a pleasant Home windows laptop computer that packs a punch

Asus’ Zenbook laptop computer lineup has a storied historical past with its selection of thin-and-light Windows 11 PCs. Now, the Asus Zenbook S 14, the most recent member of the product household, has hit the cabinets.

Windows 11 performed a job in reinvigorating the considerably stagnant PC market, and in 2024, competition from the likes of Dell, HP, Surface, and others is fierce. The query right here is whether or not Asus’ new 14-inch pocket book, mixed with a brand-new Intel chip, is worthy of standing alongside the very best of the very best. I took the Zenbook S 14 out for a spin to search out out.

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Editor’s Alternative

Asus Zenbook S 14

A skinny-and-light Home windows 11 laptop computer that ships with the newest Intel Core Extremely 7 (Collection 2) processor and a 14-inch 3K OLED show.

Execs

• Bodily effectively constructed
• One-handed lid operation
• Consists of Home windows Whats up and Presence Sensing

Cons

• No haptic trackpad
• The USB-C ports are each on the one facet
• AI-ready processor, however not a lot AI to talk of

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Worth, availability, and specs

The Asus Zenbook S 14 is a 14-inch laptop computer, however its footprint would have you ever consider it is packing a 13-inch panel. The gadget is available in at 12.26 x 8.42 x 0.47 ~ 0.51-inches (31.15 x 21.39 x 1.19 ~ 1.29cm) dimensions throughout the board. The wedge-shaped design makes it such that the laptop computer tapers down barely, from 0.51-inches at its thickest, to 0.47-inches at its thinnest. This, together with its 2.65lbs (1.20kg) weight, makes the pocket book svelte and straightforward to maneuver.

The star of any trendy laptop computer is its show, and the Zenbook S 14 would not disappoint — Asus has outfitted the gadget with a 14-inch 2880 x 1800 pixel decision OLED panel, full with a quick 120Hz refresh charge, 500nits of peak HDR brightness, and a contact display configuration with help for each pen and inking.

Below the hood you will discover one in every of Intel’s newest chips, upwardly configurable to the Intel Core Extremely 7 (Collection 2). That is an x86 processor, which suggests it gives full compatibility with the breadth of Home windows purposes and legacy packages. That is in distinction to the ARM architecture-based Snapdragon X processor present in choices like Asus’ personal ProArt PZ13 hybrid PC.

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Relating to port choice, the Zenbook gives a good assortment of choices. The twin Thunderbolt 4 USB Sort-C sockets are naturally welcome, as is the extra USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-A port for interfacing with legacy peripherals. An HDMI 2.1 port is right here for straightforward exterior show connectivity, and there is a 3.5mm headphone jack on board as effectively.

With an MSRP of $1,500, the Zenbook S 14 is accessible in Zumaia grey and Scandinavian white colorways, and ships with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

What I preferred concerning the Asus Zenbook S 14

The laptop computer’s ‘Ceraluminum’ lid materials lives as much as the hype

From an exterior perspective, the Zenbook S 14 is a stunner. The clear strains, steel chassis, and design language minimalism are all proper up my alley, and I respect that Asus has tried to craft one thing visually distinct from Apple’s MacBook and Microsoft’s Floor. The highest lid is fabricated from a ceramic materials that Asus affectionately refers to as ‘Ceraluminum,’ and it feels each bit as nice because it seems.

The corporate describes the hybrid materials as providing each the resilience of ceramic and the lightness of steel, and the delicate geometric sample provides a splash of character into the combination with out coming throughout as gaudy. I examined the Zumaia grey model, which I discovered collected fingerprints fairly simply. When you’re trying to keep away from the necessity to wipe down the gadget with a microfiber fabric to maintain it trying pristine, the Scandinavian white mannequin may fare higher.

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The laptop computer passes the lid-opening take a look at with flying colours, as effectively. Time and time once more, I used to be capable of carry open the lid with a single finger, with out the remainder of the pocket book shifting or stopping simple hinge motion. The military-grade US MIL-STD 810H commonplace certification signifies that that is additionally a reasonably ruggedly designed PC, having undergone stress checks below excessive and low temperatures, extra humidity, vibration and shock, in addition to excessive angle situations.

As soon as I satisfyingly swung open the lid, I used to be greeted by a brilliant and delightful OLED show panel. The display might be my favourite side of the Zenbook S 14 — colours pop, brightness is passable even in brightly lit environments, and the 120Hz refresh charge makes Home windows 11 appear and feel fluid. I am blissful to report that Asus opted for a 16:10 side ratio right here, versus a extra commonplace (and cheaper) 16:9 widescreen panel. The added vertical actual property is indispensable in relation to workplace work, which I do lots of in my every day life.

Asus has matched the engaging OLED show panel with a reasonably first rate speaker setup, incorporating 2 tweeters and a couple of woofers for immersion, in addition to each Harman Kardon and Dolby Atmos certifications. The previous is a stamp of approval from audio specialists to make sure the standard of audio loudness and depth, whereas the latter is meant to broaden the digital encompass sound expertise. I discovered the audio output to be moderately loud and clear by thin-and-light laptop computer requirements, through which area constraints are inclined to make it difficult to embed a high-quality speaker system in.

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I am an enormous fan of Windows Hello facial security recognition, which the Zenbook S 14 manages to squeeze into its small high show bezel. The inclusion of Presence Sensing {hardware} is one other optimistic, which permits for the display to dynamically activate and off primarily based on whether or not I am sitting at my desk. Home windows 11 gives native help for the characteristic, and I hope to see it grow to be commonplace throughout the PC {industry} sooner fairly than later.

The brand new Intel Core Extremely 9 (Collection 2) processor carried out effectively in my testing, maintaining with all of the duties I usually threw at it. For reference, the gadget achieved a Geekbench 6 rating of 1,384 in single-core and seven,536 in multi-core. As is the case with different skinny shopper laptops, the Zenbook S 14 is not finest suited to graphically intensive gaming classes or hardcore video enhancing. It’s going to carry out simply tremendous for lighter video games and enhancing wants, however actually, it is not constructed with these duties in thoughts.

The laptop computer runs quietly below basic workloads — Asus quotes below 25dB throughout gentle workloads. There is a vapor chamber below the hood, in addition to a novel geometric fan grill design donning the area straight above the keyboard deck. In addition to trying visually distinct, the cooling vent design guarantees enhanced air circulate effectivity. Even throughout extra average workloads, with loads of Google Chrome tabs open and media streaming within the background, the twin followers remained barely audible to me.

For workplace work, together with phrase and spreadsheet processing, the Zenbook S 14’s keyboard gives a nice typing expertise. The 1.1mm journey distance of the keys was comfy for longer typing classes, and I discovered the steadiness between clickiness and springiness to be a great one.

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What I did not like concerning the Asus Zenbook S 14

The trackpad is ok, however it considerably lets down the in any other case premium consumer expertise

Whereas the keyboard could also be fairly nice general, the Zenbook S 14’s trackpad is extra of a blended bag. It is good and huge, and completely correct in relation to gesture efficiency, however I can not assist however want it was powered by haptics as an alternative of a bodily diving board mechanism. Haptic suggestions actually elevates the laptop computer expertise in my eyes, and I really feel it might have been well-suited on a tool of this caliber. The present click on sensation is sort of good by conventional trackpad requirements, however it will possibly’t maintain a candle to what ships on a post-2015 Macbook or on a Floor Laptop computer 7, for instance.

The port choice is fairly nice on the Zenbook S 14, and the Thunderbolt 4 ports are able to a formidable 40Gbps of knowledge bandwidth. In actual phrases, this implies the laptop computer might be hooked as much as 2 exterior 4k displays on the similar time with out placing up a fuss. A minor quibble, however one value noting regardless: as with many different PCs, each USB-C ports are positioned on the identical facet of the gadget. Relating to handy charging and peripheral enlargement, having one port on both facet is just much more splendid.

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The laptop computer ships with a 65W USB-C charging adapter, and the unit is powered by a 72Wh energy pack. Asus says the gadget gives all-day battery life, and I discovered that for my private work circulate, this was usually the case. Intel’s newest chips are considerably extra power-efficient than earlier generations, however they nonetheless aren’t fairly on the similar degree as ARM-based processors. Battery life and top-up speeds have been each good, however definitely not industry-leading.

After which there’s synthetic intelligence — the Intel chip throughout the pocket book touts a neural processing unit (NPU) able to as much as 47 trillion operations per second (TOPS), which is in the identical ballpark because the 45 TOPS output of the competing Snapdragon X processor platform. That being mentioned, Home windows 11 would not leverage this newfound AI energy in lots of significant methods, even when accounting for Microsoft’s current Copilot+ AI PC initiatives.

The Zenbook S 14 will finally be receiving the upcoming Windows Timeline feature for AI-based snapshot indexing, and at launch it gives some primary Windows Studio camera tools for blurring out backgrounds and the like. The NPU does future-proof the gadget to a level, and it is good to know that the {hardware} is able to regionally accelerated AI efficiency for purposes and new options down the street.

Outdoors of AI, the pocket book gives a reasonably commonplace Home windows 11 expertise. Asus ships the product with quite a lot of its built-in apps, together with StoryCube (a photograph and video gallery app), GlideX (a subscription-based display sharing app), in addition to the PC-management MyASUS and ScreenXpert utility packages. Relying in your mindset, you might discover these inclusions helpful, or you might really feel that they merely add muddle to the consumer expertise. Fortunately, it is easy sufficient to easily delete these apps in the event you’re like me, and don’t desire them taking over any area.

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Do you have to purchase the Asus Zenbook S 14?

If you need a thin-and-light Home windows 11 PC that is constructed effectively and natively helps Intel x86 apps, then the Zenbook S 14 is worthy of consideration

Total, Asus’ new Zenbook S 14 is a very strong 14-inch thin-and-light Home windows 11 laptop computer. The construct high quality and aesthetic design is arguably top-notch, the port choice is pretty beneficiant, and it gives additional quality-of-life additions like Home windows Whats up and Presense Sensing expertise.

The OLED show is engaging, and it is bordered by skinny bezels that make the gadget really feel modern and high-end. Whereas the keyboard was a pleasure to kind away on, I discovered myself eager for a haptic trackpad all through my total time with the pocket book.

New Intel-based PCs together with the Zenbook S 14 take an enormous step-up by way of energy effectivity, and I by no means discovered myself sad with battery life throughout common use. Nonetheless, by way of sheer effectivity, ARM-based Snapdragon X-based choices have Intel barely crushed.

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When you’re available in the market for a premium Home windows laptop computer, and do not thoughts (or also have a choice for) Intel x86-based computing structure and its associated app compatibilities, then the Asus Zenbook S 14 is totally worthy of consideration.

This gadget was offered to Pocket-lint by Asus.

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Editor’s Alternative

Asus Zenbook S 14