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[Review] Lightweight and Strong for Creators - The ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED


ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED (M3500)

RM5,199

Pros

Cons

+ Great display

- I/O placement (congested for right handed users)

+ Minimalistic design

- Fingerprint magnet and not the easiest to clean

+ Comfortable keyboard

+ Great performance

It’s been awhile since we’ve reviewed a Vivobook from ASUS. As you all know, Vivobooks are known to be more focused towards productivity and content creation. This time, we received the ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED, powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor as well as NVIDIA Geforce RTX3050 graphics.

 

Design


Given that this laptop is designed for young content creators who prefer minimalistic designs, it has a unique metallic chassis design that I personally enjoy. The laptop comes in Quiet Blue - which looks better than it sounds. The blue is super dark, it can actually be mistaken for grey, but makes it super classy at the same time.

The lid has a metal plate with the Asus Vivobook logo on top of it, which I'm personally not a big fan of as it disturbs the smooth surface. I’ve also noticed that the lid is a fingerprint magnet and not really the easiest to clean. On the contrary, it is actually pretty nice to look at as the cover is super neat with a mono-colour design. Lifting the lid is also quite easy as I can lift it with one hand, and it’s pretty sturdy. Aside from that, it also comes with an ergonomic hinge to provide a comfortable typing experience and allow for better airflow.

Weighing at 1.65kg, there are most certainly other laptops in the market for a lighter alternative, but because of the specifications this unit has, I personally think it’s worth the extra few hundred grams and it definitely won’t break your back if you plan to carry it for hours.

 

Display & Audio


Upon opening the laptop up, you will look at a 15.6” FHD OLED nanoedge display, with fairly slim bezels on the sides. Apart from that, you can also see a webcam at the top along with a webcam cover so you don’t have to worry about being seen while you do your *ehem* stuff.

Before you worry about burn-in. ASUS has taken precautions to avoid such occurrences from happening, so you don’t waste your money. It has default shipping in Windows mode, and dims the screen after 5 minutes of being idle. Not to mention, Samsung's OLED burn-in refine technology.


Display wise, the colours displayed are insanely vibrant and saturated. Not only that, it also supports 4k resolution for viewing and my eyes are blown away at how cool it looks! This laptop also comes with a TUV certification for low blue light and flicker free for eye protection - which basically means your eyes won’t be super tired after staring at the screen all day.


Since this laptop is specially designed for content creators, the 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio will ease your work with editing pictures and videos.


As for audio, it is equipped with a dual-speaker fired by Harman/Kardon. I put it to test to see how well it will work compared to other laptops in the market. And genuinely, I like how it sounds. Not only providing a loud and clear audio, the dual-speaker setup also balances it out making it sound extra crispy. With Zoom meetings becoming a new norm, this laptop also comes with AI-Noise cancelling technology to cancel out ambient noises during meetings.

 

Keyboard & Touchpad


The keyboard comes with a backlit feature and has 3 adjustable levels to choose from, which can ease typing in a dark room. It also has a 1.3mm key travel, that I personally find very comfortable to use given my long yet skinny fingers. Apart from that, the enter key now comes in a new and unique design. I actually prefer this design better as it keeps the minimalist design in tack without an explosion of colour.

Touchpad wise, I’m not a big fan, as I’ve mentioned earlier, I have long and slender fingers. I always end up touching the touchpad unintentionally. On the other hand, if you prefer a bigger touchpad, then this is certainly for you.


For people who enjoy having a fingerprint sensor for added security, rejoice! The power button now doubles as a fingerprint sensor, which eases switching on your laptop.


 

Ports


This laptop comes with one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, a HDMI 1.4 port, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, a MicroSD card reader, and a 3.5mm jack on the right side. On the left, you’ll get two USB 2.0 ports. To be frank, as a right-handed person, I dislike the ports placement of this laptop because the amount of ports it has on the right side feels a little too cluttered.

I am slightly disappointed with the lack of ethernet port, but this laptop comes with Intel’s Wi-Fi 6 technology, which can ease and provide fast internet for users.

 

Performance


Aside from a nice display, it is running on an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor and NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3050 graphics card. Given the fact that this is not a gaming laptop, I still tried to play VALORANT. To my surprise, it sat at more or less 200 fps the entire time. Though, I doubt you can actually play triple A games on this laptop smoothly as that’s a big stretch.


Besides trying it to play VALORANT with, I have also tried to open more than 10 tabs at once and it could still function smoothly without lagging or slowing down at any rate, which makes the SSD pretty decent for such a small and lightweight laptop.


You’ll get a 120W charger included in the box. With regards to the battery life, I started my day at 10AM with a 100% battery life, using the laptop to type out scripts and played VALORANT for around 30 minutes. After 5 hours or so of usage, it still had 48% of battery left. All in all, I think this laptop is sufficient to last you the whole day if you need it to.


For cooling, this laptop has a dual fan cooling design as it features the ASUS IceCool Plus Technology, which incorporates two heat pipes to significantly enhance cooling. As mentioned above, I have tried working and doing minimal gaming with this laptop and I have only experienced very little heating on the middle of the laptop while the rest stays cool to touch.

For a seamless connection between your mobile device and laptop, this Vivobook comes with a software called MYASUS which allows you to transfer URLs, files, also allowing screen mirroring, screen extender and making phone calls . Yes, I’ve tried it and I must say, file transferring has never been faster, making this software perfect for creators on the go!

 

Buy or no buy?


Priced at RM5,199, the ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED is a pretty neat laptop. Besides the design which I like, the features and performance proves that it is worth the price tag, especially if you have a few hundred more to spend. It not only features a beautiful display, fingerprint sensor and a very comfortable keyboard, I am highly impressed with the performance of such a slim laptop.

If you think that this laptop is slightly out of your budget or it’s an overkill, you can always opt for another variant as this laptop is also available in 2 more variants - with AMD Ryzen 7 5800H and AMD Ryzen 5 5600H priced at RM4,799 and RM4,299 respectively.



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