ASUS ExpertBook B9 [B9450CBA] review

The ASUS ExpertBook B9 is a featherlight business laptop designed for those who want a portable yet highly capable notebook. It's got a wide range of impressive specs, a great battery, and hardware. We were shocked at how much we enjoyed using this laptop over the last few weeks as a daily driver, and we were thrilled with just how great of a professional notebook this is.

Unboxing and First Impressions

We open many laptops here at TechRadar Pro, and unbox machines daily, so we're always excited and curious about what we'll find once we get through the packaging. With the ASUS ExpertBook B9, however, the unboxing was different.

ASUS has designed its packaging here to be reused as a laptop riser or stand, raising the camera to a useful height for video conferencing, but also a more ergonomic height overall. ASUS even chose a sleek color and finish so that it doesn't look like a cardboard box is holding up your expensive laptop. We appreciated the step towards sustainability in packing materials and enjoyed even more that we could use the packaging-turned-stand in a day-to-day scenario.

Design and Build Quality

We liked the unique feel when we first touched the ASUS ExpertBook B9's material. It's not smooth but has a matte finish with a slight texture. Even though it does not have the classic, smooth metallic feel of other high-end laptops, this feels premium. The sharp corners, dark coloring, minimal bezels, and sleek keyboard make this a treat and a device we find ourselves excited to get work done with.

Carrying this laptop in a backpack, briefcase, or bag takes time to grow accustomed to. We frequently doubted we had remembered to put our beloved, powerful computer in our bag because it was so light. Even carrying it around an office, coffee shop, or home office, we were surprised every time we grabbed the device.

In Use

As mentioned, someone on our team used this as their daily driver for a few weeks to get a feel for the machine, and they loved using it. Everyone they interacted with while with the laptop was astonished at how light this machine was and even more shocked when told what was under the keyboard and what the device has for IO. 

This laptop was easy to carry from meeting to meeting, even under an arm while holding a coffee or anything else. While at home, this laptop is just as easy to use and move around, even being light enough to carry on top of that laundry bin or to stack on top of the kids' toys you're putting away on your way upstairs to take a meeting away from the noise (...hypothetically, of course...).

The keyboard is comfortable to type on for a full day. The keys are well-spaced and give enough tactile response that it is satisfying without being too clicky for a quieter environment. The trackpad is generously sized and responsive to our usage and gestures. The surface is smooth enough that our finger(s) can glide across easily without getting stuck or being too slippery. 

One thing that we have never seen before is the integration of a numpad into the trackpad itself. As seen above, this numpad is built into the backlighting of the trackpad, allowing it to be non-existent when not needed. However, if we need to enter a massive sum of numbers, everyone knows how helpful a numpad can be. 

With this laptop, we can have the numpad off for daily work, and when it comes time to crunch some numbers, we can press the numpad softkey in the top right of the trackpad for a second, and the numpad appears. What is just as astonishing is that the trackpad still works as a trackpad while the numpad is active, allowing us to have the trackpad run double-duty if we need to navigate while entering numbers.

On the back of the laptop, every time the lid opens, the hinge is designed to lift the back of the computer off the desk ever so slightly. While only a factor of five degrees, this still makes a welcomed ergonomic difference for our wrists as we type, raising our fingers off the desktop.

The ASUS ExpertBook B9 has many other different elements worth mentioning., including integrated Harman/Kardon-certified speakers, giving out quality audio for a laptop. Naturally, the low end is lacking a bit, but we were pleased with the clarity and quality for a paper-light notebook. 

This ExpertBook B9 claims to average just over 11 hours of battery time during regular office usage, which we found that true in our day-to-day use, and PCMark 10's battery benchmark backed us up. The ExpertBook B9 scored 4609 on PCMark 10's Extended test and 5173 on the standard benchmark. A proximity sensor can recognize if you are getting close to the laptop and can wake the screen for you. This could be done with a paired phone as well. There is a webcam shield for added privacy. However, closing the webcam disables the ability to use Windows Hello facial recognition to sign in to the laptop. ASUS included a fingerprint scanner, NFC Card reader (integrated into the trackpad), and the standard passcode entry, all as ways of accessing the ExpertBook B9 quickly and securely.

Lastly, the company has included its MyASUS service with this laptop, which allows onboard system diagnostics, customer services, hardware performance settings, WiFi SmartConnect, Picture modes, Remote file access, and more.

Final Verdict

This laptop took us by surprise, as we saw the spec sheet before getting our hands on this unit and expected it to be powerful. Then when we physically held it in our hands, we thought there was no possible way this was as powerful as the specs made it seem, as it felt way too frail to be that much of a powerhouse. 

However, as we were using it, the results far exceeded our initial impression of the laptop thanks to its incredibly lightweight design, incredible battery, ports, and overall power. This is a phenomenal business laptop that can be used in various verticals. Its 14 inch frame makes it an excellent choice for those who need screen real estate for multitasking but also want the option of being portable.

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