Asus is stretching the boundaries of what’s attainable with skinny and lightweight moveable PCs, and the 2023 Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED units a excessive bar for what’s attainable in an ultraportable. The pc weighs in at simply 2.2 lbs, and it’s solely 0.39 inches thick — sufficiently small that it’s a negligible addition to any backpack or journey bag, whereas providing a number of energy to assist fulfill the workload necessities of a overwhelming majority of individuals.
Fundamentals
The Zenbook S 13 OLED for this yr resembles the one which Asus launched in 2022, however comes with sufficient vital variations that they’re actually pretty distinct machines. The most important distinction is arguably the processor, for the reason that 2023 model makes use of a thirteenth Gen Intel Core i7 processor and final yr’s model sports activities an AMD Ryzen 7 6800 CPU. The opposite main distinction comes within the case, which has a slimmer backside half, which necessitated a keyboard change. The show on the 2023 model additionally doesn’t assist pen or contact enter, whereas the Ryzen-powered 2022 Zenbook S does.
It’s somewhat bit costlier than the Ryzen model was, beginning at $1,399 reasonably than $1,299, however $100 distinction isn’t actually vital and you continue to get a number of laptop for the worth.
Picture Credit: Darrell Etherington
The change to Intel means you additionally get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, vs. the USB 3.0 C-type ports on the final model. There’s additionally one USB A port, a full dimension HDMI connector and a 3.5mm audio jack. The trackpad is greater — I’d name it downright expansive now — however it does drop the nifty trick of earlier Zenbooks of getting the trackpad double as a numpad by way of a capacitive button press.
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Asus estimates battery life for the 2023 Zenbook S 13 OLED at as much as 14 hours, however after all that’s going to rely upon what you’re doing with it (extra on the way it really fares within the efficiency part under). The two.8K HDR OLED show is able to a max brightness of 550 nits, and it affords 100% DCI-P3 coloration gamut protection. Within the field, you get a 65w USB charger, and a sleeve-style case for additional safety.
Design and construct
Asus has finished an important job with the aesthetics of the Zenbook lineup over the previous couple of years, and the 2023 Zenbook S 13 OLED isn’t any exception. It options an attention grabbing, contrast-colored prime case that has a end that evokes a matte patterned rock, and the palmrest and keyboard encompass are product of a recycled magnesium-aluminum alloy that feels nice to the touch. That is already the one PC pocket book that I’ve obtained compliments from observers about, which says quite a bit in regards to the design decisions made right here on a purely superficial stage.
Regardless of being so skinny and lightweight, the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED additionally nonetheless feels remarkably sturdy and strong. Asus says it meets US MIL-STD-810H military-grade requirements for sturdiness, and whereas I didn’t put it by way of wherever close to that form of rigorous testing, I can attest that it stook up remarkably effectively to each indoor and outside house use, in addition to to journey with none additional effort given to defending or babying it throughout transit.
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The port loadout right here is fairly superb, with a spread of choices for equipment new and outdated. If there was something to complain about right here, it’d be the dearth of an SD or microSD slot, however that’s comprehensible given how a lot focus Asus positioned on making this the thinnest and lightest laptop computer attainable. Talking of that, it’s actually outstanding to choose this factor up and see simply how mild it’s: It even makes final yr’s mannequin really feel a bit cumbersome, even if it’s solely about 0.13 lbs heavier.
Options and efficiency
The thirteenth gen Intel chip powering the 2023 Zenbook S 13 gives loads of pep, and it comes with 16GB of onboard reminiscence and a quick 1TB SSD so it’ll by no means really feel pokey. the trade-off for the ability comes within the type of warmth, which Asus largely successfully dissipates with the onboard fan system. ‘Principally’ being the important thing phrase, nevertheless. The pocket book can get fairly scorching, particularly across the again prime center of the underside panel, and that may be scorching sufficient that you just would possibly expertise some discomfort utilizing it as an precise laptop computer whereas carrying shorts. The warmth appears solely to be short-lived even when it does construct up, nevertheless, even when utilizing a extra performance-oriented energy profile and utilizing an utility like Photoshop in addition to a number of browser tabs.
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The place some customers may need extra of an issue is with the fan noise: The 2023 Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED can sadly make fairly a little bit of it, and it’s not a lot that it’s loud, however that it’s pretty high-pitched. In a quiet room, this can lead to a fairly noticeable whine, which is probably not superb both for the person or for anybody sitting in shut proximity to them. The excellent news is that you probably have any respectable stage of ambient noise in any respect – if you happen to’re at a espresso store or open air, as an illustration, the noise primarily disappears totally.
These points are clearly going to be extra of an issue for anybody who goals to make use of this laptop for gaming, graphics work or the rest that’s going to tax the processor or built-in GPU: I took it on just a few work journeys and used it throughout 5 and 6 hour flights for my commonplace workload, which consists primarily of browser tabs and Photoshop, and didn’t have any problem with the noise in these settings.
The Zenbook did have spectacular battery life — underneath real-world use circumstances, I clearly wasn’t getting 13 hours, however I used to be getting round 10 on common which is greater than sufficient for a piece and play laptop computer.
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Backside line
For me, the 2023 Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED could be very almost the proper all-around PC — it’s simply the perfect for touring, given its slim type issue and decently long-lived battery, together with that tremendous, beautiful show, It transitions completely between knocking out emails and spreadsheets, and streaming Netflix or Disney+ reveals in vivid, stunning, vibrant coloration with full Dolby Imaginative and prescient assist.
As an proprietor of the Ryzen-powered 2022 mannequin, there are some issues I miss about that model, together with much less noticeable fan noise, contact and pen enter, and keys with deeper keystroke depth. However this model provides quite a bit, together with the flexibility to connect with Thunderbolt 4 equipment together with exterior GPUs, and it takes the cake in relation to pure portability.