1kg light, 1cm thin ASUS Zenbook S13 OLED (UX5304) coming to Malaysia later next month

Last year’s Zenbook S13 OLED (UM5302) was a great ultraportable, if you didn’t mind the small 13-inch screen and absolutely limiting array of ports. This year, ASUS is out to fix at least one of my grouses with yesteryear’s model, with the Zenbook S13 OLED (UX5304) featuring a full set of ports, while being both thinner and lighter than its predecessor.

ASUS Zenbook S13 OLED — world’s slimmest OLED ultralight laptop

As with all premium ASUS laptops, we are getting an OLED display here. ASUS is going fancy with the naming this year — calling it the ASUS Lumina OLED — but the overall panel specs and features appear to be the same as last year’s model.

It’s a ridiculously sharp 13.3-inch 16:10 2.8K panel with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, Delta E <1 and other niceties. On the software end, you can now switch between different gamuts to best suit the content you are working with, be it sRGB for web content, or Display P3 for a wider range of colors.

We mentioned that it’s thinner and lighter than last year’s model, and ASUS achieved this via a very choice selection of materials and techniques to reach the haloed figures of 1kg light, 1cm thin. Everything from the way the OLED panel is installed, the aluminum bezels around it to the thickness of the trackpad and batteries are scrutinized. To shed weight, the keyboard deck is made of magnesium-aluminum to reduce weight, but not rigidity.

No compromises on usability

Performance is not sacrificed, with two fans to cool the 13th Gen Intel Core processor, allowing for lower noise levels and higher power draws of up to 20W. The zero-compromise theme also continues to the ports. You get the standard array of ports, a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port, USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headphone jack.

This might just be the thinnest and lightest laptop out there with such a complete array of ports, and I can’t wait to actually give it a go. And oh, the Zenbook S13 OLED has also passed 26 tests under the MIL-STD-810H military grade durability standard, making it deceptively tough, despite its waif-like appearance.

Stylish with a focus on sustainability

For those who found the plasma ceramic aluminum finish of the Zenbook 14X OLED (UX3404) interesting, the Basalt Gray option of the Zenbook S13 OLED will be worth checking out as well. It’s a darker shade, but it has the same fingerprint-repelling surface and stony feel that I really, really loved. For those who prefer a more classic look, there’s the anodized Ponder Blue finish.

Last but not least, the Zenbook S13 OLED is ASUS’ sustainability halo product. While the plasma ceramic aluminum process is already greener than most, the overall laptop is made of post industrial recycled materials, down to the keycaps and speakers themselves, which are made of post-consumer-recycled plastics as well as ocean-bound plastics.

ASUS Zenbook S13 OLED Price and Specs in Malaysia

For the Malaysian market, ASUS is bringing in two different specifications. The first will feature an Intel Core i7-1355U and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 storage priced at RM5,999, while the second will have the Core i5-1335U and 512GB of storage, coming in at RM4,999. Both variants will be paired with 16GB of snappy LPDDR5-5200 memory, and come in both Basalt Gray and Ponder Blue finishes. They are set to arrive on shelves by mid-May.