Knock me down with a feather. Or the ASUS Experbook B9 OLED laptop — well, it easily qualifies as a featherweight. The latest business laptop from ASUS is absolutely ridiculous — in a good way of course. It is so light that I'm surprised every time I pick it up, and packs a punch well above its weight class.
The laptop packs an impressive array of components — a 13th-generation Intel i9 processor, 32 GB of RAM, 1 TB of SSD storage, a 16:10 14-inch OLED screen and a great keyboard, every port you can think of or want — two Type-C ports with USB power delivery support, a USB 3.2 Type-A port, ethernet connectivity via an mHDMI port, an HDMI 2.1 — all while weighing just 990 grams.
Simply ridiculous.
It must be noted here that the B9 OLED (B 9403) is aimed at CXOs, rather than regular consumers. This laptop, priced at ₹2,17,990 onwards, is available only through business-to-business purchases — so if you want to get your hands on one, you will have to reach out to an ASUS vendor and buy it from them. There is no other way to buy it, which in my opinion is a shame because this is an eminently portable, powerful machine that could have mass market appeal.
Now, with that caveat out of the way, let's get into the nuts and bolts of it.
In my two weeks of testing, the Experbook B9 was an absolute delight. The display is sharp and smooth, boasting a 2.8K resolution and a 90 Hz refresh rate. The keys have nice travel and feel clicky — I'm writing my review on the same machine.
Working in tandem with the screen are surprisingly good speakers — the laptop comes with HDR and Dolby Atmos support, so watching supported videos is a great experience. The slim bezels — the display has a 90% screen-to-body ratio — only add to the immersion.
But while it makes for a great media consumption experience, the B9 is aimed at productivity. And in this department, it knocks it out of the park. None of my daily tasks — running two browsers with tens of tabs, Slack and a host of other applications I need for my daily workflow — appeared to tax the B9 even a little bit.
The trackpad, at the touch, transforms into a numpad, adding that extra bit of functionality without compromising on size. This is not the first ASUS laptop to feature this, and it is easily my favourite little touch — no pun intended — in a laptop, ever. Further, the trackpad on this laptop is nearly 27% larger than last year's model.
The laptop has both a fingerprint scanner and facial recognition, so unlocking the machine is a breeze. You merely look at it, and Windows Hello takes care of the rest. It also can connect to three 4K external displays through its various ports.
ASUS says the laptop's chassis is made of a magnesium-lithium alloy, making it one of the lightest laptops in its class — and I'm inclined to agree.
The battery life is impressive too — I did not exactly check how long the battery lasted on a single charge, but that was a conscious decision as I wanted to see how long I could go through a typical workday before having to plug it in. The battery lasted me about seven hours, which is better than most laptops out there.
In conclusion
The ASUS ExpertBook B9 B9403 successfully combines innovative features with a robust and lightweight build to deliver a powerhouse experience. The trusted foundation laid by its predecessor makes it an enticing option for business owners seeking versatility and reliability in a laptop.
