I've tested hundreds of laptops. The Asus Zenbook S 16 has one of the most unique designs I've seen
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Asus’ Zenbook S 16 starts at $1,399 and affirms the brand as an industry leader in laptop design.
- It’s constructed from a unique material that allows it to be lightweight yet durable, while also housing a 3K display and strong hardware.
- However, the machine has an somewhat middling battery life and a tendency to run hot.
I’m always excited to go hands-on with new Asus laptops because I never know what I’m going to get. The brand puts a lot of effort into making each each model unique, with no two models being quite the same. Recently I had the opportunity to test the company’s Zenbook S 16 and two things stood out to me during my time with the device: its performance and design.
The device runs on the recently-released AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, alongside an integrated Radeon 880M GPU and 24GB of RAM. Additionally, it sports an AMD XDNA 2 NPU (neural processing unit) to further boost performance via artificial intelligence. There’s been a lot of hype surrounding this processor as it’s supposed to be AMD’s answer to Intel’s AI chips and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X, but is it better than its rivals?
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When it comes to general workloads, the Ryzen AI 9 failed to match the Snapdragon’s performance, according to the benchmarking tests I did. However, the Zenbook S 16 did much better on the graphics side, earning a top score of 24,327 on 3DMark‘s Sky Diver and 8,723 on PCMark‘s Digital Content Creation tests. These numbers tell me the device is a solid pick for image and video editing; maybe a bit of gaming as well.
Because of the hungry hardware, though, the battery isn’t particularly amazing. It lasts about 10 hours on a single charge, which is decent, but not as energy efficient as the Snapdragon X chip, which has set the bar pretty high since it first launched with the first round of Copilot+ PCs this summer.
I adore the display. It is a 16-inch 3K (2880 x 1800 pixels) OLED touchscreen that runs at a speedy refresh rate of 120Hz. The glass appears to be covered in an anti-fingerprint coating because no matter how many times I touched it, not a single smudge was left behind. Asus’ machine also covers the entire DCI-P3 color gamut, allowing it to show over a billion colors on screen at once.
It is even Pantone validated, meaning it displays all those shades with a high degree of accuracy. All of this is to say: it looks very pretty. And the visual fidelity is made even better thanks to the thin bezels surrounding the glass.
Asus designed this laptop well, resulting in one of the best-built computers of 2024. One of the first things you’ll notice when you pick it up is how sturdy yet lightweight it is. The Zenbook is made out of “ceraluminum”, a composite material made of ceramic and aluminum, a totally new approach as most laptops are made of aluminum, magnesium alloys, or plastic.
The material is primarily used in aerospace design due to its strength, scratch resistance, and lightness. All of which directly apply to this laptop (particularly the latter), as the Zenbook weighs just 3.3 pounds.
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I am also pleased to announce the laptop passes the one-finger test: it doesn’t budge an inch when the lid is lifted. You can place this on your lap and you don’t have to worry about it sliding off (although I don’t recommend doing this). The Zenbook S 16 can run uncomfortably warm.
The rubber foot on the bottom of the device doesn’t prop it up very high, so the heat expelled by the vents can stay trapped. It does have cooling fans, but under a heavy load, the device remained a high operating temp.
I wasn’t a big fan of the keyboard either. It wasn’t the worst typing experience, but I did find the keys too mushy for my tastes. They didn’t have the springy feel that I look for. Luckily, the trackpad makes up for it. It’s spacious, taking up about half of the wrist rest. What’s neat is it supports Smart Gestures: sliding your finger up and down on the right side, for example changes the display brightness while the left side controls volume.
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Of course, I cannot neglect to mention the awesome sound system. Asus gave this laptop Harman/Kardon speakers, enabling booming output. They even support Dolby Atmos for full audio immersion. The bass had a real punch to it and and the mid tones were crisp, especially for a laptop.
ZDNET’s buying advice
I recommend the Asus Zenbook S 16 to users who want a premium, lightweight laptop that transports well and has a gorgeous OLED display. Visual creatives in particular, will gravitate toward this device. AMD’s next-gen chipset provides solid performance, but it falls short in running as cool as other processors on the market, and its battery life is not the best.
Prices for the laptop start at $1,399. It is a little expensive, although I’d argue it’s well-priced for what you’re getting. If you want something more budget friendly, check out the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 which is currently on sale for $899 ($400 off the regular price).
