Asus VivoBook S15
When it comes to laptops, Asus is quite prolific with its range with as many as four laptop series. There's ZenBook laptop series - one of its most popular - and there is also Eeebook and VivoBook series. Asus also has a dedicated range of gaming laptops called the RoG or Republic of Gamers. The Eeebook is targeted at the budget users whereas the VivoBook is targeted at the slightly premium category of users. The company, recently, decided to give its VivoBook series a push with the launch of VivoBook S15 (S510UN) in India.
The computing device is the newest addition to the VivoBook series, the aim of which is to cater to the 'everyday' laptop users. The S15 was launched last month in two variants based on Core i5 and Core i7 processors.
We recently got hold of the Core i7 variant, which is priced at Rs 79,990 and went on sale this month. After using it extensively for a few days we can say the laptop earns brownie points for looks but it also makes an arch-rival to some of the top performing laptops in the market as it features Intel's newest 8th-generation processor. Here's our review.
Design
If there's one thing Asus is known for across its portfolio, then it's the intriguing design. For the last few years, Asus has been using the brushed metal texture on its laptops and smartphones. It came no surprise to see the same design ratchet up the look of the VivoBook S15 as well.
We have often seen ZenBook laptops additionally employing shiny rims on sides or on the touchpad enclosure to give a 'premium' touch. But with the VivoBook S15, the company has managed to make it look premium even without those shiny rims.
The unit we received came in Gold colour and looked good with the brushed metal pattern. At the centre, you get the 'Asus' logo with a mirror finish. Similar metal design continues at the back, keyboard area including the touchpad. Even the long single hinge connecting the screen with the body has the same texture.
While this is attractive, it also might prove to be boring and dull for some.
As far as the weight is concerned, Asus VivoBook S15 does the balancing act - literally and figuratively - quite perfectly. It's not the lightest laptop around but is also not one of the bulky ones. It weighs 1.7kgs feather light, which is tad bit lesser than the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (1.8kgs). This is after the VivoBook S15 being 17.9mm ultrathin and the MacBook being 15.5mm thin. It’s an everyday laptop with the weight and compactness of an ultrabook.
The backlit keyboard has evenly spaced keys. However, the travelling time of the keys is not much, failing to give us a confident stroke. We often found ourselves reconfirming if we pressed the required keys or missed it. However, this is one of the factors users have to live with given the thickness of the laptop.
The touchpad is spacious as it has a lot of room to move around your finger. On its top right corner you can also find a fingerprint sensor powered by Windows Hello. We liked the fact that there is enough area to rest your palms while typing and there are no accidental clicks from the touchpad while doing so.
Unlike some of the top-tier laptops, the VivoBook S15 has it speakers at the bottom instead at the top. There are placed towards the front on the left and right side. While we don't prefer this as an ideal place for speakers, we did find the stereo audio quality impressive. This comes courtesy Asus' SonicMaster audio technology that has a tuned audio software and hardware combination for a better experience.
Despite being a slim laptop, much of the widely used connectivity options are still present with the VivoBook S15. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C (3.1), USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, 1 HDMI and a card reader.
Display
The display is one of the highlights of the laptop. The company has stressed on the fact that the device has a 'NanoEdge' display of 7.8mm NanoEdge . The NanoEdge display here means the display has fewer bezels on the sides as compared to those conventional laptops. The aim here is to make content browsing more immersive, which brings us to the screen specs. This also has resulted in stuffing a 15.6-inch screen in a 14-inch frame.
The display, however, is beautiful to look at. Although it sports full HD (1080x1920 pixels) resolution LED backlit screen, the images and video look crisp enough. Viewing movies and other multimedia content was a delight.
The panel is an anti-glare one and manages to retain the vivid colour tones even when looked at from slight angles. Asus claims the VivoBook S15 has a 178-degree wide-angle view. If you add this with SonicMaster speakers, you get a well-performing multimedia device.
But then just the design and screen are not the only deciding factors for the VivoBook S15, it's processing power too plays an important role.
Performance
Asus VivoBook S15 is quite a powerhouse when we talk about its performance. You can throw any kind of application on it and you won't be disappointed. After playing a couple of graphic-heavy games on the laptop and using it as our daily driver with multiple browsers and tabs opened, the device simply refused to stutter.
This is on par with what we expected given that the VivoBook S15 runs 8th-generation Intel Core i7 8550U processor, which is one of the best computing processors till date. The device can be configured with up to 16GBDDR4 RAM, which is ample enough to run all your basic applications. It can even take on multitasking process with heavy games running in the background.
The review unit we received also boasted Nvidia GeForce MX15 GPU, which acts as a catalyst in amplifying the graphic processing prowess of the VivoBook S15.
Running the laptop through PC Mark and 3D Mark tests gave us 10218 and P4 397 scores, which are the best we've seen in the class.
There is nothing much to talk about the operating system of the device. The S10 runs on Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro versions. The OS comes with all the goodies one can expect to come in other laptops. Windows Hello comes a part of the OS and is integrated with the fingerprint sensor placed on the corner of the touchpad. And with ultra-fast dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, you can enjoy speeds of up to 867Mbps — that’s up to 6x faster than 802.11n! It’s everything you need for versatility and performance.
Like we have seen with all the laptops and smartphones by Asus, the VivoBook S15 also brings a bunch of pre-loaded applications such as Asus ZenLink, Asus GiftBox, Splendid Utility, ASUS Battery Health Charging, Asus Install, Asus Live Update, MyAsus Service Centre and much more. While some of these are important and helpful, some you may not use ever.
One of the applications we found important was the Splendid app using which you can tweak the display settings of the laptop. It is possible to jump between Normal, Eye Care, Vivid and Manual display options.
As for videos, Asus has included its ASUS Tru2Life Video technology that is said to work behind the scenes to bring more sharp and vivid videos on the screen. We have already mentioned about the SonicMaster audio technology that filters noise and deliver clear audio with deeper bass.
With so many features in tow and a lot of processing power under the hood one may expect the laptop to heat up after continuous usage. However, that was not the case in our tests. The laptop at no point was found to be heated. While the processors are super-efficient, what also keeps the device cooled down is the Asus' IceCool technology that keeps the average palm rest temperatures under 35-degrees.
Coming to the battery, the laptop shines across the board. The VivoBook S15's lithium polymer battery takes care of the laptop for over 6 hours on regular use. Heavy users might need to plug it in after 3-4 hours. While this is subjective and changes with each user and how he/she uses the laptop, one can be sure that it will definitely deliver more than some of the mid-range 6th-generation or 7th-generation laptops.
The cherry on top is that the computing device supports fast charging. The tech can charge the laptop with up to 60% in 49 minutes. To stretch the battery for longer hours, Asus has deployed its Battery Health Charging Technology.
Verdict
Asus seems to have hit a homerun with the VivoBook S15. It definitely amps up the game in the market and has the potential to become a benchmark in itself for everyday use laptops.
The Core i7 model costs Rs 79,990 while the Core i5 model costs Rs 59,990. There are not many differences between the two except for the processor and the GPU. Users might not be able to tell the difference as they all lie under-the-hood. But in case you are looking for options, the closest rival of the VivoBook S15 is the Acer Nitro 5. It falls in the same price range as the S15 Core i7 model but runs on Core i5 processor and is quite bulky. The Core i7 version costs above Rs 90,000.
All-in-all, VivoBook S15 for us has might just be a new benchmark in the 'everyday use' laptop category with some of the newest set of specs, pleasing design, and an aggressive price tag.
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