asus vivobook – Tech Raman

ASUS Vivobook 14 OLED X1405ZA Review – 90Hz OLED, i5 12th Gen – Impressive mid-ranger!

Lakshmi — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 12:11:32 +0000

Asus Vivoobook series has been a popular mainstream Laptop segment for the Taiwanese company. While their higher-end ROG series laptops garner the most attention for their heavy spec-laden and powerhouse performance. The Vivobook is a silent number gainer being optimally positioned for mainstream buyers. With the addition of the OLED Panel lineup in the Vivobook series, Asus has made it a compelling product to look at.

I got here the Asus Vivobook 14 OLED X1405ZA model, powered by Intel i5 12th gen. If you are looking into the mid-tier laptop segment, you should really be reading this review in full to make the right buying decision for you.

Specification of Lenovo Legion 5 2022 15IAH7H

PERFORMANCE
	Intel®Core™ i5-1235U Processor 1.3 GHz (10M Cache, up to 4.4 GHz, 10 cores)
Graphics	Intel Iris Xᵉ Graphics (available for Intel® Core™ i5/i7 with dual channel memory)
Chipset	Intel Alder Lake SoC Platform
Memory	16 GB DDR4 3200 MHz Dual Channel
Memory Slots	dual-channel capable with one upgradable SO-DIMM memory³

Storage	512GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0×4 NVMe
Storage Support	Up to two drives, 2x M.2 SSD • M.2 2242 SSD up to 512GB • M.2 2280 SSD up to 1TB
Storage Slot	1x M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4

Card Reader	No Card Reader
Optical	None
Audio	SonicMaster Built-in speaker Built-in array microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
Speakers
Camera	720p HD camera With privacy shutter

Battery	50WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-ion

Power Adapter	65W AC Adapter, Output: 19V DC, 3.42A, 65W, Input: 100~240V AC 50/60Hz universal
DESIGN
Display	35.56cm(14.0-inch), 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED 16:10 aspect ratio, 60Hz refresh rate, 0.2ms response time, 90Hz refresh rate, 600nits HDR peak brightness, DCI-P3: 100%, 1,000,000:1, VESA CERTIFIED Display HDR True Black 600, 1.07 billion colors, Pantone Validated, Glossy display, 70% less harmful blue light, SGS Eye Care Display, (Screen-to-body ratio)86%
Touchscreen	None
Keyboard	Backlit Chiclet Keyboard, 1.4mm Key-travel, Touchpad
Case Color	Indie Black

Case Material	US MIL-STD 810H military-grade standard , Polycarbonate
Dimensions (WxDxH)	31.71 x 22.20 x 1.99 ~ 1.99 cm (12.48″ x 8.74″ x 0.78″ ~ 0.78″)
Weight	1.60 kg (3.53 lbs)
SOFTWARE
Operating System	Windows 11 Home – ASUS recommends Windows 11 Pro for business
Bundled Software	Office Home and Student 2021 included
CONNECTIVITY
Ethernet	100/1000M
WLAN + Bluetooth	Wi-Fi 6 11ax, 2×2 + BT5.1
Standard Ports	1x USB 2.0 Type-A 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 1x HDMI 1.4 1x Headphone out 1x DC-in
SECURITY & PRIVACY

Fingerprint Reader	None
Other Security	E-Camera shutter
SERVICE
Base Warranty	1-year

Box contents:

Asus Vivobook 14 OLED laptop
Charging adapter
User guide
Quick start guide
Office product activation card
Asus OLED sticker

Design and Build Quality of Asus Vivobook 14 OLED

Outside their Gaming series lineup, Asus usually go for a minimalistic design with their mainstream laptops and that is evident with the Asus Vivobook 14 OLED too. The build material is polycarbonate to keep the cost low, the treatment is matte finish and it looks good. The lid has the Asus Vivobook branding on the right side. Weighing 1.60 kg, the laptop doesn’t feel very heavy and also a fairly slim profile makes it good to carry around. There is a bit of flex pressing on the top lid, but Asus claims the laptop confirms to US MIL-STD 810H military-grade standard.

The lid cannot be opened with a single hand, there is a slight groove to lift the lid. The hinges are stable and can do 180 degrees flat lay of the display.

The right side is where most of the ports are nested. You get a 3.5mm audio jack, a single USB Type-C slot, two USB Type-A 3.2 standard ports and an HDMI 1.4 port. The power port also sits over here.

The left side has a USB 2.0 Type-A, two tiny indicators and air vents. There are no ethernet ports or card readers.

At the bottom, there is the ventilation grill and the speaker cutouts.

Keyboard and Touchpad of Asus Vivobook 14 OLED

It’s a backlit chiclet keyboard with a full-size six-row and has a 19.05 mm key pitch. There is no Num pad. The 1.4mm key travel is adequate. I did not face any issues with the typing experience. The backlit is white. There are three levels of brightness. And you can also turn off the lights if you would want to. There are dedicated function buttons, pressing F9 toggles the mic on or off and the F10 key controls to electronically turn on and off the camera. There is a bit of flex to the keyboard but not very bothersome. The trackpad is pretty large and very responsive. There is a right mouse button option to access the menus. The trackpad supports gesture-based inputs. The touchpad also has a Fingerprint sensor at the top right corner.

Speakers, Webcam and Biometrics

The speakers are placed at the bottom and tuned by their in-house ASUS SonicMaster. The sound quality is average. There is a 720p webcam on top and it comes with a physical shutter. Alternatively, you can also you the F10 key to control the webcam shield electronically. The webcam is good enough for your daily meetings. Biometrics include the fingerprint sensor which is placed on the trackpad’s top right corner. It works pretty well. It supports Windows Hello fingerprint recognition.

Display of Asus Vivobook 14 OLED

Asus has made a noticeable effort to prioritize the display of their laptops, and the Asus Vivobook 14 OLED laptop follows suit. Equipped with a 14-inch OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, the device ensures a superior streaming experience for users. It is not a touch display, the display can be 180 degree flatly laid.

The laptop’s display boasts a maximum resolution of 2880×1800 pixels, and users have the option to adjust the refresh rate to either 90Hz or 60Hz to suit their preferences. The screen also offers peak brightness of up to 600 nits and an 86% screen-to-body ratio. The display is Pantone validated and has a 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, so the colour accuracy is well taken care of. It’s a glossy display.

Upon usage, I observed that the Vivobook 14 OLED laptop causes less eye strain while watching content or typing compared to my usual device. Additionally, the device is equipped with an SGS Eye Care Display feature, which helps to prevent eye fatigue during prolonged usage

Performance of Asus Vivobook 14 OLED

The Asus Vivobook 14 OLED comes with a 12th-generation Intel core-i5 1235U processor, paired with an Intel IRIS XE graphics processing unit (GPU). While it may not match the performance of heavy-duty machines available in the market, it is perfect for day-to-day professional work, as evidenced by the laptop’s benchmark scores.

However, it is important to note that the laptop is not suitable for playing games that require high FPS, as it can only reach a maximum of 65 FPS. It would be pretty decent enough to handle games like Fortnite in moderate graphic settings. The laptop has 16GB DDR4 RAM and a 512GB NVMe PCIe SSD, which offers reading and writing speeds of up to 3,041MB/s and 1,655MB/s, respectively. Despite being not primarily for gaming, the laptop performs well in daily tasks such as web browsing, running average-level software, and multitasking.

In terms of benchmark scores, the laptop achieved a score of 7,197 on the Cinebench R23 and 6,496 in the multi-core tests on Geekbench. It also scored around 5,169 in the PCMark 10 multi-core tests.

The laptop’s battery backup is decent, with the company claiming it can last up to eight hours once fully charged. However, during practical testing, it lasted only around five and a half hours. On the bright side, the laptop’s charging speed is impressive, as it can go from zero to 100% in just two hours.

Verdict

Clearly, the 90Hz OLED panel is the winner here. If you are someone who wants a laptop for regular use, works on MS Office, and presentations, do lighter photo and video edits, and watches a lot of video content and even for browsing, the OLED panel especially is a deal clincher here. This is not a laptop for heavy games or heavy software but otherwise, the i15 12-gen should be good enough for most normal use cases.

What is Good

Brilliant 90Hz OLED panel
Good performance for mainstream use cases
Fingerprint sensor
Privacy shutter for webcam

What is bad

No ethernet port
No card reader (both of which are ignored by most laptop models in this segment oflate)

Asus VivoBook S510U Review – Performance, Features and Verdict

Lakshmi Rajan — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 13:27:44 +0000

Asus VivoBook S is an underrated laptop range overlooked by many, it has the looks and features that very few competing models offer for the same kind of money right now and comes packed with backlit keyboard, matte IPS screen, good IO, fast wireless and modern hardware. VivoBook range is a wide series of laptop with different configurations to choose from. Aavailable in a bunch of different options, with dedicated graphics (S510UN – MX150, S510UQ – 940MX, S510UR – 930MX) or without (S510UA), as well as various Intel Core U processors, screen options and amounts of memory and storage to fit your needs. If you are thinking of buying a laptop, go ahead read our Asus VivoBook S510U review, and see what I have to conclude after using the laptop for a week now using it for both work and play. Specs of the model I reviewed:

	ASUS VivoBook S15 S510UQ
Screen	15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080 px, IPS, non-touch, matte
Processor	Intel Kaby Lake Core i7-8550U CPU
Video	Intel HD 620 + Nvidia GTX 940MX 2 GB GDDR5
Memory	8GB*2 DDR4
Storage	128 GB SSD (SATA3) + 1TB 5400 rpm HDD (2.5″)
Connectivity	Intel AC 8265 Wireless AC , Bluetooth 4.1
Ports	2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.1 gen 1, HDMI, mic/earphone, SD card reader
Battery	42 Wh, 65 Wh charger
Operating system	Windows 10
Size	362 mm or 14.25” (w) x 242 mm or 9.52” (d) x 18 mm or 0.70” (h)
Weight	1.62 kg + .24 kg charger and cables
Extras	white backlit keyboard, VGA webcam, stereo speakers

Design and build quality

The VivoBook S series uses a mix of aluminum and plastic for its construction. The top is metal with a gold, brushed finish while the bottom and the interiors are made of plastic. A clever mix of materials to make the laptop look good while ensuring it weighs less. The gold brushed look reminds me of the many Smartphones you see these days. The laptop is easy to carry around and is fairly thin. Thanks to the metal lid, it feels adequately strong to protect the screen beneath. When you open up, the main frame is plastics and unless you are used to a sturdy, metal chasis in your earlier laptop, you won’t find it bothering much. What you get is a matte IPS screen, which I personally prefer over glossy displays. The bezels are thin measuring just 7.8mm. The palm rest is spacious enough to work with and it fits in a proper keyboard and still have space for a big trackpad. The screen can tilt back to about 150 degrees. The model I have sports a 1920 x 1080 resolution, while there is also a 1366 x 768 option available. The display is sharp, with vivid colors and saturation and free of reflections. The brightness could have a been a little more, if I have to nitpick. The texts are sharp and watching movies had been a good experience. The right side houses the 3.5mm audio jack, a lone USB C port ( Gen 1 without Thunderbolt 3), full-size HDMI, a USB 3.1 port, and the DC charging port. The left side is where you’ll find both USB 2.0 ports and a standard SD card reader. You do feel the keyboard flex at the center not during regular use but if you deliberately apply a bit of pressure, a tell-sign of the plastic construction. The keyboard is nicely spaced and I had no issues or nags while punching the keys. The keypad is backlit, with white white LEDs and you can choose from two brightness levels. There is no separate numerical pad though, while I didn’t miss it for those working on a lot of numbers, the absence would be felt. The fingerprint reader is located in the top-right corner of the trackpad. The placement at the top right corner of the trackpad doesn’t hinder the general gestures you use on the trackpad. The fingerprint sensor works with Windows Hello to personalize sign-ins.

Performance:

Talking about daily use and pefrormance, overall the VivoBook S is a one good machine to work with. Though I should mention, I had one of the top line model with a highly capable hardware. It’s a nimble workhorse and I didn’t find it strain at the tasks I put it to. It delivers sprightly performance, with quick system startup and app launches and hiccup-free multitasking. It didn’t sweat during my office work, web browsing and even some bit of video editing on it. The machine I used was not entirely quiet, the hiss was a bit audible. Connectivity wise there’s Wireless AC and Bluetooth 4.1 in this laptop. Asus has opted for Intel 8265 wireless and I didn’t had any issue with the wireless signal quality and performance.

Battery Life:

Asus claims a battery life of eight hours , but let’s do a reality check. The 42 Wh battery inside might be slightly lesser than what some of the competition offer at this range. It got me around 4 hours in average when put to use. The power brick is compact and you can quickly charge the battery’s capacity to 60% in about 50 minutes. The small sized power brick is a bit of a consolation since it occupies relatively less space in my bag compared to the one that comes from my own laptop.

Verdict:

Asus VivoBook S510U offers a good options if you are scouting for a laptop. It’s light weight and easy to carry around, the gold-brushed metal does look good though not exactly flauntable material. It’s a practical machine to own and comes in various configuration with modern requirements and bells and whistles like fingerprint sensor. The battery is a let down though, though not bad enough. The top model I used, hits all the checklist for a decent performance.]]>