While it’s a good idea to use any included utilities or just follow instructions specific to your laptop, you can also perform battery calibration without any specialized tools. The basic process is simple:Let the battery rest for at least two hours, leaving the computer plugged in. This will ensure that the battery is cool and not still hot from the charging process. You’re free to use your computer normally while it’s plugged in, but be sure it doesn’t get too hot. You want it to cool down.
Go into your computer’s power management settings and set it to automatically hibernate at 5% battery. To find these options, head to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings. Look under the “Battery” category for the “Critical battery action” and “Critical battery level” options. (If you can’t set it to 5%, just set it as low as you can—for example, on one of our PCs, we couldn’t set these options below 7% battery.)
Pull the power plug and leave your laptop running and discharging until it automatically hibernates. You can keep using your computer normally while this happens.
NOTE: If you want to calibrate the battery while you aren’t using the computer, be sure your computer isn’t set to automatically sleep, hibernate, or turn its display off while idle. If your computer automatically enters power-saving mode while you’re away, it will save power and won’t discharge properly. To find these options, head to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Change plan settings.Allow your computer to sit for five hours or so after it automatically hibernates or shuts down.
Plug your computer back into the outlet and charge it all the way back up to 100%. You can keep using your computer normally while it charges.
Ensure any power management settings are set to their normal values. For example, you probably want your computer to automatically power off the display and then go to sleep when you’re not using it to save battery power. You can change these settings while the computer charges.
Your laptop should now be reporting a more accurate amount of battery life, sparing you any surprise shutdowns and giving you a better idea of how much battery power you have at any given time.The key to calibration is allowing the battery to run from 100% to almost empty, then charging it all the way up to 100% again, which may not happen in normal use. Once you’ve gone through this full charge cycle, the battery will know how much juice it has and report more accurate readings.The clamshell laptop design hasn't changed much over the years, which is why I was cautiously optimistic when the Asus ZenBook S landed on my desk. The Ultrabook's elevated hinge is truly unique, and makes the laptop's keyboard a pleasure to type on. But what really stands out about the ZenBook S (starting at $1,199, $1,499 as tested) is its gorgeous display and remarkably thin and lightweight design. Despite having below-average battery life, the ZenBook S is one of the best premium laptops for your money.
On the lid is a gold Asus logo in the center of the company's signature texture of concentric circles. Under the lid is a sparkling blue deck and a keyboard with gold text. It's worth noting that the lid and deck looked black in our dim office, and I could make out shades of blue only in direct sunlight. With the display, Asus struck the perfect balance of aesthetics and practicality. Although the bezels are narrow, there's still enough space above the screen for a webcam. The ZenBook S belongs in an office environment as much as it does in an exorbitantly priced Louis Vuitton bag.The ZenBook S' elevated hinge is even more striking than the laptop's gorgeous looks. The lid wraps around to the bottom of the chassis, so when the laptop is opened, the back edge rotates below the deck, elevating it off the ground.
Asus ZenBook S UX391UA reviewWith the back of the deck raised, the keyboard tilts upward at a 5.5-degree angle. According to Asus, the design offers three benefits: a more comfortable typing experience, better heat management and improved sound quality. Unfortunately, the ZenBook S didn't meet all of these claims in our testing. One drawback with the hinge is that a large gap forms between the deck and the display, forming a sanctuary for dust and dirt. The hinge felt sturdy in our testing and the display wobbled only slightly when I tapped hard on the touch screen. While its unique design may suggest the ZenBook S is a convertible 2-in-1, the lid folds back 145 degrees.
The ZenBook S is remarkably compact and lightweight. It's so small that my colleague glanced at it and assumed it was a 12-inch laptop. At 12.2 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches, the ZenBook S is thinner but wider than the 13-inch MacBook Pro (12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches) and the Huawei MateBook X Pro (12 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches). The Dell XPS 13 is even more compact at 12 x 7.9 x 0.5 inches. Incredibly, the ZenBook S weighs less than its competitors at 2.4 pounds.As expected for a system so slim, the ZenBook S is short on ports. On the right side are two Thunderbolt 3 connections for charging, fast data transfer, and connecting to displays or graphics docks.Asus ZenBook S UX391UA reviewOn the left side is a single USB 3.1 Type-C port and LED indicators for battery life and power. The laptop comes with a matching carrying sleeve, a USB-C-to-USB-A dongle, and a USB-C-to-HDMI cable.
The 3,840 x 2,160-pixel display on the ZenBook S is brilliant, although it's not quite as gorgeous as other top panels we've tested. When I watched a 1080p trailer of the upcoming Predator film, I could see individual strands of hair in Boyd Holbrook's beard, and the clarity of the extraterrestrial intruder made it especially terrifying.Asus ZenBook S UX391UA reviewI was blown away by the display's vibrancy. When I watched a trailer for the upcoming spy comedy, Johnny English Strikes Again, the glossy red paint on Rowan Atkinson's classy Aston Martin was richly saturated. At a bar scene, Atkinson's light blue suit popped against the contrasting yellow lights of the posh venue. White balance is also excellent, and the display's vivid colors jumped off the clean background of my favorite news sites.
The ZenBook S display did well in our lab tests, but it was outperformed by competing laptops. Asus' notebook can reproduce 116.4 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which is above the premium laptop category average (111 percent). However, the 4K Dell XPS 13 (130 percent), the Huawei MateBook X Pro (124 percent) and the 2018 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro (119 percent) were more colorful.When I watched a 1080p trailer of the upcoming Predator film, I could see individual strands of hair in Boyd Holbrook's beard, and the clarity of the extraterrestrial intruder made it especially terrifying.The ZenBook S reached a maximum brightness of 323 nits. Again, that beats the premium laptop category average (306 nits) but falls short of the 4K Dell XPS 13 (415 nits), the Huawei MateBook X Pro (458 nits) and the Apple MacBook Pro (439 nits).