The best Qualcomm Snapdragon laptop is just $799 (for now)
The ASUS Zenbook A14 has been my preferred laptop for the past six weeks, and I have so much to say about it (details to follow). It stands out as one of the top non-gaming laptops of 2025 (possibly THE best), and it’s currently discounted by $200, lowering the price to just $799 at Best Buy, even with its punchy 14-inch OLED display.
One of our top reviewers, Zachary Boddy, gave the Zenbook A14 our “best” award in early April. Oddly, that was for the model with Snapdragon X and 32GB of RAM for $1,099.
The model I’ve been using on sale has the more powerful Snapdragon X Plus chip and 16GB of RAM, but it now costs $799 (regular $999).
I can’t emphasize enough how much I adore this laptop, especially considering I’m the chief reviewer for laptops and often use ones priced four times higher.
Here are the reasons to purchase this laptop at this price before it’s too late.
Daniel Rubino
I’ve been a part of this site since it started 18 years ago. Since then, I’ve reviewed nearly every top-tier non-gaming PC that’s come out, resulting in my house looking like a Best Buy storage center. With access to all the best Windows laptops, I know what’s good and what’s junk, so I’m only going to recommend things that I personally use.
Zenbook A14: Lightweight, awesome design
ASUS knocked it out of the park with the Zenbook A14. It’s light, boasts a gorgeous OLED display, offers 10+ hours of real-world battery life, feels premium, and has a zippy processor.
The chassis is also a first for ASUS. It is made entirely from its proprietary Ceraluminum, a magnesium alloy (30% lighter and 300% stronger than your average laptop’s aluminum). It is treated with a hard, scratch-resistant ceramic coating that’s also soft to the touch (and resists fingerprints).
Here’s the essential specs you’re getting for $799:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (8 cores, 3.4GHz)
- 14″ FHD+ OLED (60Hz)
- 45 TOPs NPU (Copilot+ PC)
- 16GB LPDDR5X RAM
- 512GB PCIe 4.0 storage
- Weight: Just 2.39 lbs (1.08 kg)
ASUS has you covered for ports with two Type-C USB 4.0, HDMI 2.1, one Type-A, and a microphone/headphone jack. It’s charged via a compact 65W charger, which is included.
For real-world performance, the Snapdragon X Plus just beats out a MacBook Air with an M2 in multi-core and can edge out the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (Meteor Lake) with its 16 cores.
But thanks to ARM64, its fan barely kicks in, making it super quiet, and this laptop rarely gets warm (check out our best native ARM64 apps for Windows).
As someone who uses this laptop for work, including Slack, the web, email, Telegram, video meetings, Office, and watching videos, I love the performance of this chip.
Design-wise, ASUS kept it minimal and classy. The chassis is clean with negligible branding, and I’m a big fan of the Zabriskie Beige colorway, which looks unique but doesn’t distract, letting the flush 14-inch OLED screen do the talking, so to speak.
Ridiculous battery life
Combined with its relatively large 70WHr battery, I achieve an average of 10 hours and 53 minutes with the Zenbook A14 on a single charge while running in balanced mode.
That’s my real-world average, calculated by the Windows Battery report, which measures time compared to discharge and recharge over multiple cycles.
I was recently stuck at the airport twice due to weather delays, and I was able to use the Zenbook A14 for hours without ever needing to plug in for fear of running out. It’s a wild experience to be able to use this laptop for multiple days on a single charge.
Other killer features?
In addition to its battery life, this laptop stands out for several unique aspects: a 14-inch OLED display, an excellent keyboard, a solid Windows Hello camera, its lightweight design, and a feeling of being more expensive than it actually is.
The screen provides the qualities you expect from OLED: rich blacks, vibrant colors, multiple color gamuts, and settings like vivid, normal, and eye-care.
The MyASUS app, which lets you configure various options, is way better than I thought. It has many clever features, such as flicker-free dimming and fan and audio controls.
It’s also a full Copilot+ PC
Now that Microsoft has launched Windows Recall and Click To Do, the Copilot+ category finally feels distinct compared to a non-Copilot PC.
The NPU with 45 TOPS ensures that Microsoft releases more AI features that use local processing; this laptop will be there at every step. Qualcomm ships the same NPU with all its chips, so there is no performance difference between this and the more powerful Snapdragon X Elite.
Anything I don’t like?
The two bottom-firing speakers are satisfactory (even, pretty good!), but not excellent. It would have been cooler if ASUS could figure out how to make them top-firing, but that hasn’t stopped me from watching hours of videos.
Who should buy the ASUS Zenbook A14?
Anyone looking for what I think is the best 14-inch non-gaming Windows laptop should really consider this laptop, especially at $799: students, couch surfers, writers, or those who need a great productivity machine.
Just get it
For the last year, my standard go-to travel PC has been the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 with OLED, which surpasses this due to its higher-resolution display, superior speakers, and Surface Pen capability.
The Surface Pro 11 with OLED is also $900 more expensive once you factor in the Flex Keyboard and pen bundle, which brings the total price to $1,699—and that’s on sale!
But recently, I’ve been favoring the Zenbook A14 instead. Something appeals to me about its simplicity, and thanks to its large battery, it outlasts my Surface Pro 11.
The Zenbook A14 is a fantastic laptop at $999, but at $799, it’s a no-brainer.
I recommend ordering it from Best Buy (especially if you have a My Best Buy membership), trying it for a few days, and seeing if I’m wrong. It even has a score of 4.9 (out of 5) from Best Buy customers, so I know I’m not wrong in my assessment!
If you want to find even more Memorial Day deals, don’t forget to check our Memorial Day Live Blog for more personal picks.