ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip Review (B7402FEA): a flagship enterprise notebook with a durable case

Corporate business laptops are a very specific category with their requirements, which are usually higher than for conventional models. ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip is one of the most "stuffed" in this sense ultraportable laptops. It has a fairly light and practical case with high reliability with reinforced hinges, ports, dampers for the motherboard and protection of the keyboard from splashes. In addition, it has a number of important features for the corporate segment: the PrivateView function to limit the viewing angles of the screen, the permanent MAC address of the network card, the physical curtain of the webcam and some specialized software. The laptop is equipped with a large number of connectors, both for such sizes. The display is bright, with natural colors, and "iron" provides a high level of productivity in work tasks. With all this, the laptop is able to work all day without recharging. Enterprise-class laptops are never cheap. ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip in the configuration that we had in the review, is already sold for 2000 $.

5 reasons to buy ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA):

• Compact and reliable case with the strengthened elements for the increased reliability
• Nice IPS touch screen with viewing angle restriction function PrivateView
• A large number of connectors
• Long battery life
• Topical iron and high productivity in work tasks

2 reasons not to buy ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA):

• You need a laptop to work with graphics or games
• Very high price

Quick transition:

1. What's in the box?
2. What does the ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA) look like and what about the design features?
3. Is it convenient to use a laptop?
4. How good is the screen?
5. What about performance, battery life and sound?
6. In the dry residue

What's in the box?

ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA) is packed in a box made of the usual mustard-colored cardboard. However, the shape is not quite familiar, with truncated corners. The configuration may differ slightly depending on the configuration. In our case, the box contained the laptop itself, a power supply standard for similar laptops with a capacity of 65 watts with a Type-C connector, a detachable power cable, an adapter with Micro HDMI to LAN and documentation. Also included may be a branded pen ASUS Pen.

What does the ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA) look like and what about the design features?

The ASUS ExpertBook line is a business-oriented enterprise laptop. Therefore, the requirements for such models are higher than for conventional models. This applies to both technical features and design. Two years ago we had the ASUS ExpertBook B9450 on review, the hero of today's review, the ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA) has a lot in common with it. This is an ultraportable laptop-transformer with a touch screen. The case is made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy of dark blue color with a matte rough covering. Unlike the ZenBook line, the ExpertBook B7 Flip looks more restrained, concise and practical. The outer cover has the ASUS and ExpertBook, next to which there is an LED that shows the current status of the user: it is automatically turned on during conference calls or activated manually by pressing Fn + 1. As designed by ASUS, it signals that you should not be distracted at the moment.

All ports are reinforced with stainless steel brackets. USB Type-C can withstand 15,000 connection-disconnection cycles, all others - 5,000.

The laptop is quite compact and thin, but the set of connectors is very good. On the right side is a full-size USB 3.2 Gen 2 with data transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps, volume control, power button with built-in fingerprint scanner, Mini DisplayPort output, Kensington Lock slot, Smart card reader and in some cases a tray for nanoSIM. There are configurations that support 5G.

On the left - two Type-C Thunderbolt 4 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort support, HDMI 2.0b, combined 3.5mm audio jack, LEDs and Micro HDMI on LAN with fixed MAC address, which is important in some large corporate networks:

Cooling system openings and hinges are located at the rear. Hinged reinforced with thicker steel brackets and large screws are used. It is claimed that they will withstand more than 30,000 rollover cycles.

There is only a cutout in the front for a more comfortable opening of the laptop:

Below - a lot of holes for ventilation, rubber feet (rear - solid almost the entire width of the laptop) and a pair of speakers, located at the front at an angle to the horizontal surface:

Given the "ultraportable" class of the laptop, it is impossible to say that the frame around the display is record thin. On top - a lot of everything: a pair of microphones, LED indicator, webcam with mechanical curtain, infrared camera to identify the owner ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip and proximity sensor, which allows the laptop to automatically lock when the owner left, or activate when returned.

In addition, it should be noted that for greater reliability inside there are rubber shock absorbers on the motherboard, which protect against physical shocks. And a honeycomb structure under the work surface so that it does not bend under the pressure of hands. In general, the laptop meets the military standard MIL-STD-810H, withstands pressure on the lid and bottom panel with a force of 28 kg without damaging the display, 18 shocks with an acceleration of 40 g for 11 ms in the on state, falling in the on state from a height of 120 cm, able to work at high humidity, and also at high and low temperatures. Here's how all these design features look on the official renderings of ASUS:

The lid and work surface of the laptop are really almost not pushed. And in general, the quality of assembly and materials is at a very high level, as it should be in enterprise-class devices. The laptop weighs 1.44 kg, so it is quite comfortable to carry every day.

Is it convenient to use a laptop?

The ExpertBook B7 Flip display rotates 360 °, so the notebook can be used in a variety of modes, including tablet or presentation. 360 ° ErgoLift hinges are used, which in the classic laptop mode slightly raises the back of the work surface, so that the keyboard is at a slight angle to the surface.

The keyboard in size and layout is typical for modern ultrabooks. It has no additional numeric keypad, and the top row of function keys is reduced in size. This series ends with the microphone activation buttons, PrivateView mode, PrtSc and Delete. Home, End, PgUp and PgDn are duplicated with arrows via Fn. Both Shift are long, Enter is "single-story". Of the interesting features - additionally highlighted 1, 2, 3, 4, which with the help of proprietary software can be configured some additional functions.

The buttons have a full stroke of 1.5 mm, which is mostly typical for models with a larger display diagonal. They work quietly and softly, have a white backlight. Keyboard waterproof and can withstand shedding up to 78 cm³ liquid. Of course, this does not mean that you need to pour coffee on a laptop. But the occasional splash the keyboard will withstand.

The touchpad is quite wide, but it could be made higher: the free area of ​​the work surface allows. Although in practice everything is fine: it is sensitive enough to use comfortably without the need to connect a mouse. The so-called NumberPad is used: using the touch button in the upper right corner, the touchpad is converted into a digital touchpad. The touchpad also has a built-in NFC module. Once you have the FIDO2 NFC security key, you can log on to Windows through your Azure AD account without a password.

How good is the screen?

The ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip uses a 14-inch touchscreen IPS display with a matte finish. Which is quite rare in touch models. Aspect ratio 16:10, resolution - 1920x1200 pixels (but there is also a configuration of 2560x1600). The stated maximum brightness is 500 cd / m², standard frequency: 60 Hz. The screen has 100% coverage sRGB color space and is Pantone certified. There is also a function Private View, which narrows viewing angles to 45 °, which can be useful for working with private information in crowded places. Due to technical features, even with PrivateView turned off, viewing angles are slightly narrower than usual in IPS. With the function activated, the information at an angle is really almost impossible to read.

In everything else there are no complaints about the screen: the picture is nice, with natural colors and a sufficient margin of brightness. Measurements using a colorimeter showed that the maximum brightness almost reaches the stated value: 475,892 th most common cd / m2, black field brightness - 0.162 cd / m2, and static contrast - 2938: 1. The screen really has coverage is very close to sRGB color space, all other indicators are also close to the reference values:

What about performance, battery life and sound?

The ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA) uses Intel processors 11th generation Tiger Lake. We received a configuration with Intel Core i7-1195G7. The processor is made of 10-nm SuperFin process technology, includes four cores and supports Hyper Threading 8 threads. The base frequency can range from 1.3 to 2.9 GHz depending on the TDP. In our case, the TDP is 28 watts, so the base frequency is 2.9 GHz. In Turbo Boost mode, the frequency can reach 5.0 GHz. The graphics accelerator is exclusively built-in Intel Iris Xe, which includes 96 executive units, and the maximum frequency can reach 1400 MHz. RAM - 32 GB DDR4-3200 MHz in dual channel mode. The laptop has 2 RAM slots, so it is possible to upgrade to 64 GB. Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11 ax (Wi-Fi 6) and Bluetooth 5.2.

ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA) is focused exclusively on office tasks and the corporate segment. So, when working with documents, mail, messengers, a browser with a bunch of tabs, Photoshop and other tasks that are not very demanding on the graphics subsystem, the laptop has no problems. In benchmarks, the results are appropriate: quite high (especially considering the format of the laptop) in CPU tests. And mediocre in graphics.

PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe v1.4 SSD on 1 TB, Samsung model is used as the drive PM9A1. Declared read speed up to 7000 MB / s and write up to 5100 MB / s. Although the laptop itself only supports PCIe3.0 x4.

SSD speed is limited by the capabilities of the connection bus. The drive shows a read and write speed of just over 3400 MB / s, which is the maximum for PCIe Gen3 x4:

The ExpertBook B7 Flip uses a new Advanced Hybrid Cooling System (AHCS) with three heat pipes and a cooling fan Arc-Flow with 86 blades and metal plate. It is claimed that comparing with the CO of the last generation, common productivity increased by 55%, increased air flow by 17% and increased plate area by 39%. In the renderings you can see what it all looks like:

At low loads, the fan is not audible at all. At maximum noise there is, but very quiet. The case is almost not heated. The AIDA64 stress test shows that at maximum load for the first minute and a half the processor heats up to about 90 °, there is a slight decrease in performance. Then the cooling system adapts, the temperature of all components decreases and the laptop works stably with maximum performance.

ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA) is not gaming-oriented, but it was fun to try. DOOM 2016 and Ghostrunner at the minimum graphics settings are about 27-30 FPS. Accordingly, conditional "tanks", CS: GO, Starcraft 2, Dota will work without problems.

The laptop is equipped with a 63 W * g battery, ASUS promises up to 12 hours of battery life. Even during the review of the ASUS ExpertBook B9450FA, the line impressed with its autonomy. ExpertBook B7 Flip also proved to be durable. With medium brightness and standard workload: working with documents, typing, basic photo processing, a browser with a bunch of tabs, messengers and mail, the laptop lasted a full day.

The stereo of the laptop is not very powerful, which is typical for ultraportable laptops. There are very few low frequencies. But for movies and videos, the quality and volume are quite enough. There is a separate Dolby application for configuration.

There are several proprietary applications to configure the ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip. The main one is the general MyASUS for all laptops of the manufacturer. It can be used to install system updates, monitor the system and make some settings. Modes of productivity, charging, operation of a functional number of keys, to include AI-noise absorption both for microphones, and for the reproduced sound, etc.

Additionally, there is a more specialized for the corporate segment of ASUS Business Manager. It is designed to monitor and administer laptops, including USB, BIOS, registry locking, system recovery, and storage of sensitive information in an encrypted drive partition and File Shredder for complete, permanent deletion of selected files.

ASUS ExpertWidget is responsible for setting up additional features on Fn + 1, 2, 3, 4:

In the dry residue. Three things you need to know about the ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip (B7402FEA).

• ASUS ExpertBook B7 Flip is an ultraportable business notebook with a reliable reinforced design and additional corporate functions.
• The configuration of the laptop is suitable for comfortable work with office tasks, but not for work with graphics.
• Can work full time without recharging.