ASUS Zenbook S 14 review: Intel Core Ultra 2 series shines in a sleek, power-efficient package

ASUS Zenbook S 14 review: Intel Core Ultra 2 series shines in a sleek, power-efficient package

Note: This review was first published on 24 September 2024.

The past few months haven’t been kind to Intel, with news of significant cost-cutting measures, internal restructuring, and even rumours of a possible acquisition by a competitor. Its chipmaking foundry business is losing money, and despite the continued profitability of its PC and server segments, Intel faces an existential threat from Arm-based chips. Competitors like Qualcomm and Apple, whose Snapdragon X Elite and M-series laptops deliver better battery life and power efficiency, are pushing the limits of what Intel’s traditional architectures can achieve.

That said, the notion that Intel is on the verge of collapse or being acquired by its closest competitors is far-fetched. Without delving into the details (that’s a story for another day), it’s unlikely that the US government would let its only domestic chip manufacturer fail, especially in the face of global competition. But I digress.

The real reason Intel’s outlook isn’t as bleak as some predict lies in its upcoming product roadmap. While there have been recent missteps, especially in the PC consumer space (Raptor Lake, anyone?), Intel’s next-generation offerings, including Lunar Lake and Panther Lake, look promising. Both are aimed at the laptop market, the largest segment of the PC consumer base.

We’ve already covered Lunar Lake extensively since its reveal at Computex 2024 (read about it here). However, Intel’s recent presentation at IFA 2024 truly convinced me that the company now has the most competitive mobile processors, with Lunar Lake now formally branded as the Core Ultra 200V series.

Thanks to Intel, I’ve been using the ultraportable ASUS Zenbook S 14 laptop, powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, for almost a week. If its performance is any indication, other devices equipped with Intel’s Core Ultra series could seriously close the gap with competitors, leaving Qualcomm’s Snapdragon and AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 series scrambling to maintain their edge.

Let’s dive in.

Another killer laptop from ASUS

The Zenbook S 14 builds on the success of the Zenbook 14 OLED, which took home the Best Ultraportable Laptop award at our recent Tech Awards. Its pedigree shows in every aspect, from the premium build quality to its exceptional battery life.

Similar to the Zenbook S 16 that was reviewed recently, the Zenbook S 14 features an outer shell made of ceraluminium, giving the lid a unique greyish texture that feels premium to the touch while resisting fingerprints and smudges. Its 14-inch OLED touchscreen boasts a stunning 2,880 x 1,800 (3K) resolution with vivid colours and deep contrast, as expected from a high-quality OLED panel. With a 120Hz refresh rate and Dolby Vision support, the display doesn’t disappoint.

In terms of connectivity, the Zenbook S 14 retains a solid selection of ports, including two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A port, a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, and a headphone jack. The laptop now also supports Wi-Fi 7. Even without sacrificing any ports, ASUS has managed to shrink the laptop’s size even further – it’s now just 1.29cm at its thickest point and 1.1cm at its thinnest, with dimensions of 31cm x 21.5cm. While the battery has been downsized to 72Wh, my tests will show that this hasn’t affected battery life negatively. Oddly, the laptop’s weight remains unchanged at 1.2kg, possibly due to the ceraluminium chassis which could be heavier.

From an aesthetics standpoint, the Zenbook S 14 screams “premium,” and it has impressively remained smudge-free despite heavy use.

The Zenbook S 14 that Intel sent over comes with a configuration that includes the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, 500GB SSD and 32GB of memory. A quick check on ASUS’ website shows this configuration is also available for sale in Singapore, although it comes with a larger 1TB SSD.

Now let’s look at how the Zenbook S 14, and by extension the Intel Core Ultra 200V series, performs.

Performance benchmarks

In our laptop reviews, we prioritise real-world benchmarking tools over synthetic ones, ensuring compatibility across platforms – whether Intel (x86-based), AMD, or Qualcomm (Arm-based). For this review, we relied on UL’s Procyon Office Productivity app, both of which allow for accurate cross-platform comparisons.

To compare Arm-based performance, we tested the similarly sized 14-inch Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, powered by the Snapdragon X Elite X1E78100 processor, alongside the larger AMD-powered ASUS Zenbook S 16 to gauge how the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 compares to Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V. Also included in the line-up is the Meteor Lake-based Zenbook 14 OLED to give us an idea of the generational uplift in performance we can expect from the Zenbook S 14. 

While more testing is needed to make definitive comparisons between the latest Qualcomm, AMD, and Intel chips, these initial results provide an early indication of how things might shake out.

Intel hasn’t been shy about touting the power of its Core Ultra 200V series, and our testing backs up its claims. In Procyon’s Office Productivity benchmark, where the Zenbook S 14 ran real-time MS Office workloads, it outperformed both its Qualcomm and AMD competitors. Interestingly, the AMD-powered Zenbook S 16, featuring a higher-end Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, couldn’t quite match the Core Ultra 7 258V. It’s also not surprising to see the “older” Zenbook 14 OLED scoring the lowest, and I double quoted older because that award-winning laptop was launched just barely six months ago.

For light gaming, the Core Ultra 200V series comes equipped with integrated Intel Arc graphics. While Intel’s discrete Arc GPUs have had a mixed reception, the mobile version is currently one of the best integrated solutions. Especially with games that support super scaling technology like Intel’s XeSS or AMD’s open-sourced FSR. Even the Zenbook 14 OLED held up well here. However, you’ll still need to tweak settings for more graphically demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 to achieve playable frame rates. 

Gaming remains a weakness for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, as most PC games are built for x86 architecture. While I managed to run Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the Snapdragon-powered Yoga Slim 7x, the experience was sluggish and unstable, with frequent crashes. The argument could be made that laptops of this ilk are not made for gaming anyway, and that’s true. But wouldn’t it be nice to know your laptop can run a game of Genshin Impact or two when you feel like it?

When it comes to battery life, the Core Ultra 7 258V lasted almost 18 hours in our Procyon Office Productivity Battery Life test, with the display brightness and volume set at 50%. This is nearly two hours longer than the Snapdragon-powered Yoga Slim 7x and about 40% longer than the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370-powered Zenbook S 16, with the latter performing quite poorly here. Without a doubt, Intel’s Core Ultra 200 series processors are their most power-efficient chips to date.

Should you buy an Intel Core Ultra 200V series laptop?

At the end of the day, battery life is often the key deciding factor for laptop buyers. While this can vary widely across different models, the Zenbook S 14 has shown that laptops powered by the Core Ultra 7 258V (or the higher-end Core Ultra 9 288V) can be incredibly thin and light, excel at productivity tasks, and still manage to outlast even the longest direct commercial flight from Singapore to New York. That’s impressive, especially when compared to Qualcomm or AMD laptops, which, as of now, haven’t matched this level of efficiency.

While Microsoft has been pushing its Copilot+ PCs with AI-driven features like Cocreator and Live Translation, these are currently exclusive to Snapdragon laptops. However, with Intel and AMD set to receive these features later this year, the exclusivity doesn’t seem like a compelling enough reason to choose a Qualcomm laptop over an AMD or Intel one today.

If you’re considering an Intel-based laptop, the ASUS Zenbook S 14 is an easy recommendation. It’s solidly built, sleek, and offers outstanding performance and battery life. At S$2,799, it’s undeniably a premium product, but as an introduction to Intel’s Core Ultra 200V series, it makes a strong statement as a high-end Windows ultraportable.

The ASUS Zenbook S 14 is available for S$2,799 at the ASUS e-store.