(Credit: Mark Stetson)
As ever, Asus has the most PC hardware of any manufacturer to show at Computex this year, and among the many announcements, the Zenbook S 16 stood out.
The S 16 is a professional or creator laptop with an eye-catching design and the new AMD Ryzen 9 AI 300 processors. Despite the more premium build, it starts at a fairly reasonable $1,399, with models up to $1,599. You'll also find smaller 13- and 14-inch models, the latter of which will be one of the first Intel "Lunar Lake" systems we see later this year.
I saw all of Asus' new devices at a preview event before the show, where I first went hands on with the Zenbook S 16. You can see it up close in the video above as I run through the details, with a deeper dive below.
A Classy Build With a Premium Finish
The lid style and material are the first things that caught my attention, especially with the laptop closed.
(Credit: John Burek)Asus has rebranded its advanced (and trademarked) ceramic material as Ceraluminum, which undergoes a chemical and electrical process to leave it with this durable, smooth-coat finish.
(Credit: John Burek)The geometric lines on the lid provide just a dash of style, and both the light and dark color schemes look attractive in person. This design is also coming to the new smaller Zenbooks. It comes in two colors: the darker Zumaia Gray and Scandinavian White.
(Credit: John Burek)The next thing I noticed is how thin and light the S 16 is, particularly for a 16-inch laptop. It measures a mere 0.43 inch thick and weighs 3.3 pounds, making it easy to pick up and carry around or slip in a bag. Between the size and its high-quality Ceraluminum shell, it feels nice in hand while visually staying true to the intended type of user Asus is aiming for.
(Credit: John Burek)Asus’ 16-inch screen, which gives the laptop its name, is also a beauty. It has a 3K resolution (2,880 by 1,800 pixels at its 16:10 aspect ratio) on a120Hz OLED panel with sweet picture quality. General productivity and entertainment should be especially enjoyable on this screen, which is also helpful to creative professionals.
(Credit: John Burek)Photos simply don't do the screen justice, as is usually the case with OLED panels.
Next-Gen AMD With Plenty of RAM and Storage
Now we come to the internal components where, like everything else in tech right now, AI enters the mix. The Zenbook S 16 will run AMD’s Ryzen 9 AI 300 "Strix Point" processors with Zen 5 computing cores, RDNA 3.5 graphics, and an upgraded neural processing unit, or NPU, for handling AI workloads locally. It will run at 28 watts, and Asus’ thermal solution includes a super-thin vapor chamber and interesting-looking vents along the top that let more air through but keep debris out.
(Credit: John Burek)This follows AMD’s limited availability of AI chips, Intel’s current Meteor Lake and upcoming Lunar Lake platforms, and Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X AI chips. We can’t share more about these AMD chips while showing you this product but expect to see them in laptops like this in 2024.
Speaking of Lunar Lake, the smaller 14-inch Zenbook S 14 (coming later, and Asus has provided few details on it and the S 13 so far) will opt for an Intel processor instead. The S 14 will be among the first Lunar Lake systems available, so we look forward to getting our hands on it for testing, too.
(Credit: John Burek)The S 16 will support its processor with up to 32GB of 7,500MHz memory and up to 2TB of M.2 SSD storage. The 78Wh battery should support long working sessions but, as with the performance, we'll have to gauge it ourselves when we can get our hands on one for testing.
Asus' new S 16 has a couple more cool aspects. Despite the thin design, a USB Type-A port is squeezed in alongside the expected dual USB Type-C connections, an HDMI port, and an SD card reader. The laptop also supports Wi-Fi 7, and its chassis is military standard 810-rated. The touchpad also features smart gestures for changing brightness and volume without moving your hand away from the keys.
Check back for our full review of the S 16 and other systems as soon as they become available.