1/8
ASUS Zenbook S14 (2024)
ASUS Zenbook S 14 (2024) USB Type A Port
gorgeous ultraportable
When I reviewed the Zenbook 14 OLED a year ago, I couldn’t help but point out how dated it looked. It was virtually identical to ASUS’ laptops from 10 years ago (although the screen bezels were slimmer). Not so with the Zenbook S14. Made from a material ASUS calls “Cera Aluminum,” you’ll be impressed the moment you open the lid and touch it. As the name suggests, it’s a combination of ceramic and aluminum, giving it an almost eerie feel, somewhere between high-grade plastic and smooth metal. It’s still premium, but definitely different than most other laptops.
The combination of ceramic and aluminum is nothing new. According to ASUS, this is a popular option for aerospace and watch design. But I haven’t seen it implemented in a laptop yet. It’s not just about looks. The material also needs to be more durable than standard metal. The rest of the Zenbook 14 S’s body is made from a solid metal block, but ASUS has made some unique tweaks there as well. The bottom of the case features a geometric grille above the keyboard and consists of 2,715 circular cooling vents. ASUS claims this design enhances airflow while preventing dirt and dust from entering.
Photo credit: Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
The ASUS 14-inch 3K “Lumina” OLED display dominates the Zenbook S14 and provides everything you want from a modern laptop screen. It has a fast refresh rate of 120Hz and a peak brightness of 500 nits. Its bezels are relatively thin compared to older ASUS systems, but they’re still noticeably thicker than Dell’s latest InfinityEdge screens on the XPS 13 and 14. If ASUS could shave more of the bottom and side bezels, the system would look sleeker. But most importantly, the OLED display looks great, with tasteful black levels and colors that really pop off the screen.
The Zenbook S14 is surprisingly sturdy for a 14-inch laptop that weighs 2.65 pounds and is 0.47 inches thin. It’s slightly lighter than the latest 13-inch MacBook Air, thick as a hair, and feels just as sleek. Notably, it also offers more useful ports than Apple’s ultraportables. The S14 includes two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone jack, and even an old-school USB Type-A port. The only thing missing is Ethernet and an SD card slot.
Unfortunately, ASUS couldn’t get everything right with the Zenbook S14. Quad-speaker audio systems are practical, but the sound loses depth and detail when you turn up the volume. And while it’s nice to have a Windows Hello-compatible webcam for fast logins, the 1080p sensor is much grainier and less detailed than Dell’s XPS series or MacBook Air.
Photo credit: Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
The keyboard also feels like it’s usable, with almost no reaction while typing. This is especially disappointing since I’ve always had complaints about ASUS keyboards. At least the touchpad is large and responsive to swipes and multi-finger gestures. You can also slide your finger along the side of the touchpad to adjust volume and other settings.
In use: Functional, but no need to stress
Thanks to Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V chip, the Zenbook S14 felt impressively nimble from the get-go. In just a few minutes, I easily completed the Windows setup process, downloaded the latest updates, and installed the usual test programs. I didn’t break a sweat when I needed to move between apps like Spotify, Slack, and Evernote. I also didn’t notice any lag, which is common on Windows notebooks bogged down by third-party bloatware. He was always ready to get the job done.
PC mark 10
Geekbench 6 CPU
3DMark Wildlife Extreme
Cine bench 2024
ASUS Zenbook S14 (Intel Core Ultra 7 258V)
6,688 (basic test)
14,215 (applications)
2,569/10,442
7,158
121/482
Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ (Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite)
14,024 (applications)
2,621/14,194
6,191
122/748
Dell XPS 13 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Intel Arc)
6,806 (basic test)
2,276/11,490
4,579
90/453
Apple MacBook Air (M3)
Not applicable
3,190/12,102
8,310
141/490
In PCMark 10, the Zenbook S14 scored about the same as the previous generation Core Ultra 7 165H business Surface Laptop 7. It also matched the XPS 13 Copilot+ edition with the Snapdragon X Elite chip in the PCMark 10 application benchmark. The Zenbook’s multithreaded performance was noticeably worse than either machine in Geekbench 6, likely due to the reduced core count over this generation.
The biggest selling point of Intel’s Lunar Lake chips is their dramatically improved NPU (Neural Processing Unit), which delivers AI performance of up to 47 TOPS (trillions per second). By comparison, the previous Core Ultra chip’s NPU was significantly underperforming at 11 TOPS, while AMD’s new Ryzen AI chip can reach up to 50 TOPS. (More powerful Lunar Lake chips reach up to 48 TOPS.) Higher TOPS numbers mean Copilot+ PCs like the Zenbook S14 can handle demanding AI without impacting overall CPU performance. It means you can tackle your workloads even faster.
Unfortunately, as of this review, there aren’t a ton of AI features to test yet. Microsoft’s Copilot+ Windows 11 update for Intel and AMD systems won’t arrive until November, and even that only includes a beta version of the controversial Recall feature. It’s also difficult to find apps that take advantage of local NPU. Most entries in the Windows Store’s AI Hub rely on cloud AI processing.
Photo credit: Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
At least there’s Audacity’s OpenVino plugin, which Intel developed to show off its AI PC hardware. Although it offers NPU-powered features such as noise suppression and transcription, it also requires a complex setup process that can be confusing for those new to Audacity. Using only the NPU, we were able to completely remove the incessant jackhammer from a 5 minute clip in 1 minute and 8 seconds. This is not very fast in the world of audio editing (CPU rendering can process a noisy 90 minute file in 3 minutes and 30 seconds). Importantly, the NPU processes the same work with much less power. This can be important if you need to edit using batteries on a plane or in a remote location.
We’re also impressed with Intel’s latest Arc 140V GPU. This allows you to play Halo Infinite at 1080p at 35 fps to 45 fps on lower quality graphics settings. It’s far from a smooth experience, but it’s fascinating to see it from the integrated GPU. Intel’s graphics also scored well above the Snapdragon X Elite overall, especially in the Geekbench 6 GPU test.
Photo credit: Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Pricing and competition
ASUS launched the Zenbook S14 with a starting price of $1,500, but it’s already slightly discounted at Best Buy for $1,400. This configuration features a Core Ultra 7 chip, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. That’s not too shabby, considering the Snapdragon X Elite-powered XPS 13 Copilot+ system costs $1,800 with 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and an OLED display. The Zenbook also doesn’t have the compatibility issues typical of Snapdragon systems, which require emulating older Windows apps and can’t run many popular games at all.
As always, ASUS offers much more value than Apple. The MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD costs $1,700 and also has a 60Hz LCD screen.
summary
The Zenbook S14 focuses more on efficiency than raw power, but it’s still an incredible achievement for Intel, which has been notorious for its energy-hungry mobile chips. The Lunar Lake chip’s NPU enables the Zenbook to support Copilot+ and AI features, but its real selling points are its excellent battery life, sleek ASUS design, and gorgeous OLED display.
