Asus ExpertBook B9 laptop review: the choice is 'all for work'

Asus ExpertBook B9 is a high-end laptop model aimed at users who value mobility and security. The appearance of this product in Vietnam market will create an interesting counterweight to the long-established names from Lenovo, Dell and HP.

Thin, light and no-frills

Many of you will put Asus ExpertBook B9 (codename ExpertBook B9450) on the scale with famous names for end users such as Macbook Pro 13, Dell XPS 13, HP Specter and Asus' Zenbook line. All of the above names have a sleek, fashionable, easy-to-attract look and the admiration of others. None of that is in ExpertBook B9.

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I think the design of this laptop is of a different aesthetic, serious and wokaholic as the name Asus puts it: Expert - Expert. Square, minimalist appearance with black tones covering all details, ExpertBook B9 is suitable for users who like simplicity and color. This is the same style that Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell Latitude or HP Elitebook has brought to users for years.

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Lightweight will be the first impression you get when holding this laptop model. With the 33Wh battery version I rated in the machine weighs only 0.87 kg and approximately 1 kg on the 66Wh battery version, the charger comes 65W weighs about 300 grams. The total weight of the device when I go to work is only 1.2 kg, the figure is too attractive for those who often carry computers to go everywhere like me.

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To achieve such an ideal weight, Asus said it uses lithium-magnesium alloy material to process the chassis, while the size of the device is minimized with an ultra-thin screen border (4mm on the two sides. ). Besides the thin and light element, durability is also the point that this laptop focuses on MIL-STD 810G military standard certification.

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Going into details, the company said it has reinforced with metal gaskets and screws at important details such as screen hinges, connectors, rubber pillars on the mainboard to help the machine against shock, and beating better. Unfortunately, because of the distributor's warranty stamp, I cannot open the device to show you more clearly.

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2 pictures of Asus illustrating the reinforcement of hinges, connectors and rubber columns that absorb vibration on the motherboard

Asus Expert B9 is equipped with common connection ports including 2 USB-C support charging and Thunderbolt 3, 1 USB-A, 1 HDMI, 3.5mm port, Kensington lock and mini HDMI port support RJ45 LAN connection via adapter. The shortcoming of the machine is no memory card slot and optional SIM tray for 4G connectivity.

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It supports Windows Hello feature with simultaneous unlock by face and fingerprint sensor. Everything works smoothly, I especially like the IR camera which makes facial recognition not only accurate but also very fast. During several weeks of use, this feature helped me after a few seconds from opening the screen to log in successfully, not once had to use a fingerprint sensor or PIN. On the software front, the pre-installed ASUS Business Manager application allows you to encrypt data, set password protection as well as turning on / off physical ports.

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Webcam integrated IR camera and physical switch to cover when needed

Standard display, slightly dark for use in bright light

The screen on Asus ExpertBook B9 is capable of opening up to 180 degrees, suitable for teamwork environments to quickly share the content currently displayed. Like many high-end laptops, you can open the lid gently with one hand.

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The screen opens 180 degrees flat

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The sides are quite thin, only 4 mm .

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. and can be opened with one hand easily

Using a 13.3-inch IPS LCD panel, Full HD resolution of 16: 9, the visibility of the laptop from Asus is quite impressive. I appreciate that the company has calibrated the screen before shipping to help the machine reproduce the colors accurately and cover 100% of the sRGB color range. So you absolutely can use the machine to do photo editing and printing tasks without the need for specialized color balance equipment.

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ExpertBook B9 uses a matte anti-glare screen, so it effectively limits the appearance of glossy prints on the screen. However, the maximum brightness is only 300 nit, making it difficult to use the device in a lot of outside light. This is the point I think Asus should focus on improving in the next generation because customers are often moving, so using a laptop under conditions is not ideal such as at the airport, cafe, outdoor is normal. And rival laptops such as the ThinkPad X1 Carbon G7 and HP Elitebook G5 are doing very well with a screen brightness of 400 - 500 nit.

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When sitting in bright positions like this, the screen brightness is low, so there is still the phenomenon of glare, hard to see

Speaking quickly about the stereo speaker experience, labeled Harman Kardon, I was a bit curious about the audio performance of the device. In fact, the mid and treble bands show quite well, clear and have a certain background, the volume can be called large compared to the machine form. But like most other Windows laptops that are not too invested in external speakers, the bass range is very weak and lacking.

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Smooth typing keyboard, touchpad is not impressive

The travel of the keys at a deep level, reaching 1.5 mm and making less noise, made me really excited when using ExpertBook to handle work everyday. I haven't used any Thinkpad laptop yet, so I can't give you a clear comparison but as the owner of the Dell XPS 15, I'm sure the laptop from Asus offers a better typing experience than the XPS 13 | 15 duo of Dell.

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The touchpad is another device that makes me feel a bit down. The first is the positive point, the built-in NumberPad feature works quickly, does not bring the feeling of confidence as typing a physical number key, but it is still much more convenient when compared to the number pad on the keyboard of Asus Expert B9.

The device supports Windows Precision driver, so all multi-point operations are fully supported. Touching feeling, touch on the touchpad is not really smooth, gentle as equipped on the Dell XPS. I had to go to Windows settings to increase the touchpad sensitivity to the highest in order to improve somewhat. The most annoying point I encountered was the back of my hand frequently touching the NumberPad activation button.

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Impress with up to 2TB storage capacity

The Asus ExpertBook B9 configuration I use is among the best you can buy in Vietnam with an 8-core quad-core Core i7-10510U CPU, Intel UHD 620 GPU, 16GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD. Such a large amount of storage comes from the fact that the device owns 2TB 1TB SSD Samsung PM981 for very high read and write speed. Unfortunately there is no RAID option on the machine so you can configure it for a higher speed or have a spare drive.

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Measure the read and write speed using the CrystalDiskMark 6 application

Performance of the machine is on par with other products in the same segment with similar configuration. Note that with the Auto mode set in the MyAsus application, the processing power of the device is limited to balance the temperature, noise level and reasonable battery life. When the Turbo option is turned on, the device is fully powered up, not inferior to competitors from Dell or Lenovo. In return, you have to accept the temperature rise (not to the point of discomfort) and the fan is noisier.

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CPU processing power via CineBench R15 application

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The GPU performance is shown in the 3DMark 11 test

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Overall performance measured by PCMark 10

Basic office tasks such as Office, reading design drawings and basic image adjustments are fully met by Asus laptops. Try to entertain with popular games like Age of Empires II Definitive Edition, the lowest graphics settings, Full HD resolution, the device only maintains 13 fps in the crowded scene (running in Auto mode) and increase to about 15 fps if 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, many smoke effects.

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In crowded scenes like this in Empire II the machine only ran below 20 fps

In general, if there is a need for entertainment with the game, obviously Asus ExpertBook B9 and rival products will not be your choice. But if "all for work" and have fun taking photos, watching movies, the ability to store and display well will score plus points for representatives from Asus.

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Office tasks such as PowerPoint inserting effects, slideshows are responsive by the machine

The battery promises impressive 66 Wh version

Besides the thin, light, security factor, the battery is also a lot of attention on laptops like Asus ExpertBook B9. My review device only has a 33 Wh battery for a good life. With my daily use tasks including typing text, checking emails, exchanging work via messenger and Zalo, entertaining with surfing, watching Youtube, this laptop withstands about 6 hours - 6, 5 hours of use with 50% screen brightness, wireless earphone connection and wireless mouse.

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Asus says it has optimized display for static content such as reading documents, viewing photos with Panel Self Refresh Technology. At these times, the GPU will change the refresh rate from 60 Hz to a state that only shows a fixed frame to minimize the power consumed from the screen. As a result, the battery life in the 66 Wh battery version can completely exceed the 10h mark with mixed tasks as above.

ExpertBook B9 has support for fast charging technology. Using the included 65W adapter to charge, it takes about 25 minutes to charge 50% of the battery (I usually plug the charger when the battery is about 10%) and over 2 hours to fully charge. The company said that the lithium-polymer battery equipped with the device has a durability of up to 2,000 recharges before the bottle is 80% longer than 300 - 1,000 figures on many other laptop models today.