ASUS ZENBOOK A14

Not particularly powerful, but more than makes up for this with its gorgeous, thin and light design

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The Asus Zenbook A14 is proof that you don't need to spend a fortune for a stylish thin and light laptop. In fact, signs of having been built to a budget are few and far between. Its shell is made from Ceraluminium, which is what Asus calls aluminium treated with a sort of matte ceramic coating. It's very compact at 317 x 214mm and a mere 15.9mm thick. And at just under 1kg, it's ludicrously light.

The Ceraluminium is wear-, scratch- and smudge-resistant, and the construction as a whole feels solid and surprisingly tough. Despite being so slim, the Zenbook still crams in two USB-C 4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 output and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left-hand side, with a single USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port on the right. You'll need one Type-C port for occasional charging, but that's not a major issue with this laptop. And while the lack of WiFi 7 is slightly disappointing when it's a feature of so many rivals, it's unlikely to be a deal breaker when so many homes and offices still rely on WiFi 6, let alone 6E.