Why you may belief TechRadar
We spend hours testing each services or products we evaluation, so that you might be positive you are shopping for the most effective. Find out more about how we test.
Asus Zenbook S 16: Two-minute evaluation
The Asus Zenbook laptop computer line has lengthy been one among my favorites, sitting among the many best ultrabooks alongside rivals like Dell‘s XPS collection and the LG Gram assortment. Now, Asus has given its premium laptop computer lineup a contemporary lease on life, because of AMD‘s mighty new Ryzen AI chips and the magic of one thing known as ‘ceraluminum’.
I am going to get additional into that mysterious new materials additional down on this evaluation, however here is the brief model: the lid of the brand new Asus Zenbook S 16 is made out of a futuristic composite of aluminum and ceramic, giving it a gentle matte really feel whereas additionally being extra sturdy, lighter, and fingerprint-resistant than the normal aluminum and plastic used within the development of most fashionable laptops.
In fact, a flowery outer casing does not assure you are getting a high-quality product. However the Zenbook S 16 delivers a premium expertise in different areas too, with nice efficiency throughout a wide range of workloads and a typically very snug person expertise.
Though I at all times spend no less than a full workweek utilizing any laptop computer I evaluation in lieu of my common day by day driver (the ever-faithful HP Spectre x360), I used to be truly pressured to make use of this laptop computer for a number of days. See, my boiler wanted changing, and sadly, it is located in my house workplace – that means that for 2 days, I used to be jettisoned from my desktop setup to the breakfast bar downstairs whereas the set up engineer resolved my lack of sizzling water.
I will be the primary to confess that I am a creature of behavior, and was initially sad to be displaced from my standard workstation. However truthfully, I am starting to surprise if I should not drop Asus a line politely asking (learn: begging) to maintain this Zenbook. The 16-inch OLED touchscreen is beautiful, and the massive touchpad and keyboard make for a really snug person expertise. It is maybe the closest I’ve felt to utilizing a MacBook Professional whereas truly on a Home windows laptop computer – and whereas I am a identified macOS hater, I’ve at all times maintained that Apple‘s Mac merchandise are very well-designed units.
Beginning at $1,599 / £1,499 / AU$2,999, the Zenbook S 16 is not precisely low-cost, however for that price ticket, you are getting some fairly spectacular efficiency and a very, very nice piece of bodily {hardware}. I am going to dig into the main points extra within the Worth and Availability part, however the important thing takeaway right here is that the worth proposition is strong.
There’s just one actual downside right here, in my view: the battery life. It is completely serviceable, do not get me fallacious, nevertheless it’s nothing spectacular throughout the present market house. Nonetheless, it will final you thru a full day’s work after which some – so so long as you do not thoughts placing it on cost in a single day.
Asus Zenbook S 16: Worth and availability
- How a lot does it price? Begins at $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,999
- When is it obtainable? Obtainable now
- The place are you able to get it? Obtainable within the US, UK, and Australia
With a price ticket beginning at $1,599 / £1,499 / AU$2,999, the Asus Zenbook S 16 definitely leans in the direction of the premium finish of the market, however you are getting lots of bang on your buck right here.
There are a number of totally different configurations, with the primary distinction being the Ryzen processor mannequin and the quantity of RAM. Each mannequin comes with the identical 3K OLED show and 1TB of storage – a 2TB mannequin would’ve been good, however no less than the SSD is user-upgradable. The bottom configuration, priced as above, comes with a Ryzen AI 7 350 chip and 24GB of RAM (an uncommon quantity, however nonetheless higher than the extra commonplace 16GB trade commonplace).
My evaluation unit is a higher-end mannequin, that includes a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor and 32GB of RAM, and it’ll price you $1,799 / £1,599 – and on the time of writing, this mannequin sadly is not obtainable in Australia. I say ‘sadly’ right here as a result of for my cash, that further $200 / £100 is nicely price it for the interior {hardware} improve.
For comparability, a 16-inch MacBook Pro will price you $2,499 / £2,499 / AU$3,999 – and that is only for the bottom M4 Professional mannequin. Granted, there is not any denying that Apple’s pro-grade laptop computer can provide higher efficiency in lots of areas than this Zenbook, however the level stands that the Zenbook S 16 is superb worth for cash.
Asus Zenbook S 16: Specs
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Asus Zenbook S 16 |
|---|---|
|
CPU |
As much as AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 |
|
GPU |
As much as AMD Radeon 890M |
|
RAM |
As much as 32GB LPDDR5X |
|
Show |
16-inch 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED, 120Hz |
|
Storage |
As much as 1TB SSD |
|
Ports |
2x Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, 1x USB 3.2 Kind-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x SD card reader, 1x 3,5mm combi audio jack |
|
Wi-fi |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
|
Weight |
1.5kg / 3.31lbs |
|
Dimension |
35.4 x 24.3 x 1.29cm / 13.9 x 9.6 x 0.51 inches |
Asus Zenbook S 16: Design
- Tremendous snug keyboard and trackpad
- Ceraluminum casing is spectacular
- Surprisingly light-weight
Aesthetically talking, that is undeniably one beautiful laptop computer. With the ‘Scandinavian White’ colorway, it feels as clear and putting as any of the best laptops. The again of the display screen will not be solely made out of Asus’s fancy ceraluminum materials, nevertheless it additionally has a kintsugi-inspired sample of sharp strains inlaid in silver, which strikes the proper stability between eye-catching and minimalist.
Just a little extra about that revolutionary new materials, although: you may examine my first time encountering ceraluminum right here, however I am going to offer you a fast breakdown in case you do not really feel like studying a complete totally different article. It is created by electrochemically bonding aluminum with a ceramic element, producing a powerful plated materials with a matte floor that seems like unglazed pottery to the contact.
One of the best factor about that is that it brings the light-weight, sturdy nature of aluminum – a well-liked alternative amongst producers on the subject of laptop computer development – whereas additionally offering a grippier floor that’s extra resilient in opposition to each injury and smudging from fingerprints. I’ve criticized various laptops over time for being ‘fingerprint magnets’, and fortunately that does not apply right here. The entire thing feels impressively sturdy regardless of being very skinny and light-weight for a 16-inch laptop computer.
Opening up the lid, you are met with a extra conventionally constructed aluminum keyboard housing, with a big glass touchpad and properly spaced keys that make it very snug to sort on. I additionally discovered the touchpad to be delicate and responsive, with a agency click on, though I usually desire to attach a wi-fi mouse when utilizing laptops.
Above the keyboard, a large cooling grille sits with a refined Asus brand within the nook. The keys are backlit with white LEDs, which might be set to a few totally different brightness ranges; it isn’t usually I take a lot time to touch upon keyboard backlighting, however the Zenbook S 16’s is especially vibrant.
Talking of vibrancy, the show on this laptop computer is unbelievable, providing wealthy coloration and sharp distinction because of its 3K OLED panel. Whereas the utmost brightness is not fairly as excessive as I’ve seen on another OLED laptops, it is definitely vivid sufficient to make use of in well-lit environments, and it is also a touchscreen. Considerably surprisingly, this show has a 120Hz refresh charge, a satisfying improve from the 60Hz panels you see on most non-gaming laptops.
When it comes to bodily connectivity, we have got a wide selection of ports right here, together with USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, and even an SD card reader – the latter of which can be a boon for photographers when mixed with the wonderful show. Lastly, the audio system are fairly good, offering detailed audio for each music and dialogue – it is maybe missing a tiny little bit of kick within the bass division in comparison with some laptops I’ve seen, however total I actually cannot complain concerning the speaker high quality.
Asus Zenbook S 16: Efficiency
- Strong all-rounder efficiency
- NPU supplies assist for AI options in Home windows
- Taking part in video games is definitely an possibility, although it is no gaming laptop computer
The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is a robust chip backed with 32GB of RAM in my evaluation unit, and I am happy to say it performs admirably. Basic responsiveness is nice and on a regular basis duties run easily, to the purpose the place anybody who simply needs a laptop computer for workplace work may most likely take into account downgrading to a Ryzen AI 7 mannequin.
With regards to extra demanding workloads, the Zenbook S 16 presents good efficiency throughout a wide range of areas, together with 3D rendering, AI performance, and gaming. Certain, it isn’t going to beat out an precise gaming laptop computer with a devoted GPU, however the AMD Radeon 890M built-in graphics are surprisingly competent even in additional demanding video games, supplied you are keen to dial again the graphical settings a bit and activate AMD’s FSR 3.0 decision upscaling mode.
Asus Zenbook S 16 evaluation: Benchmarks
Here is how the Asus Zenbook S 16 (AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370) carried out in our suite of benchmark exams:
3DMark: Night time Raid: 34,618; Fireplace Strike: 8,516; Time Spy: 4,407; Metal Nomad: 889
Cinebench R23: Multi-core: 13,441; Single-core: 1,953
Geekbench 6.4: Multicore: 14,102; Single-core: 2,845
Geekbench AI: Single Precision Rating: 2,359; Half Precision Rating: 1,217; Quantized Rating: 4,811
PCMark 10: 6,827
Crossmark: Total: 1,744; Productiveness: 1,637; Creativity: 1,940; Responsiveness: 1,537
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII: (1080p, Medium, No Upscaling): 45fps; (1800p, Excessive, No Upscaling): 16fps; (1800p, Excessive, Balanced FSR 3 Upscaling): 22fps
Cyberpunk 2077: (1080p, Medium, No Upscaling): 22fps; (1800p, Extremely, No Upscaling): 6fps; (1800p, Extremely, Balanced FSR 3 Upscaling): 10fps
Battery Life (TechRadar film take a look at): 14 hours, 55 minutes
In real-world testing, I had no points in any respect with the efficiency of the Zenbook S 16. Working Spotify within the background whereas working throughout 20+ open Chrome tabs did not trigger the slightest little bit of slowdown, and picture enhancing in GIMP 3.0 was clean and efficient – a far cry from the somewhat sluggish expertise I get when making an attempt to edit pictures on my standard laptop computer.
AI efficiency can also be moderately good; once more, you are ideally going to wish to spring for a laptop computer with a devoted Nvidia GPU if you wish to be operating severe AI workloads domestically, like producing your individual language fashions, however for operating the native elements of one thing like Microsoft‘s Copilot+ AI assistant, the common person may have no issues.
To dig into that gaming efficiency slightly extra (there’s overlap right here with different 3D rendering and modeling software program), I wanted to drop the decision to FHD+ somewhat than the native 3K and allow AMD’s FSR 3 upscaling to make most video games playable – this machine is not coming near any of the best gaming laptops – however for anybody who simply needs to play informal titles or indie video games on their off-time, the Zenbook S 16 is extra succesful than I had anticipated. I used it for a spot of Stardew Valley after work on a number of events, which unsurprisingly ran nice.
In Civilization VII, I used to be simply in a position to get an honest framerate at 1200p, whereas the infamously hardware-demanding Cyberpunk 2077 was fully unplayable at native 1800p however produced an fps of 35 at 1200p with Low settings and FSR 3’s Efficiency mode enabled (and albeit, even with these settings, this recreation nonetheless seems bloody unbelievable). It is a true testomony to the facility of AMD’s decision upscaling tech for built-in GPUs; I am quietly awed by the truth that a recreation like Cyberpunk is playable in any respect on an ultrabook like this.
I’ll observe that the followers on the Zenbook S 16 get a tad noisy once you’re operating extra intensive software program – it is nothing too onerous, and I discovered it ran quietly throughout common duties like net shopping, however bear in mind that you may want headphones to play video games on it. It is price including that the laptop computer did not get uncomfortably sizzling at any level (other than straight on the vent above the keyboard), even throughout stress testing.
Asus Zenbook S 16: Battery
The battery life on the Zenbook S 16 is fairly good. That is nearly all I can actually say about it; it isn’t mind-blowing, overwhelmed out by a number of rivals, nevertheless it’s nonetheless adequate for a full day’s work (or two) with no need to plug in supplied you flip off the keyboard backlight and do not work at most brightness.
In our battery life take a look at, which includes operating a looped video file at 50% brightness, the Zenbook S 16 ran out of juice simply shy of the 15-hour mark, which for a 16-inch OLED laptop computer is respectable, if unspectacular. In real-world use conditions, I used to be getting between 10 and 12 hours out of it at a time on common, and it holds its cost remarkably nicely when not in use.
Because it expenses through USB-C, you may simply make use of different charging cables, although the provided 65W adapter supplies fast-charging capabilities that present 50% battery cost in slightly over half an hour.
Must you purchase the Asus Zenbook S 16?
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Notes |
Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Worth |
It is no finances machine, however the price-to-performance ratio right here is nice. |
4.5/5 |
|
Design |
A classy and sturdy design mixed with a snug person expertise makes for a very premium-feeling laptop computer. |
5/5 |
|
Efficiency |
Efficiency is strong throughout productiveness, inventive, and gaming workloads, with good responsiveness and followers that solely kick in once you’re operating demanding packages. |
4.5/5 |
|
Battery |
The battery can comfortably run for greater than an 8-hour workday, although it’s overwhelmed out by some competing laptops. |
4/5 |
|
Whole |
Whereas the pre-installed Asus software program is a bit annoying, this can be a unbelievable laptop computer that delivers an amazing aesthetic and robust efficiency at a wise value level. |
4.5/5 |
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
Additionally Contemplate
How I examined the Asus Zenbook S 16
- Changed my common laptop computer with the Zenbook S 16 for a number of weeks
- Used the laptop computer each for day-to-day work and private tasks
- Ran it by our full suite of benchmarks, plus some further exams
As is typical for my laptop computer evaluation course of, I swapped out my day by day driver for the Asus Zenbook S 16 – and really ended up liking it a lot that I saved utilizing it after my standard week or two of real-world testing. Asus, if I may preserve this one, that may be nice…
This concerned all my day-to-day work, which is generally emailing, phrase processing, net analysis, and picture enhancing, plus some work on private tasks and a little bit of gaming in my off hours. I additionally ran our suite of benchmarking and battery exams to offer a clearer picture of the Zenbook S 16’s total efficiency.
First reviewed July 2025