Asus Zenbook S13 OLED Tried
Ideal for movement of 1 cm in thickness and 1 kg in weight
High-capacity battery that lasts up to 14 hours
Increased convenience with a spacious touchpad
| ASUS Zenbook S13 OLED, the world’s thinnest 13-inch laptop |
“A notebook that is light in body and mind”. This is the reporter’s impression of the new notebook ‘Zenbook S13 OLED’ released by ASUS last month. With the combination of smartphone-level thickness, light weight, and large-capacity battery without worrying about charging, it is faithfully equipped with the ‘basic features of a laptop’. ASUS’ aspiration to create a sensation in the consumer notebook market following the domestic commercial notebook market through the Zenbook S13 OLED was understandable at first glance.
The reporter recently had time to experience the ASUS Zenbook S13 OLED product.
The Zenbook S13 OLED was released in two colors: ▷Bassalt Gray and ▷Ponder Blue. The product the reporter experienced was an impressive product with a matte top plate in dark gray color with subtle gloss in a bassalt gray color. The texture was also crisp, and the feeling of touching it was refreshing. However, due to the nature of the dark color top plate, it was disappointing that fingerprints were clearly visible when touched with oily hands with hand cream on.
The most outstanding feature of the Zenbook S13 OLED is its thinness. With a thickness of 1.09 cm, which is not much different from a smartphone, it is quite thin even at a glance. Nevertheless, when I put it on the floor and opened and closed it with one hand, I was satisfied with the fact that it was possible to open and close it stably without lifting the bottom surface.
In addition, it was impressive that when the laptop is opened by applying the ergo hinge, the bottom panel is inclined by about 3 degrees. Thanks to the moderate inclination, the wrist is less tired even when typing for a long time. However, it was nice that the pentagraph type keyboard had a wide spacing between the keys, but the heavy key pressure seemed to be a disfavor factor for those who prefer 30-35g key pressure. The touchpad is 6 inches in size, spacious, and has a touch similar to that of a laptop top, so it feels good to touch.
The ZenBook S13 OLED weighs only about 1kg as thin as it is thin. Even carrying a battery of about 320g together, it weighs a decent laptop. It is perfect for college students or office workers who often carry a laptop. Still, the battery capacity is astonishing. It is equipped with a 65Wh high-capacity battery that can last up to 14 hours, so you can use it for several days without charging. Even watching OTT and YouTube videos for three or four hours was not enough to get a vote.
The part that the reporter was particularly satisfied with in the Zenbook S13 OLED is the nanoedge display with ASUS Lumina OLED technology. In line with ASUS’ confidence in receiving Dolby Vision, Pantone Color, and VESA Display HDR True Black 500 certification, it provided a high sense of immersion with a clear and rich screen when watching OTT and YouTube. However, it was disappointing that there was a part where the sound was sometimes heard as if it was being torn compared to the completeness of the display.
Equipped with Intel 13th generation i7 processor and Intel Iris®Xe graphics, it showed stable performance even in high-end games. In particular, when the game is running, only the upper part of the keyboard generates heat, so I felt that the heat was relatively well controlled.
ASUS didn’t miss out on ease of use either. Despite its thinness, it supports two Thunderbolt ports that enable high-speed charging. Thanks to this, I was able to use my laptop without worrying about the battery even when connected to the monitor using USB-C. In addition, ASUS paid attention to connectivity by installing full I/O such as HDMI 2.1, USB-C and USB 3.2. However, the lack of a microSD card slot was a bit disappointing.
The Zenbook S13 OLED also thought about the environment in line with the recent electronics trend. 100% paper is used for product packaging, so all of them can be recycled. Most products have handles made of plastic, but ASUS even applied thick paper handles. In addition, in the case of the top plate, it is known that it is 100% recyclable because it is made of plasma ceramic aluminum material made of water.
The Zenbook S13 OLED is a flawless ‘product faithful to the basics’, but A/S is a barrier to entry.
In the ASUS user community, there are not a few complaints that “It takes a week at the earliest if you entrust A/S.” ASUS plans to provide responsible A/S by providing ASUS Perfect Warranty service, which covers the full cost of repairing damage caused by consumer negligence once within the basic one-year warranty period. The official factory price of Zenbook S13 OLED is about 1.59 million won. In Coupang, it can be purchased for 1.44 million won.
Reporter Park Hye-rim
