Our opinion on the Asus ZenBook S 14 UX5406SA-68W (UX5406-68W)
Dark design for the easy-to-carry AI-oriented laptop Asus ZenBook S 14 UX5406SA-68W (UX5406-68W) with a battery life of 10 hours suitable for studying which benefits from a 14-inch 2.8K High Fidelity DCI-P3 High Definition screen. This thin and light compact laptop is efficient thanks to its large amount of 32 GB RAM and its latest generation Lunar Lake hybrid Core Ultra 7 258V processor with Intel Arc graphics which accelerate multimedia processing. This is also the case for the comfortable fast SSD storage of 1 TB reinforcing the responsiveness of this Ultrabook which is also equipped with a backlit keyboard, an Infrared webcam for biometric facial authentication as well as Wi-Fi 7 and 2 USB-C Thunderbolt 4.
Features of the Asus ZenBook S 14 UX5406SA-68W (UX5406-68W)
| Screen(s) | 14″ 2.8K OLED 120Hz 100% DCI-P3 HDR True Black 500 Pantone 0.2ms 16/10ème (2880×1800, brillant) |
| Processor | Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Lunar Lake (8 cœurs : 4P 2.2 GHz / 4E 3.7 GHz, 17W) |
| Installed RAM (max) | 32 GB LPPDDR5x 8533 MHz (integrated in processor) |
| Graphics card | Intel Arc 140V integrated into the processor |
| Storage | SSD M.2 de 1 To (NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4, 2280) |
| Connections | 1 USB 3.2 (Gen2) + 2 USB-C Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1 |
| Network | Wi-Fi 7 be (2×2), Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Backlit keyboard | Yes (stroke 1.1 mm) |
| Numeric keypad | – |
| Windows Hello | Yes, via infrared webcam |
| Audio system | 2 Harman Kardon speakers, Smart Amp |
| Operating system | – |
| Announced autonomy / Battery | 10 hours / Li-Ion 4 cells 72Whr (65W adapter) |
| Poids / Dimensions (mm) | 1.2 Kg (with battery), 1 Kg (without battery) / 310.3 x 214.7 x 11.9-12.9 |
The Asus ZenBook S 14 UX5406SA-68W (UX5406-68W) faces the competition
The Asus ZenBook S 14 UX5406SA-68W (UX5406-68W) is currently sold by Amazon and is positioned as one of the only ones in its category to offer such a recent processor with Wi-Fi 7 connectivity but faces many cheaper competitors.
Need a student laptop? Check out our guide.
Chassis, connections, screen of the Asus ZenBook S 14 UX5406SA-68W (UX5406-68W)
With its Zumaia Gray metal design certified to the American military robustness standard MIL-STD-810H, this thin and light CNC machined compact laptop has an elegant and discreet appearance.
This Ultrabook integrates good connectivity including 2 USB-C Thunderbolt 4, Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7 be wireless modules (more recent and efficient than Wi-Fi 6 ax) to communicate and connect remotely, a practical HDMI video output to easily connect it to a TV or a monitor for example, an audio port as well as 1 USB 3.0 (USB 2.0 compatible) ensuring transfers up to 10 times more faster than USB 2.0 if you connect a USB 3.0 device.
Biometric authentication is possible through the infrared functionality of the webcam allowing facial recognition, via Windows Hello.
When you need to better distinguish the keys, you can simply activate the backlighting of the chiclet keyboard.
The screen ensures DCI-P3 colorimetric accuracy well above average. It is associated with very deep blacks, minimal latency as well as significant vertical and horizontal viewing angles provided by OLED technology.
This induces a shiny coating which gives punch to the colors but is subject to reflections in a bright environment (e.g. outdoors).
As a bonus, the screen adopts 2.8K High Definition, much higher than Full HD, associated here with a 16:10 format displaying more elements on the screen than 16:9 due to its higher height.
Performance, battery life of the Asus ZenBook S 14 UX5406SA-68W (UX5406-68W)
The Asus ZenBook S 14 UX5406SA-68W (UX5406-68W) is aimed at those who wish to equip themselves with a high-performance compact nomadic AI-oriented High Definition High Fidelity laptop.
Its battery life of around 10 hours in light use will delight nomads and some looking for a student laptop, especially as it is easy to transport since it is compact, thin and light.
To ensure such autonomy, this Ultrabook relies on energy-efficient components, like its SSD storage.
Indeed, the SSD is energy efficient in addition to being shock resistant, silent and fast.
It also offers a very comfortable capacity of 1000 GB to install and store multiple software and files, including personal creations.
On a daily basis, the SSD improves responsiveness and fluidity thanks to its high speed.
In practice, starts/stops are quick, as are processing, application launches and arrival on online game cards.
While no dedicated graphics card is on board. And the 2.8K definition of the screen requires more graphics calculations than Full HD, which results in a lower number of fps. We can still watch HD photos and videos thanks to the Intel Arc 140V graphics solution inserted in the processor.
And even play light to modest games with concessions like a reduction in screen definition.
The Intel Arc 140V takes place in the Core Ultra 7 258V, the latest generation Lunar Lake consumption processor with 8 hybrid cores and AI services.
The Core Ultra 7 258V is low consumption, like the large quantity of 32 GB RAM that it houses inside.
The potential of these components is revealed in areas using multi-cores, RAM (and AI), such as photo editing or video editing.
Under this type of work we obtain faster processing here than with a classic Quad Core and 16/24 GB DDR4/5.
However, to often carry out heavy processing in processor resources, it is better to opt for a PC based on a (recent) non-low consumption processor with a greater number of efficient cores.
