Asus ZenBook S (13-inch, 2018) Series

Solid productivity performance Above-average battery life Attractive and solid design Excellent keyboard and touchpad Thin and light

Performance dropped from previous generation Speakers are lackluster

“The new Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED trades performance for efficiency, but balance its strengths well.”

Thin and light Powerful enough for all the but the most demanding tasks ; Hinge designed for improved cooling ; Comfortable keyboard despite the thin frame ; Stylish design

Mediocre real-world battery life ; Lid is a fingerprint magnet ; 1080p screen is just OK ; Trackpad feels cramped

Nathan is the deputy managing editor at Engadget, keeping track of the site's daily news operations and covering Google, Apple, gaming, apps and weird internet culture. He now lives in Philadelphia after stints in Boston and San Francisco.

Solid CPU performance ; Better than usual entry-level gaming ; Competitive battery life ; Palm rests stay cool even when it’s working hard ; Attractive design

Fans get quite loud under heavy loads ; Some throttling in game performance ; Lid, keyboard deck, and bottom bend under pressure ; SATA SSD holds back performance

The ZenBook 13 would be a rather mundane thin-and-light Windows 10 notebook if it weren’t for its discrete GPU. That’s not nothing, though, as it does stand apart in its ability to support playing more than just the most casual games. And if you need...

Superior build quality ; Great performance for a thin machine ; Pin-sharp and high-contrast 4K UHD display ; Comfortable keyboard ; Reasonable pricing for the power

Battery life takes a 4K hit ; Lack of configuration options limits choices

Asus worked hard to refine its thin and light ZenBook 3, and it succeeded while slightly upping the screen size (along with the thickness and weight). The ZenBook S is solid as a rock, looks great, and provides good performance with an excellent...

Beautiful 2.8K OLED display ; Decent connectivity, complete with full-size ports ; Impressively thin and light design

Middling performance ; No touch screen

The 2023 Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED comes with an eye-popping OLED display and long battery life, but its ho-hum performance and lack of a touch screen keep it from top marks.

Standout battery life ; Light and portable ; OLED screen ; Eight-core Ryzen processor

No audio jack or Thunderbolt support ; Bad webcam ; No touchscreen option

Asus’ latest ZenBook 13 OLED, powered by AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800U, is a decent purchase for sub-$1,000 shoppers. I tested a configuration with 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 67Wh battery.

One of the best looking ultrabooks ; Decent port array ; Great keyboard and touchpad ; Gorgeous OLED display…

…but it’s a bit dim ; Middling performance ; Only decent battery life ; Thermal throttling

The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED is an absolute stunner — a stylish ultrabook that is super thin and light, and packs a gorgeous OLED panel. But that thinness seems to work against it with below average performance, middling battery life and thermal...

high-quality case ;USB 4.0, Wi-Fi 6E, and PCIe 4.0 ;decent system performance ;very good image quality with accurate color reproduction ;good variety of connections ;long battery life ;software solution against PWM

high-frequency fan noise ;less performance than in the predecessor ;no SD card reader ;limited maintenance options

The new Zenbook S 13 leaves us with mixed feelings, particularly since

Extremely light ; Amazing battery life ; Excellent performance ; Gorgeous OLED display ; Chic lid design

Extremely loud fans frequently turn on ; Speakers aren't very loud

With its reliable performance, amazing battery life, and gorgeous OLED display the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED is a great laptop for most people. However, the fans can get rather loud and the speaker is rather weak.