Asus Zenbook S 16 UM5606WA-RK052W
Specifications
Price comparison
Average of 22 scores (from 32 reviews)
Reviews for the Asus Zenbook S 16 UM5606WA-RK052W
The ZenBook S 16 OLED is one of the first devices on the market to be equipped with AMD's brand new AI 9 processors. Having already tested a model based on the HX 370 (Radeon 890M), it was now the turn of the 365 model (Radeon 880M). How does the 16-incher fare against the competition and the last generation?
Source: Tech Nave
There is one more caveat that I didn't mention, and it's not the AI. There is this feature called Hibernate Helper that could use some fixing. What it does is help the laptop to sleep or shut down when unused over some time. When I wanted to turn the laptop back on after a few hours, it refused to do so, and that was such a frustrating experience.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/22/2024
Source: Hardware Zone
If you are looking for a laptop that balances power, portability and a slim profile, then the ASUS Zenbook S 16 could stand out as a solid all-rounder. But with a couple of caveats to consider first, before you make that final decision. Firstly, Qualcomm-powered machines like the ASUS Vivobook S 15 have better power efficiency and battery life overall as compared to laptops powered by AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 series. The other thing is that while Microsoft has been pushing its Copilot+ PCs, its AI-driven features like Cocreator and Live Translation are only available on Snapdragon laptops for now. However, these features are expected to arrive on AMD Ryzen AI 300 laptops by this year.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 10/05/2024
Rating: Total score: 85% price: 75% performance: 80% mobility: 85% workmanship: 85%
Source: PC Mag
The Asus Zenbook S 16 (UM5606) is a striking addition to the high-end laptop market, combining new AI technology with a sleek and sophisticated design. This laptop has a powerful AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor with a potent NPU engineered to excel in productivity and AI-driven tasks. With its stunning 16-inch OLED touch screen, enhanced audio experience, and innovative touchpad and touch-screen features, the Zenbook S 16 aims to cater to both creative professionals and everyday users alike.However, at this price, we can't help wondering why the Zenbook S 16 doesn't include an AMD Radeon or Nvidia GeForce discrete GPU, especially in light of spotty performance where one could help. With comparably priced systems packing graphics hardware that supports more intensive media creation and even gaming, it's hard to recommend the Asus over award-winners like the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 Gen 9 or even excellent also-rans like the Dell XPS 16.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 09/25/2024
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: Hardware Zone
If you are looking for a laptop that balances power, portability and a slim profile, then the ASUS Zenbook S 16 could stand out as a solid all-rounder. But with a couple of caveats to consider first, before you make that final decision.Firstly, Qualcomm-powered machines like the ASUS Vivobook S 15 have better power efficiency and battery life overall as compared to laptops powered by AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 series. The other thing is that while Microsoft has been pushing its Copilot+ PCs, its AI-driven features like Cocreator and Live Translation are only available on Snapdragon laptops for now.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 09/23/2024
Rating: Total score: 80% price: 75% performance: 80% mobility: 85% workmanship: 85%
Source: Techaeris
2024 has been a crazy year for laptops and laptop processors. AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm have all introduced some major groundbreaking CPU’s and that has made countless laptops worth looking at. I have used the new Snapdragon PCs, I’ve even used the new Intel 200V series, and this AMD Ryzen 9 AI series. I think the CPUs and GPUs being offered this year are competing at a very neck to neck pace so for once, it comes down to choosing a laptop based on its build, feel and look. Of all the laptops I have used so far this year, the ASUS Zenbook S 16 has my vote as the best one on the market. While it isn’t perfect, for me, it checks numerous boxes that I want.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 09/15/2024
Rating: Total score: 95% price: 95% performance: 95% display: 100% mobility: 95% workmanship: 95%
Source: NLT
As for the price – this laptop is at RM7,299 which is definitely a premium price to pay for, but considering what this laptop can do, I think it’s worth the price. It’s portable, has a magnificent OLED touch screen, a rather long battery life, lots of useful ports, and it’s also powerful enough to play lots of games. Yet the fans don’t sound like they’re about to take off. Now this is an impressive feat of engineering. If you’re wondering how the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 will perform, here’s our gaming test video. Honestly, I’m impressed.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 09/09/2024
Source: Creative Bloq
The ASUS Zenbook S 16 is undoubtedly one of the best-looking laptops out there at the moment and I'm including Apple's MacBook's in the list. The laptop performs incredibly well for every day tasks but lacks what's required for 3D rendering. The battery life, ergonomic keyboard, and 16-inch display are other big wins for this laptop from ASUS.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 09/06/2024
Rating: Total score: 90%
Source: Mezha EN
When it comes to truly portable laptops, there is an immediate expectation that there will be compromises somewhere. However, with the ASUS Zenbook S 16, such expectations are almost never realized. The user will get a really cool and thin body made of pleasant materials, a very high-quality display, manipulators, and sound, enough performance for most daily tasks, and the battery is not lagging behind at all. Of course, there are small nuances in the form of noticeable heating under load or the inability to replace the RAM. But given the size and the aforementioned advantages, there's no point in complaining. Of course, as with many other good things, the cost of such a laptop is significantly higher than the average price tag. Although it's hard to say that it's not justified in any way.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 09/04/2024
Rating: Total score: 95%
Source: Lowyat.net
Considering what’s been thrown underneath the hood of the Zenbook S 16, an asking price of RM7,999 for this thin-and-light is the farthest thing from unreasonable. For that matter, AMD’s Zen 5 Ryzen AI processor is nothing short of impressive. As the creator of LTT said in his video: AMD effectively gimped itself by capping the HX 370’s maximum TDP to 28W, and it didn’t even break a sweat. Mind you, I ran the CPU on its default 17W and even that was more than plenty.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 08/27/2024
Source: Zdnet.com
I recommend the Asus Zenbook S 16 to users who want a premium, lightweight laptop that transports well and has a gorgeous OLED display. Visual creatives in particular, will gravitate toward this device. AMD's next-gen chipset provides solid performance, but it falls short in running as cool as other processors on the market, and its battery life is not the best. Prices for the laptop start at $1,399. It is a little expensive, although I'd argue it's well-priced for what you're getting. If you want something more budget friendly, check out the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 which is currently on sale for $899 ($400 off the regular price).
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 08/26/2024
Source: Pokde
The ASUS Zenbook S 16 (UM5606) is a premium laptop that commands a premium price: at RM7,999, this is a fairly expensive laptop, but you do get a lot of performance and features that is not going to hold you back in daily use. As far as premium laptops go, this is damn near perfect in my book.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/23/2024
Rating: Total score: 86% price: 80% performance: 88% mobility: 85% workmanship: 90%
Source: Expert Reviews
If anyone asked me to recommend an ultrabook for under £2,000 the Zenbook S16 is what I’d point them towards. The design, performance, build, screen and speaker quality are all superb, while the battery life is outstandingly good for a Windows x86 laptop. Of course, it’s not perfect. The webcam is pretty awful, you can’t add a second SSD and it does get too warm for comfort when being pushed hard, especially on the underside. None of those niggles bother me excessively though, and don’t in any way knock the shine off this absolutely superb general-purpose laptop.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 08/23/2024
Rating: Total score: 100%
Source: PC World
The Asus Zenbook S 16 is a mediocre debut of AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 365 in a mid-range laptop. Performance isn’t bad, but it also fails to move the needle—and I find it more than a little strange that AMD brands this processor with the Ryzen AI 9 label despite the fact that, at least in this laptop, it delivers performance hardly different from the AMD Ryzen 7 8840U. What’s even less pleasant, however, is the laptop’s extremely high external temperatures under load, which make the laptop exceptionally uncomfortable to use. This makes the laptop’s performance results look even worse. That’s a shame, because the Zenbook S 16 is otherwise a good mid-range laptop. I like the ceraluminum finish, the huge touchpad, and the gorgeous OLED display, all of which make the laptop pleasant to use day-to-day. It’s an elegant, thin machine—too thin, apparently, to handle the Ryzen AI 9 365.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/20/2024
Rating: Total score: 58%
Source: The Verge
Since the Zenbook S 16 isn’t truly a dedicated gaming or creator laptop, I’d recommend the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for that. In my tests, it gets two to three times better 1080p gaming performance without upscaling and rendered my Blender scene in mere seconds. It still manages six and a half hours of battery life in a thin-and-light chassis, too. The Zenbook S 16 didn’t quite live up to all the performance claims AMD made about it, but it came close and really impressed me in the process. It’s a 16-inch productivity, gaming, and content creation machine that does all those things surprisingly well and is actually easy to carry around. All you have to give up in return are those few hours of battery life. It’s a combination that adds up to make this my favorite 16-inch Windows laptop of the summer.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 08/09/2024
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Laptop Media
Support, online available, Short, Date: 07/30/2024
Source: Dave 2D
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 07/29/2024
Source: Matthew Moniz
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 07/28/2024
Source: The Tech Chap
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 07/28/2024
Source: TechTablets
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 07/28/2024
Foreign Reviews
Source: Chip.de DE→EN
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/18/2024
Rating: Total score: 98% price: 85% performance: 97% features: 96% display: 100% mobility: 96%
Source: PC Welt DE→EN
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 10/06/2024
Rating: Total score: 50%
Source: Computerhoy ES→EN
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/06/2024
Rating: Total score: 88%
Source: PC Guia PT→EN
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 09/23/2024
Rating: Total score: 90%
Source: Charles Tech FR→EN
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 09/18/2024
Rating: Total score: 80% performance: 90% display: 80% mobility: 80% ergonomy: 80%
Source: Journal du Geek FR→EN
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 08/27/2024
Rating: Total score: 90%
Source: ITHardware.pl PL→EN
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 09/18/2024
Rating: Total score: 90% mobility: 100% workmanship: 100%
Source: Chip Online TR TR→EN
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 09/25/2024
Rating: Total score: 94%
Source: ITC UA RU→EN
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 10/29/2024
Rating: Total score: 80% price: 80% performance: 90% display: 85% mobility: 95% workmanship: 85% ergonomy: 85%
Source: Laptopmedia CN zh-CN→EN
Positive: Beautiful OLED display; great speakers; good ergonomics; nice webcam; powerful hardware; slim size; light weight; good cooling and silent system; high autonomy; rich set of ports. Negative: Non-expandable memory; expensive.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 07/29/2024
Source: Komputer for alle DA→EN
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 10/14/2024
Rating: Total score: 92%
Source: Eprice.com.hk zh-TW→EN
Positive: Ultra-slim size; light weight; powerful hardware; high performance; great OLED display; big screen; stereo speakers; long battery life. Negative: Poor set of ports; only one M.2 slot.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 10/24/2024
Source: Unlimited Tech →EN
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 08/19/2024
Rating: Total score: 90%
Comment
AMD Radeon 880M: A fairly powerful RDNA 3.5 architecture iGPU that debuted in June 2024 and a direct successor to the Radeon 780M. Its 12 CUs/WGPs (768 unified shaders) run at up to 2,900 MHz. DX12 Ultimate, ray tracing, AI image generation and other modern features are all supported here, as are many popular video codecs including first and foremost AVC, HEVC, VP9 and AV1. Its gaming performance is good enough for playing 2024 games such as Once Human and The First Descendant at 1080p on low graphics settings.
Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Ryzen AI 9 365: A relatively powerful Strix Point family processor that debuted in June 2024. The chip features 10 CPU cores running at 2.0 GHz to 5.0 GHz, along with the 12 CU RDNA 3.5 Radeon 880M graphics adapter and the 50 TOPS XDNA 2 neural engine. Other key features include PCIe 4, USB 4 and LPDDR5x-7500 RAM support. Of the 10 CPU cores, 4 are full Zen 5 cores with the other 6 being smaller Zen 5c cores.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
16.00":
15-inch display variants are the standard and are used for more than half of all laptops.
The reason for the popularity of mid-sized displays is that this size is reasonably easy on the eyes, often allows high resolutions and thus offers rich details on the screen, yet does not consume too much power and the devices can still be reasonably compact - simply the standard compromise.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.Asus: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. is a major Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer based in Taipei, founded in 1989. Under the Asus brand name, the company manufactures a wide range of products, including laptops, desktops, motherboards, graphics cards, monitors, smartphones and networking equipment, complete systems and PC components for end users.
Under the ROG (Republic of Gamers) brand name, ASUS manufactures gaming laptops known by gamers for their powerful specifications, dedicated graphics cards, high refresh rate displays and advanced cooling systems.
Beyond gaming, a wide range of notebooks are offered for different needs and budgets, from ultra-slim and lightweight ultrabooks to versatile 2-in-1 convertibles and budget-friendly options. In 2023, Asus had a 7% global market share of the PC market.
Customer satisfaction with ASUS notebooks concerns performance, the features, and the good price-performance ratio of ASUS notebooks. However, as with any brand, there are occasional reports of problems such as overheating, driver compatibility, or build quality issues.
84.78%: This rating is slightly above average, there are somewhat more devices with worse ratings. However, clear purchase recommendations look different.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.