ASUSPRO P5440 business laptop Review : Can it take on the goliaths?

Over the past few years, we have reviewed lot of gaming and mainstream laptops from ASUS. But today, we are going to review something that is different, something that is meant for those who tuck their shirts in and step into formal shoes. ASUSPRO P5440 is one of the lightest dual storage 14″ business laptop that you can buy in India. Our review unit is powered by Intel’s 8th generation core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD. It comes with Intel UHD Graphics 620 (integrated graphics) and there is no option to upgrade to dedicated GPU. Priced at 85,000/- in India, the ASUS Pro review variant that we tested is available in online and offline channels. Is ASUSPRO P5440 a worthy business laptop? Lets get down to business!

ASUSPRO P5440 Specifications

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 8565U Processor or Intel® Core™ i5 8265U Processor or Intel® Core™ i3 8145U.
• OS: Windows 10 Pro
• Memory: Up to 16GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM.
• Display: 14″ FUllHD 60Hz Anti-Glare Panel with 72% NTSC with wide 178° viewing angles
• Graphics: Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620
• Storage: Up to 1TB 5400rpm SATA HDD or up to 512GB M.2 or PCIe Gen3 x4 SSD.
• Keyboard: Backlit chiclet keyboard.
• Card Reader: Multi-format card reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC)
• WebCam: HD Webcam.
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n/ac.
  Bluetooth® 4.2
• Ports: 1 x Microphone-in/Headphone-out jack, 1 x Type-C USB 3.0 (USB 3.1 Gen 1) with display and power delivery support, 1 x Type-A USB 3.1 (Gen 1), 1 x Type-A USB 3.1 (Gen 2), 1 x HDMI, 1 x Fingerprint reader, 1 x AC adapter plug.
• Audio: Built-in 2 W Stereo Speakers with Array Microphone
• Battery:  3 -Cell 50 Wh Polymer Battery
• Power Adapter: Plug type : 4.5 (mm)
  Output : 19 V DC, A, 65 W
  Input : 100 -240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
• Dimensions: 326 x 229.3 x 10.1 ~18.5 mm (WxDxH)
• Weight: 1.23 kg ~ kg with battery

Build

ASUSPRO P5440 comes build is in line with most business laptops. The lid of laptop has clean lines and an ASUS logo at the centre. Open the lid and you are greeted by business like dark theme. The metallic finish of base looks elegant and goes well with black keys on keyboard. The trackpad is big enough to perform multi finger gestures and there is a fingerprint reader right next to the trackpad.

The ASUSPRO P5440 feels super light and is thin too. Official specs stand at 1.23kg*light and 18.5mm thin. For those who carry laptop every day to office, such thin and light laptops are far better to carry than heavy weight monsters. P5400  comes with US MIL-STD 810G military standard testing certification, which means that the tested to withstand extreme conditions and high level of stress.

The display lid connects to the base using single vertical elongated hinge and one can push the display all the way to 180 degrees and lay it flat on table/desk. Quality of the lid is good. Even though there is flex, it does not effect the panel.

Below the display panel, you can see ASUSPRO logo. There is a HD webcam above the display panel along with three microphones. Beneath ASUSPRO logo, the bezel has dotted pattern, something you wont be able to see unless you push the display all the way to 180 degrees.

There are just enough ports to connect various peripherals and external display. To the left, there is AC port, Type-C port, HDMI, USB, 3.5mm port. Notification and power LEDs are palced next to the 3.5mm port. To the right, there is USB port, SD card reader.

At the bottom, there are stereo speakers. The bottom case can be removed by unscrewing 11 screws. You can easily access RAM and HDD and SSD slots for quick DIY upgrade.

Display

ASUSPRO P5440 comes with a 14″ FullHD display with 178 degree viewing angle. The panel does not meet the quality of ASUS mainstream laptops and can only cover 72% NTSC color gamut. This though is not really an issue. This laptop is not targeted to game designers or video/audio editors. This is purely for those who perform day to day tasks in office, towards developers. This genre of users are not really concerned about AdobeRGB or NTSC or any other ratings. In a way, this can be accepted, if other aspects are well taken care of.

Coming to the positives, there is an anti glare coating that reduces reflections. Though the lid flexes a lot, the panel does not show any effects when you flex the lid. Thanks to the small bezels at top and on either side, the display looks bigger than what it is.

Keyboard and trackpad

ASUSPRO P5440 keyboard comes with full sized island style keys that are backlit. Also, the keys offer 19.05mm key pitch and 1.5mm of key travel. For majority of business users, having a quality keyboard and trackpad is essential. In this regard, ASUS has hit the mark well. Lenovo’s ThinkPads are benchmarks for laptop keyboards. The first try itself, I was able to hit 90wpm in 10fastfingers typing test. The tactile feedback is very good, so is typing accuracy.

Performance

For office and business tasks, the ASUSPRO P5440 breezes through without any hiccup, even when I did heavy multitasking. There are two components that truly stand out in this review unit. The 8th generation Intel Core i7 chip and 256GB solid state drive (SSD). These two make a world of difference to performance.

Intel’s Core™ i7 8565U is one of the best chips for laptops as this chip comes with 4 cores and 8 threads, has 1.8GHz base clock and 4.60 GHz Turbo clock speed. The 256GB M.2 SSD has clocked impressive benchmarks as you can see below. We have also added few synthetic benchmark results here.

ASUSPRO P5440 is rated to have up to 10 hours of battery life. When we used the laptop, we could easily pass 6 hours of battery life on mixed usage (videos, writing, reading, browsing etc).

Conclusion

There are three key areas where a business laptop should excel at. Portability, power and battery life. ASUSPRO P5440 excels in these three key areas. Thanks to light weight and slim build, it is easy to carry the laptop around. Sometimes, you may check if you kept your laptop in your backpack. Intel Core i7 chip and SSD gives commendable performance and should withstand usual overloaded corporate security bloatware. Battery easily lasts for 6 hours and with good power management, you may even do 9-5 without recharging. The display is average at best, the speakers are above average and there is a bit of unwanted flex for laptop lid. Overall, the ASUS Pro is a good laptop to have for business users.