Pros | Cons |
+ Beautiful OLED Display | - Lack Of Ports |
+ Comfortable Keyboard | - Mediocre Audio |
+ Fast Charging | |
ASUS Vivobook S14 OLED
RM 3,999
Another Vivobook laptop got dropped off on our doorstep today (not sure who’s doing that but not really complaining). This time it’s the Vivobook S14 OLED that was dropped off and it’s for all the beginner content creator people out there.
Design
The Vivobook S14 OLED comes with an all-new geometric chassis design allowing it to leave a statement, and the colors it offers this time around? Really fashionable, as it comes in the colors Neutral Grey, Indie Black, and Brave Green.
Though the laptop lid is marketed as a tough metallic lid, it showcases a somewhat plastic-y feel which is a minus point for me as it now feels less premium.
The logo on the lid is now slightly tweaked as well, as it now screams vivobook loudly compared to their previous logo where it’s more subtle and minimalistic, it now has a bump too.
It also weighs 1.5kg and is 18.9mm thick, not the lightest as there are obviously lighter laptops on the market but this is still pretty good to bring to and fro places.
Display & Audio
The display is unique as it is the world’s first 14” 2.8K 90Hz OLED NanoEdge display laptop coupled with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and is PANTONE validated making color accuracy one less problem for content creators. It also has a 6mm bezel and an 85% screen-to-body ratio allowing it to have slim bezels and more display action.
Personally, I enjoyed doing a tiny bit of creative work on this laptop as it really showcases its main selling point, an amazing OLED display.
In terms of screen smoothness, it comes with a 0.2ms response time and a refresh rate of 90Hz allowing me to do content creation seamlessly and as accurately in real-time as possible.
On the top of the laptop, a webcam is 720p HD camera is located that comes with a privacy shutter, obviously, it wouldn’t be as great as your additional cameras but this should very much suffice for casual e-meetings.
The speakers that are powered by Harman Kardon can be located on the bottom of the laptop which makes for an unfortunately muffled audio experience when the laptop is placed on a flat surface.
Keyboard & Touchpad
The latest ASUS ErgoSense keyboard has an orange escape key and the usual striped black and white enter key. The pop of orange really allowed for a loud color to move away from the very subtle theme that it has.
It is tuned with a long key travel of 1.4mm allowing for a lighter typing experience without the need to slam the keyboard, I had an overall smooth and comfortable experience with this keyboard as it did not lag nor slow down despite my keyboard warrior skills.
The touchpad which doubles as a Numpad *for some models* is now doubled by 53% compared to its predecessor. The review unit that I have unfortunately does not have the Numpad for me to try out but the touchpad was smooth and has no palm rejections, no complaints from me!
Ports
In terms of connectivity, the ports offered are okay as it has 1x HDMI 2.0 port, 2x USB Type-C port, 1x USB Type-A port, and a 3.5mm audio jack on the right, whereas, it has only 1x USB Type-A port on the left.
I am disappointed with the lack of an ethernet port, SD card reader, and with the position of the ports because I am a right-headed human.
Performance
In terms of specs, the review unit I have on hand comes with an Intel Core i5-12500H processor and an Intel Iris Xe graphics card, it also uses 8GB of RAM and 512GB of PCIe 4.0 SSD making it strong enough for minimal to mediocre usage.
Personally, I had no issues with the specs it carries as I don’t edit hardcore videos like my colleagues, I would just go on Canva every now and then to edit a few stuff and photoshop to edit thumbnails for postings, it did not lag whilst editing photos nor typing my scripts. The SSD benchmark is as follows:
For cooling, it has an ASUS IceCool thermal technology which uses a combination of upgraded 8mm and 6mm heat pipes that allow the IceBlade fan to accelerate heat transfer better. Despite using it all day, cooling was not a major problem for me.
Battery-wise, it comes with a 70Wh battery capacity and a 90W AC adapter. This battery allowed me to type scripts and this article for around 7 hours before needing to juice up. The charger on the other hand allowed me to juice up to 100% in a little under 2 hours.
Buy or no buy?
So, do I think that it’s worth it? Yes, I do. This laptop has an amazing OLED display, cooling, and even more amazing keyboard ergonomics. However, the lack of more ports is sad but you can always just get an adapter for that.
This is definitely a win for all starting-out content creators as it’s light, portable, and powerful enough to kick start their journey. However, if you are looking for a rendering master then I’m afraid this isn't for you.
