Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 Review

In 2024, Asus introduced two powerful Zenbook versions: the Zenbook 14 OLED and the Zenbook S 14 OLED. The latter, equipped with the 2nd generation Intel Lunar Lake AI processor, is a powerhouse surpassing the Zenbook 14 OLED performance. Join me in exploring the sheer power of this laptop in the Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review below.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

The new Asus Zenbook S 14 2024, a departure from the earlier Zenbook 14 OLED generation, is a sight to behold. It boasts a powerful Intel Core Ultra series two processor and a sophisticated design that will captivate everyone who sees it.

For $1,700, the Asus Zenbook S14 is a steal. Is it too expensive? Not at all! Is it worth the money? Absolutely! Read the review to understand why this laptop is a great deal.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 Review

Design

The factor that gives a significantly thinner feel is the sharp beveled edges that make the Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 look slimmer. Also, looking back at the recent generation of Zenbook 14 OLED, the sides of the S14 have been made seamless, and the stylized details, mesh holes, and vents have disappeared.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

Not only is the thinness upgraded, but the case material on side A is also a combination of aluminum and ceramic materials, which seem unrelated but are perfect when combined.

A ceramic layer will be coated on the aluminum shell surface of the A-side, not only increasing the aesthetics and unique touch feeling but also ensuring durability, making the A-side less likely to be dented or dented. Meanwhile, the Zenbook 14 OLED only has a pure aluminum A-side.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

The body of the Zenbook S14 UX5406 is the first of a series of advantages that make this laptop worth the money and value. Made from a solid block of aluminum, CNC precisely installed components, and from there, the body of the device is completed beautifully, as we see here.

With the new aluminum and ceramic material, a slightly rough touch feeling and bright white color will erase all stains, even the most obvious ones.

The feeling when opening the lid is still as light as before. The single-axis hinge is still very high quality and opens gently but not loosely. This doesn’t need to be said; it’s an obvious fact.

I like the silicone foot pads under the D-side of the current Copilot+ PC series. Because it is no longer flat like before; instead, it has been made higher and much harder. Not only does it help with adhesion and corrosion resistance in the long term, but the space between the body and the table top is also more open for better convection to dissipate heat for the laptop.

Connectivity

Is it a perfect match if Asus integrates 2x USB-A 3.2 ports and 2x Type-C ThunderBolt 4 ports? There is only 1x USB-A 3.2 port, but the pair of ThunderBolt 4 ports is still there, and they are located close together on the left side of the laptop.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

It is precisely the same as the MacBook, so if anyone buys a Hub, choosing the type with a wire and a separate connector like the Ugreen CM478 is more convenient because it can leave a Type-C port. Using a Hub with 2 Type-C ports placed close together like the Baseus UltraJoy will cover both ThunderBolt 4 ports. However, choosing to buy accessories depends on your own needs.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

Additional support for outputting images and sound to the DisplayPort standard on 2 ThunderBolt 4 ports, the indispensable HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm AUX jack are located next to the ThunderBolt 4 duo.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Zenbook is a high-end Ultrabook series that uses the Chiclet keyboard, the most advanced keyboard in the world of office laptop keyboards with a white LED background. It is also the second factor that makes Zenbook S14 UX5406 worthily expensive.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

The key travel is just right; each touch and press is consistent, and there is no shaking. Creating crisp and small crackling sounds that are highly pleasing to the ear. It is an outstanding tradition that Asus can never abandon and should maintain for a long time.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

The touchpad of ASUS Zenbook S 14 2024 is still spacious as usual, with a size of 13cm x 8cm, overflowing the bottom edge of the C-side. The more spacious it is, the more comfortable the operation, and of course, it will come with feedback, touch, and glide without criticism; it is as good as a MacBook, and sometimes I feel much more comfortable using it.

Display

The Lumina OLED screen panel is the third factor that creates a worthy and very traditional value that is always present on the Zenbook OLED line. That’s right, 14-inch size, 3K resolution (2880 x 1800), 120Hz refresh rate and 400 nits brightness. No shortage of color and fidelity standards makes me never get bored with Zenbook, no matter how much money I spend.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

OLED screens have always had a feature that is both a disadvantage and an advantage: the glass covering the screen is clear as a mirror, without a matte anti-glare coating like IPS LCD screens. Disadvantage – reflecting high light sources from the surrounding environment is very easy. Advantages – the frames’ sharpness, clarity, authenticity, and color freshness are exquisite.

Let’s continue this Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review to evaluate its Lumina OLED screen; it seems redundant. The Zenbook might display distorted, unclear, harsh, and unrealistic frames in another universe—but not in this one. Asus has been doing very well with their Lumina OLED technology, so Zenbook is always a flagship Ultrabook leading the trend in high-end screens.

The Full HD resolution webcam quality on the Zenbook S 14 2024 is still as good and stable as ever. The system processes and displays the image of the person sitting in front of the camera clearly and precisely, similar to the selfie cameras on high-end smartphones. Of course, there is always the Windows Studio Effects toolkit to add professionalism to online meetings for work.

Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review test

The Asus Zenbook S14 OLED UX5406 features the new Intel Core Ultra series 2 CPU, specifically the Ultra 7 258V with 8 cores and 8 threads, as part of the 2nd generation Copilot+ PC laptops. With much better performance optimization than the first generation Intel Core Ultra, along with 32GB DDR5 RAM and the new and powerful Intel Arc 140V iGPU, there is nothing that this Zenbook cannot do.

Performance benchmarks

When Intel first launched the Core Ultra 7 258V, it presented it as a “blockbuster” designed to “defeat” AMD. At the time, AMD had the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, an AI processor that ranks among the most powerful today. However, to know the truth, please look at the performance benchmarks first, and then we will evaluate them together.

Cinebench R23
Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review
Cinebench R24
Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review
Geekbench 6
PCMark10
Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review
3DMark
PugetBench
Crystaldiskmark
Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

Regarding high-end graphics processing and gaming, 3DMark with Night Raid test, Steel Nomad for thin and light Ultrabooks, and even Time Spy all give impressive scores. It is almost as strong as cheap gaming laptops, enough to meet the needs of playing Esports games with the highest settings.

The scores of Cinebench R23, R24, Geekbench 6, and PCMark10, looking at which, we can see that Zenbook S14 ensures stability, coolness, and fast speed when handling graphics tasks from easy to high-end. Opening multiple software windows or adding dozens of Chrome tabs is also highly light when used for office work.

PugetBench is a new tool that measures the smoothness and speed of image processing tasks with Adobe software. The results amaze; 32 GB RAM and an OLED screen combine with the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V and Intel Arc 140V to handle all mid-range and higher image tasks quickly.

Since this is a very thin and light Ultrabook, I recommend playing esports games like League of Legends with the highest settings. Or other moderate indie games like the newly released Core Keeper, Dave the Diver, or Subnautica to get your laptop’s smoothest, most fun, and most incredible gaming experience.

Compared to the Newest AI-Powered Laptops

Launched alongside the Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 this year, there are also the ExpertBook P5 2024 and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Aura Edition, both of which use Intel Core Ultra series 2 CPUs. However, I will compare them with two other Copilot+ PCs running AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and Snapdragon X Elite CPUs—specifically, the Vivobook S14 2024 and Surface Pro 11. For a detailed comparison with its competitors, continue reading this Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review.

Cinebench R23:
Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

The ExpertBook and Yoga Slim 7 slightly surpass the Zenbook S14 UX5406 in graphics processing capability. This makes sense, as the Zenbook belongs to a thin and light Ultrabook line. While its performance remains strong, its slim design imposes some limitations. However, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is formidable when at least 35% – 43% stronger than all 3 Ultrabook models using Intel Core Ultra 2 series 2.

Cinebench R24:
Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

Since there is no Cinebench R24 data for the Zenbook S14 UX5406, I replaced it with the Surface Pro 11 with Snapdragon X Elite 80-100. The comparison shows that the Surface is again leading with single-core performance and multi-core graphics processing that looks pretty smooth. However, software compatibility is poor, so the 3 Ultrabook models running Intel Core Ultra series 2 CPUs are still more optimal.

Geekbench 6:
Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

The single-core, multi-core, and GPU performance scores of the Zenbook S14 UX5406 are still strong but more than enough to meet work needs. However, with its thin and light nature to increase flexibility when moving, the performance of the Zenbook could be much better, enough to handle heavy tasks at high speed. So it needs to be more optimally intense than the pure office Ultrabook laptop lines from Lenovo and the Vivobook version running AMD AI CPU.

3DMark:
Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

Although the graphics and mixed-task processing capabilities are almost as potent as the Yoga Slim 7 and ExpertBook P5, the gaming and graphics capabilities of the Zenbook S14 UX5406 are formidable. It delivers higher frame rates and cooler temperatures and plays a wider variety of high-end graphics games than the ExpertBook P5 and Yoga Slim 7.

PugetBench:
Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 review

In this comparison, the Zenbook S14 UX5406 is significantly superior when dealing with photo and video editing tasks with Adobe Premier and exporting video products faster. However, the Zenbook S14 2024, Yoga Slim 7, and ExpertBook P5 are similar regarding Photoshop processing capabilities.

Fast laptop with good Battery life

Despite having a much better battery life than previous Zenbook versions, the Asus Zenbook S14 UX5406 still doesn’t last as long as its sibling ExpertBook P5. It’s also 1 hour behind the Vivobook S 14 OLED 2024 running AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370.

However, users who constantly travel and move for work need over 12 hours of battery life to handle basic tasks without fear of running out of power.

Final line

Despite its top-notch performance, on par with new AI laptops in the same segment, Asus has strongly emphasized the design quality of the Zenbook S14 UX5406, which was once Apple’s guiding principle. This is the ideal ultrabook for those who want powerful performance and laptop batteries that last longer throughout the day but also love thinness, lightness, and a genuinely different “touch” feeling. With all these factors, this is the perfect choice for the year-end shopping season!

Also see: Asus Vivobook S 14 AMD 2024 Review

The Asus Zenbook S14 OLED UX5406 is now available on Amazon.co.uk for £1,299.99. US buyers can find it listed on Newegg for $1,698.99.

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