ASUS ZenBook S 13 OLED UX5304V – svelte, sexy, and strong (laptop review)

07/10/2023
By Ray Shaw
In Reviews

The ASUS ZenBook S 13 OLED UX5304V is almost everything you could want in an ultra-light 13th-generationi7-1355U Intel Evo laptop – 1cm thin, 1kg light, 1 billion colour OLED screen make it #1 in the category.

In fact, while it scores ‘Exceed’ in most review categories, there is only one that disappoints me – no touch screen, which I believe is mandatory for Windows 11 ultra-lights. For that, you need to look at the ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED, which, had ASUS sent for review, would possibly have reached the fabled 10/10 score. There is a comparison here, and the Flip is worth every bit of the extra cost with a more powerful processor, 1TB SSD, 75Wh battery, and 14” 2880 x 1800 touch screen – enough of Flip envy.

What is ASUS’s affinity for OLED all about?

ASUS is a brand that focuses on innovation and reliability. Its new ASUS Lumia OLED laptop screens are, in one word – superb. The world’s best TVs are OLED. Why? Each pixel is a light bulb (backlight). These independently dimmable pixels mean inky blacks, brilliant whites, accurate colours, crisp text, no blooming, wide viewing angle and superior eyecare through MyASUS Splendid flicker-free and low blue light technology.

With ASUS Lumia OLED laptops now in reach of home and professional users, there is no need to look at any other screen technology.

Australian Review: Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED UX5304V (as tested)

Website	Product Page and PDF Manual
Price	$2,099 i5-1335U/16/512GB $2,399 i7-1355U 16/512GB $2,999 i7-1355U 16GB/1TB
From	ASUS Online and reputable computer specialists.
Warranty	1-year ACL
Made in	China
About	Asustek Computer is a Taiwanese company that produces motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, PDAs, computer monitors, notebook computers, servers, networking products, mobile phones, computer cases, computer components, and computer cooling systems.
More	CyberShack ASUS news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED UX5304V as tested

13.3” Lumina non-touch OLED Display, 2880 x 1800, 16:10, 550 nits peak, 10-bit/1.07B colours, 60Hz
Intel Evo i7-1355U (choice Core i5-1335U
16GB LPDDR5
1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD (choice 512GB)
2 x Thunderbolt 4 (backwards USB-C compatible)
USB-A 3.2
HDMI 2.1
3.5mm 4-pole ear/mic
Wi-Fi 6E AXE and BT 5.3
Chiclet Backlit 1.1mm key travel and touchpad
1080p Windows IR Hello camera with mic array and AI noise cancellation
Dolby Atmos with harman/kardon speakers
63Wh battery and 65W USB-C charger inbox
Special Features: Use of recycled materials and sustainable packaging, MIL-STD-810H and EPAT Gold rating,
29.62 x 21.63 x 1.09 ~ 1.18 cm x 1kg
ASUS Apps MyASUS (firmware and hardware control), ScreenXpert (screen control) and GlideX (touchpad)

First Impression – wow, this is light – Exceed

At 1kg (plus a 350g half brick USB-C charger), it is very light – in the same class as LG’s Gram but with OLED and 13^th Gen Intel Evo processor.

I love the Zenbook external plasma ceramic panel – very Star Trek. You can’t help but be impressed with the fantastic and bright 10-bit/1.07 billion colour OLED panel.

For such a svelte unit, it still has room for HDMI, 2 x TB4, USB-A and a 3.5mm port. I can live with the 1.1mm throw (reduced from 1.4mm to accommodate the new thin format chassis), three-level backlight keyboard and the huge trackpad.

It has ErgoLift that lifts the base slightly off the desktop, and the screen can fold to 180°.

And a reminder – if you want a touch/stylus screen, the ASUS ZenBook 14 Flip OLED is everything this is and more.

Screen – Bright, colourful OLED – Exceed

I have been reviewing laptops for over a decade. In the past, OLED screens were reserved for top-end creator’s workstation laptops. Now we see a Pantone Validated, 100% DCI-P3 (of the 1 billion colour gamut), infinite contrast (true black and white), 2.8K, 2880 x 1800, 16:10, 60HZ OLED. Wow.

It has user-selectable modes. You must open the My ASUS app to change settings, as these override any Windows settings. There is also a Tru2Life video enhancement setting when viewing video content.

Native default vivid colours (saturated and not accurate)
sRGB – accurate for sRGB
DCI-P3 – accurate for movies
Display P3 – wider colour gamut

It also supports Dolby Vision/HDR metadata decode and downmix to its panel.

The panel is made by Samsung Display model SDC417B/ATNA33AA05-0. It has a native typical brightness of 380 nits for 100% of the screen (Test 367 nits).

So how does ASUS quote 550 nits HDR Peak Brightness? When playing HDR metadata content, it can show up to 550 nits in 2 to 10% of the screen (Test 560/549). It is VESA Display HDR True Black 500 certified. You must, however, activate HDR playback in My ASUS, or it is only SDR.

It has a Delta E of 1.3 (<4 is good), 97% AdobeRGB, 100%+ sRGB and <2ms GtG. A creator could use it.

The screen has pulse width modulation (PWM) dimming at 240Hz or <88 nits. You should not notice it. At higher brightness, it uses DC dimming.

CPU – Intel 13^th Gen Core i7-1335U – Exceed

The U series is for ultra-light laptops where cooling can be an issue. Their maximum Thermal Design Power consumption is 55W.

CPU Tests – Pass+

Complete benchmarks are here. Surprisingly, Geekbench single/multi-core tests show similar CPU power (1614/6715 on battery) to an Intel Core i9-13900H and an AMD Ryzen 9 Pro 6950HS.

GPU Tests – Intel Iris Xe 1.3GHz 96 EU – Pass+

OpenCL: 14,181
Vulkan: 13,787

The fast screen and reasonable CPU/GPU make it suitable for casual gaming.

Hard disk Tests – Exceed

It uses a Samsung MZVL21T0HCLR-00B00 1TB NVMe 1.3 PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD drive (Consumer model PM9A1). It is capable of sequential read/write of 7000/5100MBps. It uses the Samsung Elpis (S4LV003) Controller with eight channels, 512MB LPDDR4 cache and Samsung 3D-NAND TLC 136 layers.

Crystal Disk Mark reports maximum throughput of 7032/5276MBps – Exceed

CPDT measures sustained throughput of 3900/17500MBps with a maximum of 4520/2050MBps – Exceed.

BlackMagic DaVinci reports on the device’s capability to render video. It combines CPU, GPU, Memory, and SSD and can easily reach 4K@60fps.

Comms – 2 x TB 4. Do you need more? Exceed

The two Thunderbolt 4 40Gbps ports are overkill, but it is nice to have them as they are compatible with USB-C and USB-A. But you also get a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps), HDMI 2.1 port, and the good old 3.5m 4-pole port.

Thunderbolt 4 includes (via a dock) Ethernet, Display Port, HDMI (2 x 45K@50/60Hz – Windows only), 3.5mm audio in/out, USB-A and USB-C ports and 15W downstream power to devices.

All ports exceed specs in tests.

It has Wi-Fi 6E AXE Intel AX211 and connects at 2400Mbps full duplex on the 6MHz band – exceed.

BT 5.3 still only has SBC codec but supports Windows Fast Pair – pass.

Battery – Pass+

Nominally a 63Wh Two-serial/two parallel, 4-cell lithium-Ion flat pack. It comes with a ¼ sized brick USB-C adapter that outputs standard PD charging of 5V/3A/15W, 9V/3A/27W, 15V/3A/45W and 20V/3.25A/65W. The device can be charged by any 65W or greater PD/PPS charger or dock and a 3 or 5A cable.

During our tests it would typically start at 20V/3A/60W and drop to 20V/2A/40W and finally 20V/.75W/15W. This is normal.

Tests

Battery charge time: A little over an hour.
1080p SDR video loop 50% volume/brightness: 14 hours
4K Dolby Vision loop: Approx 5 hours
PCM Mark 10 Moden Office: 13 hours 39 minutes.
100% load and screen full brightness: 2 hours 48 minutes

As an Evo standard device, you will get a workday use. On a plane, you should get Sydney to Dubai playing 1080p video. We did not test audio only music, but we expect 30-40 hours with the screen off.

Noise – Pass

Mostly, it is relatively quiet (26-30 dB). But the twin fans kick in under load with a high-pitch whine, hitting nearly 50dB.

Keyboard and Trackpad – Pass

It is nearly a Pass+, but this ASUS has a 1.1mm throw, and 1.4mm is closer to the typist’s ideal. It has three levels of backlit and off. The letters are injection moulded and should last a long time (cheap notebooks use decals of reverse lettering paint).

The trackpad is huge at 130 x 81mm with a nice slide feel. It can move the cursor from top right to bottom left in less than a swipe – no mouse needed.

Camera – Pass+

It is a full HD 1080p webcam with IR Windows Hello login and dual mics for noise cancellation. It is fine for video conferences.

My ASUS App allows for AiSence customisation

Lighting optimisation
Background blurring
Gaze correction
Motion tracking
Filters

Speakers – Pass

It uses a standard Intel Realtek setup, capable of Dolby Atmos decoding and downmix to its 2.0 left/right side-down-ported, harman/kardon tuned speakers. The My Asus App overrides Windows settings.

You must select the mode as required

Dolby Atmos (uses Dolby Access settings) – Default Dynamic
Game
Movie
Music
Voice
3 custom pre-sets

How does it sound?

Maximum volume is 82dB (good).
The sound stage with 2.0 content is as wide as the laptop with no height (as expected).
The sound stage with Dolby Atmos content extends about 30-45cm from each side of the laptop, just above screen height. Remember that you are sitting about 30cm from the screen, which is good.
There is evident distortion at maximum volume – back off to 75dB (typical).

The native signature has no low bass (not expected) or mid-bass (expected). Weak high bass kicks in at 90Hz to 200Hz. It keeps slowly building to 600Hz and is flat to 6kHz. It then steadily declines to 20kHz.

To explain – no low-mid bass means muddy bass. Weak high bass means no ‘oomph’. Mid is OK for clear voice. Weaker treble from 4-20kHz means vocals and instrumentals are harsh, and there is no sense of being there.

Dolby Atmos content sounds is marginally better, but the device is primarily for teleconferences – not music or movies.

BT 5.2 has an SBC codec (not high res) and good left/right separation. As expected, this has a far greater dynamic range than the speakers, and the music is a pleasure to listen to.

Mics – Dual – Pass+

It has a dual mic array on the top screen bar. It can be used for AI Noise cancelling (or not), 360° mode, or single/multi-presenter/voice identification mode. The mics are effective and best used with Directional recording mode.

Build – Pass+

The build is to US MIL-STD 810H – it is pretty tough. There is no body or screen flex.

APPS – Pass

MyASUS is one of the Apps you need to use to control the laptop. An explanation is here.
SceeenXpert manages ASUS and connected displays. An explanation is here.

These can be daunting for a typical user but offer enormous flexibility.

My ASUS recommends that you set up an ASUS account that could have privacy implications.

Maintenance and repairability – Passable

Torx screws are easily removed to allow for SSD replacement. Ram is soldered to the motherboard. We have no information on the availability of other parts outside the warranty, but you should be able to replace the battery, fan, screen, etc.

CyberShack’s view – ASUS ZenBook S 13 OLED UX5304V is small and light

The more I used this, the more I liked its incredible 1kg weight and inimitable style. Frankly, that is the main reason to buy – the OLED screen is a bonus.

But it is not for me simply because this should have a touch screen. If that is important, go for the ASUS Zenbook 14 Flip OLED with a better 1.4mm throw keyboard, 360° hinge and the same OLED screen with Touch.

Rating

Features: 90 – apart from no touch screen, it has everything you need.
Value: 90 – There are some decent laptops from $1000 offering as much power, RAM and storage. For example, ASUS’s VivoBook 15.6” IPS LCD i7 has 16GB/1TB at $1349 – less on sale. But if you want OLED, the choice is ASUS all the way. LG GRAM has some models starting at $3400.
Performance: 90 – It is an Evo processor that balances all-day battery life against power. It performs well in its class.
Ease of Use: 85 – Sure, you can use the default settings and be none the wiser, but My ASUS and ScreenXpert add so many choices – perhaps too many.
Design: 100 – It is superb, svelte, sexy, and so desirable.

ZenBook S 13 OLED UX5304V, ZenBook S 13 OLED UX5304V