This is WAY Better Than I Thought - Asus Zenbook S14

The CPU of the ASUS Zenbook S14 is still quite good, considering its size and weight. The laptop comes with two options for RAM, 16 or 32 gigs, which are already included in the package. This means that users don't have to worry about buying additional RAM, as it's a fixed feature. The 32GB option is particularly appealing, as it supports Copilot+ features and has an NPU capable of running these features. The graphics on this laptop are surprisingly good, especially when compared to other small and thin laptops.

The Zenbook S14 is designed to be a thin and light laptop, making it easy to carry around without much notice. However, its performance is not compromised due to its small size. The battery life of the ASUS Zenbook S14 is truly phenomenal, with estimates suggesting double-digit hours of real use. In one test, the battery lasted for 16.5 hours when watching a simple YouTube video in a dark room with reduced brightness. This is an impressive feat, especially considering that the laptop's display is not necessarily the brightest.

The secret to this long-lasting battery life lies in the laptop's large 72-watt-hour battery and its efficiency. The Lunar Lake chip used in the ASUS Zenbook S14 is designed to be power-efficient, which helps reduce heat generation and fan noise. Even when running demanding tasks like gaming or 3D rendering, the laptop rarely gets warm to the touch, nor does it produce noticeable fan noise. However, there are some instances where the fan kicks up, usually during intense usage.

The ASUS Zenbook S14 is a premium laptop designed for everyday use. Its performance is more than capable of handling regular tasks, such as web browsing, office work, and streaming media. The battery life, in particular, is a significant advantage over other laptops on the market. In real-world testing, the Zenbook S14's battery lasted for an entire workday comfortably, making it an excellent choice for anyone who needs a laptop that can keep up with their daily tasks.

Intel is competing closely with ASUS in terms of battery life and performance. While not every comparison will be mentioned, when they are, it's clear that the Zenbook S14 holds its own against other premium laptops. The laptop's efficiency makes it stand out from devices like Snapdragon laptops, which also prioritize power efficiency but may not match the Zenbook S14 in real-world use.

The ASUS Zenbook S14 has several notable features that set it apart from other laptops. Its compact 14-inch design is easy to carry around without much notice, and its solid build quality makes it feel premium. The display is bright and responsive, making it suitable for a wide range of applications. The keyboard and trackpad are also noteworthy, with the latter offering precise navigation and control.

ASUS has done an excellent job in designing the Zenbook S14's chassis to have very few downsides. If there's one area for improvement, it would be the speakers, which could benefit from being placed more strategically or having better sound quality. Additionally, some users might find it convenient to have a USB-C port on the right side of the laptop, allowing for easier charging in either direction.

In conclusion, the ASUS Zenbook S14 is an excellent choice for anyone seeking a premium laptop with impressive performance and battery life. Its compact design makes it easy to carry around, and its efficiency ensures that it remains cool and quiet during use. The display, keyboard, and trackpad all contribute to a user experience that's hard to beat. While there are some minor areas for improvement, the Zenbook S14 is an excellent option for those in the market for a new laptop.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- This is take one of myone take on the Zenbook S14.(sign snaps)(soft music)So, of course, hugethank you to our friendsover at ASUS for sponsoring this video.Now, the Zenbook S14 isa very special laptop.There are a few things they've done herethat I think are really nice,(soft jazzy music)but the main thing I wanna talk aboutis the idea of thisdesign and what is inside.So, first and foremost,the Zenbook S14 has a lotof the stuff that Iliked in the Zenbook S16that we did a video(hands clapping)on a few months ago.It's got that nice Ceraluminum finish,which is quite durable.So, I've actually been using this laptopfor a little over a month now,in and outta my bagand it's actually held upreally well.(hand rubbing)It doesn't really getall that fingerprinting,but I love the actual formfactor of this laptop.So, if you look at it,it's all aluminum.It's got some nice little detail touches.So, if you look at the littlegrill on the front here,you can see it has all theselike intricate little patternswhen it comes to the dots for the fan.It's really, really nice.But on top of that,it's got a really nice port selectionfor such a small laptop.So, on the left side you've got HDMI,a couple of Thunderbolt portsas well as your headphone jack.You also have a single USB-A on this side.The only criticism I haveis I wish there was a USB-Con both sides of the laptop.I think that would be areally nice to be ableto charge on either side.Other things that are really nice,this keyboard is good.I'll say it's not like spectacular,but the keyboard backlightingis absurdly bright.Do you see how bright that is?I accidentally turned it upall the way in a dark roomand I almost blindedmyself with the keyboard.Now, the track pad is good.Now, I will say that I ampretty firmly in the campthat I want every Windows laptopto have an haptic touch pad.Like I just think that,that's just what everyone should do.And I know it's a lot more expensive,but this is a good track pad.It's really quite large consideringhow small this laptop is.And you've got the little gestures.So, on the right sideyou can go up and downand it will adjust your brightness.And on the left side you can adjust,when you get it just quite right,you can adjust your volume.It's not like 100% perfect.It's like sometimes I have to do it twice.But what I find is,it's really natural justto be like watching a videoand just go swipe down,swipe up a little bitjust to get a little bit more brightness.It's pretty good.Now, the speakers are alittle bit of a low point,not like bass low, like low.So, they're bottom firing.So, you can see that they come outthrough these little slits.They're fine,but I've noticed thatthey're very much dependent.So, like if you play themon like a surface likethis, they sound good.But the other day I wassitting on the couch.It's one of those thingswhere I kind of justhad it slightly tiltedand like just barelycovering up that speaker.It was almost muted,like it was really quiet.I wish even though it'ssuch a small laptop,they could redirect the speakers up here.I know that, that's kindof meant for cooling,but that would be someof the only criticismsthat I have of this hardwarebecause it feels absolutely terrific.Super thin aluminum,like as a 14-inch laptop,this is the kind of formfactor that I love to use.Keeping on with the formfactor that I love to use,the screen is phenomenal.So, 2.8K, 14-inchOLED, runs at 120 hertz.It looks great.Touchscreen, of course.Something I noticed,and actually if you actually end upbuying one of these laptops,something you shoulddefinitely take a look at.So, it's a 120 hertz display.By default in myASUS software,it actually defaults to 60hertz when you're on battery.Now, you can turn thatoff, it's just a setting.But I didn't realize,'cause for a while Iwas using it on batteryand I'm like, this doesn'tfeel like 120 hertz.And you like check Windows settingsand it's like showing 120.So, just a little headsup for battery savingsit does go down to 60 hertz by default.You can just turn that off.But absolutely terrific display,good webcam, Windows Hello,the whole kind of thing.But the hardware is just oneside of the story, right?It's very similar to thatS16 that we took a look at.You know, smaller,which I personally like.What's really different about it,is that little blue sticker!It says Intel Core Ultra 7.So, this is the Intel Lunar Lake chip,AKA, the Intel Core Ultra 200 series.Now, I've talked about this in the pastand I took a look at anotherlaptop that was poweredby Intel Core Ultra 7,and now that the embargo has liftedand there's no moreholding back on benchmarksand all this kind of stuff,and I've spent a lot of timewith these laptops, it's good.Like it's really, really good.If you're like me and you've taken a lookat your fair share of laptopsover the years (inhales),not that long ago,like literally like two years ago,if you saw a Intel-powered laptop,especially something that'sthis thin, this light,you would expect fan noise,you'd expect heatand you would expect decent battery life.That's just not really the case with this,because it's good, good and great.It's clear that when theywere designing this chip,power efficiency was the name of the gamebecause while it's quite goodwith single core performanceand that's kinda that sort of snappinessthat you feel in everyday tasks,but when it comes to multithread tasks,it's actually the same ormaybe even a little slowerthan some previous Intel stuff.So, keep mind, this is an eight core CPU.They've completely dropped Hyperthreading,which means that if you're goingto be doing like 3D renderingand lots of like video editingand really kinda likehammering that CPU,(hands clapping)the performance is actuallyjust kind of decent.But what you give up in returnor what you get in return when you givethat up is I would say a far better laptopfor everyday use.So, the CPU is still quite good.You also have to consider that allof these Core Ultra 200 laptops,they come with the RAMalready on the package.So, you only have twooptions, 16 or 32 gigs.You can't get more, you can'tget less, which is fine.This one's outfitted with 32,which is personally pretty nice,especially because this doessupport Copilot+ features,or at least it will soon.It has an NPU that's capable of that.But the graphics are surprisingly good,especially when you compare itto some of the othersort of small and thinand light laptops out there.It's actually quite decent.You can do some gaming on this.Now, it's a thin and light laptop.You're really not goingto want to do that.But the reason I bring all of this upis that the performance is good,but the battery life is phenomenal, right?I just really want to underline that,phenomenal, underline.Because what you're getting here is notjust all-day battery life, right?Like laptops have claimedthat for a very long time,but you are getting actuallydouble-digit hours of real use.So, a few just random sort of snapshotsof as I've been using this laptop,the best I saw was an estimate in Windowsof 16 and a half hourswhen I was watching this simple YouTube,sort of in like a darker room,the brightness was a little bit down,but like actually itwas like, hey, 16 hours.I watched for like an hour and a half,I'd burned like, I dunno,4% of the battery or something silly.In a little bit more practical uses,I can actually get 10hours of battery on this.Now, part of it isbecause even though it'ssuch a small laptop,it actually has quite a large battery.So, ASUS somehow fita 72 watt hour batteryand this chassis, whichis absolutely tiny.So, I'm not sure how they did that.Probably because if you open it up,it is all just battery on the inside.But that combined with theefficiency of Lunar Lake,the fact that it's neverreally warm to the touch,you very rarely hear fan noise,unless you're doing something like gamingor you know 3D renderingor something like that,the fan will kick up.But I mean look,this is a everyday premium laptop.Odds are you're not goingto be stressing it at ahundred percent very often.I certainly am not.And for regular everyday tasks,you're just not gonna hear that fan.You're not gonna feel anywarmth pretty much anywhereand the battery will legitimately last youan entire workday really comfortably.That is a phenomenal place to bebecause, yes,in the past this was amuch more difficult thing,but now it's kind ofwhat you expect, right?And Intel are right there in it.I mean, not that I'm gonna do a bunchof comparisons in a sponsored video,but if I was going to,I would tell you thatthis is right up there.You could put, especiallywhen it comes to battery life,you could put this againstpretty much anything else,even including Snapdragon laptops,which I'll be honest, I like quite a lot.But this is actually inreal world use actually justabout as good if not even betterwhen it comes to efficiency.And you have all the added benefitsof not having to dealwith any like app compatibilityissues and whatnot,or at least nothing onlike a normal scale.So, when you put this together,the Zenbook S14 is areally, really great laptop.And I say that again,this is a sponsored video,but I really mean it,because for me personally,I love this14-inch form factor.(laptop closes)It is small, it is thin, it is light,it just slides in your bag,you hardly even notice it's there.You've got good performance,quite good performance,excellent battery life.And then what ASUS have doneis they have wrapped that sortof very solid Lunar Lake chipin a chassis that has very few downsidesbetween the very solid display,between the good keyboard,the good track pad,the very nice sort of port selection.The only things I would changeon this if I had a magic wandfor gen two, a little bit better speakers,ideally somehow placed in the grillsand putting one of the USB-Cports on the right side,so, you can charge on either sides,but that's almost itand that's a prettyimpressive place to be.So, if you would like to learn moreabout the ASUS Zenbook S14,definitely be sure to check it outat the link in the description.Thank you very much ASUSfor sponsoring this videoand now my friends, it is time to cut.I did it!\n"