it's easy Get caught up in the dazzle of laptop specs and design high end segmentBut sometimes you just want a smooth experience without much pretense. The Asus Vivobook S 14 OLED provides exactly that, offering some great hardware in a simple shell. It's also reasonably priced at $900, which is more than budget laptop range But strikes a good balance between performance and not hurting your wallet.
The model Asus sent me for review is the Vivobook S 14 OLED (S5406MA-AS96), which includes an Intel Core Ultra 9 Series 1 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of solid-state drive storage. Another version sells the processor for $1,200 for a Core Ultra 7 Series 2 processor and 32 GB of RAM. If that's not confusing enough, another model ditches Intel altogether for an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor at $1,200.
simple powerhouse
The base model reviewed here probably has more than enough horsepower for most people. The Core 9 processor handled almost all my daily tasks without any hassle. If you do any graphically intensive work (like video editing or gaming) you may want to look elsewhere. We're not yet at a point where 16GB of RAM is restrictive, and the amount of storage on board leaves enough room for long-term use.
Photograph: Dan Thorpe-Lancaster
I really like the screen, although it's not the brightest display I've used on a laptop. The crisp OLED panel gives you vibrant colors and infinite contrast, making it great for kicking back and watching a movie or a YouTube marathon. The 16:10 aspect ratio also offers more vertical screen space at the expense of width, which makes it great for documents but means you'll see horizontal bars with fullscreen video.
The camera setup is another great thing that, frankly, surprised me at this price. You get an HD webcam that looks clear on video calls and works well in low-light situations. It also has facial recognition that you can use with Windows Hello to log into your PC faster, while an easily accessible privacy shutter ensures you can quickly turn off the camera when it's not in use. Can cover with.
The VivoBook has a good selection of ports, covering almost everything you could want from a modern laptop. There are two USB-A ports for legacy accessories, two Thunderbolt 4-enabled USB-C port, an HDMI 2.1 for external monitors, and a microSD card reader. It also has a 3.5-mm headphone jack if you haven't used it yet wireless headphones The bandwagon still on.