Latest news with #ZenbookS16
Hindustan Times
12-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Asus Zenbook S16's flagship credentials give AMD footing in an AI PC juggernaut
There is a clear direction the PC market is taking, and if you're spending top money now on something that isn't truly artificial intelligence (AI) capable, you'll be making a mistake. We have the AI PC decoded, illustrating fine differences that dictate the specifics of a Copilot+ PC, Copilot PC, Next-Gen AI PC, and AI Enabled PC. The focus, and it is safe to say this is still stage one of the process, seems to be on setting the top-line. The theoretical performance benchmark, a flex of what PC makers can do with chips from AMD, Intel as well as Qualcomm, as well as AI solutions built into Microsoft Windows 11 and indeed the one's they develop on their own. The Asus Zenbook S16 (2025), with the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor, is one more premium AI laptop that has a very distinct undercurrent — AMD's comeback, as it turns out, with quite some style. The 2025 edition of the Zenbook S16 is priced at ₹149,990 and the headline specs make for impressive reading. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 has a 50 TOPS (or trillion operations per second; that makes this a Copilot+ PC) neural processing unit (or NPU) for AI compute, 24GB of memory, and a 16-inch 3K resolution OLED display that belies the compact form factor. The specs are exactly as you'd expect at this price, but then again, there is an urgent need to widen portfolios of the four AI PC classifications, at lower price points too. The Zenbook S16, may well be another impressive example of what's possible. Also Read: HP EliteBook X G1a review: AI in PCs finally gets definitive meaning and purpose Asus has the design elements spot on, and that's another way of saying there is continuity with a few things. That's to be expected, as the portfolio and options widen to include similarly spec-ed (and priced) machines with Intel, Qualcomm and now AMD chips. The Ceraluminum material on the lid has been around since last year, as has the broader aesthetic of the pattern. This is a slim machine, and yet isn't falling short on connectivity, including an HDMI port. Whatever choice you make between Scandinavian White and Zumaia Gray, this laptop is certainly a looker. Tipping the scales at 1.5kg for a 16-inch display, credit is due for the teams that pieced this combination. The 16-inch 2,880 x 1,800 OLED touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate, is one of the finest displays in laptops, at this point in time. It can be very bright and equally subdued, and delivers very balanced as well as accurate colours at default settings — there is of course a 'vivid' option, if you prefer over-saturated colours, but even then, separation is still handled fairly well. Deep blacks do make everything look better, be it documents, webpages or media. Asus' display management smarts, such as the automatic refresh to keep an OLED display in good health, have successfully withstood the test of time. Also Read: PC market finds its edge driven by AI push With the sort of specs that form the core of this Asus Zenbook S16, performance is never a doubt. Our experience, as a primary work laptop, testifies to an ability to not just hold performance well even under the sort of multitasking load we could send its way, bit also fairly robust battery life of close to 12 hours for most usage, and around 14.5 hours if you're careful with elements such as display brightness and memory usage. One could argue that Qualcomm chips get close to 20 hours and upwards with similar workloads, and that does hold weight. There is some fan noise that becomes apparent as the machine heats up on the underside when stressed with multi-tasking (it is very cool, rest of the time), and that is something which can perhaps be improved with a firmware update — the question then will be, will it compromise raw performance? Anyone buying the Zenbook S16 that is priced at ₹149,990 is undoubtedly paying top money for a laptop that should have longevity and promise — and the Zenbook S16 is well equipped on both fronts. It delivers what one would expect, and a bit more, with performance, battery stamina as well as that gorgeous display. It is therefore perplexing why Asus have left a few things to chance, such as a fairly middling webcam experience (though that's layered with AI too). On a Zoom call, it is unlikely the other side of the table would get a whiff of the premium laptop you may have just parted with a lot of money for. That is perhaps the only real niggle, in an otherwise well thought through package.
Telegraph
31-03-2025
- Telegraph
Asus Zenbook S16 review: The greatest ultrabook of them all
This article contains affiliate links. The products or services listed have been selected independently by journalists after hands-on testing or sourcing expert opinions. We may earn a commission when you click a link, buy a product or subscribe to a service. Our Rating: 9/10 We like: Sumptuous OLED touchscreen Potent yet efficient AMD chipset Long battery life We don't like: Can get warm when stressed Limited upgrade options The webcam should be better What is the Asus Zenbook S16? The phrase 'ultrabook' was first coined by Intel back in 2011 to denote a thin and light laptop that met an exacting list of features set by Intel, including using a modern Intel CPU. Since then, it's become a generic term taken to mean any high-end thin and light laptop with a screen size above 15 inches, which is why I'm here using it to apply to a laptop with an AMD processor – an Intel rival. The new Asus Zenbook S16 is far more than just another thin and light laptop though. Thanks to the latest generation of AMD's processors and the company's design, this is a Windows laptop that can match or better the best that Apple can offer with its MacBook Air and Pro machines in terms of performance, quality, design and value. How we test laptops I have been a technology journalist for over 15 years, testing everything from laptops and electric cars, to tablets and audio systems. Over the years, I've used all the operating systems, though these days I've settled down to Windows, Linux and Android. As the saying goes, 'the best operating system is the one you're most familiar with'. When we test laptops here at The Telegraph, we focus on five testing metrics: design and usability, keyboard and touchpad, display and audio, performance and configurations, and battery life. However, we don't just look at scores on a spreadsheet. We use the laptops we're testing as our main laptops and in my case, that means lots of typing, using them on the go, general web browsing, emails and other basic productivity tasks, as well as gaming – the latter especially if the laptop has a graphics card. This gives us a good idea of what they are capable of, how long the battery lasts and how they handle intense tasks. Design and usability: 10/10 The Zenbook S16 is made from something that Asus calls Ceraluminium, a substance that combines the strength of aluminium and the tactile finesse of ceramic. Such made-up substances are usually more marketing flannel than fact but this new finish from Asus is impressive. With its engraved lid and drilled vent panel, I'd say the Zenbook S16 is the most visually interesting and attractive laptop on the market. The Ceraluminium finish also resists greasy fingerprints so the Zenbook S16 looks good even after a day at the office. The S16 weighs just 1.35kg, which is 200g lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro and measures up at 353.6 x 243 x 12.9mm (WDH). Despite the lightness, it feels solid and meets the US MIL-STD 810H standard for resistance to shocks, vibration and particle ingress, so it will withstand a little abuse too. There are two colours available: Scandinavian White and Zumaia Gray. My review machine looks stunning in the former, showing off the angular design and Asus trademark chrome strips on the lid. Asus has found room for plenty of ports too so you get two USB-C ports, a HDMI 2.1 video output, 3.5mm audio socket, USB-A port and an SD card reader. The USB-C ports may not carry Thunderbolt 4 branding but they perform the same, transmitting data at 40Gbps and supplying video in DisplayPort Alt Mode. If I had to criticise the design, it would be that the lid hinge is just a little too stiff to be opened with just one hand and both the USB-C ports are on the same side and next to each other so things can get a bit crowded. Wireless communications are fully up to date with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Getting inside the Zenbook S16 is an easy job but there's no room for a second SSD and the RAM and wireless modules are all soldered in place so there's no opportunity for upgrades. The Zenbook S16 is fully compliant with Microsoft's Copilot+ AI service thanks to the Ryzen 9 AI's powerful XDNA neural processing unit (or NPU). The mileage general users get from services like Copilot is certainly increasing. I often find myself using it to upscale images rather than doing it manually, but Copilot is still a relatively new evolution of Microsoft's software. Keyboard and touchpad: 9/10 The keyboard is a model of clarity and solidity on the Zenbook S16. The graphics are easy to read with or without the three-stage white backlight turned on, while the keycaps themselves have a slightly rough, rubberised feel to them and are pleasant to type on. The large white keys don't have the greatest amount of travel at just over 1mm but the typing action is positive, nicely damped and quiet, easily passing the 'can you use it in a library without getting tutted-at' test. The 150 x 100mm touchpad is one of the largest you'll encounter on any laptop. The plastic surface is smooth and its mechanical clicks are positive and quiet. Asus has installed some bespoke swipe gestures on the touchpad, including display brightness on the right edge, volume on the left edge and media controls along the top. Given the size of the touchpad, these can be used with surprising delicacy. The webcam is a rather basic 1080p affair so the images it generates appear a little noisy and drab, though it does include support for Windows Hello IR facial recognition and Windows Studio Effects AI enhancements. It's not a bad camera per se, but given the standard of the rest of the Zenbook S16, I expected better. Display and audio: 9/10 The Zenbook S16 uses a 2,880 x 1,800 OLED touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate. It's one of the finest laptop displays I've ever encountered. The brightness is great and it's lovely and colourful too. Asus laptops have a reputation for excellent colour accuracy and the Zenbook S16 is no exception. In Vivid mode, the colour palette is deliberately over-saturated to deliver a supernatural look which is great for watching movies. Dune 2 proved to be a stunning visual feast. The panel also carries the VESA-certified DisplayHDR True Black 500 seal of approval so you're getting a proper HDR (high dynamic range) show. The combination of a 120Hz refresh rate and OLED per-pixel lighting makes for superb levels of motion fidelity; better than the IPS panels on the vast majority of thoroughbred gaming laptops, with not even a suggestion of ghosting or smearing. The Harman Kardon six-speaker system doesn't boast a massive amount of volume but the sound is well balanced and detailed with a solid bass underpinning the soundscape. It's easy on the ear no matter what you listen to. Performance and configurations: 8/10 The Zenbook S16 is available in three configurations. The base model runs on an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor with basic Radeon graphics and 16GB of RAM. Next is a Ryzen AI 9 HX 365 model with Radeon 880M graphics and 24GB of RAM. At the top of the range is the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 model with Radeon 890M and 32GB of RAM. Asus is currently selling the Ryzen AI 9 370 machine for £1,299, which is £400 off the RRP in the UK at the time of writing and the Ryzen AI 9 365 model for £1,199, again £400 off. For the extra £100, the AI 9 370 machine is the one to pick. For comparison, a 15-inch MacBook Air with a matching 24GB of RAM and a 1TB solid-state drive costs £1,799. AMD's new chips deliver improved performance thanks to a host of small optimisations in how they handle data throughput, rather than by adding more cores or upping the clock speed. The result is better performance, efficiency and longer battery life. Regardless of the task in hand, the Zenbook S16 is one of the fastest ultrathin laptops currently on the market and capable of running demanding games on its potent Radeon integrated graphics. The Black Myth Wukong benchmark ran at 44fps, albeit at 1,920 x 1,080 and the lowest graphics preset, which is a superb result for a laptop without a discrete GPU. It means this laptop is up to the task of casual gaming. The Zenbook S16 scored 928 in the Cinebench R24 CPU test which is a strong result and similar to the score you'll get from the base Apple M4 processor used in the MacBook Air and 14-inch MacBook Pro. The 1TB SSD (solid state drive) performed well, recording sequential read and write speeds of 4,026MBps and 2,212MBps respectively. That's more than sufficient for the quick movement of even large amounts of data. Given the Zenbook S16's performance levels, it runs surprisingly cool and quiet under maximum stress. After 30 minutes of extreme stress testing, the CPU performance dropped to 50 per cent but the GPU stayed at 100 per cent and fan noise never climbed above a moderate whisper. The rear edge of the underside does, however, get a little hot. Battery life: 8/10 In our standard video rundown battery test, which involves looping a video using the VLC video player with the display brightness set to 200cd/m2, the Zenbook S16 lasted for 14 hours and 10 minutes. That's a strong achievement for this type of laptop, especially one with only a 78Wh capacity battery. The latest Qualcomm Snapdragon laptops can do better than that, some running past the 24-hour mark, but considering the large display and powerful hardware, the Zenbook S16's showing is impressive. Battery life has long been an area where Apple laptops consistently beat those running Windows, but those days are now gone. I was easily able to get through a full day's work with the Zenbook S16 without using the charger. Usefully, the charger Asus supplies is a small and compact 65W USB-C affair that you can also use to charge your phone. Technical specifications: Telegraph verdict: 9/10 The Asus Zenbook S16 is an exceptionally well-rounded laptop: The design, performance, build, screen and speaker quality are superb, while the battery life is good for a Windows laptop with a large OLED display. The only downsides are the rather ordinary webcam, the lack of an option to add a second SSD and the degree to which it gets warm when being thrashed. None of those niggles bothered me excessively though. FAQs What was the release date for the Asus Zenbook S16? The Zenbook S16 went on sale in the UK in late 2024 but since then, the price has dropped and it has gained official Microsoft CoPilot+ AI accreditation. What new features does the Zenbook S16 have? The Zenbook S16 is the first outing for AMD's new Zen 5 x86 processors which offer improved efficiency, faster performance and a new neural processor capable of running local AI tasks at up to 50 TOPS. The latest Radeon 880M and 890M graphics chips are also impressively powerful. What configurations does the Zenbook S16 have? The Zenbook S16 is available with three processor choices, two AMD Ryzen 9 and one AMD Ryzen 7, with either 16, 24 or 32GB of RAM. All models have the same 1TB SSD and the same 3K, 120Hz OLED touchscreen display. What is the Zenbook S16's price? At the time of writing, Asus is knocking £400 off the price of the Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 and HX 360 models, taking them down to £1,299 and £1,199 respectively.
