Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED first look UX5304 – Up close with the world’s slimmest OLED laptop

In the perpetual arms race of laptop makers attempting to one-up each other in making the slimmest possible laptop, Asus seems to have come out with a decisive blow that would win the laptop wars in one fell swoop with their new ZenBook S 13 OLED aka model UX5304 that is currently the world’s slimmest OLED equipped laptop at just 10.9mm thin, which is just a notch over a centimetre while weighing just 1,000 grams.

We managed to get an early Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED first look ahead of its Malaysia launch – here’s what we think of their slimmest laptop yet!

Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED first look UX5304 – How did they make it so slim?

To achieve these slim dimensions, Asus has gone in full bore and shaved down millimetres of thickness and grams of weight across multiple aspects of its design from its internal layout to almost every component shoehorned in rather than just simply concentrating on making the chassis slimmer.

Among the sundry improvements is a slimmer 1080p video call camera, a custom OLED panel that’s 30% thinner than stock models, a precisely machined internal layout that also uses denser circuit boards that weigh less while offering more performance, the inclusion of not one but two ultrathin fans for better cooling that’s 25% slimmer than standard variants and liberal use of magnesium-aluminium alloy for the entire chassis.

Rather than the usual stamped and brushed aluminium finish seen in most laptops, the laptop uses a new plasma ceramisation process that lends a matte, fingerprint-resistant finish to the design in your choice of an anodised Ponder Blue finish or the aforementioned ceramised Basalt Gray.

Our Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED first look sample uses the former and integrates a series of semi-abstract stylised lines etched into the finish itself that actually make up the Zenbook logo that looks posh indeed.

Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED first look UX5304 – Specifications

Ludicrously slim design aside, our Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED first look sample looks and feels wondrous indeed with dimensions that are thinner than even a conventional old-school print magazine while still packing a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type A port, a HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm audio jack and 2 Thunderbolt USB-C ports for charging duties too.

Even with a chassis this slim, Asus has managed to eke out a robust MIL-STD 810H rating which means that the laptop is capable of surviving a drop from a modest height and resist humidity and extremes of temperature which certainly goes a long way towards its longevity.

Belying its slim dimensions, the UX5304 is armed for bear with a loadout that makes it ideal for road warriors. You get a 13.3-inch Lumina OLED display that has 2,880 x 1,800 pixels resolution, a tall 16:10 aspect ratio and which has been colour calibrated with 100% DCI-P3, full Pantone validation and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification though it only has a 60Hz refresh rate; still this isn’t an issue as the laptop isn’t intended for gamers in any case.

Battery life on its 63Wh is rated officially at up to 14 hours of video playback with the whole affair charged via the Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and a provided charging brick. 

In keeping with its eco-friendly credentials, the packaging is recyclable and the laptop ships with two laptop stands made of cardboard along with a laptop sleeve too on top of the obligatory charging brick and cable.

Our Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED first look sample features an impressive array of hardware under the hood. You get a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-1355U processor with a 20W TDP, 16GB LPDDR5 5,200MHz RAM that has been soldered in,  a 1TB SSD and Iris Xe graphics. 

Another variant exists with a 13th Gen I5-1335U processor, the same 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD. According to Asus Malaysia, both variants will be available locally by mid-May 2023 with the i7 version priced at RM5,999 and the i5 version at RM4,999 with a slated launch date of mid-May 2023.

While it’s a bit early to tell, first impressions of the Zenbook S 13 OLED are very promising indeed and from a design perspective along, Asus is ticking all the right boxes for durability and aesthetics while giving a nod to sustainability.

For more details, check out the official Zenbook S 13 OLED UX5304 website at https://asus.click/thincredible_ux5304_pr and in the meantime, stay tuned to our full-on review which will arrive shortly!