The Asus Zenbook S 16 is a 16-inch ultraportable laptop manufactured by Asus as part of its ZenBook product line. Announced at Computex in June 2024, it was among the first laptops to feature Asus's proprietary Ceraluminum lid material and shipped with AMD Ryzen AI 9 series processors. The laptop received broadly favourable reviews for its design and display quality, while some critics noted elevated surface temperatures under load. It was awarded a CES Innovation Award in 2025.
Design and materials
The Zenbook S 16 measures 1.1 cm thick and weighs . The chassis is constructed from aluminium, while the lid uses Ceraluminum, a ceramic-aluminium composite developed by Asus. According to the company, the material is produced by bonding a ceramic component to an aluminium substrate through a ceramization process, yielding a surface that Asus described as having three times the fracture toughness of anodized aluminium while being lighter and resistant to fingerprints. The lid was offered in two colours: "Zumaia Gray," named after geological formations in Zumaia, Spain, and "Scandinavian White."
The cooling system uses dual fans with an ultra-slim vapour chamber. The bottom panel has 3,522 CNC-machined vents arranged in a geometric pattern. Despite these measures, several reviewers reported elevated surface temperatures during sustained workloads; PCWorld measured external temperatures reaching approximately 55 °C under load.
Display and audio
The laptop features a 16-inch OLED display panel with a resolution of 2880 × 1800 pixels and a 120 Hz refresh rate. Reviewers noted full coverage of the sRGB and DCI-P3 colour gamuts, making it suitable for colour-critical work. The glossy panel lacks an anti-reflective coating, which multiple publications noted as a drawback in bright environments. Audio is provided by a six-speaker system in a 2.4-channel arrangement with Dolby Atmos support.
Specifications
The initial UM5606 model shipped with AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 or Ryzen AI 9 365 processors. The HX 370 variant features 12 cores and 24 threads with a boost clock of 5.1 GHz and a 28-watt thermal design power. Both processors include an AMD XDNA neural processing unit rated at up to 50 TOPS, qualifying the laptop as a Microsoft Copilot+ PC. Memory options are 16 or 32 GB of soldered LPDDR5X RAM, with storage up to 2 TB via PCIe 4.0 SSD. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi 7, two USB4 Type-C ports, USB 3.2 Type-A, HDMI, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and an SD card reader. The battery capacity is 78 Wh.
In benchmark testing, The Verge and Tom's Hardware reported that the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 outperformed Apple's M3 in multi-threaded workloads. Reviewers including Tom's Guide noted, however, that ARM-based competitors offered longer battery life.
Subsequent models
At CES 2026, Asus announced an updated Zenbook S 16 designated UX5606, powered by Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 (Lunar Lake) processors. A further AMD-based variant using the Ryzen AI 9 465 processor was also introduced, featuring an 83 Wh battery and an OLED touchscreen option.
Reception
The Zenbook S 16 received broadly favourable reviews upon release. The Verge described it as offering "fantastic performance and versatility." TechRadar characterised it as a "great all-rounder" that "almost reaches perfection," citing middling battery life as the principal shortcoming. PCWorld was more critical, describing the laptop as "extremely thin and way too hot," noting that surface temperatures detracted from an otherwise well-designed product. NotebookCheck characterised the 2026 model as "the perfect everyday laptop."
The device received a CES Innovation Award in 2025 in the Computer Hardware and Components category and won an iF Design Award the same year. At launch in the United States, the base configuration was priced at US$1,399.99.
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