When comes to how thin a laptop can get, some ports may need to be sacrificed or maybe uses a low-end processor that doesn’t require a fan for heat dissipation. ASUS announced the ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED, the world’s slimmest 13.3″ OLED full-fledge ultraportable laptop with a pretty complete array set of ports and connectivities.

ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED UX5304 Specification

Design

The ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED comes in two color schemes: Basalt Grey which has a plasma ceramization coating that is achieved with a plasma electrolytic oxidation (POE) process. This protects against fading and wear while providing fingerprint resistance. It uses sustainable materials that are 100% recyclable.

While the review unit that I have here is Ponder Blue, also with a matte finish but it does pick up smudges easily, especially the bottom cover.

The lid opens easily with one finger while the ASUS ErgoLift hinge holds the display firmly in place. The keyboard deck is angled for more comfortable typing and allows for excellent airflow for the dual fans to do their job.

They are constructed with magnesium alloy that’s not only strong but lightweight and meets US MIL-STD-810H military-grade standards.

The top thin bezel houses a Full HD IR webcam that supports Windows Hello as well as software tools to enhance video quality and 3D noise reduction to create a clearer image in low lighting.

Keyboard & Trackpad

Coming to the keyboard and trackpad. It has large keycaps but a shorter 1.2mm key travel. It does feel a bit mushy but the inputs are accurate and responsive.

The touchpad size is quite generous and has a smooth surface with precise input.

Ports & Connectivity

Despite the thin and light chassis, the ports offered are surprisingly good. There is a full-sized HDMI 2.1 and two Thunderbolt 4.0 ports that support Power Delivery & Display. ASUS even maintains a USB A 3.2 Gen 2 and a 3.5mm audio combo jack. Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 is feature on the ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED.

ASUS OLED

I have never come across ASUS OLED that isn’t amazing, there’s no different for the ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED. The 13.3″ OLED with a high 2,880 x 1,800 resolution display gets the usual bright colors, inky black, and of course abundant brightness for any occasion or environment.

ASUS also includes tools to help avoid OLED burn-in like pixel refresh, pixel shifting, screensaver, and more.

The display is PANTONE Validated, DisplayHDR 500 certified, and has built-in Dolby Vision HDR support, which brightens up compatible content even further.

Performance

Given two variants with Intel’s latest 13th Gen Raptor Lake; Intel Core i5-1335U and Core i7-1355U. They are Intel Evo-certified that offers instant wake in less than a second, incredible performance with Intel Iris Xe graphics, fast charging capabilities with 9.5 hours of real-world battery life and are paired with the latest connectivity.

The variant that ASUS Malaysia sent to me was the Intel Core i7 with 16GB of LPDDR5 memory and 1TB NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD storage. Yeap! It gets a slow PCIe 3.0 SSD which makes perfect sense to reduce cost as well as for Intel U-series processors that may be underutilizing the speed.

Due to the razer-thin design, the ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED is paired with two low-profile fans. By tweaking the performance settings via MyASUS management software, we are allowed to switch the performance modes from; Standard (default), Performance (if the laptop is plugged in), Whisper Silent that dials down the processor clock speed and fans.

The 13th Gen Intel U-series processor is an efficiency-oriented CPU that offers 15W TDP and can be clocked up to 20W when Performance mode is enabled but there is a caveat. The fans are rather loud with Performance mode (under heavy loads) and even a noticeable low hum sound with Standard mode.

ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED packs enough power for everyday computing tasks as it offers impressive single-core performance and even ousted the Apple M2 MacBook Air in synthetic benchmark tests. It still can run heavier apps like Adobe Photoshop with some free headroom.

Here are some benchmark test result

Battery Life

I had this laptop for close to 3 weeks now and I have run down the battery at least 5 times doing daily productivity workloads like web browsing, video streaming, and music, I averaged over 9 to 10 hours of use. That’s impressive for a thin and light ultraportable laptop.

More info about the ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED UX5304 and where to buy: ASUS Malaysia