Category
đŸ¤–
TechTranscript
00:00I've never seen a laptop with more stickers.
00:052 out of 10.
00:06Wouldn't recommend.
00:07Hey guys, I'm Tom from Tech Chap, and this is the brand new ASUS ZenBook 13S OLED.
00:13And like me, this is kind of a big deal.
00:17Not just because it's got a fantastic 2.8K OLED screen, or that the ultra-portable body
00:23only weighs one kilogram, or 2.2 pounds in old money.
00:27It's actually what's going on inside that's got my attention.
00:30And it's this, AMD's brand new Ryzen 7 6800U processor, which is based on their new ultra-efficient
00:37Zen 3 Plus architecture, which is all about increasing sustained clock speeds while also
00:42boosting battery life.
00:44Which is basically the holy grail of laptop performance.
00:48And you know what?
00:49It actually delivers.
00:50Although I think it's the integrated Radeon graphics that's the real star of the show.
00:54So Zen 3 Plus is AMD's answer to Intel's 12th Gen P-Series chips, and is the result
01:00of their frankly unhealthy obsession with efficiency.
01:04For starters, there's a new less power-hungry 6nm process, there's a ton of new low-power
01:09states, optimised background processes, and a load of other stuff I'm not even smart
01:13enough to understand.
01:14TDP can now boost up to 28 watts when needed, and the RDNA 2 based Radeon graphics have
01:20had a 50% boost up to 12 cores in the 6800U, meaning gaming on medium-high settings without
01:27a discrete GPU is actually half decent for a change.
01:31We're also getting support for super-fast 6400MHz LPDDR5 RAM, WiFi 6E, and also we're
01:38getting a decent-sized 67Wh battery, and also we get a pair of Harman Kardon tuned speakers.
01:44So this is the top spec model, I believe, with the 6800U with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of
01:50storage, and it'll cost you about £1,300 when it comes out later in the year.
01:55All I know now is it's Q3.
01:57Although apparently there will be a lower spec version of this with the 6600U processor
02:02for about £1,100, although I don't know if that's going to come to every region and if
02:06you're going to be able to spec between them at all, I will update the description when
02:09I have more info about that.
02:11So this is in the same range as a mid-to-high spec M1 MacBook Air or even the base MacBook
02:16Pro 13, both of which we are expecting to be updated soon, perhaps with Apple's new
02:21M2 chip, and also this goes up against the brand new Dell XPS 13 Plus.
02:26But for now, being the first laptop to come with both AMD 6000 series CPUs and the new
02:32integrated GPU and also an OLED screen in a form factor like this, I'm still incredibly
02:37excited about this.
02:38But I'm going to take a left turn here and talk about battery life as this is critical
02:43to any ultra-portable laptop.
02:45And so with the screen set to 250 nits and using the balanced power setting, I got just
02:50over 11 and a half hours in my full screen YouTube test, which is fantastic and you can
02:55easily expect between 9 to 11 hours of general use with this, more than enough to get you
03:00through a full working day.
03:02Although, while that's better than any Intel machine I've tested recently, it's not all
03:06that much better than last year's ZenBook 13 with the older Ryzen 7 5800U.
03:12But of course, battery life is only half the story.
03:14What about performance?
03:16Well with basic workloads, it feels nice and snappy, apps open quickly and it boots up
03:20in no time.
03:21And using the balanced power setting, the 6800U was around 300MHz faster on average
03:27than last year's ZenBook 13 with its 5800U.
03:30But for sustained loads, performance is more dependent on which mode you select in the
03:35MiASUS app.
03:36For example, Whisper mode is good for keeping things cool and quiet, but after the first
03:40couple of minutes of load, it limits the CPU to around 1.8GHz, which is around 12W.
03:46Balanced mode ramps the wattage up and down based on demand, but it keeps the frequency
03:50close to the performance mode for the first 5 minutes or so.
03:53Performance mode, on the other hand, manages a consistent 2.8GHz, but at the expense of
03:58much louder fan noise and also a lot more heat.
04:01The upper part of the keyboard deck gets disappointingly toasty, although even so,
04:05this is the mode I'll be testing with.
04:07And starting in Cinebench, the 6800U is slightly behind my M1 MacBook Air in the single core
04:13test, but was massively out in front in multi-core.
04:16Also versus last year's ZenBook 13 with its 5800U, the 13S was around 7-8% faster in multi-core
04:23while single core scores were awash.
04:25In Geekbench 5, things weren't so rosy, with the M1 Mac outpacing the ASUS a little
04:31bit except in the OpenCL Compute test, although it did beat out last year's ZenBook, although
04:35only by single digit percentages.
04:38So it seems that in terms of the CPU, while it is a little bit more efficient and also
04:42a little bit more powerful than last year, it's nothing really mind-blowing.
04:46But let's talk about the Radeon graphics.
04:48And so in Time Spy, the 6800U with its Radeon 680M graphics was a massive 86% faster than
04:56the outgoing 5800U with its Vega 8 graphics.
04:59That means that in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, where I pushed the graphics to high, I still
05:03got 31 FPS at full HD plus and a full 60 when using low settings.
05:08And in Rainbow Six Siege, I actually managed 89 FPS using ultra settings at full HD, which
05:13is close to the kind of performance you'd expect from something like the Nvidia GeForce
05:17MX450.
05:19Although regardless, dedicated GPUs, particularly from Nvidia, do have better game driver support,
05:24which can make a difference.
05:26Switching over to Premiere Pro, and I was able to render a 5 minute 1080p video using
05:31high bitrate 10 bit 422 footage in 12 minutes 19 seconds.
05:36Bearing in mind that's on a machine this thin and light, it's pretty impressive stuff.
05:41Something else new for this year is PCIe 4 storage and it is very fast.
05:45And while you can upgrade this yourself, the RAM is soldered onto the PCB.
05:49Now just like last year's non-S ZenBook 13, the OLED screen on this is absolutely gorgeous.
05:55It is 60 hertz, that's really the only downside, but I do appreciate we have this 16 by 10
06:00aspect ratio.
06:01With this video, you can see we have a little bit of a letterboxing because that's the extra
06:04screen space you get with that taller aspect.
06:07And also I think the 2.8K resolution is a nice balance, especially at this 13.3 inch
06:12screen size, because 4K, while obviously sharper, would just destroy the battery life,
06:16but then full HD still isn't quite sharp enough.
06:18So very much like Apple with their MacBooks, they've gone for a nice sort of halfway house.
06:24The OLED panel is lovely though.
06:26It's bright, it's way more colorful than a regular LED LCD screen, and of course you
06:30get all those deep saturated blacks.
06:32It's great for watching TV and movies or even editing photos and videos.
06:36I did notice the top and bottom bezels aren't really the slimmest I've ever seen, but this
06:40may be more to do with matching the size of the keyboard deck.
06:44Weirdly though, the non-touch OLED panel is brighter at 600 nits and supports Display
06:49HDR 600, while this touch one peaks at 500 nits and supports Display HDR 500.
06:55What would you go for though?
06:56600 nits non-touch or 500 nits touch?
06:59Let me know in the comments.
07:00In either case, the OLEDs are Pantone validated and the 10-bit panel isn't far off pro-level
07:06color accuracy.
07:07My only complaint really is that 60Hz refresh.
07:1090Hz would have made everything feel so much smoother and also help you take advantage
07:14of all that extra power.
07:16Coming from a MacBook Pro or a Surface Pro 8 or one of Asus' other high refresh laptops,
07:2060Hz just feels a bit slow.
07:22Ah, there it is.
07:24I wanted to show you this.
07:25It's quite funny.
07:26Asus love giving themselves their own sort of world records because apparently this is
07:31the world's lightest 13-inch 2.8K OLED laptop.
07:36It's like me claiming I'm the tallest person in this room called Tom.
07:39I mean, I am and I'm very proud of it, but it doesn't mean you should buy me.
07:42Not sure where that metaphor was going.
07:45But to be fair to Asus, you've seen throughout that I've just been sort of chucking this
07:49around.
07:50It is so ridiculously light.
07:51We've also got this 180 degree hinge so you can fold it right back, to which a lot of
07:55people say, why would you want that?
07:56And then I say, well, if you're using a laptop stand or you've got it sort of propped up
08:00on your legs or something, then often you do want to push that screen back further.
08:04And also if you do go for the touchscreen version, then you can use it sort of flat
08:07on the desk like this.
08:08Picking it up, it's obvious build quality here is top notch, though the magnesium alloy
08:13body has the usual confusingly plastic feel that you don't get from, say, an all-aluminium
08:18MacBook Air.
08:19It does look premium though, and I love Asus' new monogrammed Star Trek logo that we get
08:24on the lid.
08:25This is really subtle as well, but when you open it up, the ErgoLift hinge actually lifts
08:30the keyboard deck, the bottom of the chassis up a little bit, just so we get some more
08:34airflow underneath, and also gives you a slightly more comfortable typing position.
08:39Impressively for a laptop, there are actually four colours to choose from, including the
08:43puzzlingly named Aqua Celadon and the slightly unpleasant sounding Vestige Beige.
08:48I quite like this blue one though.
08:51The backlit chiclet keyboard is nice enough to type on, although I would like a little
08:54bit more of a sort of feedback feel to it.
08:57Also the power button has a built-in fingerprint sensor, but I don't know why they've decided
09:01to swap the position with the Dell key.
09:03That is going to get confusing.
09:05The touchpad also doubles as a calculator, if you press the little button at the top
09:09right so you can input your numbers, hopefully, there you go, so you can input your numbers
09:14that way, which is kind of interesting, not sure how often I'd use that.
09:19I have seen some other reviews mentioning that the cursor could sometimes sort of jump
09:22a little bit, and perhaps it wasn't the most consistently responsive.
09:26So far for me, I've not had any of those issues.
09:28One thing I really do like, that I'm surprised more OEMs don't go for, is this ZenBook Special
09:33Bacteria Inhibiting Coating, which should mean bacteria can't grow and spread as easily.
09:39Now in terms of ports, on the side we have an audio jack, along with three USB 3.2 Type-C
09:44ports, one with DisplayPort and power delivery, which can be upgraded to USB 4 via a firmware
09:49update.
09:50Of course, being an ultra-portable, we don't have any of the bigger full-size HDMIs or
09:54Type-A ports, so you may need to bring an adapter with you.
09:57Should you buy it?
09:58Well, you can't, for a start, it's going to be a few more months before this actually
10:01comes out, and by that point, as I say, there's going to be some stiff competition from Apple
10:06especially with its new M.2 powered MacBooks, and also, of course, the Dell XPS 13+, and
10:11while ASUS are saying this is one of the first laptops with the combination of OLED screen
10:15and 6000 series CPUs, well, obviously you can't buy it yet, so by the time it comes
10:20out, it may not be the only option.
10:22But this is still an incredibly well-rounded machine, mostly thanks to that screen, the
10:26nice chassis, the long battery life, and while the CPU gains are fairly incremental, the
10:31integrated graphics are a big step up.
10:33As I say, though, I just wish we had that 90Hz refresh rate, and also, it can get pretty
10:37warm under sustained high-performance loads.
10:40If you've got any questions or there's anything you'd like me to try with this, let me know
10:43in the comments below, and also let me know whether you're considering actually buying
10:47this when it comes out as well.
10:49Thank you so much for watching, guys.
10:50Please don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you want to see more from me, and
10:53I'll catch you next time right here on the Tech Chap.