Review Summary
Expert Rating
ASUS debuted the Zenbook S 16 globally a couple of months ago, positioning it as a premium ultrabook powered by AMD’s cutting-edge Ryzen AI 300 series processors. Designed to rival Apple’s M series powered MacBooks, the Zenbook S 16 aims to combine robust performance with exceptional battery life—two features that MacBooks are probably best known for.
Now, a few months after the global announcement, ASUS finally brought the Zenbook S 16 to India with a price tag of Rs 1,49,990. It has a sleek design, a 3K OLED display, and AI features. We’ve had the chance to take it for a spin over the last few weeks. So here’s a review to see whether this laptop is worth its lavish price tag.
Table of Contents
Design and display
ASUS didn’t just pack next-gen hardware into the Zenbook S 16 and call it a day. The notebook feels meticulously crafted to deliver a premium experience. Its chassis is primarily metal, but ASUS has added a unique touch to the top lid. The lid blends aluminium with ceramic, a combination ASUS calls Ceraluminum. This is evident in the shiny streaks of aluminium across the lid’s surface, while the rest is ceramic.
ASUS launched the Zenbook S 16 with the US MIL-STD 810H military-grade standard. We couldn’t put that claim to the test and I wouldn’t recommend the users to test this either. However, it’s nice to know that your laptops can take some accidental bumps. The build quality is excellent, as expected at this price point. It is available in a single elegant Zumaia Gray colour that looks classy and professional. Keeping with the minimalist design, there’s no large logo—just a simple ASUS Zenbook etching on the top-left corner. The solid build means there’s no noticeable flex while typing, and you can easily open the laptop lid with one hand (a small but appreciated design element). Despite being a 16-inch laptop, it remains portable, weighing only 1.5kg.
Apart from the keyboard and trackpad, the deck features a long mesh vent for airflow that almost looks like a speaker grill. There is another vent underneath the laptop. On the inside, there’s a single M.2 slot occupied by the 1TB SSD, so users have no option for expandable storage, and it even lacks a traditional RAM module (more on that later). ASUS’s compact design philosophy extends to the charger as well, which is much smaller than the typical bulky adapters.
On the front, there is a 16-inch OLED display, which ASUS calls Lumina. This panel offers 3K resolution (2880 x 1800) and up to 500 nits of peak brightness, making it brighter than most laptops with an LCD screen and a higher PPI density as well. Thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate and 0.2ms response time, the display is smooth and responsive. Lastly, it offers 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut and up to 1.07 billion colours.
The vivid visuals make it ideal for both work and entertainment. From light gaming to movies, viewing on the Zenbook S 16’s display has been amazing. Thanks to its high brightness, visibility isn’t an issue in areas with brightly lit environments. The touchscreen support is a welcome addition, being responsive and enhancing usability. DCI-P3 helps improve the experience of watching high-resolution videos as well since it offers more colour depth and deeper blacks that pair well with an OLED display.
Ports and audio
In its slim form factor, ASUS packs the Zenbook S 16 with a decent variety of ports. This includes a lone USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, two USB 4.0 Gen 3 Type-C (display/power delivery support), one HDMI 2.1, an SD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
The bottom-firing speakers are powered by Harman Kardon which supports Smart Amp Technology. I was pleasantly surprised by how loud these speakers were. Even at maximum volume, there was no distortion in the audio. While bass is somewhat lacking, the overall audio quality comes close to MacBook Pro’s speakers, which is still a gold standard in this department.
Keyboard and trackpad
It didn’t take me long to get used to typing on this keyboard since there is each key had ample spacing and decent key travel. It lacks a numpad but the trade-off is worthwhile. ASUS has included a dedicated Copilot key for quick access to the Copilot AI assistant. Right below the keyboard, you will find the enlarged trackpad that is responsive and supports multitouch.
Performance
The ASUS Zenbook S 16 comes equipped with AMD’s brand-new Strix Point processors. It features the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU, which is paired with the Radeon 890M graphics, 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. This AMD chip competes directly with Intel’s Core Ultra 9 185H and offers up to 50 TOPs of AI processing power.
Any PC over 40TOPs is considered AI-ready, which means that the Zenbook S 16 can run AI tasks such as Copilot locally. To recall, CoPilot is an AI tool that is a combination of a search app, an AI assistant, and much more. While the AI capabilities sound impressive, they currently have limited real-world applications, and they are still working on expanding its functionality.
Although some apps take advantage of this right now. First-party apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote integrate CoPilot into the app itself. Third-party platforms like Slack, Zoom, Jira, and others also use AI for summarising responses, adding effects to video calls and more. Users can also use it for Cocreator as well as AI-powered background removal and noise suppression for an improved video call experience.
At this price point, the Zenbook S 16 competes with the Zenbook S 13 OLED (Intel Core Ultra 7 155U) and the VivoBook S 15 OLED (Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite). In 3D Mark Time Spy, Vulkan, OpenCL, and PC Mark 10, ASUS’ new flagship Zenbook S 16 managed to outperform these two models.
The Snapdragon X Elite-powered Vivobook S 15 OLED kept up with it in benchmarks like Cinebench, Geekbench, Fire Strike, and Night Raid. So, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 can clearly flex its muscles in CPU-intensive tasks. However, in benchmarks that favour the GPU, the Zenbook S 16’s Radeon 890M gives it a clear edge. So, in real-world use, you’re getting a capable notebook that can easily handle multi-tasking and some moderately intensive tasks like video editing.
In our gaming tests, GTA V managed a stable 50 fps at native 3K resolution and High settings, although, reducing the resolution to 1080p boosted performance above 60 fps. Valorant offered smooth gameplay, averaging 165 fps at 1080p and 150 fps at 3K on High settings, with dips to 120 fps. The 120Hz display helped ensure a fluid gaming experience as well. The keyboard of the Zenbook S 16 did get quite warm after gaming for a while, so it’s not built for long gaming sessions.
As capable as the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 in both light gaming and synthetic benchmarks, it has its limitations. One of the notable issues that I have is its lack of SoDIMM memory support. In other words, RAM cannot be expanded or replaced by the user. Hopefully, AMD will change this in the future, since it sets a concerning precedence that leaves users on the whims of chip brands who could charge a premium for higher RAM options (basically like Apple). But if you can look past this, the Zenbook S 16 strikes an impressive balance of performance and efficiency, making it perfect for productivity and everyday use.
Battery
All of these benchmark figures are standard for this budget and in line with the new breed of CPUs being released right now. But the Zenbook S 16 is a bit special since it only has a 28W TDP. This is nearly half of what the Vivobook S 15 OLED and Zenbook S 13 OLED draw (50W). So not only are you getting impressive performance, but it is simply more power efficient.
In the PC Mark 10 Battery (Video) test at 80% brightness, the Zenbook S 16 lasted for a whopping 16 hours and 27 minutes, which is more than 2 hours compared to its closest competitor, the Vivobook S 15 OLED (14 hours and 14 minutes). This level of endurance is nothing short of spectacular.
Verdict
The Zenbook S 16 is a high-performance laptop that balances sleek design, robust performance, and exceptional battery life. While its Rs 1,49,990 price tag is steep, it justifies the cost with its premium build quality, impressive display, and strong overall package. For those seeking a Windows alternative to Apple’s MacBook Pro, the Zenbook S 16 is a worthy contender.
While the change in RAM modules may seem frustrating to guys like me, ASUS offers 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM, which is more than sufficient for most productivity tasks, creative workflows, and light gaming. If you prioritise portability, capable performance, and good battery life in a premium laptop, the Zenbook S 16 stands out as one of the best options in its class.
Editor’s rating: 8.5 / 10
Pros:
- Premium build quality
- Impressive battery life
- Great performance
- Gorgeous 3K 120Hz OLED display with touch support
Cons:
- Quite expensive