Asus Zenbook S 13 vs. MacBook Air M3: surprisingly shut

The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED begins at $1,200 for an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 13.3-inch 2.8K OLED show. Whereas the laptop computer may also be bought with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD in some areas, pricing is at the moment unavailable within the US.

The MacBook Air M3 is available in a variety of configurations, with the bottom mannequin priced at $1,099 for an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU M3 chipset, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 13.6-inch IPS show. Varied upgrades can be found, similar to an 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M3 for an additional $100. It’s $200 extra for 16GB of RAM and an extra $800 for the utmost 2GB SSD. The totally loaded mannequin with the sooner M3, 24GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD is $2,299. That makes the MacBook Air inexpensive on the entry-level, however much more costly on the excessive finish.

These are two very skinny laptops, with the ZenBook S 13 coming in at 0.46 inches at its thickest level and the MacBook Air M3 at 0.44 inches. The Zenbook is significantly lighter at 2.2 kilos versus 2.7 factors. The MacBook’s bezels are a bit thinner throughout, making it simply barely wider, however not as deep, even with its bigger show.

The Zenbook S 13 has extra angles and a keyboard that props up at an angle, which provides it a barely sleeker aesthetic than the blockier and fewer angular MacBook Air. By some means, although, Apple’s meticulous design comes by and provides the MacBook Air a barely extra elegant look. Apple additionally provides extra colours, together with Midnight Black, Starlight, Area Grey, and Silver. Nonetheless, each laptops have their charms and also you’ll have a great-looking machine regardless of which you select.

By way of construct high quality, they’re additionally on equal footing. Actually, the Zenbook S 13 is perhaps the extra inflexible laptop computer given some bendiness within the MacBook Air’s show. Whereas the MacBook is machined from a bit of aluminum, the Zenbook makes use of a “plasma ceramic aluminum” materials that offers the lid a novel really feel. General, each laptops really feel very properly constructed and strong.

The Zenbook S 13 additionally has extra connectivity, with a mixture of trendy and legacy ports. The MacBook Air’s one benefit is its MagSafe 3 energy adapter that retains each Thunderbolt 4 ports accessible to be used even when charging. Each have the identical degree of wi-fi connectivity.

The Zenbook S 13 OLED makes use of the 15-watt Intel Core Extremely 7 155U with 12 cores (two Efficiency, eight Environment friendly, and two Low Energy Environment friendly) and 14 threads. It’s a chipset geared toward higher effectivity for productiveness customers. The MacBook Air has two chipsets, an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU model and one with 10 GPU cores. It’s additionally aimed primarily at productiveness customers, nevertheless it has a fairly quick GPU and CPU optimizations that assist pace up varied creativity duties like encoding and decoding video.

General, the MacBook Air M3 is quicker than the Zenbook S 13 OLED, and it might make for a greater entry-level photo- and video-editing laptop computer. Neither of those machines are superb for avid gamers.

The Zenbook S 13 OLED’s finest function is correct there in its identify — its glorious OLED show. It’s sharper at 2880 x 1800 in a 13.3-inch 16:10 show measurement in comparison with the MacBook Air’s 13.6-inch, 16:10 2560 x 1664 panel. And naturally, when wanting on the two facet by facet, the OLED show’s sensible colours and inky blacks stand out.

When examined with a colorimeter, the distinction is important. First, the Zenbook S 13 OLED’s show has wider colours at 100% of sRGB, 97% of AdobeRGB, and 100% of DCI-P3 in comparison with the MacBook Air’s show at 100%, 87%, and 99%, respectively. The Zenbook’s colour accuracy can be higher at a DeltaE of 1.12 versus 1.24 for the MacBook Air. And the Zenbook’s distinction is almost infinite, measuring at 27,180:1 in comparison with 1,480:1. The one metric the place the MacBook Air’s show is healthier is brightness, at 495 nits versus 391 nits.

The MacBook Air M3 has an excellent IPS show. However the Zenbook S 13 OLED’s panel is rather a lot higher.

The MacBook Air additionally has a a lot better 4-speaker audio system that delivers extra quantity and clearer sound than the Zenbook’s 2-speaker setup.

Each laptops are very transportable, with the Zenbook S 13 OLED successful based mostly on its half-pound decrease weight.

Extra spectacular is the MacBook Air M3’s phenomenal effectivity. It lasted 19 hours in each our web-browsing and video-looping battery exams, whereas the Zenbook went for 8.75 hours and 12.5 hours, respectively. The MacBook Air additionally lasts longer when operating extra demanding exams.

In the end, if battery life issues, then the MacBook Air is your most suitable option for a small laptop computer.

The Zenbook S 13 OLED is among the many finest 13-inch Home windows laptop computer you should purchase proper now. It’s very properly constructed, quick sufficient for demanding productiveness customers, has a beautiful and stable construct, and its battery life is first rate. It’s even one of many only a few Home windows laptops that’s transportable sufficient to compete with the MacBook Air. You’ll be able to’t ignore that sensible OLED display screen both. In order for you a MacBook Air competitor on the Home windows facet, the Zenbook S 13 is without doubt one of the best.

However evaluating it instantly with the MacBook Air M3, it have to be stated that the latter is quicker and will get considerably higher battery life. It’s laborious to beat the effectivity of Apple’s Silicon chipsets, and contemplating the 2 are very shut in worth, the MacBook Air M3 will get the general win.