Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review: An excellent value
Our Verdict
The Asus Zenbook 13 OLED delivers excellent value, offering dandy performance, remarkable battery life, and a beautiful OLED screen for under $1k.
For
- Stellar battery life
- Beautiful 1080p OLED display
- Keen performance
Against
- Middling audio quality
- Inconsistent webcam
- No headphone jack
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
The Asus Zenbook 13 OLED delivers fantabulous value, offering groovy performance, remarkable battery life, and a beautiful OLED screen for under $1k.
Pros
- +
Stellar bombardment life
- +
Beautiful 1080p OLED display
- +
Great operation
Cons
- -
Middling sound quality
- -
Inconsistent webcam
- -
No headphone jack
Asus Zenbook 13 OLED specs
Cost: $799 to start, $899 as tested
Display: 13.iii-inch 1080p OLED
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700U
GPU: Integrated Radeon graphics
RAM: viii GB
Storage: 512 GB SSD
Ports: (ii) USB-C, (1) USB-A, HDMI 2.0, MicroSD card reader
Size: xi.98 x vii.99 x 0.55 inches
Weight: 2.5 pounds
There'south a new model of Asus Zenbook on the market sporting a vibrant OLED display and the latest CPUs from Intel and AMD, but the existent kicker is the toll: it starts at but $800, making this quite probable the cheapest OLED-equipped laptop effectually, and one of the best thirteen-inch laptops you can buy — and indeed, one of the best laptops period.
At that toll you lot might worry that you're sacrificing performance, battery life or build quality, merely later spending a few weeks reviewing an AMD-equipped Asus Zenbook 13 OLED ($799 to start, $899 equally reviewed) I'one thousand pleased to report that you take cipher to worry nigh. While in that location are a few drawbacks, overall this is an splendid laptop that should stand up you in good stead for both work and play.
Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review: Cost and configurations
- Remarkably cheap for an OLED-equipped laptop
- Expect to pay between $800-$1,100
Every bit I write this the Asus Zenbook 13 OLED is available via select third-party retailers and Asus' own website for a starting toll of $799. For that yous become the 13.iii-inch 1080p OLED screen, an AMD Ryzen v or Intel Cadre i5 CPU, 8 GB of RAM,and either a 256 GB or 512 GB SSD. At the time of publication the Intel-equipped model ships with the smaller SSD, and when I asked why an Asus representative told me information technology was a result of CPU cost differences, supply challenges, and the limits of Intel vs. AMD motherboards.
Of course, you tin pay a bit extra for a model configured with ameliorate components. The about expensive version currently sells for $1,099, and that gets you a Zenbook 13 OLED with an Intel Core i7 CPU, xvi GB of RAM, and a 512 GB SSD.
The model we received for review retails for $899, and it packs an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, 8 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD.
Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review: Design
- Slim and light, with thin bezels
- ErgoLift hinge design looks absurd, could make typing more than comfy
The Asus Zenbook xiii OLED unit I reviewed is easy to carry and looks good on a desk, weighing in at a trim 2.v pounds and measuring simply eleven.98 10 7.99 ten 0.55 inches. Its grey and matte all over except the chapeau, which sports a fingerprint-attracting spun-metallic finish replete with offset Asus logo.
The AMD model I reviewed is currently but available in this grey colour (Asus calls it Pine Grey), but the Intel-equipped Zenbook 13 OLED is as well available in a nice purply-silver shade chosen Lilac Mist.
Open the laptop and y'all're greeted with a beautiful 1080p OLED display surrounded by nice thin 4.4mm bezels on either side. The top and bottom bezels are a little thicker (six.5mm and 12.9mm, respectively), simply they're still modest enough that it'due south easy to forget about them when you're caught upward in whatever'southward happening on the screen. If your eye does wander over them you'll observe they're matte grey plastic, a good reminder that even with the OLED display, this is nonetheless a budget-minded laptop.
All the same, that doesn't backbite from the feel of using this Zenbook xiii, which felt pretty solid and sturdy throughout my time testing it. I never noticed any observable screen wobbling or weakness in the chassis, and when I grabbed the keyboard deck in both hands and tried to bend it I didn't observe whatsoever significant flexion, though in that location were some disconcerting sounds of plastic angle.
When you lot open up the laptop on a flat surface you might notice the back of the keyboard lifts upwards slightly, a upshot of the Zenbook's ErgoLift swivel. The thought, co-ordinate to Asus, is that past designing the bottom lip of the screen housing to stick out beneath the laptop and push its rear upward a few degrees, yous'll savor a more ergonomic typing position and improved cooling and speaker performance.
In my experience, information technology didn't make a noticeable difference over other laptops I've worked on, but I did feel comfortable typing on the Zenbook's slightly raised keyboard. The laptop never got noticeable warm in my lap, either, and the speakers do sound pretty skilful, and then perhaps there's something to this ErgoLift design. At the very to the lowest degree, it does make the laptop expect slightly cooler when sitting open up on a desk.
Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review: Display
- 1080p OLED screen delivers nice deep blacks and saturated colors
- A bit likewise reflective in vivid light
The 13.3-inch 1080p OLED display is one of the major selling points of this Zenbook, and in person it looks squeamish and vibrant. Information technology's pretty rare to find an OLED screen in a laptop you tin can buy for less than $1,000, and I'm happy to report that information technology does a bully task of helping contrasts stand out, achieving nice deep blacks every bit well equally bright, saturated colors.
In our testing we found the Zenbook thirteen'southward OLED screen tin can display 132% of the sRGB colour spectrum, which basically means it can make colors wait over-saturated. That means it's not great for accurate photo editing, but if you simply desire to use information technology for watching videos and playing games, you probably won't discover.
Asus claims the brandish can hit a elevation brightness of 400 nits, and in our testing we constitute that to exist about true: at its brightest setting several corners of the screen achieved acme brightness of 396 nits, which is better than the Dell XPS thirteen's OLED display (361 nits) or the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360's AMOLED screen (264.iv nits).
Nevertheless, the Asus Zenbook thirteen's OLED screen all the same doesn't get bright enough to go along y'all from seeing your reflection in it on a sunny day. I'm not talking about taking it out on a picnic at high noon, either; I prepare the laptop upwards at maximum effulgence about a window with indirect sunlight to accept the photos you lot come across in this review, and you'll probably exist able to spot my reflection in several of them. It's inappreciably a dealbreaker, but information technology can be a picayune distracting when y'all're trying to watch something during the day.
Asus Zenbook xiii OLED review: Ports
- No headphone jack, though there is an adapter packed in
- USB-A port and HDMI out are prissy to have
The Asus Zenbook 13 OLED sports a pretty respectable array of ports for a 13-inch ultraportable, with 1 caveat: there'due south no headphone jack. There is a USB-C-to-3.5mm adapter packed in with the laptop, all the same, and so you tin can still utilise wired headphones if you're willing to cede the use of ane USB-C port.
Of course, the adapter is one more than thing you lot'll take to tote around with y'all and keep rail of; to minimize your odds of misplacing it, I recommend simply leaving it plugged into your headphones when not in apply.
At that place are two USB-C ports (which are also Thunderbolt 4 ports, on the Intel-equipped models of Zenbook 13) along the left edge of the laptop, aslope an HDMI port for hooking upwardly an external display.
Forth the right edge yous'll find a microSD carte reader and a classic USB-A port, which is handy to take if you (like me) are even so using a few older USB-A accessories.
Asus Zenbook xiii OLED review: Performance
- AMD Ryzen 7 CPU delivers great performance
- Speedy hard bulldoze transfer rates and video editing speeds
In improver to being quite power-efficient (as you'll run across below when we offset talking about battery life) the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U CPU driving our Zenbook 13 review unit proved more than powerful enough to tackle daily computing tasks without breaking a sweat. I was able to load it up with 20+ Chrome tabs, plus 15 or and then Border tabs, plus three streaming videos (from Twitch, YouTube, and Amazon Prime), and it never once hitched or stuttered.
When we put it to the test using the Geekbench 5.4 multi-core CPU benchmark, the OLED-equipped Zenbook thirteen earned a potent score of 6,411. That'due south remarkably good for a laptop of this size and cost; for comparing, the Dell XPS 13 OLED with its Intel Core i7-1185G7 got a score of 5,420 in the same test, and the xv-inch Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 (with its Intel Cadre i7-1165G7 CPU) earned 5,575.
When nosotros tasked the Zenbook 13'south 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.two SSD with copying 25 GB of multimedia files, information technology managed to attain a transfer charge per unit of 873 MBps. That's pretty speedy, and information technology's faster than the Dell XPS thirteen OLED (742 MBps) and the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 (869 MBps).
Still, when we challenged the Zenbook to transcode a 4K video downwards into 1080p using Handbrake, information technology pulled it off in just 8 minutes and 22 seconds. That's over twice as fast as the Dell XPS thirteen OLED (18:12) and the Samsung Milky way Book Pro 360 (16:24), both of which cost hundreds of dollars more than the Asus. In short, this svelte lilliputian OLED-equipped Zenbook delivers a lot of power for non a lot of money.
If you want to play games on information technology, you lot should have a pretty adept time -- as long as you don't enquire the ZenBook 13 OLED to run anything that demands a detached graphics card. In the course of hands-on testing I enjoyed playing older, less demanding games like Crusader Kings 3, Othercide, and the Imprint Saga trilogy with zero bug. They expect great on the OLED display, and I noticed no meaningful slowdown.
When we put the ZenBook xiii OLED through the Sid Meier'due south Civilisation VI: Gathering Storm graphical benchmarking exam, the Zenbook achieved an average framerate of 23.6 frames per 2d. That's just slightly better than the Dell XPS 13 OLED accomplished when running the same test at 1080p, and it's not upward to the 26.9 frames per 2d the Samsung Galaxy Book 360 was able to reach in the aforementioned test.
Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review: Audio
- Loud, serviceable sound quality
- Speakers can become deadened with laptop on your lap
The Zenbook 13'southward speakers pump out pretty adept sound from beneath the laptop, and when I prepare it up on a desk at maximum book and walked away I was able to pick out vocals and bass beats pretty clearly from several rooms away. I didn't detect whatsoever significant difference in sound quality when I set the afore-mentioned ErgoLift hinge in different positions, merely I did detect the Zenbook tin become quite deadened when yous have information technology on your lap. Obviously ,that'south not a huge problem since your ears are just a few feet away at most, but it does make music sound less rich when you're using the laptop in its eponymous setting.
I didn't hear whatsoever meanginful distortion or tinniness to the sound, fifty-fifty at maximum volume, merely neither did I notice any particularly impactful bass, sharp trebles, or warm, rich vocals. In short, the Harman Kardon-certified speakers on the Zenbook xiii are completely serviceable, but I doubt y'all'll be impressed by the style music and movies sound coming out of this device.
Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review: Keyboard and touchpad
- Comfy keyboard
- Skillful touchpad, but the congenital-in NumberPad is a pain
With well-spaced keys that take 1.4 mm of travel, the keyboard on the Asus Zenbook 13 OLED is quite comfy to blazon on, and after a piffling time with it I was able to reliably hit over 100 WPM on the 10fastfingers.com typing test. In that location'southward no fingerprint reader or other fancy tech hiding in the keyboard, but there are some surprisingly useful role keys along the top row, including my favorite: a primal dedicated to bringing upward a tool that lets yous "snip" screen captures in various shapes.
The touchpad beneath the keyboard is wide and piece of cake to apply, and I never had trouble using it to tap, drag, and (via Windows Gestures) swipe my mode through the workday. Even so, I did take a lot of trouble reliably using the number pad built into the touchpad. Branded the Asus NumberPad, information technology's a neat idea -- in theory: in that location's a small calculator icon in the summit-right corner of the touchpad, and if you tap information technology a layout of numbers and operators glows to life on the touchpad itself.
It looks a bit like a figurer's key layout, and there's another small icon in the top-left corner which toggles the NumberPad'south brightness level. You can also swipe in from the top-left corner to bring upwardly the Windows calculator app, allowing you to quickly starting time punching and crunching numbers.
Unfortunately, I had a difficult time getting it to work reliably, even later weeks of using the Zenbook. It took near that long for me to figure out the exact right identify to apply pressure in order to activate the NumberPad, and I still can't reliably change its brightness level. I also can't seem to get any app to reliably register number inputs from the NumberPad except the calculator; when I bring it up to dial numbers into a text field -- like the Chrome search bar, for example -- sometimes the app registers the numbers I'k inputting, simply just as oftentimes information technology reads my taps on the NumberPad equally taps on the touchpad.
This quickly becomes frustrating, and if I hadn't been trying to master it for the purposes of this review I'd have quickly given upwards and just used the number keys on the keyboard.
Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review: Webcam
- Webcam is good enough, but not great
- Congenital-in IR sensor lets yous use Windows Hello facial authentication
The 720p webcam built into the upper lip of the display won't leave you looking terrible in your side by side video call, but it'll inappreciably help you wait your all-time. While reviewing it I consistently saw muted colors and slightly grainy image quality, but if yous're using it to brand calls indoors from an evenly-lit room it'south hardly a problem.
However, I did come across some issues when I used information technology while sitting near a window. The Zenbook xiii'southward webcam seemed to have trouble with the indirect (albeit vivid) sunlight, and information technology regularly left me lit up like a spotlit angel in the school birth play. Again, it didn't cause problems during calls, but it wasn't ideal.
The IR sensor built into the top lip of the brandish makes this webcam compatible with Windows Hello facial authentication, which is good news if you like to log into laptops using your face.
Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review: Bombardment life
- Incredible 15-hour battery life
- Information technology charges quickly, too
It'due south always heady to find a laptop with meliorate bombardment life than advertised. The OLED-equipped Asus Zenbook thirteen is one such machine: Asus says information technology lasts up to xiii hours on a single battery accuse, merely in our battery test -- which tasks the laptop with continuously browsing the web over Wi-Fi with its brightness ready to 150 nits -- it lasted a remarkable 15 hours.
That's fantastic battery life that beats most laptops of the same size, including the Dell XPS 13 OLED (seven:59) and the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 (13:33). Information technology'south fifty-fifty ameliorate than the long-lasting MacBook Air with M1 (14:41), though non quite on par with the MacBook Pro with M1 (16:25).
The Asus Zenbook 13 OLED charges apace, likewise; I plugged it in at 3% battery, and an hour later it was at 67%. 30 minutes after that information technology was topping 90%, meaning you shouldn't have to wait long to charge up before heading out.
Asus Zenbook thirteen OLED review: Rut
- No need to worry virtually scorched laps
You shouldn't have to worry about a scorched lap while using the OLED-equipped Zenbook 13, as I never noticed whatever uncomfortable warmth while using information technology to play games, watch movies, or work on projects. When we pointed a heat gun at information technology during testing the hottest we saw it go was 92.8 degrees, just behind the vent on the underside of the chassis.
Asus Zenbook 13 OLED review: Verdict
- Remarkable performance and battery life for the price
- Possibly the cheapest OLED-equipped laptop on the marketplace
The AMD-equipped Asus Zenbook 13 OLED is an first-class value, offering an center-catching 1080p OLED display and exceptional bombardment life in a slim, lightweight bundle for less than a m bucks.
Certain, the speakers aren't amazing, the webcam leaves something to be desired, and there'due south no headphone jack, but these are stumbling blocks you lot can work around. If y'all need a zippy little ultraportable with a great screen that will last yous all twenty-four hour period long, yous can't exercise better than the OLED-equipped Asus Zenbook 13 at this price.
Alternatively, yous could go the Intel-equipped model if you like the thought of having Thunderbolt four ports and Wi-Fi 6 (this AMD model is still Wi-Fi 5), only I can't vouch for the operation or battery life of those laptops.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/asus-zenbook-13-oled-review-an-excellent-value
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