Asus’s New Zenbook S 13 OLED Will Make MacBook Air Owners Envious

Asus introduced a pair of Zenbook laptops right now, and one, particularly, has my consideration. Revealed alongside the Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED, the Zenbook S 13 OLED (UM5302) is an ultra-sleek clamshell laptop computer with AMD CPUs and an OLED show. That’s all nicely and good, however what actually holds my gaze is the Zenbook S 13’s svelte design and people beautiful colours.

Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED: Elegant chassis, OLED show

Just have a look at this factor (see pic above). It has a easy, understated design, however not like so many different drab laptops, pops of colour hold the S 13 OLED from disappearing in a crowd of silver and grey. Those engaging however awkwardly named colours are “Ponder Blue,” “Aqua Celadon,” “Refined White,” and “Vestige Beige.” By the way in which, in case you’re an Apple consumer, this might be one thing of a sneak peek on the subsequent MacBook Air, which is rumored to return in the identical colours because the iMac.

I additionally need to shout out Asus’s new “Monogram” Zenbook emblem, which is begging to be in comparison with the Starfleet Command insignia. The Zenbook line didn’t actually have a emblem; its lids have been adorned with generic “Asus” branding in previous fashions, so this can be a particular improve. Better but, the magnesium-aluminum alloy unibody chassis is each bit as modern because it appears within the footage, measuring 0.58 inches and weighing 2.2 kilos (2.4 kilos for the touchscreen model). That’s tremendous transportable, even in comparison with the MacBook Air (0.62 inches, 2.8 kilos) and Dell XPS 13 (0.58 inches, 2.6 kilos).

Another good characteristic is the ErgoLift hinge, which permits the show to rotate 180 levels so you will get the optimum viewing angle whenever you’re lounging awkwardly on the sofa or utilizing these tragically tiny airplane trays. Even extra distinctive is the elective NumberPad 2.0, Asus’s LED-illuminated numeric keypad that, when enabled, is overlayed on prime of the touchpad. Neither of those are new to Zenbook, however they nonetheless assist it stand out.

As feared, port choice is slim: three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports and a headphone jack. Thunderbolt 4 is off the desk, with this being an AMD-powered machine (although we might see TB4 on AMD systems soon).

Complementing the attractive design is a 13.3-inch, 2.8K (2800 x 1800-pixel) 16:10 OLED HDR touchscreen with a “NanoEdge” design, which means the bezels have been trimmed round all 4 edges. This being OLED, you possibly can anticipate saturated colours, excellent black ranges, and near-infinite distinction ratios. Asus can also be promising 550 nits of peak brightness, and its Pantone Validated badge ought to imply correct colours out of the field. If there’s one draw back, it’s the 60Hz refresh price.

Asus has tapped AMD for the internals on this one, with the Zenbook S 13 OLED working on as much as a Ryzen 7 6800U CPU paired with as much as 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB of NVMe M.2 SSD storage. This Zenbook isn’t meant for gaming, so Asus didn’t attempt stuffing a discrete GPU inside; as a substitute, it depends on built-in Radeon 680M or 660M graphics.

I wouldn’t learn an excessive amount of into this, however Asus is promising as much as 19 hours of battery life out of the Zenbook S 13 OLED’s 67Wh battery. I’ll consider it after I see it. Asus didn’t say the way it examined the system, however I can assure we gained’t get close to these runtimes once we put it by our personal regime.

Zenbook Pro 15 Flip: More energy, extra OLED

If you want extra energy, Asus additionally revealed right now the Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED. It’s a mouthful to say, I do know, however the gist is that that is Asus’s premium ultra-thin convertible laptop computer (excluding multi-display methods and foldables).

Much just like the Zenbook S 13, the Pro 15 Flip may be geared up with a 2.8K (2880 x 1620) OLED show, besides this one is 15.6 inches giant and bumps the refresh price as much as 120Hz. At 0.74 inches thick and 4 kilos, this laptop computer isn’t as modern because the S 13 OLED, nevertheless it packs a much bigger punch because of its Intel twelfth Gen Core i7-12700H CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and 1TB SSD.

Here’s the kicker, although: Asus is taking the plunge and equipping the Zenbook Pro 15 with an intel Arc A370M graphics card. You can learn extra about Intel’s Arc Graphics in my earlier writeup, however the backside line is that that is an entry-level part designed to provide transportable methods the efficiency wanted to play most fashionable video games at 1080p. It isn’t meant to compete in opposition to AMD or Nvidia options.

The Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED has a single-zone RGB keyboard, helps Asus’s new Pen 2.0, and comes with an IR digital camera for straightforward login. There aren’t any battery life rankings for this one, so we’ll simply have to seek out out ourselves once we take a look at the massive 96Wh cell. As for ports, you get two Thunderbolt 4 inputs, a USB Type-A port, an HDMI 2.0 connection, and a headphone jack.

Asus hasn’t introduced pricing or availability for both mannequin. We’re anticipating them to begin at round or above $1,000. We’ll replace this text as soon as we study extra. Until then, all we are able to do is hope these Zenbook S 13 OLED colours can be found in your area.