I find myself constantly on the lookout for devices that combine performance with portability. As someone who travels quite frequently, I need a portable laptop with enough juice to assist in my day-to-day workflow while also being nice to look at while watching movies in my hotel room. The Asus Zenbook S 14 immediately caught my attention.
After spending over a week with this ultrabook, Asus is once again delivering a well-rounded laptop that stands tall among its competitors. It’s small package loads in a ton of quality-of-life perks, especially for users who prioritize mobility without compromising on power. It also puts the new Intel Lunar Lake chipset on display. The new Core Ultra 7 258V is loaded onto the device, and ready to be tested. Here’s what I discovered that makes the $1,799 Zenbook S 14 stand out.
The Zenbook S 14 is the first ultrathin 14-inch new-era ASUS AI PC. The first thing I notice about the Zenbook S 14 is its incredibly sleek design. The chassis of the Zenbook S 14 features the new Ceraluminum ceramic design. It’s minimalist but bold in a way. It immediately stands out amongst the typical matte blacks or silvers across other comparative ultrabooks. Plus, the finish on the chassis is fingerprint-resistant, maintaining a high degree of elegance. Weighing around 2 lbs, it feels feather-light in the hand. It’s a hair lighter than the current 13-inch MacBook Air, albeit a little bit thicker. Asus aimed to create something that’s both portable and visually appealing, and the company has succeeded.
Zenbook S 14 features a 14-inch 3K 120Hz ASUS Lumina OLED display. Under the hood, you’ll find the new Core Ultra 7 258V with an ultra-compact system-on-chip (SoC) design. As part of the Lunar Lake platform, Zenbook S 14’s processor features AI-powered capabilities (including Windows Copilot) bolstered by its NPU with up to 4 TOPS. There’s also up to 32GB LPDDR5X-8533 memory and 1TB storage options available. When looking at ports, you’ll find 2 Thunderbolt 4 Type C ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, USB-A 3.2 and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It’s also built to support Wi-Fi 7.
Chances are if you’re reading this, your day-to-day involves a fair bit of content consumption. Whether it’s streaming a series on Netflix, video editing, etc., the display on the Zenbook S 14 is quite beautiful. Asus is leveraging a 14-inch 3K OLED display, and it’s one of the best features of this ultrabook. The colours are incredibly vivid, thanks to its 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, which makes it perfect for garnering accurate colour representation across editing software. Whether you’re editing photos, watching movies, or even reading documents, the contrast is impressive, and the blacks are as deep as they get. Zenbook S 14 is also Pantone Validated and is spec’d out with VESA DisplayHDR 500 True Black.
One thing I appreciate is the 16:10 aspect ratio, giving you a bit more vertical space for multitasking. It’s a small detail but that extra room makes a big difference for someone like me who writes a ton and typically has two browser windows open next to one another. With its peak brightness of 500 nits, it performs well even in brightly lit environments, although outdoor use in direct sunlight is likely to muddy up some of the OLED’s visuals.
The Zenbook S 14 is the first device I’ve tested using Intel’s new Lunar Lake processor. For a laptop this thin, the performance is impressive. During my time with it, I threw a variety of tasks its way, from editing videos to handling multiple Chrome tabs while streaming 4K video, and it didn’t skip a beat. The Lunar Lake processor is designed for efficiency, which means it doesn’t consume as much power as some of Intel’s more performance-heavy chips. It’s also designed to handle AI-powered tasks and apps. This includes becoming a part of the Copilot+ PC platform. However, Zenbook S 14 won’t be inducted until Intel and AMD devices are updated in November. This also only accounts for the preview of the Recall feature. Currently, there are simply not enough compelling AI apps and tools to really put the NPU to use outside of some onboard generative AI functions.
The other major thing to consider is that Zenbook S 14 is by no means a gaming laptop. Zenbook S 14 has enough power to handle most day-to-day tasks with ease. The integrated Iris Xe graphics are fine for casual games but if you’re hoping to tackle more GPU-intensive tasks, you may be disappointed. You won’t be overclocking Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty on this machine or wanting to check out the recent port of God of War: Ragnarok on the Zenbook S 14. However, if you’re aiming to play smaller, indie games or run some games off the cloud, Zenbook S 14 will give you some decent milage.
One thing that did surprise me was how quiet the Zenbook S 14 runs. Even when I pushed the CPU during benchmark tests and multiple heavy apps running in tandem, the fans remained relatively quiet, and the laptop stayed cool. This is partially due to the cooling ventilation grille above the keyboard. The company claims this is designed to assist with enhanced airflow while keeping debris and crumbs out.
Outstanding battery life in a small package
One of my biggest concerns with ultra-thin laptops is battery life. Thankfully, Asus didn’t disappoint with the Zenbook S 14. The 71Wh battery delivered around 16 hours of usage on a single charge with mixed-use. This included web browsing, some light photo editing, and streaming on Disney+—exactly the kind of tasks I typically look at while travelling out of my home.
The combination of the efficient Intel processor and the OLED display helps contribute to this longer-lasting battery life. While charging, I’ve found the Zenbook S 14 is able to get from 0 percent to around 60% in roughly an hour. Certainly isn’t the fastest but it’ll be certicable if at an airport waiting to board your flight.
The Asus Zenbook S 14 strikes an impressive balance between form, function, and portability. Whether you’re a student, a creative professional, or someone who just needs a reliable rig for everyday tasks, Asus’ Zenbook S 14 delivers in spades. With its stunning OLED display, solid performance, and long battery life, I’m walking away from my experience impressed. It’s also a great little unit highlighting the Intel Lunar Lake processor. While there’s still work to be done on compelling AI apps, Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V is very serviceable as a mid-range processor with quite a lot of efficiency. The Asus Zenbook S 14 is available for $1,799.
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