Asus VivoBook S15 (S532F) - Price, Review & Specifications

The slimline design of the Asus VivoBook S15 makes it one of the crucial moveable 15-inch laptops round, whereas its robust Intel Core i7 efficiency ensures that it may well deal with all the pieces besides heavy-duty gaming.

 

There’s little doubt about it. The Asus VivoBook S15 is among the many greatest laptops we’ve examined. The development with laptops in recent times has definitely been shifting in the direction of the concept that much less is extra, with ultra-portables getting smaller, thinner, and lighter. And, the VivoBook S15 from Asus suits that invoice properly.

 

However, it additionally satisfies a couple of different wants, like a pleasant huge display screen to play with, as an example. Whether or not you’re number-crunching spreadsheets at work, doing a spot of close-up photo-editing, or simply watching Stranger Issues on Netflix, the Asus VivoBook S15 will see you thru with its giant, shiny 15.6-inch show.

 

Mix that with the slimline design that also permits Asus to explain it as an ‘ultra-portable’ and stable processor efficiency, and also you’ve bought an ace in your hand.

 

Value and availability

There’s a relatively complicated vary of fashions (and gobbledygook mannequin numbers) out there for the VivoBook S vary, together with each 14-inch and 15-inch display screen sizes and i5 and i7 processors.

 

There are additionally fashions with both Home windows 10 Dwelling or Home windows 10 Professional for enterprise customers. Nonetheless, Asus complicates issues considerably as most of those fashions aren’t really out there from its personal on-line retailer, so that you’ll want to trace the VivoBook down by way of Amazon and different on-line retailers - with the i7 mannequin that we the evaluation right here is primarily offered by way of Currys within the UK.

 

The VivoBook vary is competitively priced, although, with the 15-inch fashions beginning at simply £550 (around $700, AU$1,000) with an Intel i5-8265U working at 1.6GHz, together with 8GB reminiscence and 256GB solid-state drive.

 

Nonetheless, we examined the top-of-the-range mannequin, which features a quad-core i7-8565U working at 1.8GHz (as much as 4.6GHz with Turboost). That the mannequin additionally doubles the solid-state drive to 512GB and consists of 32GB of Intel’s high-speed Optane reminiscence to boost efficiency, whereas nonetheless maintaining the worth all the way down to an aggressive £889 (around $1,200, AU$1,700).

 

Each fashion share the identical 15.6-inch HD show (1920x1080), though the i7 mannequin reviewed right here additionally sports activities Asus’ ScreenPad 2.0, a considerably uncommon trackpad design that doubles up as a miniature touch-screen for controlling the VivoBook and varied apps.

 

Design

 

Regardless of its 15.6-inch display screen, the VivoBook continues to be extremely moveable, weighing simply 1.8kg and measuring a glossy 18mm thick.

 

Admittedly, it does appear fairly hefty when in comparison with lighter 12-inch and 13-inch laptops, however getting any 15-inch laptop computer all the way down to lower than 2kg is a formidable feat, so Asus has definitely completed the job with the design of the VivoBook S15.

 

And, regardless of the highly effective i7 processor, the laptop computer ran cool and quiet all through all our checks, even when working heavy-duty graphics benchmarks.

 

It’s good and durable too, because of its aluminum casing, which is offered in silver, inexperienced, and ‘punk pink’ - clearly aiming at the ‘yoof’ viewers. Asus additionally pays good consideration to element, with options such because the display screen hinge that lightly tilts the keyboard up at a slight angle as you open the display screen.

 

The keyboard itself feels agency and responsive for quick typing, and the dimensions of the display screen signify that there’s room for a correct numeric keypad, and a comfortably giant set of navigation (arrow) keys as properly.

 

Our solely minor grievance right here is that the silvery gloss on the keys doesn’t spotlight the characters on every key very properly, even with the backlight turned on. That’s not an excessive amount of an issue if you’re typing with the bigger QWERTY keys, however, we generally discovered it tough to see the icons on the smaller Perform keys for adjusting brightness and different settings.

 

One limitation with many smaller laptops is their lowered connectivity, however, the measurement of the S15 signifies that there’s loads of room for a wide range of ports and connectors.

 

There are two USB 2.Zero ports on the left-hand edge, with one USB 3.1 and one USB-C over on the correct. The proper edge additionally homes a MicroSD slot for reminiscence playing cards, 3.5mm audio connector, and HDMI for connecting to an exterior monitor.

 

The VivoBook S15 additionally scores bonus factors for being one of many first laptops we’ve come throughout that helps the brand new Wi-Fi 6 customary (aka 802.11ax).

 

A number of screens

 

The primary motive for purchasing the VivoBook S15 is, in fact, it's giant the show, and though the show is restricted to plain HD (1920x1080) decision, that’s an appropriate compromise for a laptop computer on this worth vary.

 

We discovered the show very enticing too, producing a transparent, sharp picture with daring, shiny colors for displaying video and images. We had been impressed by its viewing angles too, which ensured that the display screen remained clearly seen by way of virtually a full 180-degrees, so the VivoBook S15 might be chosen for sharing images and movies with mates, or impromptu shows in the event you’re traveling on the enterprise.

 

And whereas the Harmon Kardon stereo audio system isn’t precisely Hello-Fi high quality, they do handle to keep away from the skinny, tinny sound that afflicts many laptops, so the sound high quality of the VivoBook S15 is completely enough for watching a video or listening to some music on Spotify.

 

The ScreenPad is a little bit of a blended bag, although. You need to use it as a standard trackpad, however, it may well additionally act as a small touch-screen, giving entry to a lot of further options, equivalent to a Handwriting app that may convert finger scribbles into textual content, and a Fast Key app that permits you to automate instructions equivalent to Minimize/Copy/Paste.

 

However, even after a couple of days we by no means discovered the ScreenPad to be notably intuitive to make use of and - just like the Contact Bar on Apple’s MacBook Professional - it appears to be a solution seeking a query.

 

The Asus Vivobook S15 doesn’t have a discrete GPU, relying on as an alternative on the built-in graphics of its Intel Core i7 processor, however, that quad-core chip does present very respectable efficiency in most of our benchmark checks.

 

It's PCMark eight rating of 3535 factors displays robust all-round efficiency that can be capable to deal with a variety of duties. It gained’t has any hassle in any respect dealing with some number-crunching in Excel, and also will be capable to address extra demanding photo- and even video-editing.

 

And whereas the dearth of discrete GPU signifies that it’s not likely a gaming laptop computer, a Cinebench rating of 56.5fps ought to enable the VivoBook S15 to deal with a spot of informal gaming when it must.

 

Battery life

 

The battery lifetime of the Asus VivoBook S15 is a bit more modest - though that’s inevitable given the highly effective i7 processor and the necessity to drive that giant 15.6-inch display screen (it’s additionally noticeable that Asus avoids any particular claims about battery life on its website).

 

Working the intensive PCMark eight Dwelling check on a loop ran the battery down in 4.5 hours, though it did last more when enjoying our video check file, stretching to seven hours and 45 minutes.

 

That’s not fairly ‘all-day’ battery life, but it surely ought to preserve you going for one of the best a part of the day. And, in any case, you’re not more likely to take a laptop computer of this measurement and weight on a cross-country hike and the VivoBook S15 will definitely earn its preserve at residence or in a workplace the place you may give it a fast top-up once in a while.

 

Verdict

 

The VivoBook S15 strikes a pleasant steadiness between its giant show and its extremely moveable design, while additionally offering robust all-round efficiency and good connectivity at aggressive worth.

 

The battery life gained’t break any information, but it surely’s nonetheless respectable for a laptop computer with such a big show and highly effective i7 processor.

 

The ScreenPad isn’t solely profitable, however, you don’t appear to be paying a lot of a premium for it, and the VivoBook S15 nonetheless offers good worth for cash for anybody that wants a large-screen laptop computer for residence or the workplace.

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