Asus Zenbook 15 OLED (2023) review

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 would be able to hook up with an exterior GPU in the event you want additional grunt in that division. Asus says the 15in OLED show covers the complete sRGB and DCI-P3 color areas, so for budding creators trying to get began with content material creation, this might be the one. 

Whereas not a finances 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 light-weight 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 and feels. Skinny body, skinny bezel, skinny keycaps. 

You’ll count on a 15in laptop computer to be a bit unwieldy, however, at 1.4kg, the Zenbook 15 OLED in all fairness light-weight. There are much less heavy ultrabooks on the market – many 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 nicely, with hardly any flex wherever within the chassis. The show does wobble whenever 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 might 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 Sort-A USB 3.2 port, plus two Sort-C USBs (one USB 3.2, one USB4) and an HDMI 2.1 port. 

When you additionally get a 3.5mm audio jack, there’s no devoted port for the mains adapter, however each of these Sort-C USBs assist energy supply. In case you have to develop storage, there are many docks and hubs (and cables) on the market, so you possibly can put that USB4 port to good use. 

Neither of the USB-C ports assist Thunderbolt 4 although, so maintain that in thoughts in the event you’re additionally trying to connect with Thunderbolt screens or exterior GPUs.

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Although the ports are the identical form, Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 are totally different beasts – our USB explainer contains every part you have to know.

A key level concerning the USB4 port is that it may well, with an Ethernet adapter, assist wired web connections. For instances whenever 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 a few of the quickest Wi-Fi speeds presently 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 possibly can hook up with a monitor and play 4K video at 120fps or 8K video at 60fps.

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Keyboard & trackpad

• Good keyboard general
• Among 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 slightly below 2mm. It feels so much deeper than you may count on, given the laptop computer’s dimensions.

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

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

However I’ve pretty bigger palms, so it won’t be a difficulty for some folks. However the operate keys on the very prime are too small, to the extent that I might generally discover myself unintentionally elevating the quantity as a substitute of dimming the brightness.

I might additionally favor it if navigation keys (dwelling, 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 measurement (measuring 5.8in) and really responsive, permitting you to simply sweep by way of menus and execute exact gestures. Asus has achieved away with its ScreenPad right here, a cool-but-confusing function which noticed a secondary show integrated into the trackpad. Right here, the trackpad is only a trackpad. 

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Show & audio system 

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

There are two show variations of the Asus Zenbook 15 out there this 12 months, one with an OLED display screen 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 may 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 area, and the DCI-P3 area. That, mixed with the wealthy distinction out there from the OLED show implies that web sites, photographs, video games and video content material all look fairly implausible. 

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 situations, however nicely in need of Asus’ claims.

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

Recorded color temperatures had 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.

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DCI-P3 protection hit 99% in testing, which isn’t fairly what was marketed however superb 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 price writing dwelling 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 resembling 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 quite a lot of that noise. 

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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 every day pc use resembling writing, emailing and looking the online, the Zenbook 15 OLED virtually sailed by way of every part. It took simply over two minutes (2:15) to open 500MB price of photographs in picture enhancing instrument GIMP, which is fairly speedy. Mundane duties resembling firing off emails to colleagues and contacts felt barely decadent.

Whereas the Zenbook 15 OLED just isn’t a gaming laptop computer, I used to be happy to have the ability to run a complete sport 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 sport, so don’t count on to be enjoying any latest titles with shading and texture settings cranked up. 

Sadly, the followers generally 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 nearly as good with regards to Geekbench 6 – 9469 vs 12024 on multi-core.

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

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

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For context, the Asus TUF Gaming A15 2023, outfitted 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.

Day after day, I might 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 prices again up shortly, or at the very least, 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.

Worth & availability

The Asus Zenbook 15 OLED is in the stores now within the UK, US and plenty of different international locations world wide, though a full breakdown of which fashions had been out there during which markets isn’t presently out there.

On the time of writing, it’s not attainable to purchase the Zenbook 15 OLED straight 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 gadget, there are definitely dearer laptops on the market.

Verdict

The Asus Zenbook 15 OLED is implausible in just about each manner, with battery life the one actual exception. Contemplate investing in a spare charger, simply in case you permit your predominant one at dwelling. 

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

It’s a worthwhile various 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 Sort-C USB with USB4, USB 3.2 (Gen 1), 1 x Sort-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