I have two very interesting laptops with me today. These two laptops are from the latest ASUS Vivobook S OLED lineup – the 14-inch version in the Mist Blue color and the 16-inch version in the Neutral Black color. They’re highly affordable for what it has to offer, and I actually like them both a lot.
Specs
So, let’s get started with the specs. These laptops are running on the latest 14th Gen Intel chips and they are available in both Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and Core Ultra 7 155H configurations, and both of them are powered by the Intel Arc integrated graphics. The RAM is same Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and they both start from 16GB with 7467MT/s speed. If you’re familiar with laptops, you already know what this means. Both of them also come with 512GB of SSD too.
The performance on these two laptops are no joke. We’ve already done a gaming test on the Core Ultra 7 155H a few months ago, so watch it at the top right corner there to know more. The Intel Arc integrated graphics is not a joke and I am just impressed by how much fps we can squeeze out of it.
Screen
The screens on both of these laptops are amazing. They are 16:10 screens using an OLED panel that is certified by ASUS’s in-house Lumina OLED standard – and they both can reach 100% of sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts. The maximum brightness on both these screens are also about the same, nearing 400 nits on full brightness.
I even brought out the 14-inch with me and I sat outdoors under indirect sunlight and used the laptop. The screen at maximum brightness looks great though the reflections are abysmal – that is to be expected from a glossy display, though.
But the displays have a big difference between the two laptops – and that is the resolution. The 14-inch is using a standard 1920×1200 pixels at 60Hz, whereby the 16-inch version is using a much high resolution of 3200×2000 at 120Hz.
I honestly don’t really mind the differences here. The resolution is a good bonus but unnecessary – especially since 1080p on a 14-inch is still plentiful to this day. The refresh rate is unnecessary on a laptop – and I make it go to 60Hz when I’m using the laptop on battery to save power anyway.
Ports
The ports on these two laptops remain the same, and I’m glad that they come with two Thunderbolt 4 ports. However, that HDMI port is a HDMI 2.0 port.
Charger
And yes, these laptops are charged using a USB-C charger. I thought these laptops with these specs are using 65W only, but turns out – they can suck up to 90W of power. Even the 14-inch version can go up to 90W and I’m surprised by it.
Design
And I want to talk about the design a little while.
These laptops are using the exact same design, and the 16-inch version is literally just a bigger laptop. It even has the same thinness of 1.59cm at its thickest point too. And yet they’re all metal.
Now, with such a thin laptop design and such high power consumption at its peak, that means this laptop will churn out a whirlwind when we’re playing any games on it. Seriously, those fans are loud and they’re the same on both the 16-inch and 14-inch.
Keyboard and trackpad
As for the keyboard, it’s great. Bouncy, has good travel distance, and it’s just fun to type on. Now, the 16-inch version has a completely different keyboard layout as it comes with a physical number pad. If you have use for it – then good, but I don’t prefer number pads in my laptop.
For whatever reason, ASUS decided to include a single-zone RGB keyboard for this year’s Vivobook S series. Yeah… no idea why. They’re nice, but just not my cup of tea.
Oh – this laptop is the first that I’ve seen that has a Copilot button. Yes, pressing this button brings up the Copilot AI chatbot in Windows – but I’m not about its usability.
Other than the usual Copilot features, we can tell it to change system settings like turning off Bluetooth but it’s slow and – you guessed it, requires internet connection. Even turning it to turn to turn on the Bluetooth needs an internet requirement.
The trackpad is big and smooth, and it tracks very well. The palm rejection is good enough, so no complaints here either.
Upgradability
Upgradability is another thing that I quickly want to highlight as well. Both these laptops… they’re not that easy to open up. The S 14 has one hidden screw, but the S 16 has two hidden screws.
Once we got them opened, they are pretty much identical. We can only swap out the SSD only. Even the WiFi card is soldered onto the motherboard. And because it has soldered RAM, we can get some insanely high but weird RAM speed of 7467MT/s.
This is where I realized that the S 16 has the exact same motherboard layout as the S 14. That means there are unused space inside. I mean, it’s a cost-saving measure and there’s nothing wrong with it, just that they could’ve optimized the space usage better.
Battery life
The battery capacity is also identical – at 75Wh. Yes, both 16-inch and 14-inch are using the same battery and that means the 16-inch is going to have worse battery life because of the higher resolution screen and higher refresh rate if they’re using the same processor.
Anyway, I mostly used the S 14 in this test and I still can get around 6-7 hours throughout my usual web-browsing, YouTube Music, and occasional YouTube videos in the mix. Pretty good, honestly.
Value
The best part about the new Vivobook S series though, is the price. These two laptops, if equipped with the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, starts at RM4,399 for the 14-inch and RM4,699 for the 16-inch model. As what I said at the beginning of this video – they’re surprisingly affordable. No cap, I thought this laptop was going to be at least RM5k because of how premium it is.
We have a great metal design, great specs, great screen, great keyboard and trackpad, great selection of ports, and also a great battery life. All this for below RM5k is actually a good price.
If you’re interested, then check them out in the links down below.
Where to buy? (Affiliate links)
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