Luke Larsen / Digital Tendencies
Apple’s MacBook Air M3 represents the newest of the corporate’s very profitable thin-and-light laptops constructed round Apple Silicon’s quick and extremely environment friendly chipsets. It’s among the best laptops made, and Home windows machines have had a tough time maintaining.
Now, Intel has launched a brand new chipset, the Core Extremely Sequence 2, additionally know as Lunar Lake, that goals to rectify issues with a lot better effectivity. The Asus Zenbook S 14 is among the first laptops launched with the brand new chipset. Can it compete?
Specs and configurations
Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406SA)
Apple MacBook Air M3
Dimensions
12.22 x 8.45 x 0.47-0.51 inches
11.97 inches x 8.46 inches x 0.44 inches
Weight
2.65 kilos
2.7 kilos
CPU
Intel Core Extremely 7 258V
Apple M3 (8-core)
GPU
Intel Arc 140V
8 GPU cores10 GPU cores
RAM
16GB LPDDR5X RAM32GB LPDDR5X RAM
8GB16GB24GB
Show
14.0-inch 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED, 120Hz
13.6-inch 16:10 Liquid Retina (2560 x 1664) IPS
Storage
1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
256GB SSD512GB SSD1TB SSD2TB SSD
Ports
2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 41 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 21 x HDMI 2.11 x 3.5mm headphone jack
2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 41 x 3.5mm audio jack1 x MagSafe 3
Contact
Sure
No
Wi-fi
Wi-Fi 7Bluetooth 5.4
Wi-Fi 6EBluetooth 5.3
Webcam
1080p with infrared digicam for Home windows 11 Whats up
1080p
Battery
72 watt-hour
52.6 watt-hours
Working system
Home windows 11
macOS Sonoma
Worth
$1,399+
$1,099+
Ranking
4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5 stars
There aren’t many configurations of the Zenbook S 14 out there but. Our assessment unit prices $1,500 with an Intel Core Extremely 7 258V chipset, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 14-inch 2.8K OLED show.
The MacBook Air M3 has a number of choices. The bottom mannequin prices $1,099 with an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU M3 chipset, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB, and a 13.6-inch 2560 x 1664 IPS show. RAM and storage upgrades embody $200 to improve to 16GB or 512GB, and $400 to go to 24GB and 1TB. An improve to 2TB is a whopping $800. Our assessment unit value $1,699 for an 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M3, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. The high-end configuration with 24GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD is $2,299.
So, when configured equally, the MacBook Air M3 is $100 extra. That makes them shut sufficient that different components will weigh extra.
Design
Luke Larsen / Digital Tendencies
The MacBook Air M3 is an extremely skinny laptop computer whereas nonetheless sustaining Apple’s traditional wonderful construct high quality and strong chassis. It’s CNC machined out of a single chunk of aluminum, and it’s a sublime aesthetic in considered one of 4 colours. The Zenbook S 14 is a fairly skinny laptop computer as effectively, and it makes use of a “ceraluminum” (Asus’ phrase) materials to be very mild and but sturdy. It’s a handsome laptop computer as effectively, coming in both darkish grey or white and with a geometrical sample on the lid.
Each laptops have the same old high quality hinge that opens with one hand, and whereas the MacBook Air feels dense and chilly in hand, the Zenbook has a heat texture. The underside line is that no person is probably going to purchase both laptop computer primarily based solely on their feel and appear.
The Zenbook S 14 has the excellent Asus keyboard that you just’ll discover on your entire ZenBook line. It has loads of spacing and enormous keycaps, in addition to mild and snappy switches. The MacBook Air makes use of Apple’s wonderful Magic Keyboard, which is my favourite. It has an ideal structure, comfy keys, and probably the most exact switches on a laptop computer as we speak. The Zenbook’s mechanical touchpad feels Okay, however it’s nearly too massive, leaving a really small palm relaxation. The MacBook Air’s Pressure Contact haptic touchpad is completely sized and works nice, with the Pressure Click on operate that provides further options with a firmer “click on.” The keyboard and touchpad are Apple strengths.
Connectivity favors the Zenbook S 14, which has a few legacy ports to go along with the identical two Thunderbolt 4 connections. And it has extra up-to-date wi-fi connectivity. Each laptops have 1080p webcams, and the Zenbook makes use of an infrared digicam with Home windows 11 facial recognition in comparison with the MacBook Air’s Contact ID fingerprint reader. The Zenbook helps Studio Results software program that enhances videoconferencing.
Efficiency
Luke Larsen / Digital Tendencies
Intel’s Lunar Lake chipsets are geared toward competing straight with Apple Silicon. We reviewed the Zenbook S 14 with the Core Extremely 7 258V, a 17-watt, 8-core (4 Efficiency and 4 Low Energy Environment friendly), 8-thread chipset. It makes use of the most recent Intel Arc 140V built-in graphics. The MacBook Air makes use of Apple’s M3 chipset with eight CPU cores and eight or 10 GPU cores. We reviewed the sooner model.
In our benchmarks, the MacBook Air M3 was sooner in all however the Handbrake take a look at. It was sooner in each single-core and multi-core assessments. And its GPU was greater than twice as quick within the 3DMark Wild Life Excessive benchmark.
It’s not that the Zenbook S 14 is a gradual laptop computer. It’s simply that the MacBook Air M3 is meaningfully sooner.
Geekbench 6(single/multi)
Cinebench R24(single/multi/battery)
Handbrake
3DMarkWild Life Excessive
Asus Zenbook S 14(Core Extremely 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)
2,738 / 10,734
112 / 452
113
3,240
Apple MacBook Air M3(M3 8/10)
3,102 / 12,078
141 / 601
109
8,098
Show
Luke Larsen / Digital Tendencies
The Zenbook S 14 makes use of a 14-inch 2.8K OLED show operating at as much as 120Hz. It’s a beautiful show with OLED’s traditional brilliant, dynamic colours and inky blacks. That compares to the MacBook Air’s 13.6-inch 2560 x 1664 IPS show operating at 60Hz.
Whereas the MacBook Air’s show is an excellent instance of IPS know-how, and it’s very brilliant and fairly colourful, the Zenbook’s OLED panel has a lot wider colours and near-perfect blacks. Our assessment unit had oddly poor colour accuracy, however that’s uncommon and sure an outlier. The Zenbook’s show will likely be appreciated by creators and media customers.
Asus Zenbook S 14(OLED)
Apple MacBook Air M3(IPS)
Brightness(nits)
313
496
AdobeRGB gamut
95%
87%
sRGB gamut
100%
100%
DCI-P3 gamut
100%
99%
Accuracy(DeltaE, decrease is best)
4.92
1.24
Distinction
28,310:1
1,480:1
Portability
Luke Larsen / Digital Tendencies
The MacBook Air is the thinnest laptop computer you should purchase, and the Zenbook S 14 is simply somewhat thicker. Despite having a bigger show, the Zenbook is across the identical width and depth, and it weighs about the identical. These are each very portably laptops.
Relating to battery life, the Zenbook S 14 comes about as near the MacBook Air M3 as any latest Home windows laptop computer has managed. It’s solely three hours behind in our web-browsing take a look at and an hour behind in our video-looping take a look at. And the 2 laptops managed about the identical within the demanding Cinebench R24 multi-core take a look at.
Net
Video
Cinebench R24
Asus Zenbook S 14(Core Extremely 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)
16 hours, 47 minutes
18 hours, 35 minutes
3 hour, 33 minutes
Apple MacBook Air M3(M3 8/10)
19 hours, 38 minutes
19 hours, 39 minutes
3 hours, 27 minutes
Two excellent laptops, however the MacBook Air wins an in depth one
These are each nice laptops. The Zenbook S 14 leverages the Intel Lunar Lake chipset for nice battery life, which is an early win for the platform. It’s a properly designed and constructed laptop computer, and it actually doesn’t have any vital flaws.
The MacBook Air can also be near excellent, and it’s meaningfully sooner with barely higher battery life. It has a a lot better keyboard and touchpad, and usually a really elegant design. It’s a bit costlier, however price it — though in case you should have Home windows, then the Zenbook S 14 is a good alternative.
