ASUS Zenbook S14 evaluate: A showpiece for Intel’s Lunar Lake AI PC chips – TechnoNews

ASUS’s newest Zenbook S14, very similar to the Zenbook 14 OLED we reviewed final December, is a strong ultraportable with one main promoting level: It is among the many first laptops to make use of Intel’s latest CPUs. On this case, it is the Core Extremely 7 258V, a processor that sits within the mid-range of the corporate’s “Lunar Lake” lineup. Whereas Intel touts these chips as its most effective ever, I have been interested in what meaning for uncooked efficiency, particularly since they prime out with simply eight cores.

Based mostly on my testing, I can verify that the Zenbook S14 delivers the perfect battery life we have ever seen from an Intel laptop computer. It reached 16 hours and eight minutes within the PCMark 10 battery benchmark. Compared, the Zenbook S16 powered by AMD’s new Ryzen AI 9 365 chip solely hit 12 hours and 47 minutes. The Intel system’s timing is near the 17 hours and 45 minutes we noticed from the Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ , which is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite.

ASUS

The Zenbook S14, powered by Intel’s new Lunar Lake chips, is a sexy ultraportable that’s able to deal with AI-infused options. It’s an unimaginable worth, particularly with an OLED display, and it provides beautiful battery life.

Execs

• Engaging trendy design
• Unimaginable battery life
• Glorious OLED display
• Helpful port choice
• Responsive and enormous trackpad

Cons

• Keyboard may use extra suggestions
• Efficiency is not a lot better than Intel’s final gen
• We’re nonetheless ready for extra AI prepared apps to look

$1,400 at Finest Purchase

Whereas it is astounding to see how a lot progress Intel has made with battery life, that does include some compromises. In just a few benchmarks, the Zenbook S14 would not rating a lot increased than Intel’s last-gen Core Extremely chips, and it is usually bested by AMD’s Ryzen AI on multithreaded duties. However, as we regularly say, benchmarks do not inform the whole story.

A beautiful ultraportable

Once I reviewed the Zenbook 14 OLED a yr in the past, I could not assist however level out how dated it regarded. It was virtually the identical as ASUS’ laptops from a decade in the past (albeit with slimmer display bezels). Not so with the Zenbook S14. It is spectacular the second you open it up and really feel its lid, which is constructed with a fabric ASUS calls “Ceraluminum.” Because the identify implies, it is a mixture of ceramic and aluminum, and it feels virtually uncanny, like one thing between high-end plastic and easy steel. It is nonetheless premium, nevertheless it’s additionally distinctly totally different from most different laptops.

Combining ceramics and aluminum is not precisely new — ASUS notes that it is a fashionable possibility for aerospace and watch designs — however we have not but seen it deployed in laptops. It isn’t only for appears to be like, both. The fabric must also be extra sturdy than normal steel. The remainder of the Zenbook 14 S’s physique is made out of a strong block of steel, however ASUS added some distinctive tweaks there as effectively. The decrease a part of the case includes a geometric grille above the keyboard, consisting of two,715 round cooling vents. ASUS claims this design enhances airflow whereas additionally conserving grime and mud out.

ASUS 14-inch 3K “Lumina” OLED show dominates the Zenbook S14, and it delivers all the things I would like from a contemporary laptop computer display. It sports activities a quick 120Hz refresh fee and 500 nits of peak brightness. Whereas its bezels are comparatively skinny in comparison with older ASUS methods, they’re nonetheless noticeably chunkier than Dell’s newest InfinityEdge screens on the XPS 13 and 14. The system would look a lot sleeker if ASUS may shave off extra of its backside and facet bezels. Most significantly, although, the OLED show appears to be like superb, with deliciously darkish black ranges and colours that pop off the display.

The Zenbook S14 is surprisingly sturdy for a 14-inch laptop computer that weighs 2.65 kilos and measures 0.47 inches skinny. It is barely lighter and a hair thicker than the newest 13-inch MacBook Air, and feels equally polished. Notably, it additionally provides many extra helpful ports than Apple’s ultraportable. The S14 consists of two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone jack and even an old-school USB Sort-A port. The one factor it is lacking is Ethernet and an SD card slot.

Sadly, ASUS could not get all the things proper with the Zenbook S14. Its quad-speaker audio system is serviceable, however the sound loses any kind of depth and element as you ramp up the quantity. And whereas it is good to have a Home windows Hey-compatible webcam for quick logins, the 1080p sensor appears to be like far grainier and fewer detailed than Dell’s XPS line and the MacBook Air.

Its keyboard additionally feels merely serviceable, with little responsive suggestions whereas typing. That’s a selected disgrace, since that’s been a continuing grievance we’ve had with ASUS keyboards. At the least the touchpad is massive and aware of swipes and multi-finger gestures. You may as well modify the quantity and different settings by sliding your finger alongside the edges of the touchpad.

In use: Succesful, however do not stress it

Because of Intel’s Core Extremely 7 258V chip, the Zenbook S14 felt impressively zippy from the beginning. I breezed by way of the Home windows setup course of, downloaded the newest updates and put in my common testing packages in just some minutes. It did not sweat every time I wanted to leap between apps like Spotify, Slack and Evernote, and I did not discover any of the lag I usually see on Home windows notebooks slowed down by third-party bloatware. It was all the time able to get work achieved.

In PCMark 10, the Zenbook S14 scored virtually precisely the identical because the Floor Laptop computer 7 for Enterprise, which makes use of the last-gen Core Extremely 7 165H. It additionally matched the XPS 13 Copilot+ version, which had a Snapdragon X Elite chip, within the PCMark 10 Functions benchmark. The Zenbook’s multithreaded efficiency was noticeably worse than both of these machines in Geekbench 6, possible as a result of diminished core depend this era.

The large promoting level for Intel’s Lunar Lake chips is their dramatically improved NPU (neural processing unit), which might attain as much as 47 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of AI efficiency. Compared, the earlier Core Extremely chips had a considerably much less highly effective 11 TOPS NPU, whereas AMD’s new Ryzen AI chips attain as much as 50 TOPS. (Extra highly effective Lunar Lake chips can hit as much as 48 TOPS.) Greater TOPS figures means Copilot+ PCs just like the Zenbook S14 will be capable to deal with demanding AI workloads extra shortly, with out impacting total CPU efficiency.

Sadly, there nonetheless aren’t a ton of AI options to check on the time of this evaluate. Microsoft’s Copilot+ Home windows 11 replace for Intel and AMD methods is not arriving till November, and even that may solely embody a beta model of the controversial Recall characteristic. It is also onerous to seek out apps that benefit from an area NPU — most entries within the Home windows Retailer “AI Hub” depend on cloud AI processing.

At the least there’s Audacity’s OpenVino plugin, which Intel developed to indicate off its AI PC {hardware}. It provides NPU-powered options like noise suppression and transcription, nevertheless it additionally requires an concerned setup course of which may be complicated to Audacity novices. I used to be in a position to fully take away incessant jackhammering from a five-minute clip in a single minute and eight seconds utilizing the NPU alone. That is not very quick on the earth of audio enhancing (CPU rendering can deal with a noise-filled 90 minute file in three minutes and thirty seconds), however what’s secret’s that the NPU handles the identical work utilizing little or no energy. That could possibly be necessary in case you’re caught enhancing on battery in a aircraft or distant location.

I used to be additionally impressed by Intel’s newest Arc 140V GPU, which let me play Halo Infinite between 35 fps and 45 fps in 1080p with low high quality graphics settings. That is removed from a easy expertise, nevertheless it’s fascinating to see it from a built-in GPU. Intel’s graphics additionally scored effectively above the Snapdragon X Elite throughout the board, particularly within the Geekbench 6 GPU take a look at.

Pricing and the competitors

ASUS launched the Zenbook S14 with a beginning worth of $1,500, nevertheless it’s already barely discounted at Finest Purchase for $1,400. That configuration will get you a Core Extremely 7 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. That’s not too shabby, contemplating the XPS 13 Copilot+ system with a Snapdragon X Elite prices $1,800 when geared up with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and an OLED show. The Zenbook additionally doesn’t have the compatibility points inherent with Snapdragon methods, which need to emulate older Home windows apps and might’t run many fashionable video games in any respect.

As common, ASUS additionally delivers way more worth than Apple. A MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD prices $1,700, and that’s additionally caught with a 60Hz LCD display.

Wrap-up

The Zenbook S14 leans extra on effectivity than uncooked energy, nevertheless it’s nonetheless an unimaginable achievement for Intel, an organization that was once notorious for energy-devouring cellular chips. Whereas the Lunar Lake chip’s NPU makes the Zenbook prepared for Copilot+ and AI options, its true promoting factors are its glorious battery life, slick ASUS design and lovely OLED show.