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ASUS's latest Zenbook S14, much like the Zenbook 14 OLED we reviewed last December, is a solid ultraportable with one major selling point: It's among the first laptops to use Intel's newest CPUs. In this case, it's the Core Ultra 7 258V, a processor that sits in the mid-range of the company's "Lunar Lake" lineup. While Intel touts these chips as its most efficient ever, I've been curious about what that means for raw performance, especially since they top out with just eight cores. Based on my testing, I can confirm that the Zenbook S14 delivers the best battery life we've ever seen from an Intel laptop. It reached 16 hours and eight minutes in the PCMark 10 battery benchmark. In comparison, the Zenbook S16 powered by AMD's new Ryzen AI 9 365 chip only hit 12 hours and 47 minutes. The Intel system's timing is close to the 17 hours and 45 minutes we saw from the Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ , which is powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon X Elite. While it's astounding to see how much progress Intel has made with battery life, that does come with some compromises. In a few benchmarks, the Zenbook S14 doesn't score much higher than Intel's last-gen Core Ultra chips, and it's often bested by AMD's Ryzen AI on multithreaded tasks. But, as we often say, benchmarks don't tell the entire story. A gorgeous ultraportable When I reviewed the Zenbook 14 OLED a year ago, I couldn't help but point out how dated it looked. It was practically the same as ASUS' laptops from a decade ago (albeit with slimmer screen bezels). Not so with the Zenbook S14. It's impressive the moment you open it up and feel its lid, which is built with a material ASUS calls "Ceraluminum." As the name implies, it's a combination of ceramic and aluminum, and it feels almost uncanny, like something between high-end plastic and smooth metal. It's still premium, but it's also distinctly different from most other laptops. Combining ceramics and aluminum isn't exactly new ASUS notes that it's a popular option for aerospace and watch designs but we haven't yet seen it deployed in laptops. It's not just for looks, either. The material should also be more durable than standard metal. The rest of the Zenbook 14 S's body is made out of a solid block of metal, but ASUS added some unique tweaks there as well. The lower part of the case features a geometric grille above the keyboard, consisting of 2,715 circular cooling vents. ASUS claims this design enhances airflow while also keeping dirt and dust out. Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget ASUS 14-inch 3K "Lumina" OLED display dominates the Zenbook S14, and it delivers everything I want from a modern laptop screen. It sports a fast 120Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of peak brightness. While its bezels are relatively thin compared to older ASUS systems, they're still noticeably chunkier than Dell's latest InfinityEdge screens on the XPS 13 and 14. The system would look much sleeker if ASUS could shave off more of its bottom and side bezels. Most importantly, though, the OLED display looks glorious, with deliciously dark black levels and colors that pop off the screen. The Zenbook S14 is surprisingly sturdy for a 14-inch laptop that weighs 2.65 pounds and measures 0.47 inches thin. It's slightly lighter and a hair thicker than the most recent 13-inch MacBook Air, and feels similarly polished. Notably, it also offers many more useful ports than Apple's ultraportable. The S14 includes two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone jack and even an old-school USB Type-A port. The only thing it's missing is Ethernet and an SD card slot. Unfortunately, ASUS couldn't get everything right with the Zenbook S14. Its quad-speaker audio system is serviceable, but the sound loses any sort of depth and detail as you ramp up the volume. And while it's nice to have a Windows Hello-compatible webcam for fast logins, the 1080p sensor looks far grainier and less detailed than Dell's XPS line and the MacBook Air. Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget Its keyboard also feels merely serviceable, with little responsive feedback while typing. Thats a particular shame, since thats been a constant complaint weve had with ASUS keyboards. At least the touchpad is large and responsive to swipes and multi-finger gestures. You can also adjust the volume and other settings by sliding your finger along the sides of the touchpad. In use: Capable, but don't stress it Thanks to Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V chip, the Zenbook S14 felt impressively zippy from the start. I breezed through the Windows setup process, downloaded the latest updates and installed my usual testing programs in just a few minutes. It didn't sweat whenever I needed to jump between apps like Spotify, Slack and Evernote, and I didn't notice any of the lag I often see on Windows notebooks bogged down by third-party bloatware. It was always ready to get work done. PCMark 10 Geekbench 6 CPU 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Cinebench 2024 ASUS Zenbook S14 (Intel Core Ultra 7 258V) 6,688 (Base Test) 14,215 (Applications) 2,569/10,442 7,158 121/482 Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ (Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite) 14,024 (Applications) 2,621/14,194 6,191 122/748 Dell XPS 13 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Intel Arc) 6,806 (Base test) 2,276/11,490 4,579 90/453 Apple MacBook Air (M3) N/A 3,190/12,102 8,310 141490 In PCMark 10, the Zenbook S14 scored almost exactly the same as the Surface Laptop 7 for Business, which uses the last-gen Core Ultra 7 165H. It also matched the XPS 13 Copilot+ edition, which had a Snapdragon X Elite chip, in the PCMark 10 Applications benchmark. The Zenbook's multithreaded performance was noticeably worse than either of those machines in Geekbench 6, likely due to the reduced core count this generation. The big selling point for Intel's Lunar Lake chips is their dramatically improved NPU (neural processing unit), which can reach up to 47 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of AI performance. In comparison, the previous Core Ultra chips had a significantly less powerful 11 TOPS NPU, while AMD's new Ryzen AI chips reach up to 50 TOPS. (More powerful Lunar Lake chips can hit up to 48 TOPS.) Higher TOPS figures means Copilot+ PCs like the Zenbook S14 will be able to tackle demanding AI workloads more quickly, without impacting overall CPU performance. Unfortunately, there still aren't a ton of AI features to test at the time of this review. Microsoft's Copilot+ Windows 11 update for Intel and AMD systems isn't arriving until November, and even that will only include a beta version of the controversial Recall feature. It's also hard to find apps that take advantage of a local NPU most entries in the Windows Store "AI Hub" rely on cloud AI processing. Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget At least there's Audacity's OpenVino plugin, which Intel developed to show off its AI PC hardware. It offers NPU-powered features like noise suppression and transcription, but it also requires an involved setup process that may be confusing to Audacity novices. I was able to completely remove incessant jackhammering from a five-minute clip in one minute and eight seconds using the NPU alone. That's not very fast in the world of audio editing (CPU rendering can tackle a noise-filled 90 minute file in three minutes and thirty seconds), but what's key is that the NPU handles the same work using very little power. That could be important if you're stuck editing on battery in a plane or remote location. I was also impressed by Intel's latest Arc 140V GPU, which let me play Halo Infinite between 35 fps and 45 fps in 1080p with low quality graphics settings. That's far from a smooth experience, but it's fascinating to see it from a built-in GPU. Intel's graphics also scored well above the Snapdragon X Elite across the board, especially in the Geekbench 6 GPU test. Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget Pricing and the competition ASUS launched the Zenbook S14 with a starting price of $1,500, but its already slightly discounted at Best Buy for $1,400. That configuration gets you a Core Ultra 7 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Thats not too shabby, considering the XPS 13 Copilot+ system with a Snapdragon X Elite costs $1,800 when equipped with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and an OLED display. The Zenbook also doesnt have the compatibility issues inherent with Snapdragon systems, which have to emulate older Windows apps and cant run many popular games at all. As usual, ASUS also delivers far more value than Apple. A MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD costs $1,700, and thats also stuck with a 60Hz LCD screen. Wrap-up The Zenbook S14 leans more on efficiency than raw power, but its still an incredible achievement for Intel, a company that used to be infamous for energy-devouring mobile chips. While the Lunar Lake chips NPU makes the Zenbook ready for Copilot+ and AI features, its true selling points are its excellent battery life, slick ASUS design and gorgeous OLED display.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/asus-zenbook-s14-review-a-showpiece-for-intels-lunar-lake-ai-pc-chips-171642261.html?src=rss
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AI enthusiasts who like the Raspberry Pi range of products can rejoice, as the company is now announcing its new Raspberry Pi AI Camera. This product is the result of the companys collaboration with Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS), which began in 2023. The AI Camera is compatible with all of Raspberry Pis single-board computers. The approximately 12.3-megapixel AI Camera is intended for vision-based AI projects, and its based on SSS IMX500 image sensor. The integrated RP2040 microcontroller manages the neural network firmware, allowing the camera to perform onboard AI image processing and freeing up the Raspberry Pi for other processes. Thus, users who want to integrate AI into their Raspberry Pi projects are no longer limited to the Raspberry Pi AI Kit. The AI Camera isnt a total replacement for Raspberry Pis Camera Module 3, which is still available. For those interested in the new AI Camera, its available right now from Raspberry Pis approved resellers for $70.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/raspberry-pi-built-an-ai-camera-with-sony-165049998.html?src=rss
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The first of two Sea of Stars content updates for the next year has an official release date. The free Dawn of Equinox, which adds a co-op mode, new combat and other features, arrives on November 12 on all platforms. Announced in March, Dawn of Equinox adds new game modes and mechanics for our favorite lunar-solar heroes, Valere and Zale. It includes a new local co-op mode that lets you and up to two friends play the entire game together. Each player has independent movement when traversing the world (as long as you stay within the screens confines), and theres a new co-op Timed Hits feature that turns one of the core games mechanics into a group effort. Sabotage Studio The update also includes Combat 2.0, which adds some fun wrinkles to Sea of Stars battles. Mystery Locks adds a new challenge to unlock enemies spells the first time you face them. (A corresponding Reveal action will appear in some of your partys special skills.) Combo points also remain after battles, which should open the door to some epic beat-downs on your opening moves in subsequent standoffs. In addition, developer Sabotage Studio says its put effort into rebalancing the entire game to reflect the new mechanics and incorporate player feedback. Other changes include a more action-oriented prologue that ditches the old flashback structure, a bonus cinematic and a relic (game mode) designed for speedrunners. There will also be three difficulty options when starting the game. Finally, it enhances the games secret-tracking parrot and adds a French Canadian translation, for Quebecs finest Solstice Warriors. The new features in Dawn of Equinox will also apply in the upcoming Throes of the Watchmaker DLC. That content will add an all-new storyline next spring in what Sabotage Studio describes as an encore to Sea of Stars original adventure (perhaps before a full-fledged sequel?). The DLC will send Valere and Zale into a magical miniature clockwork world threatened by a cursed carnival, forcing the heroes to adapt their sun and moon magic to the mysterious environment. Sabotage Studio Sea of Stars was one of 2023s biggest surprises, garnering grassroots praise and taking home the hardware for Best Indie Game at last years Game Awards. Engadgets Lawrence Bonk praised the games Chrono Trigger vibes earlier this year, calling out its gorgeous pixel art and an overworld map that pays proper tribute to its 90s RPG inspirations. Sea of Stars is available now on all major platforms: PC, Switch, PS5/4, Xbox One Series X/S and Xbox One (including on Game Pass). The full game costs $35, and both big upcoming content updates will be added for free.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/sea-of-stars-free-dawn-of-equinox-update-arrives-in-november-164023516.html?src=rss
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