Asus Zenbook S16 Um5606 (ryzen Ai 9) Review: I Think Amd Just Killed The Macbook Air

A brand new challenger has entered the sector! The Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606 is the primary of many to provide AMD’s newest Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, which boasts AI features similar to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite. Does the Zenbook S16 ship the products to check AMD’s horsepower?

The Asus Zenbook S16 inspired me proper from the beginning with its superb efficiency and ambitious graphics, crowned off with long-lasting battery lifestyles and a good 16-inch OLED show packed right into a one-of-a-kind chassis. In spite of all of the ones sweets, it suffers from a mediocre keyboard and touchpad enjoy and a gradual SSD.

But when you’ll be able to glance previous the ones flaws, the Asus Zenbook S16 has so much to provide. It will even discover a position on our easiest Asus laptops web page. However will it? Let’s to find out.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Specifications

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Value and configurations

I examined the higher-end Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606 ($1,699), which options an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, AMD Radeon 890M Graphics chip, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 2880 x 1800, 120Hz, OLED contact show.

Downgrading to the $1,399 type will get you a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU, Radeon 880M Graphics chip, and 24GB of RAM.

Need one thing less expensive? Take a look at our easiest laptops underneath $1,000.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Design

Anyone will have to’ve clipped the Zenbook S16’s wings as a result of this child fell from heaven. Its beautiful pottery-white hood is crafted from Ceramic-Ceraluminum. That’s a mouthful that interprets to a mix of aluminum and ceramic, which supplies a pottery-like texture. There also are swish traces of shiny silver and a tiny Asus Zenbook emblem within the most sensible left. I like the way in which this factor appears and feels.

Popping open the lid finds a regular aluminum white deck with a neat keyboard tucked within the middle and vents simply above it. Embedded within the vent at the proper is the Zenbook emblem, which appears very Superstar Trek-esque. The touchpad takes up a big bite of the deck, whilst the show is nearly totally bezel-less. Alternatively, on the most sensible, the webcam lacks a privateness shutter.

At 3.3 kilos and 13.92 x 9.57 x 0.47 ~ 0.51 inches, the Asus Zenbook S16 is just about as gentle and skinny because the MacBook Air. It falls inside of a an identical vary because the MacBook Air 15-inch (M3) (3.3 kilos, 13.4 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches), LG Gram SuperSlim (2.18 kilos, 14 x 8.95 x 0.43~0.49 inches), and Asus Vivobook S15 S5507 (3.2 kilos, 13.88 x 8.93 x 0.58~0.63 inches).

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Ports

For its 0.5-inch skinny chassis, the Zenbook S16 gives an excellent array of ports.

Glance to the left, and also you’ll to find an HDMI port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a headphone jack, whilst the appropriate aspect gives one USB Sort-A port and a complete SD card slot.

In the event you nonetheless want extra ports, take a look at our easiest USB Sort-C hubs and easiest pc docking stations.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Show

I like an OLED show however does the Asus Zenbook S16’s 16-inch, 2880 x 1800, 120Hz panel do justice to the generation it implements? Sure and no. It’s gorgeous from a mean person’s standpoint, however its festival does it higher.

I watched the most recent Borderlands trailer, and the scene the place the group stands in a graffitied hall painted a yellowish hue that virtually gave the look of Home windows Evening Mild used to be enabled. Alternatively, within the vault scene, the lighting solid a shiny blue upon the polyhedral items within the room. Because the show is shiny, it did catch some gentle from the window in the back of me. Assuming you’re in a depressing house, the panel is vivid sufficient to seize main points just like the shelf of candles in the back of Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis. The panel may be sharp, flaunting each and every strand at the actors’ heads.

In keeping with our colorimeter, the Zenbook S16 clocks in 79.7% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, wanting the common top rate pc (86.2%). It’s extra colourful than the MacBook Air (77.5%) and is on the subject of the Asus Vivobook S15 S5507 (82.8%), however the LG SuperSlim (139%) crushes all of them.

At 357 nits, the Zenbook S16 will get decently vivid, however it doesn’t beat the common top rate pc (458 nits). This effects from the Mini-LED presentations that populate that class with as much as 1,000 nits of brightness. The Zenbook S16 is dimmer than the MacBook Air (482 nits), LG SuperSlim (384 nits), and Vivobook S15 (370 nits). In spite of that, for those who’re the usage of HDR, it climbs to 582 nits. It’s simply unlucky that Home windows HDR isn’t just right.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Keyboard and touchpad

I don’t find it irresistible. I attempted typing away at the Asus Zenbook S16, and the enjoy used to be marred through quick key shuttle and a delicate sensation. There wasn’t that delightful jump to navigate me to the following key. As an alternative, I had put extra effort into typing than I’d’ve favored.

I controlled 75 phrases according to minute at the 10fastfingers.com typing take a look at, falling wanting my same old 81-wpm moderate. That’s now not best because of the deficient jump but in addition the important thing spacing. There’s no numpad at the Zenbook 16, which I’m detached about, however it adjustments the ergonomics of a 16-inch pocket book. So for those who’re used to typing on a pc with a numpad, that’ll take time to get used to.

The 5.9 x 3.9-inch touchpad is pleasantly easy, however its clicker is shallow. I’ve blended emotions about haptic-touchpads, however that might really feel higher than clicking in this tool.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Audio

Full of six side-firing audio system, the Zenbook S16 is bumpin’ with high quality audio flaunting that bass.

I listened to Chappell Roan’s “Just right Success, Babe!” and the hole percussion in any case will get some justice in a collection of pc audio system. The drums had a gradual however significant have an effect on, which is refreshing in comparison to the muted, hole audio system I’ve heard earlier than. The vocals sound airy, hitting mids and highs with out getting too sharp. The background synths can get slightly misplaced because the cymbals are extra distinguished, however the total sound is forged.

With the Dolby Get right of entry to app, you’ll be able to modify presets like Recreation, Film, Track, or Voice, and there’s additionally Dynamic, which adjusts the audio routinely.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Efficiency

The Asus Zenbook S16 is the primary of many laptops with AMD’s new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip. It simply cracked thru a few dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube movies whilst Spotify popped off within the background.

At the Geekbench 6.3 total efficiency take a look at, the Asus Zenbook S16 scored 13,282, which crushes the common top rate pc (9,130). It even outpaces the MacBook Air’s M3 (12,052) and the LG SuperSlim’s Intel Core i7-1360P (10,282). Alternatively, the Vivobook S15’s Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 (14,522) crossed that end line first.

The consequences landed the similar once we examined how briskly the Zenbook S16 may transcode a 4K video to 1080p on our HandBrake benchmark. The Zenbook S16 took 2nd position (5:08) and beat the class moderate (7:08). In the meantime, the Vivobook S15 slotted first (4:27), and the MacBook Air (6:30) and LG SuperSlim (10:41) trailed in the back of in 3rd and remaining, respectively.

Oof. Asus’ 1TB SSD tanked this take a look at, shifting 25GB of multimedia information at a charge of 908 megabytes according to 2nd. It is been a minute since I have noticed a charge underneath 1K, and it for sure fails in opposition to a mean top rate pc (1,377 MBps). The LG SuperSlim (1,692 MBps) and Vivobook S15 S5507 (1,296 MBps) had been lightning-fast when put next.

Alternatively, the Blackmagic Learn/Write tells a special tale. The Zenbook S16 scored 3,207/2,978 MBps, whilst the MacBook Air hit 2,968/3,167 MBps. There may be give and tackle that entrance, so it is most commonly a draw. However you need to needless to say it isn’t a real-world take a look at, not like ours.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: AI efficiency and lines

We’ve needed to trade how we take a look at AI PCs with the slew of Copilot+ PCs coming in. Whilst the Zenbook S16 isn’t advertised as a Copilot+ PC, just like the laptops with Snapdragon X Elite chips, it meets the necessities with the brand new AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. It comes with the XDNA 2 NPU, a processing unit in particular for AI. Our trying out will adapt as extra AI PCs release, however let’s see how the Zenbook S16 did.

At the Geekbench ML 0.6 AI efficiency take a look at, the Zenbook S16 were given an ONNX/CPU ranking of three,377, beating the Vivobook S15’s 2,913. None of its different competition took this take a look at, however it does surpass the HP Spectre x360 14 2024 (2,876) and the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Q425M (2,971). Whilst this take a look at best measures CPU efficiency, it’s spectacular to look AMD’s AI features surpass Qualcomm’s.

Once more, whilst it isn’t advertised as a Copilot+ PC, it advantages from a number of Copilot options. The obvious one is Recall, which you may’ve heard is arguable. That is just like the Historical past button in your browser, apart from it applies to the whole thing you do in your PC. Slightly spooky, however the data is designed to be saved in the neighborhood. And also you do find a way to regulate the kind of data saved. At this time Recall is restricted to Home windows Insiders and disabled through default.

Our favourite Copilot+ PC options come with Home windows Studio Results and Are living Captions. AI-art-generating systems also are to be had, however they’re arguable as they scrape the web for genuine artists’ paintings with out their consent and use that to gas their very own “artwork.”

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Graphics

Whispers concerning the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX implied that it might be helpful for gaming, as its built-in AMD Radeon 890M GPU is more potent than your moderate chip. However are you able to in reality sport with it?

At the 3DMark Evening Raid benchmark, a man-made DirectX 12 take a look at for built-in graphics, the Zenbook S16 scored 28,213, surpassing the common top rate pc (20,889). It additionally made quick paintings of the LG SuperSlim’s Intel Iris Xe Graphics (16,447) and the Vivobook S15’s Qualcomm Adreno (26,046).

At the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Accumulating Hurricane benchmark (Medium, 1080p), the Zenbook S16 averaged a powerful 63 frames according to 2nd. That tramples the common (50 fps) in addition to the LG SuperSlim (25 fps) and Vivobook S15 (21 fps), which produced unplayable rankings.

We additionally ran the Zenbook S16 thru extra in depth video games, like Shadow of the Tomb Raider. At the perfect settings, 1080p benchmark, it scored 27 fps. Whilst that isn’t a playable body charge, it’s top sufficient that for those who flip down a couple of settings the sport will have to run easily.

It crossed 30 fps at the A long way Cry 6 benchmark (Extremely, 1080p), averaging 35 fps. There’s a an identical development at the Borderlands 3 benchmark (Badass, 1080p) the place it hit 32 fps (relatively, the MacBook Air’s M3 chip scored 17 fps).

Is the Zenbook S16 a gaming pc? No. Can it sport? Completely.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Battery lifestyles

AMD has proved its battery lifestyles chops earlier than, however does it accomplish that once more with the brand new AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370? Sure, however it’s now not in particular remarkable.

At the Pc Magazine battery take a look at, the Zenbook S16 survived for 11 hours and 35 mins. That surpasses the common top rate pc (11:17), however it died earlier than the MacBook Air (15:03), LG SuperSlim (11:38), and Vivobook S15 (12:53). So whilst the Zenbook S16’s battery lifestyles is lengthy, it’s now not record-breaking like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Webcam

I’ve noticed worse webcams, however the Zenbook S16’s shooter isn’t nice.

I’m inspired that the distinction is balanced sufficient not to overexpose my ceiling because of the sunshine fixture or the window within the background. It additionally captures colour quite neatly, keeping up the sanctity of the intense My Hero Academia poster in the back of me. Alternatively, the place it does fail is the element. The image is amazingly fuzzy. It appears effective from a ways away, however glance intently, and also you received’t be capable to inform which pixel is your pores and skin and which is your glasses. Chances are you’ll now not want some of the easiest webcams, however it couldn’t harm.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Warmth

The Zenbook S16 will get slightly heat, however not anything too toasty.

After streaming a 15-minute video, it clocked in at 96 levels Fahrenheit on its underside, which is round our 95-degree convenience threshold. The middle of the keyboard and touchpad hit 100 levels and 87 levels, respectively. In the meantime, the most up to date it were given used to be 106 levels, positioned about an inch upwards from the Home windows sticky label at the underside close to the vent.

As mentioned above, this gadget can get some gaming in, so it would get slightly spicier than our recorded effects.

Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606: Device and guaranty

MyASUS is all you want. It supplies get entry to on your tool settings, gadget diagnostics, gadget updates, and guaranty. You’ll track the Zenbook S16’s CPU, reminiscence, battery, and difficult disk house. There are further show and audio settings.

That is an AI PC, so there are further options as discussed above.

The Zenbook S16 UM5606 comes with a one-year restricted guaranty. See how Asus carried out on our Tech Make stronger Showdown score.

Base line

The Asus Zenbook S16 UM5606 has the makings of a perfect pc, from its improbable efficiency and graphics to its lengthy battery lifestyles and stellar design. Alternatively, our reference to laptops begins with the keyboard and touchpad. Sadly, it’s now not superb right here.

In the event you’re in search of a greater enter enjoy, you’ll be able to check out the MacBook Air 15. The Zenbook S16 does beat it in efficiency, however the MacBook gives for much longer battery lifestyles, a brighter show, and a extra comfy keyboard and touchpad.

Alternatively, for individuals who plan on the usage of a discrete keyboard or are prepared to get used to the Zenbook’s ergonomics, it’s a perfect selection as an AI powerhouse.