I’m going to be a mechanical engineering student this fall and I’m thinking about getting the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED with the Intel Core Ultra 9, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and Intel Arc graphics.

Would this be a good laptop for engineering school and programs like Solid Edge, MATLAB, CAD, programming, etc.? I want something that will last me all 4 years while still having good battery life and portability for carrying around campus.

I know it doesn’t have a dedicated RTX GPU, so I’m wondering if that will become a problem later on for simulations or larger CAD projects.

This is also pretty much the maximum amount of money I can spend on a computer, so I’m trying to make the best choice possible.

Anyone here use a Zenbook for engineering? How has it held up?

Hey everyone, for about a week now, I've been constantly getting BSOD whenever I unplug my laptop. But when it's plugged into the charger, everything works perfectly. What could be going on? Unfortunately, ASUS won't help me anymore because the laptop is 1 year and 4 months old, so the warranty has already expired. I'm very disappointed since to buy my laptop was a lot of effort since in my country I like two whole salaries I share my minidump files is someone is whiling to help me out
I already
Reinstalled win11
Used DDU to uninstall Nvidia drivers(installed stable drivers)
Updated BIOS
Updated chipset
Updated most drivers

Hey everyone,

I just went through an absolute saga trying to find a new premium laptop, returning four different machines before finally finding "the one." Figure some of you might appreciate the breakdown, especially if you're struggling with the current state of Windows hardware.

The Backstory: Failing Up from the Galaxy Book 4

My spouse has an M4 MacBook Pro, and honestly, it’s amazing. Seeing that performance, I thought when I bought the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360, it would be the premium Windows laptop I deserved. I wanted reliability and speed. Instead, its specs were completely outshined by a terrible touchpad and constant throttling issues.

Aesthetically, it was super slim, had great ports, and nothing beats a Samsung OLED. To be fair, some of the issues weren't entirely Samsung’s fault—16GB RAM is just a massive limitation for my workflow on Windows, and Windows touchpads are notoriously hit-or-miss. But this touchpad was uniquely terrible, and the performance tanked under load. I only endured it because I didn't want to drop another $2k+, and that beautiful OLED kept me hooked.

It made me realize that compared to Apple's ARM architecture, Intel and AMD just cannot compete right now. I don’t care what the benchmarks for the Core Ultra Series 3 or Ryzen 9 4-series claim—it’s all marketing garbage. In the real world, they still struggle with severe thermal throttling and terrible optimization. You are constantly dealing with micro-stutters, UI hiccups, random spinning wheels, sudden slowdowns, and legacy bloatware that bogs the entire OS down.

The 3-Laptop Showdown (Spoiler: Returned Them All)

Determined to get a true premium machine, I isolated my search to three highly-voted Windows laptops. I ordered all three, and they were all good, but each had a fatal flaw that made them unusable for the price:

• Dell XPS 16: The keyboard was a total mushy miss for me, and the lack of traditional ports was infuriating. Otherwise excellent build, but insanely, unjustifiably expensive.
• HP OmniBook Ultra 14 (2026 Edition): I specifically tested this year's model featuring the latest Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 3 processor. Even with the new architecture, it still suffered from the same old x86 downfalls. Worse, it completely lacked a premium aesthetic—it looked cheap, and the chassis felt significantly heavier and thicker than its competitors.
• Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Pro: Easily the best of the three. Because of my ecosystem, this was the one I considered keeping the most. The screen was unbelievable. But it was also the most expensive ($2500+ USD), and it had a loud, annoying fan profile that kicked in even when doing basic tasks. Plus, I honestly didn't want to reward Samsung with my money after my frustrating experience with the Galaxy Book 4.

(Side note: I actually ordered a 4th one too—a Dell Plus 16—trying to be cheap. But the second I opened it and saw the trash non-OLED LED screen, I closed it nicely, put it back in the box, and sent it back immediately.)

Defeated and demoralized, I went back to my existing laptop.

The Turning Point

Then, something emerged that I had not considered. I wondered if I should do it. Could it work? Would it work? Is it the right time to make the leap?

Yes, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme was released in 2026, marking a massive milestone for Windows on ARM. The launch device was the Asus Zenbook A16. I saw and read the reviews; this thing was pushing M5 performance and even overtaking it in multi-core tasks.

I pulled the lever. It cost me $1,699 USD, and it came with 48GB of the fastest ultra-high-bandwidth LPDDR5X-9523 RAM soldered directly on the package. For comparison, most premium laptops are still charging an arm and a leg just to step up to standard 32GB RAM.

My Deep-Dive Review of the Zenbook A16

• The Silicon & Performance Curves: This chipset is incredible. It finally gives me the power I need for heavy productivity and photo/video editing, but at much lower power draws. The CPU architecture is perfectly optimized for these sustained productivity workloads; it just rips through tasks and workflows.
• Zero UI Stutter: You know those odd little blips, bloops, and micro-stutters that x86/64 Intel and AMD CPUs always seem to have when jumping between apps? Completely gone here. Transitions are buttery smooth.
• Flawless Touchpad Gestures: No matter what Windows laptop I have used in the past, triggering gestures always lagged. On this device, using the three-finger swipe up to pull up all open windows at a glance is a completely buttery smooth experience. It feels instant and exact.
• The Magic of ARM Power Delivery: The absolute best thing about ARM is that your performance curve doesn't change. You get the exact same power whether you are plugged into the wall or running on battery. Intel and AMD throttle heavily on battery, but this behaves like a smartphone—instant, uncompromised speed.
• True 10-Hour Battery: Tested and validated—I am getting a solid 10 hours of screen-on time on High Performance mode. I don't care what Intel/AMD claim on their spec sheets, they never realistically cross 4 hours under actual load.
• The Chassis & Weight: At just 2.6 pounds, this thing is insanely light for a 16-inch chassis. The "Ceraluminum" material feels incredibly premium, rigid, and durable. It’s an absolute joy to travel with.
• Display: The Asus OLED looks amazing. It only slightly loses to the Galaxy Book because Samsung’s anti-reflective coating is untouchable right now. If the Samsung were priced at $1,500 I’d probably take it for the panel alone, but at this price point, I’m incredibly happy with this display.
• GlideX Ecosystem Integration: Because I use a Samsung Tab S10, ecosystem continuity mattered to me. Asus’s GlideX software works seamlessly. I can use my Tab S10 as a lag-free second monitor wired or wirelessly, which completely solves my multi-tasking needs on the go.
• ARM App Compatibility & Printing: Every single one of my daily workflow apps ran comfortably or natively on ARM. Microsoft’s new Prism emulation layer is entirely seamless—it just works, and you don't even realize it's running in the background. The only hiccup I encountered was an issue with my Brother printer software, which I easily resolved by switching over to the IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) Universal Class Driver built for ARM. Problem solved.
• Gaming: Just a heads-up, I do not game, so I did not run any gaming benchmarks or test emulation compatibility for games. My focus is entirely on pure productivity, editing speed, and system stability.

Final Verdict

For $1,699, you get a gorgeous 16-inch 3K OLED touch screen, 48GB of ultra-fast LPDDR5X RAM, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and cutting-edge Wi-Fi 7 packed into a super-light, hyper-portable device.

Now is officially the time to invest in Windows on ARM. I am a complete believer. When the new Surface devices launch later this year, they are going to be incredibly good buys because of this hardware jump.

TLDR: Go to advance mode; go to security, ensure this the state:

Platform Mode: Setup
Secure Boot : Not active

So how to do it?

• In the BIOS, toggle Secure Boot Control to Enabled
• Open Key Management..
• Hit Restore Factory Keys and accept.
• Navigate directly to Save Changes & Reset and select OK.
• The exact second the screen goes black, press and hold the Volume Up (+) button instead of Volume Down.

That would restore to keys to factory, In my case i can see that some of thet keys have been modified and when i tried to delete it, it fails

Then

• In the BIOS, toggle Secure Boot Control to Enabled
• Open Key Management
• Scroll down to Platform Key (PK).
• Select Delete Platform Key (or Clear PK). Confirm with Yes.

At this point the platform mode should be at setup and secure boot at not active, save and reboot one last time. and do the normal asus cloud recovery.

Here's the full story of this ally deal, I bought this used ally but the previous owner borked it's windows installation

The previous owner of this ally tried reformating the windows 11 install via the reset this PC but in the middle of it the ally drained of battery and it corrupted the install, his story is he thought the ssd is broken so he brought the ally to the technician and the technician pulled the ssd and he sold it to me without one. He later then sold the SSD to the technician (his friend) when the tech formatted it and yeah it's fine.

Then I bough a Kioxia BG5 1tb of FB marketplace for only (3350 PHP) and tried the normal asus cloud recovery but when i clicked continue it just boots into bios. The fix above fixed this issue

My Asus laptop shows the Bluetooth option but it won't connect to my earbuds, what is the solution?

AMD RYZEN 7

After installing a new update of armoury create software to 6.5.7.0 the aura lights not working after the pc is booting.

Using -

Win 11

Model - G713IC

Can anyone help me please...