacked with a strong GTX1650Ti Max Q. Can these two be stacked together for extra FPS? Have yet to try it on this laptop but am going to soon
Now, of course when comparing IPS vs. OLED panels it is no comparison.. the OLED screens are finally becoming affordable enough to enter the high end laptop/ultrabook market
Now my main gripe with 4k laptops up until now was the lag. My Sager has a 144hz1080p panel so up until recently I preferred frame rate and smoothness over resolution... until I saw this laptop. I am not sure of the hz of this OLED screen on this notebook but I do know it is 4k. Upon playing with it in the demo in store I found myself astonished that this was the only 4k laptop that didn't have mouse jitter/lag.. this was a big problem as the prior GPU's and intel integrated CPU's could not handle 4k resolution running on a battery.. you would have jitter and lag across the screen.
Asus seems to have finally done it and created an ultrabook with a 4k OLED screen that is absolutely breathtaking to look at. I have had the laptop for about 24 hours now and I have not even charged it yet. Astonishing 16 hour battery life.. on a 4k OLED screen. I am just now starting to get to 30% on my battery... could never do this on my Sager with RTX 2080. Not to mention the weight difference
This Zenbook only weighs 3lbs.. the Sager weighs triple that.. this is a GREAT notebook for someone looking to do some
I bought myself one and my mom one. She loves it as well and has been watching 4k videos all day on YouTube in awe. Great Zenbook. Asus will definitely build brand loyalty with new faces to their products building quality notebooks like this. 10/10
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Processor speed, Screen quality
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Solid Mid-Range Laptop, Good for Graphics/Photo
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I'm the kind of consumer that enjoys being able to see & test out a display model before making a final decision. That's harder to do now. I tried three different systems and the Zenbook ended up being the best of the three.
My Requirements:
- Portable (After Pandemic)
- Good Processor, RAM, Graphics Card
- 4K Resolution, Eye-care, Accurate Colors/Black
- Full Keyboard
- Hinge with Larger Movement Range
- Decent Built-in Speakers
- HDMI, USBs, SD Reader
I figure everyone would look for a system that has a sturdy frame, latest internet & bluetooth connection, etc.
Overall, I am satisfied with my purchase. It does most of what I need, and I've worked around ways to do the rest. Zenbook Flip 15 is a solid mid-range system.
Attached Photo: A picture of a photo I took a few years ago. It looks great on the laptop.
Pros:
- Meets my Reqs
- Easy to Setup
- Rotating Hinge
- Great Display, Keyboard
- Less Eyestrain
Cons:
- Mediocre Camera
- Thunderbolt ports are too close together.
- Edge to edge screen is nice in theory but not great for a touch screen laptop.
- Minor lag in accessing external hard drive.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ssd
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent Specs in the Price, No Competition!
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Posted . Owned for 2 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The laptop doesn't come with any additional packaging. It comes in the original packaging of the ASOS laptop, no best buy packaging, the best thing was I ordered it for curbside pickup, you order the laptop and they directly come and give it into your car so you don't even need to go inside. The box had a really nice padding on both of the sides so that the laptop doesn't move about, a basic plain brown box but it does the job of protecting the laptop. Inside the box we just have the basic things that we normally have which is the manual, the welcome card, the warranty card, the power cable and the charging adapter which is of 20 volts, 6 ampere and 120 watts. With the manual you get instructions how to get started with the laptop. The weight of the laptop is 4.2 pounds.
I'm really impressed with this laptop because it looks really beautiful. It has a nice aluminum body and the color is dark gray with a bit of silver outline. It looks really nice, sturdy and a premium quality laptop and it feels like it does have military grade durability. It has only one USB port, it should have at least one more USB port because you can’t connect multiple USB devices. It has two USB C ports. One of the things that I actually wanted to try out was if I could try charging this laptop with a 60 watt charger through USB C power delivery port but unfortunately, it did not work.
It also has an AI noise cancelling mic which is really good, I recorded a whole YT review video about this laptop and the mic quality is amazing. When I rotate the laptop screen, the screen doesn't wobble, it has strong hinges so once you flip it over you can turn it into a tablet. Sometimes you want a laptop and sometimes you want to use it as a Tablet. I like making notes and sketching and stuff so this is really good for me.
There is a nice BIOS screen where you can see all the hardware configurations of the laptop. Once you open up the laptop you can set it up for face recognition called windows hello face recognition option to sign. It has a very responsive multi-touch screen, you can see in the attached photo. I also tried two 4096 pressure level supported pens and it works fine. The laptop has a backlit keyboard with three brightness variations but I feel that backlit brightness is low.
It has a 4K OLED screen with 400 nits and I must say the quality is really impressive for the price of this laptop, you can see every grain, the colors are marvelous, the black levels are truly amazing.
The laptop also has a DTS capability and has four content modes, Music, Movies, Games and Custom audio. Sound is by Harman Kardon and that is another great quality about this laptop that the sound quality is really amazing. Custom audio has three stereo sound settings, Wide, In-Front and Traditional, you can also change the Treble, Vocal Boost and Bass Boost enhancements and you can also change equalizer settings. But, remember, when you turn off the DTS the volume will be too low so, just make sure you turn on the DTS and your volume would be fine. If you still feel your volume is too low then you can make changes on your equalizer and it will make your volume perfect.
The laptop also has its own and built-in application named as MyASOS which is excellent, you can change multiple hardware settings, you can change speaker modes, mic modes, color modes, fan modes etc, you can update or install latest drivers, you can also connect your cell phone through this app and you can share content between the devices. One of the best things that I liked is that I can turn it off and on the function keys through keyboard and through MyASOS app without going back into the BIOS settings.
I also ran Cinebench to evaluate the ranking of the CPU and the score that I got was 4945 which is good. I also ran the CrystalDiskMark to evaluate the read and write performance of the disk and you can see the results in the attached photos.
ASOS claims that this laptop has 100% DCI-P3 true color, 1M:1 High Contrast ratio DisplayHDR 500 True Black, Low Blue Light 70% Reduced and TÜV Rheinland-certified eye care flicker free low blue light. So, when I saw all of these claims in this laptop I wanted to cross check, so I went on to the websites to check if this laptop or model exists in their certified product lists and it does exist on the certified products list.
Since it has a GTX1650ti MAX-Q graphics card, I went to the NVIDIA website and saw supported games, I downloaded one to evaluate the gaming experience and I had no issues.
My overall review for this laptop is that at this price, the specifications are excellent. Plus, the laptop is beautiful and premium quality, the best part about this laptop is that, because it has a 4K OLED screen, the colors and black levels are truly magnificent and sound is also amazing. There are other laptops that might be available in the market with more or less the same specifications but they might not compete the price.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Amazing laptop
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This laptop is so powerful and great. I enjoy gaming on it and using it for school at the same time.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Performance, Processor speed
Cons mentioned:
Graphics card
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Fast, Incredible Laptop
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The ASUS Zenbook Flip 15 is a light, long lasting battery laptop, with a gorgeous and vibrant 4k touch screen. Touting a military grade body and foldable screen to be able to use it as a tablet, what else would you look for in a laptop?
Upon opening and unwrapping the laptop from the box, you immediately notice the beauty of the laptop. I was wooed even more after it booted up by the glossy screen's dancing vivid colors. Seriously though, 4k on this screen is no joke. Although with the added 1650Ti Max Q graphics card you won't be able to reach high graphics settings on most games, games like Minecraft, Rocket League, and Fortnite will still look incredible.
Other than the screen, I loved the performance of the laptop. Having an NVME SSD along with the newest 11th generation i7 and 16GB of memory, the computer booted in under 10 seconds. I loved how the power button only needed to be clicked once (when compared to other laptops where the power button needs to be clicked and held for a second or two) and facial recognition was spot on (an option available to sign into the computer). Testing the performance, I noticed programs opened and loaded quicker when compared to previous i7 laptops I've owned with similar specs (16GB memory, NVME SSD). Even after installing multiple programs and trying to boggle the performance down, programs still managed to open very quickly. This is a definite upgrade for those with older laptops that aren't able to leverage the new speeds of the 11th gen i7 and NVME SSDs in general.
Another topic to be mentioned is the battery life. Using it for a couple of days during the week while putting it to sleep instead of powering it off would have made me plug in the charger on my old laptop. With the Zenbook Flip, I have been able to work longer hours and charge it less. It also was able to charge in just one hour from about 10% to full capacity.
The ASUS ZenBook Flip 15 is the perfect laptop for anyone in search of a lightweight, yet full performance computer. Performance for productivity, an amazing screen capable of light gaming for casual boredom, and a long lasting battery make this a great pick for those looking to get a new laptop that will last them for a longer period of time (when compared to lower end processor and non SSD laptops).
Note: The older laptop I mentioned in a few comments for comparison is only two years old and has the following specs: 8th gen i7, 16GB RAM, and a 500GB NVME SSD.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Processor speed, Screen quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great build quality and performance
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I am really pleased with the build quality and versatility of the Zenbook. Good performance, plenty of storage and a legit video card that can handle the needs of a casual gamer.
Pros
- Build quality is top notch: The hinge that allows the screen to rotate has no play at all. The case does not bend or flex when carried in one hand.
- Great specs. Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM, 1TB solid state hard drive, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650Ti 4GB video card ensure that this computer will perform well for years.
- Great Storage. The 1TB drive is definitely worth it for the extra space, especially if you plan to download games or have a collection of videos. Having a solid state drive is not only great for performance, but peace of mind (no moving parts to fail or be damaged). With only the preinstalled apps there was a little over 900GB available.
- Video card can handle most games at the standard 1080p 60fps. This is not a purpose built gaming laptop, but it meets the minimum requirements for a lot of spec heavy games (with reduced texture quality settings). It easily handled Doom 2016 and Wolfenstein II that I downloaded from Steam. Based on the specs it should easily handle Doom Eternal that came out earlier this year.
- No adapters needed. The Zenbook has an SD card reader, 1 full sized USB-A port, 2 USB-C ports and an HDMI port.
- Screen is beautiful with a high resolution, vibrant colors, and deep blacks. When I used the HDMI port to connect a second monitor the difference between the 2 screens is night and day (the LED monitor is only a few months old, but looks washed out and dull compared to the Zenbook).
- Battery life is very good. I regularly get 8-9 hours of use for common stuff like surfing the internet or writing a paper. It can even handle 2-3 hours of video games and does a great job of temperature management under heavy load while using the battery. I love the ASUS utility which allows you to adjust the battery charge settings to extend the battery lifespan if you intend to leave it plugged in for a while.
- Keyboard spacing and feel are good, it has an adjustable backlight, and even manages to squeeze in a usable number pad with a short cut to the calculator app. Dual purpose F1-F12 / Function keys have useful short cuts such as volume, screen brightness, lock. It even has a cap lock light on the key (num lock, scroll lock are missing).
Things to Consider
- Using the Zenbook in tablet mode is a bit awkward due to the weight, stiff hinge, and the keyboard. The keyboard faces out on the bottom of the Zenbook when flipped, meaning you are holding the Zenbook by it is keyboard and if you set it down it lays on its keyboard (this is common on many 2-in-1 laptops).
- Not a big deal, but I was worried it would scratch my desk when I first looked at it. The screen rotates past the bottom of the Zenbook as it opens, but it has little rubber numbs to keep the edge of the screen or hinge from directly making contact with the surface it is on.
- Speaker performance is fine for a laptop and on par with others I have owned, but the harmon/kardon label might be a little deceiving. The sound is clear with no distortion at max volume and the dual speakers help widen the sound stage, but it lacks bass and is not loud enough.
I have owned several Asus laptops and many of their other products (routers, motherboards) - all of which were well built and reliable. Based on the build quality and performance of the Zenbook so far, it will live up to the same standard.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Processor speed, Screen quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great machine!
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Great machine. This is my first touch screen flip book and it’s just great. Fast, screen is amazing, so easy to work flow on the go. Yes I would buy another.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great purchase
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Posted . Owned for 1.5 years when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
It works great. I had to replace the screen and even after still worth it.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Processor speed, Screen quality, Ssd
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent Performance
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
With the newly released 11th Generation Core Processors, the redesigned Asus Flipbook Q538EI comes ready to attract those who demand performance and elegance in one sleek package. Combining the i7-1165G7 with 16 GB of DDR4-3200 MHz memory and a 1 TB NVMe SSD comes with blazing speed out of the box. In addition, the gorgeous 4K OLED display is fed by a Geforce 1660 Ti that has its own 4 GB of dedicated video memory. Therefore, as an enthusiast, I was excited to see how this monster will perform.
Physically, the Q538 quite attractive. The aluminum brushed body has a smooth brushed feel to it and is of high quality. The mineral grey color certainly looks darker in person. Weight wise, it is roughly four pounds and is not too heavy. The pictures certainly do not do any justice to this laptop. I am fairly confident that most will be extremely pleased with its appearance. Furthermore, along the edge of the laptop and screen is a silver accent that really enhances the overall feel to the Q538. Moving on, we will note a few of the ports that should be straightforward. On the right side, you will note the AC adapter port, two Thunderbolt/USB Type-C ports (40 GBPS), and the power button. Conversely, on the left side, you have one USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A Port, 1 HDMI port and an SD card slot. For most, these ports should cover the needs for most. However, I would have liked to have seen one more additional USB Type A port, though it is not a deal breaker. Next, perhaps one of the most standout features of the laptop is the 4k display. I would like to mention that HW Info lists the screen as a Samsung SDC4143. However, there is no denying that the included OLED screen is extremely gorgeous. The display is vibrant and has one of the most colorful glossy panels I have seen in awhile. Everything on the screen pops with color, from normal websites to the Windows 10 start menu. It is definitely one the main highlights of the Q538. You will not be disappointed. Lastly, one quick note. The Q538'sUEFI BIOS was a surprise. The GUI interface was straightforward and easy to navigate. I was glad to see several options that some laptops do not include such as changing the memory allocation for the integrated graphics.
As for performance benchmarks, I wanted to try and encompass a large amount of various tasks to give enthusiasts an idea of what to expect out of the box, without making any changes. The Q538 installation of Windows 10 Home is quite clean, which was refreshing to see. The MyAsus software that comes installed presents some useful presets such as controlling fan profiles and battery modes. As for my performance tests, I focused on the SSD, CPU, and GPU. I used HW Monitor to monitor temperatures and load of the CPU. I used HW Info to provide you accurate information on the hardware contained inside the laptop.
The included 1 TB SSD NVMe drive is listed as an Intel HBRPEKNX0203A and is optane enabled by an additional 32 GB drive. The will note your drive at a capacity of 952 GB. Here are my Crystalmark 8.0 results (full results in pictures).
Intel: Sequential Read: 2083.17 MB / Sequential Write: 1523.54 MB
Intel 4K Read (Q1T1): 116.80 MB / Random 4K Write (Q1T1): 52.89 MB
As you can see the drive is fairly fast as expected. My next test I used my the new Sandisk Extreme 1 TB External SSD V2 (Model: SDSSDE61-1T00) over the Type-C Port. I also did two manual transfers that I will list after. Here are the results (full results in pictures):
Sandisk: Sequential Read: 1002.92 MB / Sequential Write: 1001.03 MB
Sandisk: 4K Read (Q1T1): 37.27 MB / Random 4K Write (Q1T1): 74.11 MB
As you can see the new drive is extremely fast over the Type-C port. For my manual transfer, I did two transfers to the laptop from the Sandisk drive. The first test was a 28 GB M2TS file to show the sequential side of the transfer. The second transfer was a 28.9 GB music folder that contains 5,054 files and 1,152 folders. Both transfers were extremely fast as expected. The first transfer held steady at a blazing 634-659 MB/s and finished in under a minute. The second transfer, despite being more aggressive on the drive, still dazzled despite starting slower. I noted speeds up to 450 MB/s but averaged around 350-400 MB/s ranged. The transfer still finished in roughly a minute. This is mind blowing fast!
The Core i7-1165G7 is a quad core chip with eight processing threads. The CPU has a base of 1.2 GHz and can turbo up to 4.7 GHz at a TDP of 28 Watts. The 10nm chip is seemingly efficient as noted by my Handbrake 1.3.3. encode. I used the 91 minute M2TS file mentioned above and used the Very Fast 1080P preset. I set audio and the frame rate to pass through the source. The encode finished in 27 minutes and 46 seconds! Temperatures, while plugged up to the AC outlet, averaged 70-80C. All cores ran at 3.1 GHz. Shifting focus to more single thread oriented tasks, I used MusicBee 2.4 and LAME 3.99 to encode a 24 minute WAV file to MP3. The encoder was set to a constant bit rate of 320 and the internal algorithm was set to 0 for the highest quality (-q command). MusicBee's maximum encoding thread setting was set to one. The result finished in 1 minute and 14 seconds!
Next I tested the GPU by running the in-game benchmark in Tomb Raider (2012). I set the game to Ultra Quality and increased the anti-aliasing to 2x SSAA. I noted the minimum fps at 56, with an average of 72 fps, and 86 fps for the maximum. These results were at 1080p.These results are extremely good and the game was smooth as butter. As soon as you start a new game and leave the cave, you will note the fps around 70. The fps never dropped below 60, except for when I moved to the next part of the cave, but shot back up to 65. The performance of the 1660 Ti certainly will be able to play some games in high settings, despite the laptop not being really targeted as a gaming machine.
In conclusion, the Asus Flipbook Q538 is an exceptional performing machine. Out of the box, the laptop blazes through everything you throw at rather you are transferring files or even firing up a game or two. The 4K display is absolutely a sight to behold and is extremely vivid and detailed. Everything is bright and colorful. The OLED is definitely one of the best screens I have seen personally on a laptop. Combining top end hardware and a sleek minimalistic design, the Q538 certainly dazzles and will surely excite most who consider purchasing this laptop. However, it might be certainly will be out of reach for some. Overall, if you are considering this, I can assure you that the performance is there for all of your enthusiast needs. With that said, the Asus Q538 comes highly recommended.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Screen quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
ASUS laptop
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Posted . Owned for 1 year when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
ASUS 15.6 IN SCREEN VERY GOOD OLED PICTURE WORKS VERY WELL BOOTS UP VERY FAST RECOMMEND TO ANYBODY USING IT FOR BUSINESS OR THIS WANT A COOL LAPTOP
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
This is what a call a Computer
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Computer exceeds my expectations. Pretty cool item.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Favorite!!!!
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I absolutely love this computer! It has every feature I was looking for. Since I purchased this ASUS for designing purposes I really gotta say the graphics are amazing, the fact that is touchscreen makes it easier. Worth every penny!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance, Screen quality
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Nice Machine, Some Great Highs, A Couple Lows
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I'll open by stating my bias: I have always been a fan of Asus so my expectations were relatively high. End of the day, this ZenBook (mostly) did not disappoint. Like I said, lot's of highs but a couple lows.
Let's start with the AWESOME... The OLED screen is honestly nothing short of stunning. Incredible color range and amazing brightness. The wife and I watched Wonder Woman in 4k and the details were amazing. Impressive. The brightness was also a real "wow". If you look at the pictures, I included several that offered brightness comparisons against open windows in late afternoon Colorado sunlight. Other pics show how this ZenBook Flip compares in brightness to an LG - 86" Class NanoCell 90 Series LED 4K UHD TV. Looking at same pictures, you can see this unit casts 4K content impressively.
And while we are talking screen, let's not forget this transforms from classic PC, to a tent PC and then into a true tablet. With that in mind, this is also a touch screen. The touch screen is very good, both in accuracy and in tactile feedback. It also supports the pressure sensitive pen. Did not test that, but I know my daughter loves hers.
This unit is light-weight, easily portable and multi-purpose. My other primary laptop is a gaming machine and while powerful, it's not exactly easily portable. I can assure you, this will be my travel computer.
Performance was impressive. Very quick and responsive. You can see that all 4 cores are humming away at a solid 4+/- MHz under a decent load.
Areas for improvement go from the "slightly annoying" to "almost disappointing". Are any of these deal breakers? Well, no, at least not for me but they are worth mentioning.
The first "almost annoying" is the backlighting on the keyboard. While I'm glad it has it, I found it odd that out of the box, the backlighting was in the "off" position. Hitting the F7 key toggles various brightness and then back to the off position. What's almost annoying is the color of backlighting is white. A personal preference, but I prefer blue. Blue is easier to see right in the in between light to dark lighting in the room. And the white is a slightly harsher than the blue in a fully dark room. I realize this is exceedingly subjective, but I thought it worth mentioning. End of the day, I'm glad it has the backlighting though.
The second "almost annoying" is the left/right and up/down keys on the keyboard fell "small". I know it's a learning curve and one I will get used to but I do wish the left/right keys were slightly higher on the keyboard in and almost bow-tie configuration instead of the left/right/down keys all being directly in line with each other. Again, a minor gripe but absolutely not meant to distract from the rest of the excellent points that this little beast has.
And finally, the "almost disappointing" is the sound. When placed on a hard surface like a desk or table-top the sound is just adequate. No particular complaints, but just not as robust as my other laptops. Where it nears disappointing is if you are using on a soft surface(think feet raised in your recliner with a throw pillow on your legs for the PC to rest), the sound is noticably muffled. The speakers appear to be designed firing from underneath, using the hard surface to reflect the sound. If the speakers were forward firing from either the edge of the keyboard front or firing forward from above the keys, that would make this a null point.
In all, please don't let these minor disappointments deter you from considering this machine. The impressive screen, power and perfomance more than make up for it but I wanted to poont these out just as an FYI.
End of the day, this is a great multi-purpose flip ZenBook and you will not be disappointed by performance and amazing 4K UHD screen. I would most certainly reccomend to a friend while noting the minor issues I noticed.
Great little machine.
Please note: This was provided for no or reduced cost in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is exactly that; honest an unbiased.**
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Did not get what I paid for
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The computer works great. It supposedly came with Adobe Creative Cloud which was a big part of the reason I chose this laptop. When I click on the link that says Redeem Your Membership in the MyASUS app it says "Server not Responding. Please Try Later." I tried getting support but it was just bewildering and unsuccessful and finally gave up and bought Adobe Creative Cloud on my own as I needed it for a project. The computer is fine otherwise.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Brand response from ASUS Answers
Posted .
Dear Valued Customer,
It's unfortunate to hear that you weren't able to claim your Adobe Creative Cloud. What you've experienced was not intentional and this was a random case. I will be letting the related department know about this concern. If you have any technical concerns, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] and provide this link for reference. I'll do my best to provide a quick resolution to your case. Your feedback is important as it helps with improvements to ASUS Support channels.
Thank you for choosing ASUS! Best Regards, Jamalie, ASUS Customer Loyalty US Support
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Very good value.
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Price (open box) & features = Value. That’s what I purchased!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Processor speed, Screen quality
Cons mentioned:
Speakers
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great versatile and powerful laptop
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I have had the laptop for about a week (shy of 1 day) and so far the machine has been great. The first thing I did after receiving the laptop was download Windows to a USB Thumb Drive and reinstall a fresh copy of Windows without the factory bloatware (which to be honest was minimal.
**Of note, if you decide to reinstall Windows you will need to download the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) driver (from ASUS website) to the USB Thumb Drive since Windows will not display your internal M.2 NVME SSD. This way during installation, you can load the driver and continue with the install. The reason being. The 11th Generation Intel processors (Intel Tiger Lake) utilizes the new Intel Volume Management Device technology, which optimizes the storage devices' data processing effective and power consumption.
So, on to the great things about the laptop.
-The brushed metal feels nice to the touch and gives the laptop a premium feel - it's a well designed laptop. Although, 15.6" it feels more compact then other similar sized laptops (which is great).
- The keypad feels great when typing, although I do wish the "PgUp/PgDn/Home/End" keys were bigger.
- The touch pad is very responsive and has a nice "click" feedback.
- The 4K screen is spectacular; super bright and clear. Definitely a high point to this machine.
- Backlight keyboard with 3 settings - although I would have preferred a blue light vs white to make it easier to see at night. But, that's a personal preference.
- Both the Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 processor and GTX1650Ti Max-Q video card are more than powerful to handle daily task. I've edited videos, used Lightroom, watched 4K videos, and had multiple browsers open without an issue. I have not played any games, but then again, I did not buy this laptop to play games. Although I'm sure it's capable of playing some titles.
- 2x Thunderbolt USB C ports. Most laptops I looked at when shopping around only offered 1 port, others didn't even include one. With the appropriate wattage charger, you can definitely use a proper USB C cable to charge the laptop if you do not want to carry the brick charger when traveling (which in my opinion is not bulky at all).
- Is pretty darn versatile. For the amount of power this machine has, it's light, can be used as a tablet (although I do not intend to use it for this purpose - I have a dedicated android tablet for that), and has a touch screen (which I also don't use too much). But for those looking for a multi-purpose laptop those options are available.
- The laptop holds its charge fairly well. Then again, I just watch videos and surf the web, with the occasional video photo editing.
- The fan is considerable quite when not using all 4 cores - pretty much silent. But even when working fairly hard, it's not too loud.
And finally the not so great things.
- The shell is a bit of a finger print magnet, not as bad as other cases, but also not the best.
- Wifi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 make for a fast and stable connection. I was pretty amazed with the wifi speeds when downloading a few large items.
- Only 1x USB 3.2 port. Wish ASUS would have added a second 3.2 port (along the first one on the left side).
- The 2x Thunderbolt ports on the right side are in the middle of the frame - a bit annoying if you use the mouse on the right side. Wish ASUS would have shifted the ports closer the power source, although I can see why they did this to accommodate the fan vets on each side.
- The speakers are facing down and are fairly low even with the volume turned up high. Front facing speakers would have been a better idea.
**Of note, for those wanting to get a bit more volume from the speakers: open 'Realtek Audio Console' (should already be installed on your computer) and raise the speaker volume. This will make the speakers a bit louder (though I still wish they were even louder).
- No ethernet port. However, this can be remedied with a hub (which I purchased). I really can't fault ASUS to much for this since they needed to save space somehow. At least there's a dedicated card reader and HDMI port.
- No ability (or easy way) to upgrade RAM. You're stuck with the 16GB (which is plenty for my needs).
The bottom line is, this is a great laptop that is configured very well. If you're looking for a high end gaming laptop, look elsewhere. It's worth the money and if you can get it on sale with a discount between $200-$300, it's definitely a no brainer. I shopped around for a week or two comparing other laptops/configurations and found myself returning to this one because of the value. There's other competitors that offer great value, such as the new Dell XPS, Lenovo Yoga, HP Specter x360, but I found this laptop slightly edge some of its competitors for what you get out of the box. If you're looking for a high end gaming laptop, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a sleek, powerful, and light laptop with a beautiful screen, I would highly recommend this laptop.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Battery life, Ssd
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Fast and capable, but not without its flaws
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Hardware Pros:
• Latest 11th-generation Intel Core i7
• GeForce GTX 1650 Ti
• 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports
• Vents along both sides, bottom and back ensure great cooling performance
• Screen is bright, high-res (4k) and quite color-accurate
• Touchscreen is excellent
• Trackpad is as good as any I've ever used
• Face unlock is accurate and fast, if a bit pushy
Hardware Cons:
• 720p camera is unacceptable in 2020
• 10-key is smushed into the corner
• USB-C Thunderbolt ports are only on the right side of the PC, making mouse use by a right-handed person difficult
• No dedicated buttons for Home, End, PgUp, PgDn - adds an extra, un-ergonomic keypress to key combinations like Shift+Home, Shift+End
• Small form factor leaves my left palm just off the corner of the surface
• Screen is 60 Hz, which is not ideal for gamers
• Keyboard backlight has only 3 levels - dim to somewhat less dim
• Hinge doesn't open with one hand, and because of the small bezels, you have to grab it right where the camera is to open it
• In tablet mode, your hands either have to grip onto part of the screen, or hold onto a hard corner
Software Pros:
• The MyASUS suite offers helpful features that help tailor the experience to the user. Specifically like the driver update menu and battery health profiles, because being at home all the time means always having the laptop on the charger, and ASUS allows me to set a max charge level to preserve battery life. Pairing your phone to the MyASUS app is better than using the Windows utility designed for the same purpose. Screen mirroring is cool, but doesn't work with all functions of apps.
Software Cons:
• No onscreen indicator for NumLock state change
• No indication of which version of the ASUS Pen this supports
~~The Review~~
I really, really wanted to love the ASUS ZenBook Flip Q538, and at its MSRP, I don't think love is too much to ask. I do *like* the computer, and there are several things about it I really, really like, but it doesn't quite meet the threshold of "love." All-in-all, it's a fast, powerful, good-looking computer with an excellent screen and trackpad, and some small drawbacks that take it from a great computer to a merely adequate one.
First, a bit about my use case: I, like many others during this time, am working full-time from home, writing and doing calculations in Excel for my specialized field and doing web development and Adobe Creative Suite work as well. I'm also a gamer, though that mostly just means I play Minecraft with my kids. When I can squeeze in an adult-oriented gaming session, I play Stellaris and a few other strategy and FPS games. I look forward to a time when I go back to work in an office, and need to bring my laptop with me wherever I go.
Here's what I need: A laptop with a great, color-accurate touchscreen, a full-sized 10-key keypad, and the best processor and graphics card I can get in a 15-inch laptop. I also need a great front-facing camera for conference calls, and great connectivity so I can run my extra monitor, speakers, mouse, and sometimes mechanical keyboard from a USB-C Hub plugged into a single jack, if possible, to quickly connect and disconnect when I need to take my laptop with me.
The ASUS Q538 meets most of those needs with gusto. The 11th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti are capable enough to handle most games at HD or better settings, and certainly enough for the 5 or 6 games I play most frequently. The Thunderbolt 4 ports are versatile and blazing-fast. Of course, Creative Suite and Office apps run very well, indeed. The touchscreen is bright and quite color-accurate, although its default color settings are touch too saturated for my liking. Being an OLED, it's also not ideal to use with very dark games unless you are in a dark room, because very dark pixels are essentially turned off at all but the highest brightness settings. Speaking of gaming, ASUS is notably mum about the screen's refresh rate and grey-to-grey response time, but I can report it is a 60Hz refresh rate, if nothing else.
The problems start when it comes to the 10-key, placement of the Thunderbolt ports, form factor and camera. ASUS didn't exactly see fit to include a full 10-key keypad, instead opting to squish the number and calculation keys into the right side while forgoing dedicated Home, End, PageUp, and PageDown keys. These are available using shift+7, 1, 9, and 3, respectively, or by pressing Fn+one of the arrow keys. As a writer and coder, I use Home and End ALL THE TIME, so this is quite a let down. I suspect I will eventually get used to it, but it's not ideal.
Far less easy to adapt to is the placement of the Thunderbolt ports, on the right side of the laptop about even with the bottom of the keys, exactly where I'd like my mouse to be. This causes a problem because I use a USC-C hub to connect an HDMI cable and up to 3 USB-A devices, meaning the hub sits exactly in the area where I'd like to use my mouse. But hey, if you're a person who uses your mouse left-handed, this laptop may be perfect for you!
The form factor of this laptop is great for someone who's on-the-go. Its body is about an inch less wide and half an inch less tall than that of my older laptop with the same-sized screen. That's great when it comes to tossing it into a bag and carrying it, but not so much when it comes to resting your hands on it while typing, or holding it in your hands in tablet mode. In the former case, my left palm wants to sit just to the left of the edge of the laptop, which will take some reorienting and getting used to. In the latter case, the touchscreen area comes so close to the edge of the body that holding the laptop in tablet mode means accidentally pushing buttons with my palm, or forcing myself to hold the laptop on its edges, which are not very comfortable in hand. It also means that opening the lid requires you to put your thumb on the exact spot where the camera is.
My final quibble with the hardware has to do with the front-facing camera. I'm willing to bet the design of this pc was done before the COVID-19 pandemic began, because why else would ASUS see fit to putting an honestly substandard 720p camera in it? I'm more than a little disappointed that my new, expensive computer has me looking just as pixelated as the one I bought 4 years ago. I will say, ASUS's face unlock using the camera is excellent. It's fast and accurate, but the flashing red light that the laptop uses to scan your face can get a little obnoxious.
All-in-all, though, the laptop is powerful, fast, and looks nice. The screen is excellent and the trackpad is as good as any I've ever used. The aluminum body feels and looks quite premium, and I'm looking forward to using it for a long time to come. I'd love to get an ASUS Pen to use with Photoshop and Illustrator, but ASUS hasn't made it clear which model of its Pen is compatible with this laptop, nor have they made it easy to buy a pen, with "out of stock" warnings at all major stores. I hope they make this clearer soon.
I haven't opened up the case to look at upgradability yet, but I understand the NVMe SSD is replaceable, while the RAM is soldered to the board. I would prefer to be able to add another 16 gigs of RAM someday, but perhaps that will have to wait for the next PC, when this one is ready to go to my kids. The case opening is held by several Torx screws, by the way, so be prepared to order tools if you haven't already got one laying around.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Everything you want in a 2in1
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Great laptop for the price! Is definitely everything you could want and need with a 2in1
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
The best laptop edition!
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Excellent product, the screen it’s beautiful! I love it