The Prime Day deal may be over, but I still prefer the ASUS Zenbook S 13 over a MacBook Air

NOTE: As Prime Day has finished, so has the offer on the ASUS Zenbook S 13 below. However, I still heartily recommend that laptop for creatives in search of a portable alternative to the MacBook Air. 

As the tech reviews editor at Creative Bloq I've reviewed a lot of laptops in the last couple of years. And I don't think any of them changed my mind on anything as thoroughly as the ASUS Zenbook S 13 changed my mind on small laptops. With a bright touchscreen, 16GB of RAM, and now available with the AI-boosted Intel Core Ultra processor, it's a true alternative to the MacBook Air, and if you ask me (someone hold my entire team's ears please), I'd say it's better.

Even though Prime Day is over, you can still get the base-spec MacBook Air for $899 now (down from $1,099), and yes, while that's a good deal, what you're getting there is 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and no touchscreen functionality in a package that's now two years old (with the limitations on OS updates that can entail).

Meanwhile, the Zenbook S 13 has a 3K OLED touchscreen (it's so bright and sharp, guys, you won't even believe), 512GB storage and 16GB of RAM, and the latest edition has the new Intel AI Boost NPU as part of the Intel Core Ultra chipset. And despite all that, it's still neater and lighter than the MacBook Air. During Prime Day, it dropped to a best-ever price of $999, down from $1,199, although it's back to its regular RRP after the event has finished. We reviewed the 2023 edition with the 13th-gen Intel chipset, but judging by our impressions of the Intel Core Ultra onboard the slightly larger Zenbook 14 OLED, it's only improved with the new motor.

Unfortunately this is the only Intel Core Ultra ASUS model we could see discounted for Prime Day at the moment, but there are still some tempting offers on 2023 editions of the more general-purpose Vivobooks, which you can see below, as well as a big UK discount on another MacBook Air rival, the creative-pro-friendly Zenbook 14 OLED (with a powerful 13th gen Intel CPU), which is down a massive £400 to £999.99 right now.

ASUS Zenbook and Vivobook: US deals

ASUS Zenbook S 13: $1,199 $1,049 at Amazon
This ultralightweight ASUS Zenbook is small but mighty, outperforming most MacBook Air models while competing with them on price (and undercutting them on weight, at only 2.2lb...). It was my favourite Prime Day deal, but even at the normal asking price, this is a solid buy. And who knows, it might drop again soon...

Price Check: $1,399.99 at Best Buy (32GB RAM) | $1,519.99 at Walmart (32GB RAM)

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ASUS Vivobook 17.3" FHD: $799.99 $711.70 at Amazon
Save $88.29: If that's all a bit too compact, this Intel Core 7-chipped Vivobook is my recommendation for the best value deal. You give up just a little bit in screen specs here, as this only has an FHD screen (non-touch), but it comes with 16GB RAM for plenty of oomph at a great price point.

Price Check: $899.99 at Best Buy (Intel Core i9)

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ASUS Vivobook Pro 16X OLED: $1,499.99 $1,044 at Amazon
Save $455.99: And if that isn't quite oomphy enough, this pro-spec Vivobook comes with NVIDIA 30-series graphics, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, a big 2.8K OLED screen and 3 months of Adobe Creative Cloud like a cherry on top.

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ASUS Zenbook: UK deal

ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3402): £1,399.99 £999.99 at Amazon
Save £400: This Zenbook is compact but mighty, with 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, a powerful Intel i9-13900H CPU and that gorgeous, bright OLED touchscreen. The only sacrifice here is integrated graphics, but unless you're a serious gamer or need to do heavy-duty rendering, you'll do very well with this one.

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Below you can find the best deals and lowest prices on chosen ASUS Zenbook and Vivobook models in your region and worldwide using our clever deals widget. It updates 24/7, so be sure to bookmark this page and keep checking back regularly.