Asus zenbook s14 review?
We have all been waiting for quite some time for Intel to finally capture the chip dominance of Apple or else compete with lesser impact. And then Qvalacom surprised everyone with its flagship smartphone, one of the elite chips. However, compatibility related problems arose because Windows is still not fully optimized for Arm.
Windows is primarily on the x86 platform and Intel is fighting the core of its upcoming generation with Ultra Series 2, which we are also knowing as a joke. These chips promise to bring x86 compatibility along with the benefits known to Snapdragon 835: excellent sitting life, strong AI capabilities, impressive silent performance, and lots of protection.
To test the claims made by Intel, we’re using the ZenBook S14 powered by the Lonar Lake chipset. After a few weeks of testing, it’s clear this is one of the best-producing laptops I’ve used. But this review is not just about the lunar leak chip. We will discuss everything from display to
seating life and design.
Let’s get started:-
ASUS s14 zenbook review:- Design and build Quility.
I personally like the design of Asus Zenbook S14 and its design is quite impressive, it also has the new Asus logo on the back. I also like its boot-up screen a lot, which has smooth animations which make the gaming experience premium. On the other hand, the branding of the Asus Zenbook is a nice touch. The finish on the laptop is unique – soft and a bit like sandpaper – but it forms stains, which is frustrating as they need to be cleaned frequently. It’s made entirely from metal, which gives it a sturdy and premium feel.
However, I have noticed that stains also form on the hemline over time, so that’s something to keep in mind. The Asus ZenBook S14 is impressively competitive, and its lightweight profile makes it incredibly portable. Weighing just 1.2 kilograms, you’ll hardly feel its weight, and its small profile – just 1.29 cm thick – enhances its appeal. Asus also claims that it is MIL-STD-810H military grade certified.
The vents are carefully and conveniently placed on the top of the keyboard, ensuring that the effect of heat is imperceptible. And if you wish, you can also open the laptop’s lid with just one finger, which adds a touch of convenience and premium feel to the sleek design.
The laptop comes with a sleeve in the box, which fits perfectly and offers extra protection while travelling. Its wedge-shaped design tapers from top to bottom, giving it a sleek and professional look. It has a 14-inch display with 16:10 aspect ratio, giving you extra screen real estate for stimulating and productivity tasks.
I/O:-
we talk about ports, Asus Zenbook S14 has a lot of options available. If you get 2x Winterbolt 4 Thai-seeyports (40 GHz), then it supports charging along with delivering full-featured power. Apart from this, there is a full-size E1.1 port that offers up to 4K at 60Hz output, while the Winterbolt 4 port offers up to 4K at 120Hz. There is also a headphone combo like feature.
Don’t you have a Yuesabee 3.2 gen? You will get 2 triple-E ports which support speeds up to 10GB, as I said,it is labeled as such. It would be better if Asus included a second Esabee-E port and had Yuesabee-Speech ports on both sides. Charging from just one side can be inconvenient at times.
Upon flipping the laptop over, you will get dual stereo speakers on the bottom side. The vents on the top are not speaker vents – they are cooling vents. At the top of the display, there is a 1080p web, but unfortunately, there is no scary enemy like any of the Asus laptops. The weight distribution of the laptops is also excellent.
Window hello:- here recognition
My introduction to the Asus Zenbook ES14 was a bit hit and miss, as I feel it had to be put on the right side to make it work. Personally, there is no way to sign it primarily and I think a fingerprint scanner would be a better option. I wish Asus would have given us the option to choose properly.
However, when the detection works, it is impressively fast. It also has automatic detection, so when you pass near the laptop, it wakes up and analyses itself. There is also an option to put it into sleep mode automatically or turn off the screen or trigger the screen saver if you are not seeing it. Hey Suvidha, she is working very well.
Upgradability:-
When it comes to updating it, you can’t upgrade much in the Asus Zenbook S14. The laptop has 32GB of RAM, which means it is fixed forever and can’t be updated – just like ARM fixed RAM viewers. However, there is a bit of flexibility with the storage. The device comes with a 512GB/1TB m.2 SSD, which you can update up to 2TB if needed. Keep in mind that you will have to replace your existing SSD as there is no option to add additional SSD.
ASUS zenbook s14 review:- Keyboard and trackpad Impression.
Now if we talk about the keyboard, the Asus Zenbook S14 Olide has 1.1mm of travel and tenakeeles slip. The typing experience is great – sharp and responsive – and out of all the keyboards I have used so far, this one is the best and my experience with it has been very good too. As such, I am not a fan of small keys, because they are small, although at least all of them are of the same size. I would have liked full-size keys. Another thing that I don’t like is the copilot key, so I changed it to a control by using Microsoft PowerToys. Apart from these small and big inconveniences, the experience of typing is wonderful.
The keyboard is also backlit, with three brightness levels to choose from. Once enabled in the MyASUS app, the keyboard backlight can automatically turn on or turn off according to the ambient lighting. It can even dim the keyboard similarly. The trackpad deserves special mention—it’s a full clickable glass trackpad and one of the best I’ve used. It’s highly responsive, and the gestures on ASUS laptops are quite useful.
However, I prefer Windows gestures, so I use the four-finger gestures to adjust volume. You can also use gestures for brightness or other controls if needed. The trackpad had no issues during my usage, and its size is decently large, too.
ASUS zenbook s14 review:- Display Quality.
Now if we talk about the display then the Asus Zenbook S14 will definitely impress. It has a 3K resolution plaid panel as big as 14 inches which provides very good clarity and lifelike colors. The pixel density is more than adequate so there are no complaints about the resolution or display quality.
Being an old display, it provides very good contrast and deep black colors. The display also has a 120 Hz refresh rate which is quite smooth. It also has an adaptive refresh rate if you want to give it a try. With a peak HDR brightness of 500 nits, the screen is bright enough for most indoor settings. Outdoors,
However, the bright finish takes a noticeable toll, making it a little challenging to use in direct sunlight. A mild finish option is more practical, but for indoor use, the brightness and clarity are more than adequate. The colours are vivid and accurate, and there are excellent viewing angles. 16:10 The first ratio is my personal favorite – it enables more spaciousness for production and video production. Overall, it is one of the best displays in this segment and is a pleasure to use for daily tasks.
Now, about the screens. While it is a nice addition, I found it disappointing. The reaction was not as understandable as I had expected, with some noticeable delays and jerks while scrolling. Also, the touchscreen feels more like a notebook because of the limited hinge design, which allows the display to be opened only up to 130 degrees. If the laptop had 360-degree hinge support or stiles, the screen would be more useful. As it is, I could not find any practical use for it. If you are considering this laptop only for the screen, you may be disappointed.
ASUS Zenbook s14 review:- Software.
You must be knowing that the Asus ZenBook S14 runs on Windows 11, and now even with heavy 25 to 40 tabs, the experience is quite good and fast. Overall performance is good, although it is also true that it does not match the Ryzen-powered versions, especially for high-end gaming. And I think it’s better to have a better life to compensate for it.
My Asus adds extra functionality by allowing you to monitor silent loading, seating health and memory usage, plus it offers 4 different display modes. You can also customize keyboard idle and toggle settings like custom refresh rate if you want.Management via smart connection, task priority etc. Any feature that comes with it includes upcoming features like task priority and recall, although they are not yet available. The co-pilot key is there but like I said, I’ve just re-designed it.
The my asus app also includes diagnostic tools so you can check any app, including driver and system apps, all in one place. This is very convenient for solving such problems and similar problems. And yes, you also get Microsoft Office 2021 for free along with the laptop.
ASUS zenbook s14 review:- Battery life and charging.
Now if we talk about the laptop then Asus Zenbook S14 OLED really impresses. It has a 72Wh battery which is a good size for a 14 inch laptop. The performance of Intel Chorai Ultra series 2 is remarkable. All the promises made by Intel turned out to be true. I got 12 to 15 hours of screen-on time consistently and I often did not need to charge it for 2 or 3 days which is great.
This is the best sitting life I have ever had on any windows laptop – on par with Snapdragon 8 Lite and much better than the new Ryzen 9 Series laptop. My usage included browsing, watching videos, typing files on WordPress, using WhatsApp and Telegram and even some video editing. Apart from that, sitting life has been awesome.As for charging, it took about 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours to charge the device from 0 to 100%, which I think is pretty good.
Charging is also pretty fast while charging the laptop. By the way, it supports 65W PD. I do have a few complaints about the included charger though. The Asus Zenbook S14 is still using the old brick-style charger, which feels old. I wish they had included a more modern PD (power delivering) charger like the standard adapter that comes with the phone and notebook. I tried using the PD charger I already had at home and it charged the laptop quite quickly. However, I got a warning on my laptop which said that the charging was not compatible. Apart from this, the charging speed was very good.
Asus zenbook s14 review:- Audio ,mic and webcam.
The Zenbook S 14 has stellar audio, boosted by four integrated Harmon Kardon speakers and augmented by Dolby Atmos audio. Dolby’s “dynamic” setting is on by default, which will carry you across the finish line as far as audio quality is concerned. (The “music” setting sounds a bit better, but not by much). Again, the MyAsus app hides a few settings that may be of interest. Using AI to adjust the speakers didn’t do much, but the volume booster control nudges the volume up a bit.
The AI mic control, though, continues to be really impressive. I’ve written before how Asus essentially filters out background noises, even music, almost perfectly from apps like Zoom or Teams using the CPU’s AI powers. If you do buy this notebook, try this out with a friend — it’s really remarkable. About the only knock on it is that it does cause your voice to sound somewhat hollow, and unless you start speaking immediately the tech might briefly and incorrectly “focus” on the background music instead.
The Zenbook’s integrated 1080p, 30Hz webcam is decent. The video quality is sharp enough that you’ll come across pretty well on a video-conferencing app. The color balance,
though, is hit or miss: my skin tone looked pretty normal, but my green shirt appeared brown. There are no physical slides or covers for the webcam, though Asus dedicated two function keys to turning off the webcam and mic. The webcam does have a depth camera attached, which is configured during setup to recognize your face. It worked flawlessly
in my experience.
Asus Zenbook S 14:- Specifications-
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Model number:- UX5406.
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Display:- 14-inch (2880×1800) touchscreen OLED up to 120Hz.
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Processor:- Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (eight cores, eight threads).
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Graphics:- Intel Arc Graphics.
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NPU:- Yes, 47 TOPS.
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Memory:- 32GB LPDDR5X, integrated.
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Storage:- 1 TB NVMe PCI 4.0 SSD (512GB as tested).
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Ports:- 2 USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), 1 10Gbps USB-A, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio jack.
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Security:- Windows Hello (camera).
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Camera:- 1080p30.
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Battery:- 72Wh (design), (71.9Wh (full, as tested).
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Wireless:- Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4.
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Operating system:- Windows 11 Home 24H2.
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Dimensions:- 12.22 x 8.45 x 0.47 inches.
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Weight:- 2.65 pounds.
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Color:- Scandinavian White, Zumaia Gray
Asus Zenbook S 14 review:- Pros & Cons
Pros
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A nice and unique feel and finish
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Excellent Battery Life
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Class leading graphics performance
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Lovely, surprisingly large OLED screen
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Great audio
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Appealing design and good build quality
Cons
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Multicore performance could be better
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Performance needs improvement, especially on battery
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Features like “smart gestures” are relatively pointless
