The Asus ExpertBook A7 is the MacBook of business laptops

With the ExpertBook A7 series, Asus is launching an entirely new business laptop priced toward the entry-level segment and available with Intel or AMD processors. Nevertheless, it features a high-quality unibody metal chassis whose build quality is on par with Apple's MacBooks. At 11.8 mm thick, it is also very slim, and its weight of 1.2 kg is reasonable for a 14-inch model.

The choice of material is quite surprising, as Asus has so far relied heavily on plastic chassis for its ExpertBook models, or a Ceraluminum chassis for the expensive ExpertBook Ultra, which we reviewed earlier this year. Although the Ultra is considerably more expensive and lighter, the new ExpertBook A7 feels every bit as well made.

The display is a matte 2.8K OLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a brightness of 500 nits. Thanks in particular to its matte surface, it can be used comfortably even in very bright environments. This is quite unusual, especially in this price range (starting at €1,219), as is the haptic touchpad.

There are compromises in performance, however, as Asus equips the Intel models exclusively with Intel's Wildcat Lake processors. These offer good efficiency, but their raw processing performance is relatively low. Paired with 16 GB of RAM, the device is therefore best suited to everyday office tasks without extensive multitasking. An AMD model is also available as an option, with the Ryzen AI 7 345 likely to offer slightly more CPU performance.

So far, the new ExpertBook A7 has made a good impression, and battery life also looks promising. Our full review will be published in a few days. If you have any specific questions or suggestions, feel free to leave us a comment.

I grew up with modern consumer electronics and my first computer was a Commodore C64, which encouraged my interest in building my own systems. I started working as a review editor for Notebookcheck during my dual studies at Siemens. Currently, I am mainly responsible for dealing with business laptops and mobile workstations. It’s a great experience to be able to review the latest devices and technologies and then compare them with each other.