Asus sells a single version of the Zenbook S 14 (UX5406) for $1,499, with an Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 258V as well as 32GB of memory. Our review unit was the UX5406SA, which shipped with a 512GB SSD instead.
Remember, Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 chips (Lunar Lake) package the system memory directly on the package. That limits the available configurations and prevents you from upgrading the memory later. Best Buy and Walmart are selling versions with a Core Ultra 7 processor, but only 16GB of RAM for slightly cheaper. Otherwise, Asus offers this laptop in a pair of colors: Scandinavian White and a blackish tint formally called Zumaia Gray.
Asus also offers the Vivobook, which is aimed more at budget buyers. Best Buy just announced the related Asus Vivobook S 14 Q423, with a Core Ultra 5, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 1200p screen for $949.
Asus Zenbook S 14: Specifications
Model number: UX5406
Display: 14-inch (2880×1800) touchscreen OLED up to 120Hz
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (eight cores, eight threads)
Graphics: Intel Arc
NPU: Yes, 47 TOPS
Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X, integrated
Storage: 1 TB NVMe PCI 4.0 SSD (512GB as tested)
Ports: 2 USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), 1 10Gbps USB-A, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio jack
Security: Windows Hello (camera)
Camera: 1080p30
Battery: 72Wh (design), (71.9Wh (full, as tested)
Wireless: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Operating system: Windows 11 Home 24H2
Dimensions: 12.22 x 8.45 x 0.47 inches
Weight: 2.65 pounds
Color: Scandinavian White, Zumaia Gray
Price: $1,499 as tested
Asus Zenbook S 14: Build quality and first impressions
The Asus Zenbook S 14 was Intel’s launch laptop for its latest Core Ultra Series 2 (Lunar Lake) processors, so most of my early experience with this clamshell laptop was quickly installing and running benchmarks for our review of the Lunar Lake chip. (While I’ll reproduce some of my benchmarks there, the Lunar Lake review dives much deeper into the laptop’s performance while on battery and on maximum performance settings). For this review, I treat the laptop much more holistically.
Asus and Intel sent us the Zumaia Gray version for review. The Zenbook S 14 is constructed of what Asus calls Ceraluminum, a portmanteau of “ceramic aluminum.” While it does have a bit of a ceramic feel to it, your fingers will probably take away a somewhat plasticky feel from it all. Asus etched silvery lines on to the chassis on the back of the display, giving it the unfortunate look that a few cracks appeared. Overall, the laptop has a prestigious look to it, but nothing especially luxurious.
There isn’t too much room between the left and right sides of the keyboard and the edges of the keyboard tray, and the touchpad feels like they had to lean hard against it to squeeze it — as well as the integrated functions it controls — in. The downside is that the keyboard looks and feels a mite cramped. Still, all of these things contribute to the impression that this little laptop is jam-packed with features.
This new Asus Zenbook is extremely quiet. I tested it in a variety of modes, accessible via the MyAsus app, and forgot I had left it in “performance” mode. Normally, that means a loud, noisy fan blowing hard to keep the laptop cool. At least while performing office tasks, “performance” is basically as loud as many laptops’ standard or “quiet” modes. There’s no real need to run the laptop in a high-performance mode, but rest assured that if you do, you probably won’t even notice. Even “full speed” mode, the laptop’s highest performance setting, declined to actually run the fan at high speed when it wasn’t needed. The Zenbook S 14 sucks air via vents on the bottom of the chassis and blows it out through the hinge.
Asus has added a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports to the left side of the chassis, next to an HDMI 2.1 port. Asus has also included a single USB-A port on the right side, with a 3.5mm audio jack. It’s a nice mix of ports, able to accommodate an external display and mouse without the need for an optional Thunderbolt dock or USB-C hub. Inside, Asus has added an up-to-date Wi-Fi 7 radio, paired with Bluetooth 5.4.
Asus Zenbook S 14: Display
Asus chose a 14.0-inch, 3K (2880 x 1800) touch OLED panel with refresh rates up to 120Hz for use with the Zenbook S 14. The display is rated for 500 nits HDR peak brightness, which isn’t that much. At maximum brightness, the display produces 358 nits by my measurements, which is good for indoor use but not in direct sunlight.
Lenovo’s rival Lunar Lake platform, the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition, uses a traditional IPS panel instead. The difference is one of image quality and a power tradeoff. An IPS panel typically uses a single, uniform backlight, which brightens and dims the entire screen depending upon the demands of the image it’s rendering. That can cause a bit of backlight “glow” in darker scenes, which OLED displays don’t have.
OLEDs regulate brightness on a per-pixel basis, which gives darker scenes richer, deeper blacks. But they have a reputation for consuming more power than an IPS display if rendering a bright scene, such as you might use for apps like Microsoft Word or Outlook. It’s likely, given the stellar battery life this notebook already has, that chips like the Intel Core 200 series found inside will allow for visually richer OLED displays to be more common than in the past.
We’ve thankfully begun to move from a standard 1080p, 60Hz display to higher-resolution displays like the 1800p display here. That allows for a crisper image, and the dynamic 120Hz screen should feel more comfortable to look at for longer periods of time. (It will dip down to 60Hz when it thinks it can to save power, though you can fix it at 120Hz using the MyAsus settings app).
An 120Hz screen refresh rate also allows for smoother inking and mousing, which isn’t so much of an issue because of the lack of an integrated stylus. (The laptop does boast stylus support). The Zenbook reclines to an approximate 30-40 degrees off the horizontal, which is fine for office work — reclining flat would allow for easier inking, however.
In the real world, what this means is that you’ll be able to work in either light or dark mode, while enjoying a lovely screen for enjoying streamed video after hours. I’m an unabashed fan of OLED displays, and the Zenbook’s choice of an OLED display is probably a good thing. Inside the MyAsus app you’ll find various controls to tweak the display, from adjusting the color gamut to tweaking how the OLED displays visible pixels at low brightness. Probably the most important control from a visual sense is whether you enable a screensaver to kick in at about 30 minutes; OLEDs can suffer from “burn in,” but the issue is less of a concern now than it once was.
Peer in closely, however, and you may notice the “speckling” that affected the Surface Pro 11th Edition’s OLED screen as well. Think of it as a very light coat of dust upon the “inside” of the screen. It’s extremely faint, not distracting at all, but it’s there.
Key travel is only 1.1mm, too, which is at the minimum end of the spectrum. Again, I prefer keyboards with at least 1.25mm of travel. You might think… does just 0.15mm make a difference? I believe it does and you’ll notice it. I typed this review on the Zenbook itself and I don’t feel like my fingers were as comfortable as on an Acer, Microsoft, or HP keyboard.
The keyboard includes three levels of backlighting, which feels pretty necessary given the rather poor contrast between the key markings and the “gray” background. The backlighting will turn off after one minute on battery, a configurable setting. It remains on constantly while on wall power, unless disabled or unless the MyAsus setting disables it when the notebook detects bright light.
Asus places a row of function keys atop the keyboard, which can be triggered either by tapping the Windows key or just the function key itself. There’s a dedicated emoji key, as well as one (F11) which is surprisingly without purpose.
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