If you need a laptop for everyday tasks and value portability and longer battery life, the ASUS Zenbook S 13 is lighter and has a higher battery capacity, making it easier to carry around and use for longer periods without charging. However, if you require a laptop for more demanding work like 3D rendering, machine learning, or gaming, the Gigabyte Aero 5 with its Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti is better equipped to handle such intensive tasks, although it is heavier and has a shorter battery life due to its more powerful components. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the ASUS Zenbook S 13
Very good for general use
Very good for software development
Best in class portability
Very good battery life
Very good speakers
Advantages of the Gigabyte Aero 5
Good for gaming and AI
Key differences
General Use
8.6/10
7.9/10
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2160
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
365.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
446.0 nits
11.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
7.0 Hours
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
9.5/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.7/10
The ASUS Zenbook S 13 is very good for general use, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 is good.
The ASUS Zenbook S 13 offers exceptional portability with its lightweight and slim design while providing a stellar screen quality, making it very good for general use; it also boasts longer battery life which is crucial for mobile usage. In contrast, the Gigabyte Aero 5, with a more powerful CPU and dedicated graphics unit, is good for general use and even better suited for performance-heavy tasks, but it is less portable and has a shorter battery life, making it less ideal for on-the-go users.
Gaming and AI
6.5/10
7.9/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.3/10
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2160
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
7.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.0/10
The Gigabyte Aero 5 is good for gaming and AI, while the ASUS Zenbook S 13 is only fair.
The Gigabyte Aero 5 boasts a more powerful Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti GPU and the same screen refresh rate as the ASUS Zenbook S 13, which offers an Intel i7-1355U Iris Xe GPU, making the Aero 5 better suited for gaming and 3D tasks. Furthermore, the Aero 5 has a larger screen with higher pixel density, which enhances screen quality, although both laptops have OLED displays with similar brightness and color space coverage, complementing the visual experience for gaming and 3D applications.
Engineering and Design
8.2/10
8.7/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.3/10
32.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Gigabyte Aero 5 and ASUS Zenbook S 13 are both very good for engineering and design, though the Gigabyte Aero 5 is somewhat better.
The ASUS Zenbook S 13 excels in engineering and design due to its OLED screen, high-quality GPU integrated within the capable CPU, and substantial RAM, which is critical for multitasking and resource-intensive applications, all packed into a lightweight and highly portable form.
Screen Quality
8.1/10
8.6/10
13.3in
SIZE
15.6in
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2160
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
365.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
446.0 nits
The ASUS Zenbook S 13 has a better screen than the Gigabyte Aero 5 for software development, and content creation, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 has a better screen for general use, gaming and AI, and engineering and design.
The ASUS Zenbook S 13, with a high-resolution display and impressive brightness, offers a sharp and vibrant viewing experience for general use and detailed visuals necessary for engineering tasks, although its lower refresh rate and color range aren't ideal for gaming and 3D work. The Gigabyte Aero 5 provides a similarly high-quality display with excellent color coverage, ensuring precise color representation for professional design and engineering software, but gamers may find the lower refresh rate less conducive for smooth gameplay. For both laptops, the focus on resolution and color accuracy over refresh rate positions them well for productivity and creative work, but less so for action-oriented gaming and 3D rendering that benefit from faster screen updates.
Battery
11.0 Hours
7.0 Hours
The ASUS Zenbook S 13 has 11 hours of battery life. The Gigabyte Aero 5 has 7 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Best in Class
Fair
13.3in
SIZE
15.6in
2.2 lbs
WEIGHT
5.0 lbs
0.4in
THICKNESS
1.0in
The ASUS Zenbook S 13 has best in class portability, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$1,400
$1,250
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
The ASUS Zenbook S 13 has a price of $1,400 and the Gigabyte Aero 5 costs $1,250.
The ASUS Zenbook S 13 and Gigabyte Aero 5 are both very good for content creation.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
8.3/10
7.9/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
32.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
2880 x 1800
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2160
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers ASUS Zenbook S 13 to be very good for software development, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Build Quality
7.6/10
7.8/10
The Gigabyte Aero 5 and ASUS Zenbook S 13 both have good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
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How the ASUS Zenbook S 13 and the Gigabyte Aero 5 compare to other laptops
"The Asus Zenbook S 13 is the slimmest OLED ultrabook worldwide struggles with annoying fans. The new Zenbook S 13 leaves us with mixed feelings, particularly since last year's model was so good. Asus has completely reworked the device, making the laptop noticeably slimmer. The result also looks good and the case makes a great impression, particularly also in terms of the stability. The new plasma ceramic surface feels great, and there are no problems with fingerprints. In addition, it now includes some of the known connections such as an HDMI port and a regular USB-A connection, which is a good achievement in such a slim device."
"It is unfortunate that the Gigabyte AERO notebook series have seem to lost its charm, as it’s not exactly any much different from the AORUS series now. Regardless, content creators and designers will certainly still appreciate the features on the AERO 5 XE4, which are fundamental to their work. This largely revolved around the notebook’s display, which is colour calibrated and validated, high resolution (4K) and with great AMOLED colour representation. Now that the AERO 5 XE4 has improved its performance with the latest CPU and GPU, the professionals can also appreciate the improved productivity from the notebook."
Get a great deal on the ASUS Zenbook S 13 or the Gigabyte Aero 5
About ASUS
ASUS, a Taiwanese electronics brand, is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. The majority of their laptops are targeted towards personal use or gaming. Their most popular product lines include the budget-friendly VivoBook, more premium ZenBook, and their TUF and ROG gaming laptops, the latter of which has a reputation for excellent gaming performance.
About Gigabyte
Gigabyte is a Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer. While Gigabyte mainly focuses its business on desktop hardware, Gigabyte is known for its value-oriented G series laptops, thin and light Aero series, and performance-oriented Aorus series. Gigabyte laptops offer a strong value proposition to compete with mainstream alternatives.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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