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amazon Asus ExpertBook B9 reviews
Thin, light, and unfussy
At the starting price, many of you will put Asus ExpertBook B9 (codename ExpertBook B9450) compared with famous names with end-users such as Macbook Pro 13, Dell XPS 13, HP Specter, and also Asus Zenbook line. All of the above names have a sleek, fashionable appearance, easily attracting attention and admiring others when looking at them. All of that is not available in the ExpertBook B9.
I think the design of this laptop model belongs to a different aesthetic, serious and somewhat workaholic like the name Asus itself puts it: Expert. With a square, minimalist appearance with black tones covering all details, ExpertBook B9 is suitable for users who prefer simplicity, not color. That is the same style that Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell Latitude, or HP Elitebook has brought to users over the years.
Lightweight will be your first impression when holding this laptop model. With the 33Wh battery version I evaluated in the article, the device weighs only 0.87 kg and is approximately 1 kg on the 66Wh battery version; the 65W included charger weighs about 300 grams. When I bring it to work, the total weight of the machine is only about 1.2 kg, which is too attractive for those who often carry computers everywhere like me.
To achieve such an ideal weight, Asus said it uses lithium-magnesium alloy material to process the chassis. At the same time, the machine size is minimized with an ultra-thin screen border (4mm on both sides. ). Besides the thin and light factor, durability is also the focus of this laptop model with MIL-STD 810G military standard certification.
Going into details, the company said that it had been reinforced with metal gaskets and screws at important details such as screen hinges, connection ports, rubber support columns on the mainboard to help prevent shocks. Unfortunately, I can’t open the machine to show you more clearly because of the distributor’s warranty stamp.
Asus Expert B9 is equipped with common connectivity ports, including 2 USB-C that support charging and Thunderbolt 3, 1 USB-A, 1 HDMI, 3.5mm port, Kensington lock, and a mini HDMI port that supports RJ45 LAN connection. Via adapter. The shortcoming of the device is that there is no memory card slot and an optional SIM tray for 4G connectivity.
The device supports Windows Hello feature with simultaneous face unlock and fingerprint sensor. Everything works smoothly; I especially like the IR camera that makes face recognition accurate and very fast. During a few weeks of use, this feature helped me; after a few seconds from opening the screen, I was successfully logged in, never had to use the fingerprint sensor or PIN code. The pre-installed ASUS Business Manager application allows you to encrypt data, set password protection, and enable/disable physical ports on the software side.
The display screen is standard, a bit dark for the need of strong light.
The screen on the Asus ExpertBook B9 can open up to 180 degrees, suitable in a teamwork environment to quickly share the content being displayed. Like many other high-end laptop models, you can open the lid gently with one hand.
Using a 14-inch IPS LCD panel, Full HD resolution of 16: 9 ratio, the display ability of the laptop from Asus is quite impressive. I appreciate that the company has calibrated the screen before shipping to help it reproduce accurate colors and cover 100% of the sRGB color range. So you can completely use the machine for photo editing and printing tasks without the need for specialized color weighing devices.
ExpertBook B9 uses an anti-glare (matte) matte screen, limiting the phenomenon of shadow printing on the screen. However, the maximum brightness is only 300 nits, making it difficult to use the device where many outside light hits. Asus should focus on improving in the next generation because customers are often on the go, so it is normal to use laptops under less than ideal conditions, such as at airports, cafes, or outdoors. And rival laptop models like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon G7, HP Elitebook G5 are doing very well with screen brightness from 400 – 500 nit.
Talking quickly about the stereo speaker experience, labeled Harman Kardon, I am somewhat curious about the machine’s sound performance. The mid and treble ranges are quite stable, clear, and have a certain background; the volume can be called large compared to the machine form. But like most other Windows laptops, which are not too invested in external speakers, the bass range is weak and lacking.
The keyboard is quiet; the touchpad is not impressive.
The key travel is deep, reaching 1.5 mm and making little noise, which helps me enjoy using the ExpertBook to handle my work every day. Haven’t used any Thinkpad laptops, so I can’t give you a clear comparison, but as a Dell XPS 15 owner, I’m sure that the laptop from Asus gives a better typing experience than the XPS 13|15 duo of the Dell.
The touchpad is again a device that makes me feel a bit disappointed. The first is a positive point, the built-in NumberPad feature works quickly, does not feel as confident as typing the physical number pad, but it is still much more convenient when compared to the number keys on the Asus Expert B9’s keyboard.
The machine supports Windows Precision driver, so all multi-point operations are fully supported. The feeling of swiping and touching on the touchpad is not as smooth and gentle as equipped on the Dell XPS. I had to go into Windows settings to increase the touchpad sensitivity to the highest to improve somewhat. The most annoying point I encountered was that the back of my hand often mistakenly touched the NumberPad activation button.
where can you get a Asus ExpertBook B9 online
ASUS ExpertBook B9 Thin Light Business Laptop 14” FHD Intel Core i7-10510U 512GB SSD 16GB RAM Military Grade Durable Up to 24hr Battery Webcam Privacy Shield Win 10 Pro Black B9450FA-XS74: Buy it now
ASUS ExpertBook B9 Thin & Light Business Laptop, 14” FHD Display, Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU, 1TB SSD, 16GB LPDDRX RAM, Windows 10 Pro, Up to 23 Hrs Battery Life, Sleeve, B9450CEA-XH75: Buy it now
Make an impression with up to 2TB of storage.
The configuration of the Asus ExpertBook B9 I used is one of the best you can buy with a Core i7-10510U 4-core 8-thread CPU, Intel UHD 620 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 2TB SSD. Such a large storage number comes from the fact that the machine owns 2 1TB SSD Samsung PM981 drives for very high read and write speeds. Unfortunately, there is no RAID option on the machine, so you can configure it for higher speeds or have a spare drive.
The performance of the machine is on par with other products in the same segment with similar configurations. A small note is that with the Auto mode set in the MyAsus application, the device’s processing power is limited to balance temperature, noise, and reasonable battery life. When the Turbo option is turned on, the machine is at full power, not inferior to competitors from Dell or Lenovo. In return, you have to accept the temperature rise (not to an uncomfortable level) and the fan spinning noisier.
Basic office tasks such as Office, reading design drawings, to basic photo editing are fully met by Asus laptops. Try entertainment with popular games like Age of Empires II Definitive Edition, the lowest graphics setting, Full HD resolution; the machine only maintains 13 fps in the crowded scene (running in Auto mode) and increases to about 15 fps Turbo mode is on. Similar experience with CSGO with the same graphics and resolution settings, the machine can run at 30 fps and jerk slightly in crowded scenes, with many smoke and explosion effects.
In general, if you need entertainment with games, then obviously, Asus ExpertBook B9 and rival products will not be your choice. But if “all for work” and have fun taking photos and watching movies, the storage capacity and good display will score plus points for the representative from Asus.
The impressive, promising battery in the 66 Wh version
Besides the thin and light factor, the battery is also a device that gets a lot of attention on laptops like the Asus ExpertBook B9. The machine I used to evaluate only had a 33 Wh battery for a good usage time. With my daily usage tasks including typing text, checking email, exchanging work via messenger and Zalo, entertaining with web surfing, watching Youtube, this laptop model can withstand about 6 hours – 6,5 hours of use with 50% screen brightness, wireless headset connection, and wireless mouse.
Asus says it has optimized the display for static content such as reading text, viewing photos with Panel Self Refresh Technology. At these times, the GPU will switch the refresh rate from 60 Hz to a fixed display state of only one frame to minimize power consumption from the screen. As a result, the usage time in the 66 Wh battery version can completely exceed the 10-hour mark with the above-mixed tasks.
ExpertBook B9 supports fast charging technology. Included 65W adapter to charge, the device takes about 25 minutes to charge 50% of the battery (I usually plug it in when the battery is about 10%) and more than 2 hours to charge fully. The company said that the lithium-polymer battery equipped with the device has a durability of up to 2,000 charges before the bottle is 80%, much more than the 300-1,000 figure on many other laptop models today.
Looking at the Ultrabook line in general, there are too many quality options for users at approximately $1800 or more. However, there will always be a certain set of customers who love the minimalist design of the Asus ExpertBook B9 and promote security and durability.