There aren’t many ‘independent’ laptop manufacturers. A large number of those will be localized rebranding operations of international cleanskin laptop makers like Clevo. So what Venom computers do — that is, design laptops from the bottom up to compete with global juggernauts like Apple and Microsoft – is quite unique. In fact, Venom BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom is their new product in the market for the competition.
Building a laptop is no easy task; it necessitates a thorough understanding of current computer parts as well as a significant budget to get things started. However, regardless of how difficult it is for small businesses to break into this market, consumers are primarily concerned with getting the best product for their money.
What will you see here?
Price and Availability
The 2022 BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom comes at a competitive price. Beginning at $1,199 for an 11th-gen Intel i5, 8GB of RAM, and a 250GB SSD configuration… especially if you’re a current client with an old Venom BlackBook which you can trade in for a $400 credit.
This entry-level device is still less powerful than the more powerful $999 beginning configuration of the Apple MacBook Air. However, given that no other Windows-based system came close to qualifying with the 2020 M1 Air. That’s not exactly a critique of Venom.
The BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom is available in a variety of configurations, including the ability to upgrade the CPU to an 11th Generation i7, double the RAM allotment to 16GB, and swap to a 1TB SSD for $1,699. If you have a specific requirement, you can raise the SSD or RAM allocations further. However, for most people, a 1TB SSD would be more than adequate for a professional laptop.
This is a decent price for an i7 with 16GB of RAM. It approximately matches the price of a Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13.5-inch when the larger SSD is also in there. However, there are a few drawbacks worth noting.
The first is that products like Dell’s almost similar late 2020 XPS 13 were available for more than a year prior to the arrival of BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom. There are some good deals to be gotten on these devices now that Intel’s 12th Gen mobile CPUs are coming.
The second distinction is that almost all of the competitors have a slightly greater resolution and more color-correct screen. It makes the BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom a tough sell for anybody who uses their laptop for graphically creative work.
Design
Weight & Mobility
The BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom deviates from the norm by not targeting creators. However, it has a clear and logical design concept. The spec sheet claims a weight of up to 1.4kg. This means it’s still among the finest lightweight professional Ultrabooks, but it’s not quite at the top of the heap.
Other notable features include two power supplies. One of which you can plug in and left behind the work desk or in a travel bag to help you get going faster. Then, for those who need to restore the device occasionally, the unit comes with a convenient USB recovery disc that makes restarting the device a breeze.
Display
The spec list begins to seem a little more predictable from here. It comes with a fairly basic 14-inch FullHD IPS display with an sRGB color gamut. Although 16:9 is still a popular form factor in all sizes. Apple, Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, and MSI have all switched to 4:3, 3:2, or 16:10 aspect ratios on their smaller devices.
This is due to the fact that 16:9 is a cinematic format. It is suitable for video playing, the average web page or document is around A4 in size, taking up nearly three-quarters of the length of a display like that on the BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom. While it isn’t a deal-breaker. However, the greatest laptops of today transform that uncomfortable width into vertical space. Which allows you to view more of the website or document you’re working on.
Storage
The BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom does occasionally have significantly more SSD storage than some other similar machines, which makes it stand out if you value storage, but you’ll still have to pay for it. It’s as fast as single drives go on 2021 laptops, and there aren’t many secondary PCIe SSDs in ultraportable notebooks, so it’s a genuine point of differentiation for anybody who needs to store and transport huge files on a regular basis.
Keyboard & Trackpad
The keyboard & trackpad are adequate this time around, with some of the odd layout selections of the previous edition being dropped. Both are pleasant to use for extended periods of time and provided all you’d need in a professional tablet. While the BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom lacks a fingerprint sensor, it does include Windows Hello Facial Recognition, which experts believe will disappoint certain corporate users.
Ports
In comparison to today’s USB-C-only competitors, the interface options were numerous, featuring an HDMI port, a microSD card reader, and a pair of USB Type-A connections, in addition to the more ubiquitous USB-C and 3.5mm audio jack interfaces. While the HDMI port isn’t as important as it once was, it’s still a good idea to be able to plug into almost any monitor and receive basic plug and play functionality.
Heat
Even when operating at full throttle, the active cooling system is silent, and the temperature that does escape through the magnesium alloy frame from the region above the keyboard, well far from your hands.
Performance
The last Venom BlackBook Zero 14 was around 5 years ago. Therefore, this gadget is more than 4 times quicker than the earlier model. On a variety of common work activities for similar models with Intel i7-1165G7 CPUs, the BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom performed within around 5% of more recorded average.
In the Venom tuned Performance power mode, it also demonstrated a performance boost of up to 12%. It did, however, underperform on a number of GPU-specific tests, falling between 9 and 25% short of what users would anticipate from an Intel Iris Xe Graphics chip, even in Performance mode.
While the GPU performance was disappointing, the BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom’s battery life was exceptional. In general, the 14-inch Ultrabook receives 12 hours and 36 minutes of work time on average, while movie playing gets roughly 14.5 hours. The LG Gram 17 is the only PC that has outlasted it. While it falls short of Apple’s M1 MacBook Air in terms of battery life, it is one of the finest Windows operating Ultrabooks.
Conclusion
If you don’t need a picture or video editing and just want a lightweight business PC that’s portable and durable, the Venom BlackBook Zero 14 is a good option. You will have to sacrifice screen resolution in comparison to other devices available, and the model exhibit some performance difficulties in specific workloads. It’s also rather late to be releasing an Intel 11th generation laptop, so you’ll be able to get a better deal if you look for Ultrabooks on sale.
However, if you know you’ll want a Venom laptop in a few years, the $400 trade-in discount is a nice benefit that elevates the BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom to a respectable level.
