Hello, my friends. Vacation Austin here. Now there's something I wanted to talk about before we get into this video, which was filmed a couple of weeks ago.

First and foremost, there has been some developments when it comes to ASUS, specifically when it comes to their support. Now I'll be honest with you, it's not great. A few people have made videos on this, and you can go watch those if you want the details, but the TL;DR is essentially that there were some major lapses when it came to not only the support being helpful, when it comes to repairs, when it comes to warranty. There are just some issues that definitely need to be addressed.

So while that doesn't really change the content of this video, as well as the videos that are gonna be going live for the rest of this week, I do have a partnership with ASUS. They are sponsoring this video and a couple of other things, but I do wanna mention it because I do think it's important. Now I've had a couple of conversations with my friends over at ASUS about the situation, and it seems pretty clear to me that they are taking it seriously.

So the support team is making some adjustments, and it's certainly a major issue for them, and it rightfully should be. Support is incredibly important, and when you send in a product and it comes back, or they start charging you, or all these kinds of things that are not what you had initially sort of expected, that's not great.

So I just wanted to mention this at the beginning of this video. Again, the rest of this video and the video that's coming live tomorrow were all filmed before all this stuff happened, so I just wanted to make sure that you're aware that things are changing, things are trying to be improved, and hopefully, hopefully, the situation will be resolved.

So we'll see. Anyway, back to the studio, before Austin had facial hair, and you know, was enjoying my best life. (chuckles) Okay, so I'm a little impatient. This laptop showed up yesterday, and while I'm supposed to wait to get stuff like the specs and the information, well, that could be for tomorrow.

Today, I'm just gonna unbox it and see what's inside. Now I do know one thing, which is this is the brand new ASUS Zenbook S16. Inside we have... Okay, so it's got that plasma ceramic aluminum. Oh, okay. It's a thin boy. It is literally, on its thickest point, barely as thick as the HDMI and it tapers down significantly.

Oh, snap. That gives me some G14 vibe. So it's definitely all aluminum. It's maybe not like the world's thinnest laptop. I do think it's a little bit thicker than the S13. Here's my hand, and here's the size of the trackpad. That might be the physically largest trackpad I've ever seen.

Let's actually see what actually comes with specs we're working with here. It is running an AMD engineering sample. Oh, uh-oh. Is this one of those new AMD CPUs that I've heard about, that's under embargo right now that I don't actually know the information about? It's got 32 gigs of RAM, a two-terabyte SSD. It does have an NPU, and the GPU shows as a Ryzen 9.

I'm gonna assume that's integrated graphics. All right, so it's a 1800P OLED, and it's running at 120 hertz, very nice. Now I have a few weeks to spend with this laptop, so I'm gonna learn a lot more about it. But my first impression is that it is super thin with a 12-core future Ryzen chip inside, probably fairly powerful.

You can use the trackpad to change your volume, so I can turn the volume down. I can also change the brightness up and down. Oh my God, if you do the top, it like fast forwards your video. Whoa, whoa, look, as I do that, it's like fast forwarding the video forward and back.

Oh, so they must have liked some custom touch points in the trackpad. It's also got a stylus. What the? I almost missed it. It comes with the ASUS Pen. So presumably, this is probably gonna be good for like graphic artists maybe doing a little bit of light video editing and perhaps a little bit of gaming.

Although you're probably not gonna game on something that's this thin. I'm gonna crack this thing open, but my biggest question is what's like the target for this laptop? They're onto me. (laughs)

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hello, my friends. Vacation Austin here.Now there's somethingI wanted to talk aboutbefore we get into this video,which was filmed a couple of weeks ago.First and foremost, therehas been some developmentswhen it comes to ASUS,specifically when itcomes to their support.Now I'll be honest withyou, it's not great.Now a few people have made videos on this,and you can go watch thoseif you want the details,but the TL;DR is essentiallythere were some major lapseswhen it came to not onlythe support being helpful,when it comes to repairs,when it comes to warranty.There's just some issuesthat definitely need to be addressed.So while that doesn'treally change the contentsof this video, as well as the videosthat are gonna be going livefor the rest of this week.So I do have a partnership with ASUS.They are sponsoring this videoand a couple of other things,but I do wanna mention it becauseI do think it's important.Now I've had a couple ofconversations with my friendsover at ASUS about the situation,and it seems pretty clear to methat they are taking it seriously.So the support team ismaking some adjustments,and it's certainly a major,major issue for them,and it rightfully should be.Support is incredibly important,and when you send in aproduct and it comes back,or they start charging you,or all these kind of thingsthat are not what you hadinitially sort of expected,that's not great.So I just wanted to mention thisat the beginning of this video.Again, the rest of thisvideo and the videothat's coming livetomorrow were all filmedbefore all this stuff happened,so I just wanted to makesure that you're awarethat things are changing, thingsare trying to be improved,and hopefully, hopefully, thesituation will be resolved.So we'll see.Anyway, back to the studiobefore Austin had facial hair,and you know, was enjoyingmy best life. (chuckles)Okay, so I'm a little impatient.This laptop showed up yesterday,and while I'm supposed to waitto get stuff like the specsand the information, well,that could be for tomorrow.Today, I'm just gonna unboxit and see what's inside.Now I do know one thing,which is this is the brandnew ASUS Zenbook S16.Inside we have...Okay, so it's gotthat plasma ceramic aluminum.Oh, okay. I got it.It's a thin boy.It is literally, on it's thickest point,barely as thick as the HDMIand it tapers down significantly.Oh, snap. That gives me some G14 vibe.So it's definitely all aluminum.It's maybe not like theworld's thinnest laptop.I do think it's a littlebit thicker than the S13.So here's my hand and here'sthe size of the trackpad.That might be thephysically largest trackpadI've ever seen.Let's actually seewhat actually comes specswe're working with here.It is running a AMD engineering sample.Oh, uh-oh.Is this one of those new AMDCPUs that I've heard about,that's under embargo right nowthat I don't actually knowthe information about?It's got 32 gigs ofRAM, a two-terabyte SSD.It does have an NPU, andthe GPU shows as a Ryzen 9.I'm gonna assume that'sintegrated graphics.All right, so it's a 1800P OLED,and it's running at 120 hertz, very nice.Now I have a few weeks tospend with this laptop,so I'm gonna learn a lot more about it.But my first impressionis that it is super thinwith a 12-core future Ryzen chip inside,probably fairly powerful.You can use the trackpadto change your volume,so I can turn the volume down.I can also change thebrightness up and down.Oh my God, if you do the top,it like fast forwards your video.Whoa, whoa, whoa, look, as I do that,it's like fast forwardingthe video forward and back.Oh, so they must have likesome custom touch pointsin the trackpad.Oh, it's also got a stylus. What the?I almost missed it. Itcomes with the ASUS Pen.So presumably, this isprobably gonna be goodfor like graphic artistsmaybe doing a little bitof like light video editingand perhaps a little bit of gaming.Although you're probably not gonna gameon something that's this thin.So I'm gonna crack this thing open,but my biggest questionis what's like the targetfor this laptop?They're onto me. (laughs)I took the screws out,except there's one in themiddle with a sticker on it.I bet on the other sideof the sticker that says,"Hey Austin, don't take this off."(Austin snickers)(laptop chassis clicks)All right, inside, we have, oh boy. Okay.So we have ourselves a decentsized 73 watt-hour battery,and pretty sizable speakers here.I mean that's pretty much the whole sortof this side of the device.Now the motherboard is up here.Now even though it is superthin, it does have dual fans,and they blow out throughthese heat sinks on the top.I actually thinkthat ASUS are doingsomething a little unusual'cause I've never seen any oftheir laptops with the design.First of all, like this red stuff here.What could that possibly be?Clearly, to put a relatively powerful chipin a chassis that isthis thin and this light,ASUS had to make some creative decisionswhen it comes to the cooling,'cause this all is cooling, right?That's actually a substantial amount.Even though the laptop's not thick,they're making up forit with surface area.Is this just a superthin laptop that's meantfor Photoshop and Lightroom all day?Or does this have a littlebit more performance?Like how much power canthey really dissipatewith this cooling?'Cause I think that's gonnareally make the big differenceon if this is a lightweightlittle portable laptopthat looks good but doesn'thave a lot of performance,or if this is somethingthat actually has likesome real beans behind it.The design is obviously a major point,and ASUS has a new name forthis finish, Ceraluminum.So the way it works isthe top lid is aluminumthat gets blasted by a ton of electricity,which results in the soft touch finish.Definitely a unique look,and it should be much more durablethan traditional anodization.Now that same uniqueness alsocomes across to the chassis.I can only thinkof maybe one other companywho makes a 16-inch laptopthat is remotely this thin.We're talking 11 millimeters in thickness,and it barely tips thescales at 3.3 pounds.I do tend to gravitate toward 13and 14-inch laptops personally justbecause I really appreciatethe smaller footprint.But if you want a bigger screen,the advantage here isthere's really not a lotof extra weight carrying it in your bag.The next big questionin my mind was cooling.So I did confirm thatthey're using a vapor chamberalong with the two thin fansas well as a pair of graphite sheetson both sides of the cooler.This is mostly to keeptoo much of the heatfrom transferring to, sayyour lap or the keyboard.And the result is a 28-watt TDP,which means that this properly thin laptopcan still handle some serious workloadswhile fitting a very sizablebattery inside as well.The screen is a standout feature,a 3K touchscreen OLEDwith a buttery smooth120 hertz refresh rate,which surprise, surprise, looks great.So by no means is this a gaming PC,but with this kind of performance on tap,I did want to try playingthe brand new "Hellblade II".Now this is the very beginningof the game, so no spoilers.And a couple things jump out to me.First and foremost, this isa phenomenal-looking game,even on full low settings andplaying at like 1280 by 800.Now if you've ever playedone of these games,you'll know the audio is ahuge part of the experience.Am I cranking on the speakers?- This dark land,it pushes back.- This puts a lot of the speakerson their gaming laptops to shame.Now you're not gonna want to use thisas your gaming laptop, right?Like it's certainly capable of it.Same thing with like, you know,maybe a little bit ofediting or something.You've got the performance there.I understand why AMD waitedfor these new Ryzen chipsto build a system like this.It has enough performance insideto get a lot of stuff done,but importantly, still in thatsuper thin form factor.Now if I'm gonna give you some negatives,there are a couple,one of which is even withthose graphite sheetsbetween the board, the keyboard gets warm,and this thing is incrediblythin vapor chamberand the fact they're pushing 28 watts,it's a little toasty, right?So especially toward thetop, it's actually warm,but even the keyboard gets alittle bit warmer than I likewhen you're actually gamingand sort of running itthrough an extended bit of load.That being said though, I'm impressed.I still wish that thishad dedicated graphics,but I completely understandthat that's just not possiblein this thin form factor, right?And what they've done with this sizeof this laptop is fill itwith a surprisingly rich set of speakers.That's the thing thatI'm almost more impressedabout more than anything else.That being said though,for something that'sthis thin and this light,it's actually a pretty good experiencefor lighter gaming andlighter creative tasks.And with that Ryzen AI chip as wellas a Windows Hello webcam,it is very snappy to wake up from sleep.As you can see here,the quality is actually prettysolid on the webcam too.So when you put this all together,it's a very interesting devicebecause you've got alarge 16-inch form factorthat's super thin,but you also have a verynice 120 hertz OLED display.You've got those terrific speakers.But let's get real for a second.This isn't the normal kindof laptop that I look at.So typically when you have a larger laptopthat's supposed to be thin and light,the size means that itdoesn't really feel allthat thin or light, but this really does.I always assume when I havea larger device like this,I expect a little bitof extra performance.Now something like a dedicatedGPU seems like it's normallywhat you're gonna findin a 16-inch device,especially when you havesuch a solid port selectionlike HDMI, USB-A, SD card reader, USB4.But the thin and light designdoes make this a bit unique,and to be fair,it does have a lot of performance thanksto that new Ryzen AI SoC.You get all the fancy new features.There's a lot to like here.I'm a little tornbecause I don't reallyhave a lot to criticize.This is an incrediblywell-thought-out designthat it's great for the right person.I just might personallyprefer the smaller S13,really just to maximize the portability.Regardless though, definitely be sureto go check out the S16in the link in descriptionif you want to learn more.And of course, huge thank you to ASUSfor sponsoring this video.Stay tuned too.It is Computex time,and I've got a lot more coolstuff coming up real shortly.(upbeat music)