Asus Zenbook Flip S (2020) review: it’s all about the screen

There's one really strong argument in favor of purchasing the ZenBook Flip S: the projection screen. This $1,449 2-in-1 has a 4K OLED instrument panel, and it's one of the best displays you can come along a 13-inch notebook.

Organic light-emitting diode panels — which successful a name for themselves in high-end TVs but are growing more popular in laptops As well — can deliver a stunning picture compared to IPS LCD displays. Just all those pixels suckle up a heck of a lot of battery, and companies sometimes slap them on laptops that can't fully fill their power needs. That's particularly true in scraggy-and-light 13-inch machines, which are running with really limited space for a battery. And IT's how you end up with releases like the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook, a gorgeous OLED gimmick that keister't make it five hours on one point.

The ZenBook Flip (which you should be able-bodied to bargain sometime this month) isn't quite an that bad. Information technology has a bigger battery than the Galaxy and lasts barely long enough that living traverse isn't a disqualifying element. Ultimately, though, you're still vulnerable on battery life for this screen calibre — OLED laptops of this size of it are uncommon for a ground.

So, to start with the screen: it's a looker. In that respect's no limelight, scorn its sheeny texture, so lic in bright settings isn't a problem. Pictures were vibrant, blacks were deep, and colours were bright — it makes MacBook Pro screens look cheap. In testing, the ZenBook covered 100 percentage of the sRGB gamut and 100 percent of the Adobe brick RGB gamut, and it reached 452 nits at maximum brightness. That's brighter than the OLED Spectre x360 and more accurate than some of the best Godhead-focused OLED laptops like the GB Aero 15.

It isn't hard to find 4K OLED screens in larger laptops — it's the exhibit quality compounded with a compact convertible build that make the ZenBook Flip S such an ambitious device. It's just 2.65 pounds (1.2kg) and 0.55 inches (13.9mm) thick. Design-wise, it's a world gone from the last Major ZenBook Flip release, the UX370 (this fashion mode is the UX371) — Asus has brought the descent into the modern earned run average with sharper corners, smaller bezels (3.9mm happening the sides), a sturdy build, and sinuate premium finish. You may non equal notice the copper accents or the modest keyboard backlighting unless you're looking them, but they round out a really nice professional look.

Ace thing to note is that the chapeau is a fingerprint attractor. Many models collect a smudge here and in that location, but this thing was overgrown in fingerprints active eight hours after I prototypal staring it. Fingerprints are easy enough to remove, but it was a bummer to see on such a gracious-looking machine nonetheless.

The chassis and lid are made of aluminum alloy.

Like other ZenBooks, this one has a close down-under hinge that pot lift the keyboard deck slimly disconnected your desk. Unlike some hinges with this design, this one is very slight — I didn't feel it digging into my legs spell using the gimmick along my lap. Asus says the hinge is "durability proven" for over 20,000 open / close cycles, and information technology feels sturdy enough.

Form transitions weren't always unlined, though. The ZenBook sometimes attempted to switch to tablet mode when I was tilting information technology slightly to the side (in the laptop position). When I'd tilt it back upright, my windows wouldn't all photograph back to the same positions I'd had them in in front.

Now and then, the screen also didn't switch out of tablet way after I swiveled it from the tablet to the laptop position, and I'd have to make over the passage. This is an issue you'll sometimes have with Windows 2-in-1s — information technology's not unparalleled to the Flip — but it put up follow a cephalalgia nonetheless.

Elsewhere, Asus has added an edge-to-adjoin keyboard and squeezed an extra column of keys onto the opportune side that includes Home, Page Upwardly, Sri Frederick Handley Page Down, and Remainder. (HP's Spectres and Envys have a similar row). The keyboard is an absolute foreground for me — IT is comfortable and quiet with a ton of travel, and I draw significantly fewer errors typing on it than I normally do. That said, I wealthy person same small fingers, and folks with bigger hands sometimes find this gentle of layout a bit cramped.

Each Thunderbolt 4 supports up to 40Gbps information bandwidth.

Like otherwise modern ZenBooks, the Flip S comes with Asus' NumberPad 2.0. When you tap a tiny icon in the top rightist corner of the touchpad, an LED touch-settled numpad pops up. (Swiping down from the top near corner also brings upwards the calculator app, which is handy.) The numpad works really well, and you can also use the touchpad to navigate and click around while it's up — the ZenBook never mistook my swipes for number inputs or vice versa. It's deserving noting that the touchpad isn't quite a as comfortable of a location for data debut work as the right side of the keyboard, but it's still the closest thing you'll get to a numpad along a laptop of this size.

The port option is fine, except that there's no headphone jack. Asus says it removed that in the name of thinness, and the Impudent does ship with a dongle. But muckle of the ZenBook's competitors (including the OLED Spook x360, which is only a flyspeck bit thicker) have been able to power play extraordinary in. It's as wel absent a microSD slot, which the Spectre also has. Apart from that, there's an HDMI embrasure, two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, and one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A. The laptop also supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 — no LTE.

Thus all all told, a skillful video display in a nice form factor. What's the catch? It's battery life. The ZenBook Flip S comes with a 67Wh battery, which is huge for a 13-incher — and I'm not true it would be usable with a much smaller tank. With my usual government agency workflow and brightness around 200 nits, I got just quintet hours and 15 minutes. Sure, you'll believably get a punter result if you set the screen to 1080p — just if you'ray going to make up doing that regularly, save your money and get a 1080p screen.

The keyboard has a 19.05mm pitch and 1.4mm of key move out.

The Flip does charge raised decently fast, though. My whole took 54 proceedings and 29 seconds to get up to a 60 percent file (during very light Chromium-plate use on the Battery Saver visibility).

The second compromise is on power. The Flip S is one of the first systems to be secure direct Intel's Evo platform, which is like Project Athena for the Tiger Lake contemporaries. The Evo brand is meant to certify that a laptop provides a number of benefits customers want, including all-day battery life, quick wake clip, fast charging, Wi-Fi 6, and Thunderclap 4.

The Flip S comes with a quad-core Core i7-1165G7 with Xe desegrated graphics, in addition to 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD (to my relief, it didn't come rich with McAfee or any other gimcrack). Note, though, that this is a fairly low-power implementation of the 1165G7 — and in synthetic benchmarks, many reviewers have seen the crisp lag its 10th-genesis predecessors.

The ZenBook Flip S certainly won't slow you down if you'Re simply using it for multitasking in Chrome, Slack, Soar upwards, and another productivity apps. (The bottom did scram uncomfortably hot at some points during my examination, though the keyboard only got a little tender). But this laptop computer isn't the best choice for running demanding programs.

One thing that did surprise me was the audio frequency. I wasn't even provision to mention the speakers in this review because I just assumed they'd be atomic number 3 terrible as they always are in laptops this minute. Merely the ZenBook sounds keen — information technology easily has some of the best speakers I've ever heard in a laptop computer of any size. My music sounded like it was sexual climax from all around the room, the percussion really hit, and the bass was even lay out (which is uncommon for laptop speakers). Couple that with the exceptional screen, and the ZenBook Pitch S is really an excellent multimedia twist. There's probably no laptop computer I've tested this year, of any size or price, that I'd rather determine a movie on.

The ZenBook's audio is certified past Harman Kardon and includes a "smart amplifier scrap" that's meant to prevent damage to the speakers' coils.

If you're looking for a haggard-and-light convertible with a bounty look and an OLED screen, you'ray largely going to constitute look this and the $1,799 Spectre x360. They're some rattling nice computers with standout displays and non-great battery life. The ZenBook, for a couple of hundred less, is missing two important ports merely does give you some of Tiger Lake's modern amenities, including Bolt 4 and Xe graphics. (And it's a bit dilutant). Normally, since the ZenBook has the newest processor, I would say IT's the no-brainer superior.

Unfortunately, as we've seen from synthetic benchmarks, the Flip S is actually underperforming the 1065G7 (which is inside the Spectre) in multicore use cases (that is, tasks that leveraging all available core). If you'ray looking to do more intensive tasks like light gaming operating theater multitasking in some different applications at one time (Beaver State if you really note value a headphone jack and microSD slot), the 10th-gen Spectre (or a not-OLED model with a more powerful Processor) wish really be a best grease one's palms if you're willing to pay the premium. This wish besides depend somewhat on when the Flip S actually hits shelves, because in that respect's as wel an OLED Shade x360 with the 1165G7 coming former this month, which Asus says will cost "upward to 34 percent quicker" than last year's model.

But if you're someone like me who for the most part inevitably a gimmick for office work, Spotifying, emailing, photo organizing, and especially entertainment, you can likely save money and get the ZenBook because it'll execute just fine. You'll get a slenderly brighter screen, better audio, and a W. C. Handy numpad, too.

Picture taking by Monica Chin / The Verge

Asus Zenbook Flip S (2020) review: it's all about the screen

Source: https://www.theverge.com/reviews/21498769/asus-zenbook-flip-s-2020-laptop-convertible-2in1-review-price-specs-features

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