According to Asus, its P6300 laptop spent 600 days in use aboard Russia's Mir space station 25 years ago. To celebrate that milestone, the company is offering up a decidedly space-themed laptop, the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition. It sports a unique "Zero-G Titanium" color, as well as some futuristic stenciling and copper-colored spacebar. But the stand-out feature of this laptop is the 3.5-inch OLED display embedded in its lid.
(Image credit: Asus)
Asus says the small screen can display "customizable messages, themes and animations, allowing the user to give those around them a window into their lifestyle." As attractive as the whole laptop looks, more detail about what exactly you can do with that second screen, how it's updated and if it can show things like incoming notifications while the laptop is closed would be good to know as well.
(Image credit: Asus)
Asus also says the Zenbook 14X Space Edition complies with "US Space Systems Command Standard SMC-S-016A testing protocols," which includes vibration that's four times greater than standard military-grade durability standards. In other words, it should handle your Excel adjustments just fine, even on flights with extreme turbulence. The company also says the laptop is rated to function in temperatures as low as 24 degrees Celsius or as high as 61 degrees Celsius. So while it may not be ready to tackle the worst that the vastness of space has to offer, it's probably fine for sending TPS reports, whether your office is in Antarctica or the edge of the Sahara.
The Zenbook 14X Space Edition will support up to 12th Gen Intel Core i9 H-series processors, 32GB of RAM, with a PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD and Wi-Fi 6E. So its silicon and other key features are at least recent and robust as well. The 16:10 "2.8K" main touch display is also OLED, with a 90 Hz refresh and Pantone validation and HDR True Black 500 certification with 100% DCI-P3. Sounds like the perfect laptop for watching 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Zenbook 14 OLED
(Image credit: Asus)
Apart from the space-themed model, Asus will also offer up a more standard Zenbook 14 OLED with a 75 Whr battery and your choice of Intel's 12th Gen P-Series or AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs. The Intel model is also Evo certified and seems to come with the same 90 Hz 16:10 display as the Space Edition model. Asus says the laptop also passes U.S. military-grade MIL-STD-810H durability tests. And aside from the "jade black" color seen above on the AMD model (UM3402), the Intel-based UX3402 will feature a "Kintsugi-inspired lid design based on traditional Japanese craftsmanship," and be offered in "Aqua Celadon" and "Ponder Blue" colors.
Asus says the Zenbook 14X Space Edition will weigh 3.19 pounds (at least, under Earth's gravity), while the more terrestrial Zenbook 14 OLED weighs in at 3.06 pounds. There's no word yet on pricing or availability.
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After a rough start with the Mattel Aquarius as a child, Matt built his first PC in the late 1990s and ventured into mild PC modding in the early 2000s. He’s spent the last 15 years covering emerging technology for Smithsonian, Popular Science, and Consumer Reports, while testing components and PCs for Computer Shopper, PCMag and Digital Trends.
