The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED is a formidable new refresh of considered one of our favourite ultrabooks from final yr, sporting a strong new AMD Ryzen 7 6800 collection processor incorporating AMD Radeon 600M graphics functionality. The Zenbook has loads of processing energy, environment friendly design, and built-in options that make it an amazing purchase amongst its rivals within the Ultrabook market.
The Zenbook is designed for the pc person who’s “on-the-go,” so it’s ridiculously light-weight and can slot in wherever at college, on a aircraft flight, or in your native espresso store.
Having examined it completely, the one limitations the Zenbook has are rendering graphics on the latest, high-end video games, however these ought to actually be performed on tricked out gaming programs anyway. Nonetheless, the Zenbook flies by lots of the best PC games with out a lot bother with some reasonable settings changes.
Wish to push the boundaries with video streaming? That’s a chunk of cake. Whereas the Zenbook doesn’t fairly method 4K decision frequent with the best laptops available on the market, its 2880x1800p decision remains to be gorgeous to have a look at.
As an Ultrabook meant for the informal or enterprise skilled, the efficiency of this laptop computer is spectacular. The Zenbook encompasses a 13.3” OLED touchscreen/stylus show, 3 USB-C ports and a 3.5 millimeter audio jack, all mixed in a powerful, military-grade, Magnesium-Aluminum alloy chassis.
The Harmon/Kardon stereo audio system are powered by Dolby Atmos know-how and sound actually good, though they’re a bit gentle on the bass response. The reminiscence and processor ensured that loading occasions have been minimal. The Zenbook was quick and attentive to our instructions, and general, we really feel that the Asus Zenbook is without doubt one of the best Ultrabooks available on the market and an amazing option to swimsuit most computing wants.
The most important concern proper now, although, is its availability, and that is a disgrace. It isn’t effectively stocked on-line, and the one place we have seen it on sale within the US is Greatest Purchase, and at present it’s bought on the market.
Hopefully we’ll see extra of this laptop computer on retailer cabinets each bodily and digital, however given the provision chain issues, we’re previous being shocked by restricted availability.
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED: Worth and availability
- How a lot does it price? $1,299 / about £1,039 / AU$1,870
- When is it out? It’s accessible now by Greatest Purchase within the US
- The place are you able to get it? Out there within the US; UK and Australia availability to return
Spec Sheet
Right here is the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED configuration despatched to TechRadar for evaluate:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 6800U
Graphics: AMD Radeon 680M Graphics
RAM: 16GB LPDDR5
Display screen: 13.3 inches, 2.8K OLED
Storage: 512GB SSD
Ports: (3) Three USB-C ports, (1) One 3.5mm audio port
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E with Gig+ efficiency (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.2
Digital camera: 3DNR 720p
Weight:
Measurement (W x D x H): 11.68 x 8.27 x 0.59 in | 296.70 x 210 x 14.9 mm
The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED is out there for buy within the US by Greatest Purchase, however that appears to be the one retailer at the moment that’s carrying this mannequin, and even then it’s bought out on-line. UK and Australian patrons might need to attend some time longer earlier than this laptop computer involves these areas.
Asus has indicated that, when accessible, the Zenbook S 13 OLED collection will focus on 5 configurations, together with your least costly possibility together with a Ryzen 5 processor, 8 GB of RAM, 512 GB of reminiscence and a non-touchable show for $1,099 as a beginning MSRP.
The mannequin examined for evaluate had a Ryzen 7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512 GB of reminiscence and a contact/stylus display accessible for $1,299 as a beginning MSRP. Essentially the most highly effective of those configurations will make the most of a Ryzen 7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 1 TB of reminiscence and a contact/stylus display for $1,449 as a beginning MSRP.
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED: Design
- Beautiful OLED show
- Unbelievable, light-weight end and physique
The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED has a glossy design that makes use of a Magnesium-Aluminum alloy chassis that can simply match into your backpack or briefcase. When absolutely closed, it measures roughly 14.9 mm tall and weighs lower than 1 kg. The show is a touchscreen which measures 13.3 inches diagonally. For many who are curious in regards to the stylus capabilities, any Bluetooth succesful stylus ought to work with the Zenbook, such because the Asus Pen 2.0 which is out there on the Asus web site.
Asus additionally likes to preserve house on its laptops. The Zenbook is not any exception because it incorporates the Asus NumberPad 2.0 into the touchpad of the unit. When you get used to it, it looks as if a smart move. Holding your finger on the highest proper of the touchpad (on the keypad icon) brings up the Asus NumberPad.
The Zenbook does an excellent job of deciphering between unintended brushes of your hand and bonafide makes an attempt to open the ten key NumberPad. As soon as we bought used to it, it labored very effectively, each time. The departure of the standard tenkey numpad permits for more room to include a full sized keyboard into the Zenbook’s body as an alternative of cramming in a miniature keyboard that nobody likes.
The result’s a condensed but user-friendly keyboard that slims down the dimensions of the whole Zenbook into a really snug, but environment friendly design.
The important thing caps on the keyboard itself are “dished” as Asus likes to place it. With a easy 0.2mm scallop of the important thing cap, your fingertips will discover typing to be a pleasurable expertise. The keys function about 1.4mm of journey till contact with a rubber dome that’s answerable for giving the keystroke a “tactile bump,” meant to duplicate the resistance of typing on normal keyboards.
Newer laptop computer keyboards with out these options sometimes lead to a softer keystroke which many customers don’t like. It’s good to see that Asus has responded to person criticisms. The Zenbook incorporates newer structure into the keyboard that makes typing really feel snug.
The Zenbook’s stereo audio is powered by the Asus “Quadspeakers” that are licensed by Harman/Kardon and have Dolby Atmos know-how. The audio system are situated on the underside of the laptop computer to the left and proper. The webcam on the Zenbook is superb. Asus has integrated “3DNR” know-how to make sure glorious video seize, however extra on this later.
There’s not a lot room for ports on Ultrabooks, however the Zenbook has three USB-C ports (one which can typically be used for the ability adapter) and one 3.5mm audio jack. Fortunately, the USB-C ports are distributed with two ports on the appropriate aspect and one on the left aspect. The USB-C energy adapter cable included with the Zenbook, takes up little or no room. Subsequently, it’s simple sufficient to connect the ability connection in a single USB-C port proper subsequent to a USB-C dongle within the port subsequent to it (on the appropriate aspect), with out a lot fear over whether or not there’s sufficient room to suit each.
The Zenbook is available in 4 colours: Ponder Blue, Refined White, Aqua Celadon and Vestige Beige.
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED: Efficiency
- Respectable gaming efficiency
- Ray tracing on an ultrabook. Not nice ray tracing, true, however it will probably do it no less than
The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED performs splendidly throughout almost all metrics. The 13.3 inch show appears greater than it truly is, and the OLED show incorporates a 16:10 side ratio and a display decision of 2880x1800p, including as much as over 5 million pixels.
You’ll have to cut back the decision in your video choices to get the latest video games to play repeatedly at 30fps, since titles like Godfall require large processing energy to play at greater body charges. Nonetheless, a fast discount of the sport’s video settings allowed me to play Sniper Elite 4 and Godfall with only a few points.
The Zenbook boasts a peak brightness of 550 nits, a colour depth of as much as 1.07 billion colours and a display refresh fee of 60Hz, and throughout you are going to be laborious pressed beating this efficiency at this value within the Ultrabook market.
Benchmarks
Right here is how the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED carried out in our suite of benchmark tests:
Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 8,696
3DMark Port Royal: 847; Time Spy: 2,344; Fireplace Strike: 5,524; Night time Raid: 21,326
GeekBench 5: 1,447 (single-core); 7,274 (multi-core)
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 7:28
Battery Life (TechRadar film take a look at): 12:40
The audio for the Zenbook is stable contemplating there’s not a lot room to position stereo audio system in a 14mm chassis. Subsequently, the audio system won’t get a lot bass response in your audio combine, however mids and highs are projected effectively. That’s to be anticipated from any Ultrabook although.
Nonetheless, while you’re utilizing headphones, you possibly can hear the magic of the Harmon/Kardon audio kicking in because the Zenbook recreates sound identical to it was meant to be heard. Video games, films and even video conferences sound improbable. There’s additionally Dolby Atmos assist should you join into Encompass sound or Dolby Atmos audio displays for gaming or watching films.
The webcam might be some of the essential choices of any Ultrabook, as a consequence of its frequent use in enterprise and schooling, and the Zenbook’s webcam is an actual winner. Asus makes use of what it calls “3D Noise Discount (“3DNR”) know-how to wash up the picture high quality of the Zenbook’s webcam. We will solely guess that it does so by monitoring and adjusting the sensitivity of the sunshine sensor when the webcam captures the picture or video. Very like the ISO settings on a DSLR digital camera.
We’re not certified to elucidate how the 3DNR algorithm works its magic (that’s a flowery method of claiming that “we don’t know”), however we did discover that when utilizing the Zenbook throughout Zoom conferences, the Zenbook’s picture was extremely clear and vibrant.
The mannequin that we examined included 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of SSD storage, which meant that loading occasions have been very quick. There was barely any hesitation or decelerate until we have been actually pushing a recreation’s video decision to the max. There was no fan noise that we may hear throughout our testing. Our solely criticism could be that we seen that if left working and positioned in a good atmosphere, similar to a bookbag, the Zenbook would get a bit heat.
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED: Battery Life
- Somewhat respectable battery life, given the {hardware}
- Simply will get a full workday’s quantity of battery life
The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED puzzled us with its battery life. Boasting a 67 Whr battery life, we anticipated nice outcomes from the Zenbook. So, we unplugged the Zenbook and ran a film on a steady loop at 50% brightness till the battery ran out of juice. We did this quite a few occasions. The typical that we bought for this little Zenbook was a whopping 12 hours and 40 minutes of battery time. That is nice efficiency on this value vary.
We ran a separate battery life take a look at for the Zenbook utilizing the PCMark 10 benchmark, and the common consequence for these checks was seven hours and 28 minutes, a moderately substantial five-hour distinction between two totally different battery checks.
Asus boasts 19 hours of battery life for the Zenbook 13 S OLED. If utilizing the Zenbook 13 S OLED for varsity or work with the “Battery Saver” operate turned on, then it would get 19 hours of battery life on a single cost. Battery efficiency goes to fluctuate relying on the sorts of applications you’re utilizing, so it’s definitely potential. That stated, for normal use instances, between eight to 12 hours of battery life is respectable.
Ought to I purchase an Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED?
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
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