Computing powerhouses Asus and Microsoft have recently launched new laptop offerings in the form of the Asus Zenbook S 16 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7. But what’s the difference between the two?
Although we haven’t reviewed either laptop yet, we’ve compared the specs of the two AI-powered laptops so you can gauge which device might be better suited for you.
Keep reading to learn more about the latest Windows 11-powered laptops from Asus and Microsoft.
The Surface Laptop 7 is a Copilot Plus PC
The Surface Laptop 7 is one of the first computers with Copilot Plus installed, alongside the Surface Pro 11. According to Microsoft, a Copilot Plus PC has been designed with AI in mind and offers access to some of the most advanced AI models available, including OpenAI’s Chat GPT-4o.
Copilot Plus includes more AI features, including Cocreater which allows users to generate their own AI images on their devices and Recall which helps users find anything seen or done on their PC “in a way that feels like having a photographic memory”.
Unlike the Surface Laptop 7, the Asus Zenbook S 16 is not a Copilot Plus computer but does offer access to Copilot. Copilot is a free AI assistant which answers user prompts but it can be upgraded to Copilot Pro for a fee which provides additional AI features.
The Surface Laptop 7 runs on the Snapdragon X series chipset
The Surface Laptop 7 runs on Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X series which includes the X Plus and X Elite. The latter is the more powerful of the two with Qualcomm promising “best-in-class CPU with high performance and remarkable power efficiency”.
Although the X Plus doesn’t claim the same power and is only available in the 13.8-inch base model of the Laptop 7, both are built for AI and support the new AI-driven Microsoft Copilot Plus.
Comparatively the Asus Zenbook S 16 runs on the AMD Ryzen AI series, which includes the AI 9 365 and 9 HX 370 Processors. The AMD Ryzen AI series promises to bring “the power of personal AI processing to PC” and is packed with features to support users in creating documents, travel itineraries and even video editing.
The Asus Zenbook S 16 has an OLED display
The Zenbook S 16 features an Asus Lumina OLED display, which the brand explains is the term for “a new generation of laptop displays with unprecedented visual quality”.
Asus promises that its Lumina OLED displays are “more accurate, more adaptive and more reliable than other OLED displays, making them the ultimate choice for professionals, gamers and entertainment enthusiasts who demand the best.”
The Surface Laptop 7 instead has an LCD display. It doesn’t have quite the contrast ratio of an OLED but Asus claims it still “delivers richer blacks, crisper whites and vibrant colours”.
Both the Zenbook S 16 and Surface Laptop 7 have a touchscreen display, with the latter fitted with Microsoft’s PixelSense Flow technology which allows more than one object (fingers or compatible Surface Pens) to simultaneously interact with the display.
Finally, the Zenbook S 16 also features a larger 16-inch screen whereas the Surface Laptop 7 is available in two sizes: 13.8-inch and 15-inch.
The Asus Zenbook S 16 has a higher-capacity battery
Microsoft states the Surface Laptop 7 boasts either a 20-hour or 22-hour battery life, depending on the size of the model. In comparison Asus hasn’t provided any specific battery life detail other than just “day-long stamina” and as we haven’t tried the laptop ourselves yet, we can’t verify what this entails.
What we do know is the Zenbook S 16 has a high-capacity 78Wh battery, which is substantially larger than the 13.8-inch Laptop 7’s 39W and 15-inch 65W capacity.
The Surface Laptop 7 is cheaper
The base model of the Surface Laptop 7 which measures in at 13.8 inches and runs on Snapdragon X Plus has an RRP of £1,049. The Asus Zenbook S 16 is pricier and has a starting RRP of £1,599.99.