Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED evaluation: fairly pixels for a reasonably worth

One of many neat issues about seeing fancy options unfold throughout high-end laptops is the hope that these options will, sooner or later, seem in inexpensive laptops as nicely. This 12 months has been the 12 months of a budget OLED display screen in that respect — no less than whenever you take a look at Asus. The corporate has been plonking actually unbelievable screens onto otherwise-unremarkable finances laptops for years, and the brand new Vivobook S 14X OLED is not any exception. 

This new, $1,099.99 Vivobook targets a extra price-conscious viewers than Asus’ high-end Zenbook line, with a extra utilitarian chassis and a heavier construct. The panel is what units it other than the ocean of equivalent black notebooks that litter the midrange market. Asus is touting it because the “world’s first 14.5-inch 120Hz 2.8K OLED panel,” which is a kind of hilariously particular accolades that Asus likes to crown itself with. However the vital kernel of verisimilitude in there’s that that is the closest to a MacBook Professional 14 viewing expertise you’re prone to discover at this worth level.

Now, there’s not too a lot else to say about this laptop computer. Compromises had been actually made all through the remainder of the chassis so as to hit this worth, and the excessive decision has its downsides within the battery life division. However the $1,099 tag (and there’s an $899.99 mannequin as nicely, with the identical show) is that this Vivobook’s saving grace. It has lots of the similar flaws that we see on different premium OLED machines with {powerful} processors (quintessentially, Dell’s XPS 13 Plus). However at this worth, that package deal is much more affordable — for a really particular person.

This show has every part you’d need. It’s a 16:10 OLED with 2880 x 1800 decision. That, alone, makes for a wonderful viewing expertise with deep blacks and uniform brightness. Particulars had been crisp, and colours popped (the panel covers one hundred pc of the sRGB gamut, 98 p.c of Adobe RGB, and one hundred pc of P3). 

What’s extra, the 120Hz refresh charge makes for an exceptionally clean scroll. We’re beginning to see extra 90Hz OLED panels, however 120Hz continues to be extremely uncommon — in truth, I don’t know of any 14-incher with a 120Hz OLED panel at present available on the market that Asus doesn’t make.

Peak brightness, in my testing, was an affordable 379 nits (OLED panels are likely to run a bit dimmer than LCDs). I noticed little or no glare on my home windows, even working with brightness pretty low. It’s a pleasant display screen to have a look at. Asus even claims that it emits much less dangerous blue mild than different laptop computer screens do. The science behind the risks of blue mild is dodgy to start with, however no matter, it’s there if you happen to care about it. 

Right here’s what this display screen comes hooked up to. The Vivobook has a reasonably commonplace black chassis. The branding on the lid isn’t obnoxious (which… some Asus branding is) — simply an unobtrusive nameplate with “Asus Vivobook” on it and another phrases that no person’s going to have the ability to see. 

The construct is sturdy (and in contrast to many Asus gadgets, this one doesn’t have the “Ergolift hinge” that folds below the keyboard and digs into your lap). The lid and deck have a little bit of flex and a plasticky really feel (particularly the bezels across the display screen), however the general package deal is strong. 

You’ll discover that the webcam (which sadly doesn’t help Home windows Hiya) additionally has a bodily privateness protect. This stuff are sometimes a tiny, invisible change that’s a ache to search out and transfer, however this one is massive and simply thumb-operable. And the keyboard has some good decorations, together with a vivid crimson Esc key, a striped strip throughout Enter, and a little bit “Able to Discover” emblazoned throughout the underside edge. There’s a fingerprint sensor within the energy button, which works simply high quality.

After which there are a bunch of compromises. You should care about all of this stuff lower than the display screen if you’re shopping for this Vivobook (and I do know a few of you do — energy to you). First, one of many USB Kind-A ports (there are two, along with two USB-C, an HDMI, and a headphone jack) is barely USB 2.0, whereas the opposite is USB 3.2 Gen 1. This isn’t going to influence everybody, but it surely’s one thing for house owners of sure fashionable equipment to concentrate on.  

Second, the chassis is a fingerprint magnet. The touchpad is sort of spacious (53 p.c bigger than that of its predecessor Vivobook, Asus says), however after only a few days of use, it was smudged up and down. 

Whereas the touchpad was probably the most excessive instance, this was a difficulty everywhere in the factor. After per week of use, there are fingerprints everywhere in the Vivobook’s deck, together with the keyboard and palm rests. The lid is, at this level, a mosaic of fingerprints and different smudges. Now, I’m responsible of battering my evaluation models round — they spend time in my backpack with a bunch of different electronics as I romp round New York every single day, they spend hours on totally different desks, lap desks, tables, and rugs, and so they typically have issues stacked on prime of them. However I put a lot of laptops by these trials and tribulations, and most of them climate it simply high quality. This lid is already trying worse for put on. 

Lastly, it’s simply clunky. It’s 0.7 inches thick and three.5 kilos. For context, the also-powerful and also-OLED Dell XPS 13 Plus is barely 2.7 kilos, and Asus’s personal ROG Zephyrus G14, which is actually a gaming laptop computer, could be very near the Vivobook’s weight. 3.5 just isn’t horrifically heavy for this dimension, however as an individual of common power, I discovered it a ache to hold round with one hand.

Inside this chassis is a few fairly noteworthy energy — which, just like the display screen, comes with battery-related drawbacks. This Vivobook has the Core i7-12700H, which is definitely the identical processor that may be present in plenty of common gaming laptops, together with Lenovo’s Legion 5i Professional and Alienware’s X14. This system’s CPU chops aren’t any joke, but it surely additionally doesn’t have a discrete GPU, that means it’s a lot graphically weaker than different H-series workstations. 

My $1,099.99 unit consists of 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, whereas the $899.99 SKU has a Core i5-12500H and 8GB of RAM. Storage and reminiscence are upgradable. To contextualize how good of a deal that’s, the most affordable Dell XPS 13 Plus (which has a much less {powerful} processor, much less RAM, and a lower-resolution and decrease refresh charge OLED display screen) has an MSRP of $1,299, whereas the most affordable XPS 15 (additionally with much less reminiscence and a worse processor and display screen) MSRPs at $1,449.. The most cost effective 512GB M2 MacBook Air, additionally with much less reminiscence and a decrease decision show, would value $1,399, as nicely. 

On the subject of efficiency, this laptop computer had no downside with day-to-day workplace duties (and the display screen made them look extra nice as I did them, as a bonus). It’s actually sooner than the U-series processors that energy many 13-inch and 14-inch laptops, although I’m unsure it’s a distinction a mostly-Chrome person like will discover. 

In benchmark testing, the Vivobook beats the Dell XPS 13 Plus (our XPS unit had the Core i7-1280P, which is a really comparable chip to the i7-12700H) in the entire single-core and many of the multicore benchmarks we ran. It was method behind within the graphics benchmarks we ran, nonetheless, which could possibly be a mirrored image of system reminiscence pace or different components. 

Of be aware: Adobe Premiere Professional crawled on this machine. I felt like I used to be watching bars perpetually whereas initiatives loaded. The Encoding part of the PugetBench take a look at for Premiere was so gradual it was painful to look at. Our five-minute, 33-second 4K export took over 29 minutes, whereas it took round seven on the XPS. (This can be on Adobe fairly than Asus, however no matter whose fault it’s, the export was hella gradual.) Any machine with built-in graphics goes to have some hassle with these duties, however these can be unacceptable speeds for people who do video work with any diploma of regularity. The discrepancy in graphics outcomes is counterintuitive for the reason that two GPUs each have Iris Xe graphics — Notebookcheck discovered that it was as a result of Vivobook’s asymmetrical RAM configuration, so do with that what you’ll.

Followers had been fairly loud throughout benchmarking. “Rattling, that fan,” my coworker Becca Farsace remarked as she walked previous my desk this afternoon. This was, after all, whereas I had the Excessive Efficiency cooling profile chosen — if you happen to choose Whisper Mode, as I did after I wasn’t benchmarking, the followers are quiet. The CPU was usually round 90 to 91 levels throughout benchmarking, which is a bit hotter than you need it, however no less than we’re not in a Dell nightmare cooling scenario.

However neither the graphics nor the fan noise is as egregious of an issue because the Vivobook’s battery life. I did my battery runs at medium brightness with battery saver on and the Eye Care shade profile chosen. I turned the refresh charge all the way down to 60Hz as a result of I do know some folks don’t care about refresh charge (you’re all monsters, by the best way), however I wasn’t prepared to show down the decision — if you happen to’re simply going to make use of this laptop computer at 1080p on a regular basis, it’s an goal waste of your cash. 

On my commonplace workplace workload, which makes use of round a dozen Chrome tabs with Slack, some Spotify streaming, and the occasional Zoom name, I averaged 4 and a half hours to a cost. Chances are you’ll get an extended lifespan than I do (though most individuals don’t, in my expertise), however I’d be stunned if this factor lasts anybody a steady work day. 

At a $2,000 worth level, any end result near that is unambiguously disqualifying. It’s a bit much less egregious at $1,100. (It additionally helps that the Vivobook is a quick charger, reaching 60 p.c in simply over 40 minutes with mild Chrome use.) Nonetheless, it isn’t what I’d name acceptable — particularly since the advantages that workstations with discrete graphics provide in alternate for all-day battery aren’t current right here. Even the XPS 13 Plus, which has a higher-resolution display screen, lasted a bit longer than this one. 

This battery life narrows the Vivobook’s viewers considerably. As somebody who likes to hang around in other places all through my day, I shortly grew aggravated with how typically I needed to stand up and get the charger. Even when your battery outcomes are extra beneficiant than mine, you must count on to have this plugged in loads if you buy it.

The Vivobook S 14X OLED is notable for one factor: its display screen. That such an distinctive display screen is offered at such a low worth is a good factor to see. That it’s being paired with an H-series processor is all of the extra notable. However I very a lot query the target market; how many individuals who want an H-series processor and are prepared to sacrifice portability for its energy are content material with built-in graphics?

My greatest shot at labeling this group is: somebody who actually desires an affordable OLED for media consumption. This may be an amazing choice for a school movie research main. Extra money for an XPS can get you higher audio system, battery life, construct high quality, and graphics — however if you’re very budget-constrained and the display screen is your prime precedence, then certain, get this.

For everybody else, Vivobook is a good proof of idea however much less sensible as a purchase order. Gadgets which are distinctive in principle also needs to work in observe. They aren’t paintings; folks use them every single day. With battery life this unhealthy, it isn’t a sensible buy. It’s fairly cool, although.