Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED (UM5302) Review: Superb Little Ultralight Laptop
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Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED (UM5302)
$1,760 at Amazon
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Like
- Ultralight design
- Long battery life
- Great-looking OLED display
Don’t like
- Gets hot during use, as does its petite power adapter
- 720p webcam
- Currently in short supply
It is not easy to find an ultralight laptop that still feels sturdy but Asus pulls it off with the Zenbook S 13 OLED. At 1 kilogram (2.4 pounds), the 13.3-inch laptop is lighter than the MacBook Air (M1 and M2) — ideal for tossing in a backpack or shoulder bag without a second thought. Despite its compact footprint, Asus squeezed in a spacious keyboard and a big touchpad that doubles as a number pad when you need it. The 2.8K-resolution OLED touch display is exquisite for productivity, entertainment and creative pursuits, too. And although OLED screens typically put a big hurt on battery life, that’s not the case here with the Zenbook S 13 OLED getting more than 12 hours during our streaming video test.
Overall performance is strong from its AMD Ryzen 7 6800U processor backed with 16GB of fast DDR5 memory and an equally speedy 1TB SSD, keeping it competitive with others in its class such as the MacBook Air M2, Dell XPS 13 Plus and Acer Swift 5. (Check out the benchmark test results at the end of this review.) The thing is these components put out a lot of heat when the laptop gets cranking. Even with the fans blowing full bore, the bottom of the Zenbook S 13 will roast your lap. When you need the laptop’s full power, use it on a desk.
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED (UM5302)
Price as reviewed $1,300Display size/resolution 13.3-inch 2,880×1,800 OLED touch displayCPU 2.7GHz AMD Ryzen 7 6800UMemory 16GB DDR5 6,400MHz RAMGraphics 512MB AMD Radeon GraphicsStorage 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSDConnections USB-C (x3, USB 3.2 Gen 2), 3.5mm combo audio jackNetworking Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0Operating system Windows 11 Pro 21H2
The ultralight magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis design, the OLED display and high-quality components mean the Zenbook S 13 isn’t cheap; the configuration I tested is $1,300 (£1,300, AU$1,661). Consider the 14-inch HP Pavilion Plus if you don’t mind trading some extra size, weight and less battery life to save a few hundred dollars. The bigger issue is that even if you want to spend the money for the Asus, you might not be able to find one. As of this review, the laptop is listed on Best Buy, Amazon and B&H but only the last one seems to have stock.
Press the calculator icon in the upper right corner of the touchpad to turn on Asus’ NumberPad 2.0 feature.
Asus always does a great job of packing some extra features into its laptops to help them stand out. You might be attracted to the brilliant and bright OLED, the 1kg weight and speedy components, but it’s things like Asus’ NumberPad 2.0 that make the difference. Tap on the calculator icon in the touchpad’s upper right corner and a number pad appears on the touchpad so you can quickly input numbers or bang out a calculation or two. Plus, the software can tell the difference between entering numbers and using it as a touchpad, so you don’t have to turn the feature on and off.
Then there’s Asus’ GlideX app, which mirrors or extends the Zenbook’s display onto an Android tablet or phone, or an iPhone or iPad — wired or wirelessly. Install the complementary Android or iOS app on your phone or tablet and after a simple setup, your mobile device is now an extra screen for the laptop. The mirroring option makes it possible to use mobile apps on the Zenbook’s screen, too.
The display opens 180 degrees and supports an Asus active pen.
The Zenbook S 13 OLED also has function row hotkeys for taking screenshots and instantly killing the built-in mics and webcam to help protect privacy. Speaking of, the webcam is just 720p instead of the 1080p cams found in most premium laptops now. However, while it gives you less detail than a higher-resolution camera, the overall picture quality is quite good. The speakers sound surprisingly full, too, helped by Dolby Atmos.
Other nice touches include a fingerprint reader built into the power, support for using Asus’ active pen on the touchscreen and, though the laptop only has three high-speed USB-C, Asus includes a USB-C-to-USB-A adapter as well as a laptop sleeve. Even the ultracompact 65-watt USB-C fast-charge adapter is nice (though like the laptop it gets pretty hot while charging).
The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED is just a superb little laptop. If you want something lighter than a MacBook Air with a wide color gamut display, good performance and battery life and a smattering of convenient features, it’s an easy recommendation. Here’s hoping Asus can get supply up so people can more easily find it.
How we test computers
The review process for laptops, desktops, tablets and other computer-like devices consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our expert reviewers. This includes evaluating a device’s aesthetics, ergonomics and features. A final review verdict is a combination of both those objective and subjective judgments.
The list of benchmarking software we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve. The most important core tests we’re currently running on every compatible computer include: Primate Labs Geekbench 5, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10 and 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra.
A more detailed description of each benchmark and how we use it can be found in our How We Test Computers page.
Geekbench 5 (multicore)
Acer Swift 5 (SF514-56T-797T)
10026
Lenovo Yoga 9i (14-inch, Gen 7)
9016
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M2, 2022)
8592
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320
8302
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED
7649
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
Cinebench R23 CPU (multicore)
Acer Swift 5 (SF514-56T-797T)
10479
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320
10344
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED
10322
Lenovo Yoga 9i (14-inch, Gen 7)
7716
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M2, 2022)
6796
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
PCMark 10 Pro Edition
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED
5833
Lenovo Yoga 9i (14-inch, Gen 7)
5800
Acer Swift 5 (SF514-56T-797T)
5502
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320
4643
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M2, 2022)
6803
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320
4116
Lenovo Yoga 9i (14-inch, Gen 7)
3903
Acer Swift 5 (SF514-56T-797T)
3854
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED
3233
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
Streaming video playback battery drain test (minutes)
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M2, 2022)
1039
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED
739
Lenovo Yoga 9i (14-inch, Gen 7)
631
Acer Swift 5 (SF514-56T-797T)
552
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320
235
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
System Configurations
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED Windows 11 Pro; 2.7GHz AMD Ryzen 7 6800U; 16GB DDR5 6,400MHz; 512MB AMD Radeon Graphics; 1TB SSDDell XPS 13 Plus 9320 Windows 11 Home; 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-1280P; 16GB DDR5 6,400MHz RAM; 128MB Intel Iris Xe Graphics; 512GB SSDApple MacBook Air (13-inch, M2, 2022) MacOS Monterey 12.4; Apple M2 8-core chip; 8GB RAM; Apple 10-core GPU; 256GB SSDAcer Swift 5 (SF514-56T-797T) Windows 11 Home; 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-1280P; 16GB DDR5 6,400MHz RAM; 128MB Intel Iris Xe Graphics; 512GB SSDLenovo Yoga 9i (14-inch, Gen 7) Windows 11 Home; 2.1GHz Intel Core i7-1260P; 16GB DDR5 5.200GHz RAM; 128MB Intel Iris Xe Graphics; 512GB SSD
