Space is the final frontier that most of us won't ever have the chance to experience. But did you know that an Asus laptop actually went to the Mir space station back in 1998? To celebrate the 25th anniversary of this event, the PC maker launched the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition earlier this year. Besides sporting space-themed graphics on its exterior, this special-edition notebook also has a 3.5-inch customisable OLED screen on the lid that looks pretty cool.

You can customise the OLED screen on the lid, dubbed the ZenVision display, to show personalised notifications, animations or texts. Given the space theme, the default ZenVision animation is, of course, an astronaut tumbling through space. To customise this OLED screen, you'll have to open the MyAsus app. It's quite straightforward — you can upload your own image, and create your own QR code to display on the screen. The main 14-inch display is no slouch either. While my review set has a 2,880 x 1,800-pixel OLED screen, the retail version has a 4K OLED touchscreen with ultra-slim bezels (for a 92% screen-to-body ratio). Suffice to say, videos look great on this bright and vibrant display. There's even a space-themed wallpaper that seems to be inspired by the sci-fi movie Interstellar.

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Aside from its space-themed graphics, this Zenbook shares a similar design as last year's Zenbook 14X OLED. It has the same slim and lightweight build. The build quality is excellent with a solid chassis and lid that exhibits virtually-zero flex. You'll also find the same Asus ErgoLift hinge design that slightly elevates the keyboard at an angle when you open the laptop for more comfortable typing. This hinge is tuned just right — I could open the lid with one hand. I also liked that Asus has kept the predecessor's two Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, USB-A port, and microSD card slot. Long-pressing the top right corner of the touchpad activates Asus' NumberPad feature. This adds a numeric keypad layer over the touchpad — handy for data entry and quick calculations.

The Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition uses an Intel Core i7-12700H processor with the relatively capable — for integrated graphics — Intel Iris Xe graphics. In fact, its PCMark 10 score of 5,773 is higher than the 5,359 recorded by last year's model and its Nvidia graphics chip. The laptop warmed up when running PCMark 10, but it never became uncomfortable like some thin-and-light notebooks. I also couldn't hear any cooling fan during the benchmark. Overall, the Zenbook feels responsive and fast. Its Achilles' heel is the battery life, likely because of the more powerful Intel H-Series processor and bright display. In our usual video-loop battery test at maximum brightness, the Zenbook lasted around 5 hours. With the ZenVision display and keyboard backlight enabled, you can expect just over 4 hours of uptime.

The Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition adds some space-inspired flair to the usual Zenbook design. The ZenVision display on the lid not only catches the eye, but actually has some real utility. The OLED screen is nice, especially for videos, while the build quality is excellent. Performance, too, is impeccable, though its relatively short battery stamina means that you'll want to be close to an electrical outlet on a hectic work day. If you want something cool-looking that will definitely draw attention and break the ice, get this Zenbook. It is available now on the Asus Store, Shopee and Lazada for S$2,698

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Note: Review unit provided by Asus.