Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED review: That screen is banging!

Price When Reviewed

$1,399

Best Prices Today: Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED (2023)

It was that in an effort to get a laptop computer’s profile as skinny as potential, laptop computer makers must make huge sacrifices. An ideal instance for me is the unique 2008 MacEbook Air—this ultrabook whittled its ports down to 3, one USB, one charging port, and the headphone jack and used the identical gradual exhausting drives as an iPod, making it a irritating computing expertise regardless of the way you sliced it.

Thankfully, thin-and-light computer systems have come a great distance since 2008 and Asus has put out what appears to be like like a no-compromises system. It options the newest Intel Core 10-core chip and a stunning OLED display, which is all packed into a brilliant gentle body constituted of metallic and ceramic. On paper, it looks as if it might give even Apple’s honed Airs a run for his or her cash and save for a few gripes, that’s completely the case. Asus has designed one thrilling ultrabook.

Looking for extra choices? Check out our roundup of the best laptops accessible proper now.

Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED: Specs and options

Our assessment unit got here loaded with an Intel Core i7-1355U CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of NVMe PCIe SSD storage. For extra particulars, take a look at the bulleted record beneath:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-1355U (10 cores, 12 threads)
• Memory: 32 GB LPDDR5
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
• Display: 13.3-inch 2880×1800 16:10 OLED, 550 nits peak HDR brightness  
• Storage: 1 TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD
• Webcam: 1080p IR digital camera
• Connectivity:  2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB-A 3.1 Gen , 1x HDMI 2.1, 3.5 mm headset jack
• Networking: Intel AX211 with Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
• Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition
• Battery capability: 63Wh
• Dimensions: 11.66 W x 8.52 L x 0.46 H inches
• Weight: 2.2 kilos, 2.6 kilos with AC adapter
• Price as Reviewed: $1,399

Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED: Design and construct high quality

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

I’m not a snob about my computer systems—I’ve loved the whole lot from chunky machines constituted of recycled plastic to the newest thin-and-light fashions. That mentioned, taking the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED out of its field for the primary time was memorable. Its skinny profile and a couple of.2 lb weight make it really feel virtually faux at first, like a kind of show mannequin computer systems you’d discover at Ikea on the present flooring. But it’s not faux! This precise pc crams a keyboard, all its chips, a good-sized battery, and even its signature OLED show into a brilliant tiny bundle.

All of that may very well be a soggy noodle of a pc if not engineered correctly. Thankfully, I discovered little or no flex or wobble right here, exhibiting that Asus has executed a radical engineering job. Even the skinny display feels comparatively stout, and for all of the vigorous typing I might muster, I by no means felt the underside of the pc torque or pressure underneath the strain. Metal is the first materials at work right here, however the again of the show is a trendy ceramic materials with enticing engraved strains. It’s subtly eye-catching.

Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED: Connectivity

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

Recently, I sampled a extremely nice HP pc, the Dragonfly Pro. Maybe the worst side of that machine was its lack of ports, rocking solely a handful and solely the newest and best Thunderbolt or USB-C. But it’s necessary to keep in mind that there are nonetheless loads of equipment on the market that want devoted connectors, and that not everybody desires to switch all their completely good cables for USB-C ended ones. That’s why it’s so good to see that Asus has cut up the distinction with the Zenbook S 13 OLED. Not solely do you get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, with all their Swiss Army USB-C goodness (these are the one method to cost the pc). But that’s not all you get. There’s a headphone jack, an actual USB-A port, and an actual HDMI 2.1 port too.

While I can get by with adapters and dongles, it’s simply so good that I might plug the Zenbook S 13 OLED proper as much as a USB-A reminiscence card reader I had mendacity round. I used to be additionally capable of rapidly use my outdated Yubikey for two-factor authentication. To be sincere, despite the fact that I’m used to juggling new and outdated cables in my day-to-day, it’s refreshing to not have to fret if I grabbed the correct cable. Any USB cable will work!

With its Intel AX211 onboard WiFi, the Asus Zenbook S 13 offered a dependable web expertise, with nice reception even from the corners of my home the place some gadgets drop off. Along with WiFi 6E speeds (assuming you’ve a suitable router), you’ll get fashionable Bluetooth 5.3 as properly. There’s no mobile web choice, sadly.

Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED: Keyboard and trackpad

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

The distance a key travels usually dictates the consolation and responsiveness of a keyboard. Thankfully, the short-throw keys on this Asus really feel exact and cozy. They’re a bit clicky which I respect, leaving no query if you’ve pressed a key. The strain wanted to actuate every button solely wants a light-weight contact. Even for longer typing classes, my fingers by no means acquired fatigued and there wasn’t any sort of studying curve—I acquired my palms on the house row and away I went.

If I needed to level out any weak level with the Asus Zenbook, it may be the trackpad. Although I had a advantageous time with it, its use of a bodily clicker made it really feel a bit old-school when in comparison with some fashionable competitors. The MacEbook and even competing HP fashions could use a linear induction motor to offer a click on which I’d choose in a skinny pc like this. But hey, I’ve completely used worse trackpads on current PCs, so perhaps mediocre isn’t a horrible destiny. At least it’s responsive sufficient, appropriately ignored my palms whereas typing, and has a smooth-feeling glass materials as its contact floor.

Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED: Display, audio system, webcam

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

Not solely is the Zenbook S 13 OLED skinny as a finely-honed sword, this laptop computer sports activities an superior, high-res OLED panel. We’ll get into this a bit later however in my expertise, huge OLED laptop computer screens was costly and have a giant battery life penalty. Thankfully, neither of these appear to be a difficulty at this level, and the advantages outweigh any drawbacks.

The advantages are beautiful colours and extremely darkish blacks, making for a display with an general wealthy and sensible look. The peak brightness on this display is 500 nits when watching HDR content material. The excessive decision of the panel, 2880×1800, is usually an asset to the Zenbook, however I nonetheless bumped into some dialogue containers in Windows that didn’t scale correctly, wanting tiny on the display. Maybe the one draw back to this display is the dearth of a contact layer, one thing I missed simply since I exploit so many touch-enabled computer systems in my every day life. For lots of people that is removed from a deal breaker, and I’m right here to say that the vivid, constrast-y OLED display is a large improve from no matter LCDs you’ve tried up to now.

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

Perched atop the OLED display is a so-so webcam that’s a 1080p decision. I discovered that it made my pores and skin look washed out in direct gentle, and that it wasn’t very detailed general, however your mileage could fluctuate. Thankfully, the digital camera has Windows Hello integration, so you possibly can at the least log in hands-free, even if you happen to don’t look your greatest on Zoom calls.

In the premium laptop computer area, we count on punchy speaker programs. While the Zenbook S 13 OLED misses the mark on deep bass sounds and maybe has much less quantity than competing machines, the midrange is satisfyingly detailed. If you had been hoping to get room-filling sound, you’ll be disenchanted. But if you happen to occasionally use your laptop computer’s audio system or have a tendency in direction of spoken phrase content material, you’ll respect the audio system within the Zenbook S 13 OLED.

Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED: Performance

At this level in 2023, you’re going to see extra laptops like this Asus with the newest Intel 13th gen chips inside. While it’s not a giant leap above the earlier technology of processor, there’s nonetheless rather a lot to love right here. In our battery of assessments, the i7-1355U, with its two efficiency cores and 8 effectivity cores, provides this skinny laptop computer various muscle. But there’s undoubtedly a penalty for smooshing such a complicated processor right into a small area—fan noise. If you’re delicate to high-pitched noises, you’ll discover the followers as quickly as you begin one thing that taxes the processor. I believed it was considerably akin to a mosquito flying in my ear—it’s that skull-shatteringly piercing.

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

We benchmark each laptop computer with the PCMark 10 suite. This software program provides us an ideal baseline, utilizing on a regular basis duties to gauge a pc’s true efficiency. Unlike the AMD-powered rivals (just like the HP Dragonfly Pro on this chart), you’ll solely get a pair of high-powered cores, which places the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED behind these fashions. All that mentioned, the i7-1355U held its personal in opposition to older Intel chips, with its efficiency coming in solely barely behind performance-focused P-spec Intel chips from the earlier technology. Those laptops tended to run hotter and have worse battery life, so it’s good to see that there’s a significant efficiency improve year-over-year.

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

In this efficiency check, we use Cinebench R15 to get a way for a way properly all a laptop computer’s processors work collectively to render 3D graphics. The lack of high-performance cores didn’t assist the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED out right here because it’s bested by most different laptops in its class, however we’d guess that folks aren’t shopping for these ultraportable gadgets for heavy 3D rendering classes.

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

We’ve seen Intel’s built-in Iris Xe Graphics enhance considerably over time, and at this level you will get ok efficiency for easy duties. The 3DMark Time Spy benchmark we use is a torture check for these sort of laptops, however when in comparison with different comparable Intel-based machines you possibly can count on it to be aggressive. It’s nonetheless a far cry from AMD-based laptops with their stronger Radeon built-in graphics, however we weren’t anticipating this technology of Intel chips to enhance the graphics by a lot anyway.

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

We check each laptop computer by reencoding a high-res video file right into a small file meant for a pill system. It looks as if Intel’s put in a bit of labor into its QuickSync video expertise, as a result of the i7-1355U within the Zenbook S 13 OLED managed to match the extra highly effective AMD-based Dragonfly Pro on this check.

Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED: Battery life

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

As we talked about earlier, OLED screens in laptops was unhealthy information for battery life. But not right here—the Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED lasted greater than 10 hours in our 4K video looping check. That makes it aggressive with different current laptops we’ve seen on this class, just like the HP Dragonfly Pro, whereas being virtually a full pound lighter. It looks as if a extremely spectacular feat that this laptop computer might be so gentle, lots highly effective, but in addition final most of a day and not using a cost. Anecdotally, I misplaced round 9% over a half hour whereas utilizing this machine fairly intensely, with a YouTube video taking part in, the display brightness cranked up, and loads of tabs open in Microsoft Edge.

Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED: Bloatware

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

Although Asus comes near matching the MacEbook Air expertise with the Zenbook S 13 OLED, there’s one factor that the Mac does higher: you’re sure to get a clear set up of the working system. The Zenbook S 13 OLED got here preloaded with some actually annoying utilities, one that would even mess with the long-term operation of this pc’s superior OLED display.

As at all times, the worst offender was the included antivirus software program. McAfee wasted no time bullying me about “Early Bird” offers so I can get a low price locked in as soon as my trial expires. I perceive that the PC enterprise depends on kickbacks from these software program distributors, however for a premium laptop computer that is ridiculous. Putting scary messages, spinning clocks, and ticking countdown timers on the display merely leaves a foul style in my mouth, and I really feel unhealthy for anybody who has to take care of this sort of manipulative advertising.

Then there are the built-in Asus utilities. There’s a utility named GlideX that ought to allow you to lengthen the Zenbook’s show to a pill, however it makes customers subscribe for additional options and to take away show advertisements. Strangely, there’s additionally an app included referred to as ScreenXprt, which so far as I can inform builds on Windows 11’s already fairly nice window managing system, duplicates the digital camera and microphone off buttons from the keyboard, and lets customers add shortcuts to display snipping (which already has a keyboard command as properly). The worst a part of that is that’s sticks a clear emblem within the nook. As you might know, OLED screens might be significantly delicate to static graphics, which may burn in over time and this app might just do that. The MyASUS app, meant to offer customers help, despatched a notification telling me of some nice spring offers…no thanks!

Although the Asus {hardware} crew has put in nice work, the folks choosing out the software program really want to consider how these little issues can kill somebody’s buzz.

Asus Zenbook 13 S OLED: Should you purchase it?

2023 has been an ideal yr for PC laptops, even when folks aren’t shopping for them as ravenously as throughout earlier years. If you’ve been holding off a purchase order ready for improved chips, nicer screens, and nice battery life earlier than you improve, then Asus has put all of this stuff into a tool that has few compromises—the Zenbook S 13 OLED even has a, helpful choice of ports. If energy isn’t your precedence, this laptop computer might cowl all of the bases for typical sorts of labor, and its vivid OLED display is just beautiful for watching your favourite motion pictures or streaming exhibits.

Even the negatives listed here are fairly negligible…if I all I can complain about are the trackpad being a clicky button as a substitute of a motor (that’s a primary world downside for certain!), a slight whine from the followers, and a few bloatware that you would be able to simply and rapidly uninstall, then that claims rather a lot. Even for the $1,399 value, you get loads of storage, a future-proof quantity of RAM, and a really competent processor. The M2 MacEbook Air or Dell XPS 13 Plus, optioned out to the same tier, each price greater than $2,000. Simply put, the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED is a no brainer purchase.