The Asus Zenbook S 16 is a professional or creator laptop with a striking design and the new AMD Ryzen 9 AI 300 processors. In the UAE, this premium build Asus Zenbook is available within price bracket of AED 5,000 to AED 6,000.  There are also smaller 13- and 14-inch models, with the 14-inch version being one of the first Intel "Lunar Lake" systems we'll see later this year.

Asus Zenbook S 16: Sleek Design and Stunning Display

The lid style and material immediate

ly catch your eye, especially when the laptop is closed.

Asus has renamed its advanced ceramic material to Ceraluminum, which undergoes a special process to give it a durable, smooth-coated finish. The geometric lines on the lid add a touch of style, and both the light and dark color options look great in person. This design will also be available on the new smaller Zenbooks, coming in two colors: Zumaia Gray and Scandinavian White.

Then you may notice, how thin and light the S 16 laptop is, especially for a 16-inch laptop. It's only 0.43 inches thick and weighs 3.3 pounds, making it easy to carry around or slip into a bag. With its high-quality Ceraluminum shell, it feels great to hold and matches Asus' target user perfectly.

The 16-inch screen, which gives the laptop its name, is stunning. It features a 3K resolution (2,880 by 1,800 pixels) on a 120Hz OLED panel, providing excellent picture quality. Whether you're working or enjoying entertainment, this screen is a joy to use, especially for creative professionals.

Photos don't do justice to the screen, as is often the case with OLED panels.

Asus Zenbook S 16: AI-Driven Powerhouse 

Now let's talk about what's inside the laptop, where AI technology plays a role, just like in many other tech products today. The Zenbook S 16 will be powered by AMD’s Ryzen 9 AI 300 "Strix Point" processors, which feature Zen 5 computing cores, RDNA 3.5 graphics, and an upgraded neural processing unit (NPU) for handling AI tasks locally. It will run at 28 watts, and Asus has included a super-thin vapor chamber and vents along the top to improve cooling while keeping out debris.

This follows AMD’s release of AI chips, Intel’s current Meteor Lake and upcoming Lunar Lake platforms, and Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X AI chips. We don’t have more details about these AMD chips at the moment, but expect to see them in laptops like this in later 2024.

Speaking of Lunar Lake, the smaller 14-inch Zenbook S 14 (coming later, with few details provided by Asus so far) will feature an Intel processor instead. It will be one of the first systems to use the Lunar Lake platform, so we're eager to test it out.

The S 16 laptop can be configured with up to 32GB of 7,500MHz memory and up to 2TB of M.2 SSD storage. The 78Wh battery should support long work sessions, but we'll have to test it ourselves to be sure.

Asus' new S 16 also has some other neat features. Despite its slim design, it includes a USB Type-A port along with the expected dual USB Type-C connections, HDMI port, and SD card reader. The laptop supports Wi-Fi 7 and is military standard 810-rated. The touchpad also supports smart gestures for adjusting brightness and volume without moving your hand away from the keys.