The Asus ExpertBook P5 doesn't exist as a particularly flashy Copilot+ Laptop, but it's smart enough for most business purposes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxwicrbvi4w
| Strong Points | Cons |
|---|---|
| x86 compatible plus copilot+ | Not meeting battery life claims |
| Clean and business-like design | Slightly cramped cursor keys |
Score: 3.5/5
In this review
ASUS ExpertBook P5 Specification
ASUS ExpertBook P5 Design
ASUS ExpertBook P5 Performance
ASUS ExpertBook P5 Battery
ASUS ExpertBook P5 Conclusion
design
As ExpertBook branding represents Asus' pitch in business laptop buyers, it's no surprise that the Asus ExpertBook P5 has a rather sedative design for, for example, Rog laptops, or for the more flashy Zenbook and Vivobook lines.
It's probably not a coincidence as there is a small rectangular badge on the back of the laptop, slightly mimicking the business card.
The Asus ExpertBook P5 is not in the class of true super light, ultra-thin laptops, as it measures 31.2×22.3×1.645 cm with a carrying weight of 2.29kg. Again, it's all parts and parcels of a more general business look.
Opening it faces a 14-inch 2560×1600 pixel 144Hz compatible LCD display with slightly noticeable top and bottom bezels. The top bezel allows space for an integrated 1080p webcam with support for Windows Hello unlocking.
It features a physical sliding privacy shutter, but is not the most obvious unit as it is quite dark against a black background. I usually support a unit that uses sharper color contrast to make it more clear when enabling or disabling privacy, but physically this still works fine.
The keyboard on the ExpertBook P5 is well built with a decent trip on each keystroke. There is no sound coming from a mechanical keyboard, but the type that attacks the keyboard with energy has less typing noise.
If I have one complaint, and it's a small thing – that means the cursor keys are pretty crushed in the lower right corner. It also serves double obligations as a home, end, page up/page down key with the feature enabled.
The ExpertBook P5 follows the familiar trends in laptop design. In this trend, most ports are clustered to the left side of the laptop.
There are dual Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, HDMI, a single USB-A port and a combo headphone jack.
On the right is one lonely USB-A port and a Kensington Lockport.
performance
The Asus ExpertBook P5 is a Copilot+ PC and so far, a category of Windows 11 notebooks dominated by ARM-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors, but it is not the only processor that plays on Copilot+ Pool.
The Asus ExpertBook P5 was loaned to me to run the review run on an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The range has options for 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, with some degree of distribution over Intel's integrated ARC 140V or ARC 130V GPU range. What I'm testing here is the official Asus ExpertBook P5405CSA, as it's almost the top of the range of this particular model.
The launch of the X86-based Copilot+ Laptops was intended to improve performance without sacrificing too much battery life, but how does it actually stack up in real performance?
To compare that, I ran PC Mark 10 and 3DMark Time Spy on my ASUS ExpertBook P5 to see how it compares to other Copilot+ ARM-based laptops and other similar business-centric models with similar CPU architectures.
These results aren't the fastest I've seen on every laptop, but the hardcore gaming rigs do the best GPU on your ExpertBook P5, even without even spinning up the fans.
The Asus ExpertBook P5 is Copilot+ ready-made+ to suit your AI needs. I'm recording here as a fan of human-generated words, but AI hallucinations are still so important that we can't ignore the absolute business case for some degree of integration into people's workflows, along with some level of human interaction.
Still, it takes a set of Microsoft's AI integrations and pushes the internal NPU for issues like live translation and image generation. But Microsoft's rather controversial recall feature is still under test at the time of writing, but obviously, if it lives beyond making sure it actually works, I'll disable it on the PC of work I happened to be using for security.
The natural advantage of running copilot+ PC on x86 rather than arms is that you get full Windows app compatibility rather than having to rely on Windows Prism Emulator to manage those apps.
Speaking of apps, ASUS is relatively lightweight for apps pre-installed on the Asus ExpertBook P5. McAfee is installed for antivirus needs (or quick uninstall depending on the perspective of a typical utility) and for ranges of ASUS business centric applications.
battery
For a long time I've become accustomed to the somewhat hyperbolic claims that laptop manufacturers make it around the battery power of machines.
ASUS charges a very high level of battery life of up to 28 hours for the ExpertBook P5. If it rings, it would be one of the longest-lasting laptops I have ever tested.
Spoiler: The battery life of the ASUS ExpertBook P5 is very decent, but not so.
Laptop usage always determines overall battery life and everyone uses differently. So when you test your laptop it has a soft use video test and a single synthetic hard use benchmark test.
Specifically, the software usage test runs battery drain from 1080p video full screen, while the synthesis test relies on the PCMark 10 gaming battery test. The Asus ExpertBook P5 is of course not a gaming laptop, but this provides excellent sustained load testing for heavy usage. Your actual daily use can fall between these two extremes.
So, how is the Asus ExpertBook P5 stacked?
It's not yet able to compete with the best arm-based Copilot+ PCS, but that's not a shock, but the battery life is why you need an arm-based Windows 11 PC in the first place. The AsusExpertBookP5 is well innocent between the X86 Brethren, but it doesn't have a 28-hour battery life nearby.
Here we still have a very solid scope, considering it was hit with a sustained video playback of over 13 hours.
Charging the Asus ExpertBook P5 is done via USB-C with a 65W charger that is smallly fed into the Box. Honestly, I've used many other PD compliant chargers using the ASUS ExpertBook P5, but that's because of the beauty of USB-PD charging.
Asus ExpertBook P5: Alex's Verdict
As a straight Windows laptop, the ExpertBook P5 isn't exactly flashy, but that's not the purpose.
This is a business-centric model with AI focus and if that's what you want, there's a decent combination of power and performance along with a solid build enough for most purposes.
While it just can't stand the promise of Asus's large battery life, there are very few laptops, whilst avoiding many Copilot+ Laptops arm compatibility issues.
ASUS ExpertBook P5: Pricing and Availability
The Asus ExpertBook is available in Australia and is priced starting at $2,299 depending on your settings. This model tested the retailer for $2,799.
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