Asus Zenbook 15 OLED (2023) Review: High-End Ultrabook

Value When Reviewed

From $1,299.99

Greatest Costs Right now: Asus Zenbook 15 OLED (2023)

$1,299.99

$1495.82

The Asus Zenbook 15 OLED (UM3504) is a strong laptop computer that’s nice for fundamental workplace and photograph work, watching content material, and even a spot of sunshine gaming. 

Whereas it doesn’t have devoted GPU, the USB4 port means that you could hook up with an exterior GPU if you happen to want further grunt in that division. Asus says the 15in OLED show covers all the sRGB and DCI-P3 color areas, so for budding creators seeking to get began with content material creation, this could possibly be the one. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Whereas not a funds laptop computer, the Zenbook 15 OLED isn’t priced exorbitantly both. However how does it stack as much as the competitors?

Design & construct

• Skinny and lightweight chassis
• Nonetheless feels sturdy and sturdy
• Enticing darkish blue end

Choosing up the Zenbook 15 OLED for the primary time, you’ll discover how skinny it each appears to be like and feels. Skinny body, skinny bezel, skinny keycaps. 

You’d count on a 15in laptop computer to be a bit unwieldy, however, at 1.4kg, the Zenbook 15 OLED within reason light-weight. There are much less heavy ultrabooks on the market – a lot of the Microsoft Floor Laptop computer 5 variants are a contact lighter at round 1.3kg – however this doesn’t really feel prefer it’s going to interrupt your again carrying it between conferences. 

It feels sturdy as effectively, with hardly any flex anyplace within the chassis. The show does wobble once you tilt it, which is the one factor that spoils the in any other case high-end appear and feel. 

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Whereas this shade of darkish blue has been the norm for Asus Zenbooks for some time, in a sea of bland black ‘n silver laptop computer conformity, it’s refreshing to see one thing a bit totally different.

It follows on from the design reboot of final 12 months’s Zenbook 14 (UX3402) in that the Asus ‘A’ emblem is etched into the again, however whereas the 180° hinge is barely raised, the show isn’t lifted off the desk as a lot as earlier fashions.

Ports & connectivity

• Two USB-C (one USB4), one USB-A
• USB4 port could be mixed with Ethernet adapter
• HDMI 2.1 helps 4K video as much as 120fps
• Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.2

Regardless of the super-slim dimensions, Asus has been capable of pack in additional than simply a few ports right here. There’s an old-school Kind-A USB 3.2 port, plus two Kind-C USBs (one USB 3.2, one USB4) and an HDMI 2.1 port. 

Whilst you additionally get a 3.5mm audio jack, there’s no devoted port for the mains adapter, however each of these Kind-C USBs assist energy supply. In case it is advisable broaden storage, there are many docks and hubs (and cables) on the market, so you may put that USB4 port to good use. 

Neither of the USB-C ports assist Thunderbolt 4 although, so maintain that in thoughts if you happen to’re additionally wanting to hook up with Thunderbolt displays or exterior GPUs.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Regardless that the ports are the identical form, Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 are totally different beasts – our USB explainer consists of the whole lot it is advisable know.

A key level concerning the USB4 port is that it might, with an Ethernet adapter, assist wired web connections. For instances once you’re nowhere close to a wired entry level, you’ve bought a Wi-Fi 6E unit sitting below the hood, permitting you to get pleasure from among the quickest Wi-Fi speeds at present going. 

Lastly, you could have an HDMI 2.1 port, a pleasant uptick from the HDMI 2.0b port from final 12 months’s Zenbook 14. It means you may hook up with a monitor and play 4K video at 120fps or 8K video at 60fps.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Keyboard & trackpad

• Good keyboard general
• A number of the key positions and sizes really feel awkward
• Trackpad is massive and super-responsive

The typing expertise is spectacular, with every letter key offering good springy suggestions and exhibiting journey of just below 2mm. It feels quite a bit deeper than you would possibly count on, given the laptop computer’s dimensions.

That mentioned, the row of quantity keys require a bit extra pressure to motion than the letter keys do, making for a barely inconsistent really feel. The keycaps additionally really feel somewhat skinny, which may impression their effectiveness long run.

A quantity pad has been included, however whether or not this can be a good factor or not is subjective. Typically, I don’t like having quantity pads on laptop computer keyboards. I don’t really feel like they’re use of house and have a tendency to really feel cramped, as is the case right here.

However I’ve pretty bigger palms, so it may not be a difficulty for some folks. However the perform keys on the very high are too small, to the extent that I’d generally discover myself by chance elevating the amount as an alternative of dimming the brightness.

I’d additionally desire it if navigation keys (house, web page up, web page down, finish) weren’t mapped onto the arrow keys, requiring you to carry the Fn key to motion these instructions. However this isn’t distinctive to the Zenbook by any means.

The trackpad is a pleasant dimension (measuring 5.8in) and really responsive, permitting you to simply sweep via menus and execute exact gestures. Asus has finished away with its ScreenPad right here, a cool-but-confusing characteristic which noticed a secondary show integrated into the trackpad. Right here, the trackpad is only a trackpad. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Show & audio system 

• 2.8K (2880 x 1620) 16:9 120Hz 15.6in OLED 
• Full protection of the sRGB and DCI-P3 color house
• Nearly full protection of DCI-P3 house 

There are two show variations of the Asus Zenbook 15 obtainable this 12 months, one with an OLED display and one other with the extra frequent IPS LCD panel.

The mannequin I’m testing right here is the OLED model, which has a decision of 2880 x 1620. Asus calls this unusual decision 2.8K, however you would possibly see shows with this decision listed elsewhere as 3K. 

We’re promised peak brightness of 550 nits, full protection of the usual RGB (sRGB) color house, and the DCI-P3 house. That, mixed with the wealthy distinction obtainable from the OLED show signifies that web sites, photographs, video games and video content material all look fairly improbable. 

Whereas true, testing with a colorimeter isn’t fairly as spectacular. The max recorded brightness is simply 376 nits, which is sufficient to comfy work in most lighting circumstances, however effectively wanting Asus’ claims.

An OLED display means any black areas are basically unlit pixels – issues don’t get a lot darker than that.

Recorded color temperatures have been near 6500 Kelvin – the color temperature that mimics pure daylight. At 25% and 50% brightness, the color temperature was 6600K, whereas at 75% and 100% brightness, it was 6500K.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

DCI-P3 protection hit 99% in testing, which isn’t fairly what was marketed however excellent nonetheless. It means colors on web sites and video games look vibrant and wealthy, however are nonetheless brimming with element.

Laptop computer audio system typically aren’t value writing house about, however the two Harman Kardon-certified ones right here aren’t dangerous. Bass and treble are each respectable, whereas there’s good separation on songs similar to Radiohead’s The Nationwide Anthem, which has a lot of layers to the sound.

Nonetheless, each audio system are downward-firing, so your desktop will inevitably absorb a variety of that noise. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Specs & efficiency

• Succesful for normal computing duties and a few gaming
• Loud fan noise
• Round 8-10 hours of battery life

The Asus Zenbook 15 OLED fashions include both the AMD Ryzen 5 7535U or AMD Ryzen  7 7735U processors, 16- or 32GB of RAM, and 512GB or 1TB of storage.

The model I used to be despatched for testing featured the extra highly effective Ryzen 7 7735U chip, 16GB of RAM (15.2GB of which is usable), and a 512GB SSD (475GB of which is usable). 

As anticipated, for each day pc use similar to writing, emailing and looking the online, the Zenbook 15 OLED virtually sailed via the whole lot. It took simply over two minutes (2:15) to open 500MB value of photographs in picture modifying device GIMP, which is fairly speedy. Mundane duties similar to firing off emails to colleagues and contacts felt barely decadent.

Whereas the Zenbook 15 OLED isn’t a gaming laptop computer, I used to be happy to have the ability to run a complete recreation of Civ 6 on this (albeit on the bottom settings) with out encountering any slowdown or crashes – not dangerous for a laptop computer with out devoted graphics. Then once more, Civ 6 isn’t precisely a brand new recreation, so don’t count on to be taking part in any latest titles with shading and texture settings cranked up. 

Sadly, the followers tend to kick in if you end up doing something extra superior than looking the online, and so they’re definitely not quiet. Fortunately, there are many nice noise-cancelling headphones on the market.

In contrast with the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED, which makes use of an Intel Core i7-13700H processor, the Zenbook 15 OLED isn’t pretty much as good in relation to Geekbench 6 – 9469 vs 12024 on multi-core.

Taking a look at PC Mark 10, which simulates a variety of real-world PC duties, it’s a special story, with the Zenbook 15 beating its counterpart. The Zenbook 15 OLED has the Microsoft Floor Laptop computer 5 crushed on this regard.

The Zenbook 15 OLED additionally fared higher when working the 3D Mark Evening Raid graphics take a look at, returning a median rating of 22560 – the Zenbook 14X OLED and Floor Laptop computer 5 scored 14151 and 16031 respectively. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

For context, the Asus TUF Gaming A15 2023, geared up with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 devoted graphics scored 47569 in the identical take a look at. 

Battery life is common. Operating a looped 720p video with the show at 120 nits brightness noticed it final simply 10 hours and three minutes.

Daily, I may count on to get 8-10 hours off of the battery, doing easy workplace duties, and having YouTube on within the background. For easy PC duties, that’ll get you thru, however for something extra demanding, overlook about it.

After an hour of Civ 6, I used to be left with 41% within the tank. In different phrases, don’t count on MacBook Air 2023 ranges of battery longevity.

It costs again up rapidly, or a minimum of, as fast as most different laptops on this class do. Count on 30% from empty after half an hour, an 65% after an hour, and 95% after two hours.

Value & availability

The Asus Zenbook 15 OLED is in the stores now within the UK, US and lots of different nations world wide, though a full breakdown of which fashions have been obtainable by which markets isn’t at present obtainable.

On the time of writing, it’s not potential to purchase the Zenbook 15 OLED instantly from Asus within the UK or the Asus within the US. 

Within the UK, AO has each the Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 variations of the Zenbook 15 OLED with 512GB storage and 16GB of RAM on for £929 and £1029.  Elsewhere, Scan is promoting the Ryzen 7 512+16GB version of the Zenbook 15 OLED for £1198.99.

Consumers within the US can snap up Zenbook 15 OLED with the Ryzen 7 processor, 1TB of storage and 32GB of RAM from Amazon for $1299.99. Microcenter has the identical mannequin on for $1299.99, as do Newegg, for a bit extra at $1495.82.

Whereas this can be a premium system, there are definitely costlier laptops on the market.

Verdict

The Asus Zenbook 15 OLED is improbable in just about each means, with battery life the one actual exception. Contemplate investing in a spare charger, simply in case you permit your primary one at house. 

Consider this as a much bigger model of the corporate’s Zenbook 14X OLED, simply with an AMD processor as an alternative of an Intel one and USB4 quite than Thunderbolt 4 assist. If any of these are vital to you, your determination between the 2 is made.

It’s a worthwhile different to the Floor Laptop computer 5, however the 15in MacBook Air is perhaps extra to your liking if you are able to do with out Home windows.

Specs

• Show: 15.6in 16:9 2.8K (2880 x 1620) 120Hz OLED / 15.6in 16:9 Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS LCD
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7535U / Ryzen 7 7735U processor
• Graphics: AMD Radeon graphics
• Reminiscence:  16, 32GB LPDDR5 6400 MHz
• Storage: 512, 1TB SSD PCIe 4.0 x4
• Ports: 2 x Kind-C USB with USB4, USB 3.2 (Gen 1), 1 x Kind-A USB 3.2 (Gen 1), HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio jack 
• Digital camera: 1080p webcam
• Wi-fi: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
• Battery: 67Whr
• Working system: Home windows 11 Dwelling 
• Dimensions: 354.8 x 226.6 x 14.9 mm
• Weight: 1.4kg