Asus Zenbook S 14 UX5406S laptop test: ultra-compact

 

Asus has released an updated model in the Zenbook S laptop family. The UX5406S model in question has received a new Intel Lunarlake processor. We will tell you more about the laptop and its new components later.

 

Design and ergonomics

 

 

Before us is a device with a design that was first shown last year. Aluminum panels undergo a new processing method – providing tactile sensations similar to ceramics. The velvety surface is emphasized by lines in the form of the company logo. In the corner is the name of the series. We saw such a combination recently in the Zenbook S 16 (UM5606), except that it was presented in a light shade. As a result, such models can have several dark gray, dark blue and milky white. Our UX5406S is available in gray and white.

 

 

In general, the layout of the model is successful. The laptop is thin and light, while feeling very high-quality monolithic. For the Zenbook series, this is not surprising. The keyboard and touchpad for this diagonal are simply huge. They are the same as in the larger S16 model mentioned, but there is no empty space around it. The set of button texts is very convenient.

 

The only nuance is that the power button remains, which is not just in the key field, but is shifted from the corner to the row of top buttons. Despite the fact that the decorative logo on the grille above remains non-functional.

 

For a compact laptop, the Zenbook S 14 UX5406S is not too deprived of connectors – there are a pair of symmetrical USB, a full HDMI, and an audio jack. On the other side of the case, only USB Type-A remains. The laptop is charged using any of the USB-C ports. The bottom has an oblong ventilation strip. It is still undesirable to place the device on a rug.

 

Asus Zenbook S 14 UX5406S hardware

 

 

A display made using OLED technology is installed. The matrix has a resolution of 3K with an aspect ratio of 16:10. This is also a super-quality solution for consuming and working with photo and video content. 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 space, HDR support and Pantone panel validation are implemented.

 

The Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor is a completely fresh solution that came to the market recently this year. The upper mid-range processor of the Lunar Lake family is manufactured using a 3 nm process technology. The chip has 8 cores (4 – E cores and 4 – P cores) and supports 8 threads. The base frequency of 2200 MHz can increase to a maximum of 4800 MHz. The new 47 TOPS neural engine is supported, Thunderbolt 4 and PCIe 5 SSD support are supported. The main difference between the Ultra 7 258V and the Ultra 7 256V is the increased supported amount of built-in RAM: 32 GB versus 16 GB. The Arc 8 iGPU video chip is equipped with 8 Xe² architecture cores operating at a frequency of up to 1950 MHz, as well as 8 ray tracing units.

 

 

The new Intel Core Ultra 7 258V is about as productive as older U-class chips from AMD and Intel, such as the Ryzen 7 6800U and Core i7-1355U in terms of multi-threaded performance. At the same time, the autonomy with this chip is beyond praise. Even with the display backlight brightness increased in office load scenarios, we got 20 hours of battery life. The closest competitor was the ASUS Vivobook S15 OLED (K5504V) with 15 hours of battery life

 

 

It has a fast 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 storage and 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM. It supports the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

 

Impressions

 

Asus Zenbook S 14 UX5406S is an excellent solution in the world of ultra-compact laptops. The cute design goes well with its small thickness and light weight. As for the small display diagonal, it has enough ports for connecting peripherals and storage devices. The complete power supply is also compact and provides enough power for fast charging. You can work for a long time, a working day. The performance of the energy-efficient processor is quite enough for working with visual content. It is even quite enough for undemanding games. We can say that the company did an excellent job with both the technical and aesthetic components of the new model.

 

 

 

Specifications of the Asus Zenbook S 14 UX5406S laptop

display:	14 inches, OLED, 2880×1800, 16:10
Processor:	Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (2.2 – 4.8 GHz)
Video adapter:	Intel Arc 8 iGPU
RAM:	32 GB LPDDR5x-7500
Storage:	1 TB, SSD M.2 NVMe, PCIe 4.0 x4
Free expansion slots:	none
Connectors:	2×USB 4.0 (40 Gbps), 1×USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1×HDMI 2.1, 3.5 audio jack mm
Webcam/Microphone/LAN:	720p + Windows Hello/yes/no
Memory card reader:	no
Fingerprint sensor:	no
Wireless communications:	Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Security:	none
Keyboard backlight:	white
Battery:	72 Wh, 4-cell Li-ion
Additional:	—
Operating system:	Windows 11 Pro
Dimensions:	310×214×11.9–12.9 mm
Weight:	1.2 kg
Supplier:	Asus representative in Ukraine
Price:	$2100

Rating:

+ dimensions

+ design

-price

-nuances of ergonomics

 

Read also:

• Review Asus Zenbook S 16 (UM5606): a new wave
• Review of the laptop Asus Vivobook S 15 with a Qualcomm processor: promising?
• Laptop test Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED (UX5304V): a solid top