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ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – Great Visual But Not Audio
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ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – Great Visual But Not Audio

by August 2, 2022
Overview
Highlights

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is a laptop with an amazing OLED display and great thermal cooling that focuses on mobility and light entertainment purposes. Is it a good buy? Let us investigate.

Warranty

2-years

Price

RM3,999

Positives

+ Sturdy build
+ Very light and portable
+ Good OLED display
+ 120Hz display
+ Great thermal cooling
+ Sufficient connectivity options

Negatives

- Fingerprint magnet surface
- Can't hear audio clearly on speaker mode
- Fingerprint scanner was a hassle

Pokde Scoreboard
Pokde Rating
Appearance
8.0
Efficiency
7.0
Features
7.0
Materials
9.0
Performance
8.0
Portability
9.0
User Experience
8.0
Value
8.0
Bottom Line

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is a decent laptop for work and light entertainment.

8.0
Pokde Rating
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Unboxing the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – Box

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED comes in a standard Vivobook recyclable packaging with its components tucked inside its compartments.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – Box Content

Inside the box, you can find the following items:

  • User guide
  • Warranty card
  • 90W USB-C charging brick
  • The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED laptop

Specifications

CPU Intel Core i5-12500H
RAM 8GB DDR4-3200
4GB Onboard + 4GB SO-DIMM
Graphics Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Storage 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD (Micron 2450 NVMe SSD)
Connectivity 2x Thunderbolt 4 USB-C
1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
1x USB 2.0 Type-A
1x Full-sized HDMI 2.0
1x 3.5 mm Audio combo jack
Display 14” 16:10 (2880 x 1800) @ 90 Hz OLED, Up to 600 nit brightness and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, Certified DisplayHDR 600 True Black, PANTONE Validated, and TÜV Rheinland
Audio Certified by Harman Kardon
AI Noise Canceling Audio
Power 70Wh Lithium-polymer battery
90W Type-C power adapter
Dimensions 316.4 x 224.5 x 18.9 mm
Weight 1.5 kg

Performance

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review - CrystalDiskMark

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – CrystalDiskMark

We first begin with CrystalDiskMark and as you can see, the speed is rather fast though we have seen faster PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD drives around. Realistically, this wouldn’t really matter as you would still be enjoying fast boot-ups and loading speeds if any. In case you’re wondering, this laptop uses the Micron 2450 NVMe SSD.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – Cinebench 20

Moving along to Cinebench R20, the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED achieved quite a high score given that it’s using an Intel Core i5. To be precise, it’s the i5-12500H but it pretty much outclassed every i5 CPU we have tested so far. The only thing that managed to beat it overall is a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, and that says a lot. Of course, it does get beaten by some older i7 and i9 in multi-core but that is to be expected.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – Unigine Superposition

With the Unigine SuperPosition in 4K Optimized benchmark, the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is lacking. However, this laptop features Intel Iris Xe Graphics and to achieve higher results for this benchmark, it would require a strong discrete GPU.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – 3DMark Time Spy

In 3DMark Time Spy, we obtained a similar pattern to the previous benchmark, with the device having a low score. However, the laptop did score relatively well despite running on integrated graphics.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – PCMark 10

From PCMark 10, we can conclude that the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is a good laptop with the exception of Digital Content Creation. The majority of the results point to this laptop being beneficial for productivity.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – Battery endurance test

The battery life of the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is relatively long. As tested in PCMark’s Moden Office endurance test, the laptop could last up to 8 hours and 47 minutes (527 minutes). Furthermore, it takes approximately 1 hour and 9 minutes to charge the laptop from 58% to 100% via the provided USB-C.

The Good

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

Firstly, the build quality of the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is really solid. Covered in aluminium alloy, the laptop was surprisingly light that I could carry it with one hand with ease. It features a 15.6-inch OLED HDR panel and up to 120Hz providing me with a smooth visual experience while scrolling through social media or news on the browser.

I did enjoy watching Stranger Things during my downtime as the colours did pop out quite well with its 100% DCI-P3 Color Gamut and VESA DisplayHDR 600 True Black. Furthermore, the colours are retained even on an approximately 30% brightness as the OLED display offers true colour with reduced brightness, and exposes the eyes to less blue light. This also helped my eyes as they didn’t hurt when I was on a movie marathon.

Despite placing the laptop on my lap for hours at times, I, surprisingly, did not feel uncomfortable as the laptop has an amazing cooling system, the ASUS IceCool thermal technology. The material of the laptop also plays a part in keeping the laptop cool as the bottom of the device did cool down fairly fast.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – Ports

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED has two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, a USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, a USB 2.0 Type-A, an HDMI 2.0 port, and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack which is sufficient for an average user like me. For its wireless options, the laptop comes with Dual-band Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

Looking for a unique gaming laptop with dual monitors? Check out our review of the ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED by clicking right here.

The Bad

A major issue that I have with the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is its audio. I had a hard time understanding and hearing what others were saying during an online Zoom meeting as they were inaudible even though my volume was set to max. It was also pretty hard for me to understand the movies that I was watching using the built-in speaker. However, using a headphone or earphones did solve this issue immediately.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review – Fingerprint sensor

Additionally, the laptop integrated a fingerprint sensor on its power key that allows secure finger login, which ended up being more of a hassle than a convenience for me as I still had to log in manually through a password after using it. This could be an issue with Windows 11 rather than the hardware itself but it’s a problem that I personally faced.

Lastly, despite having a nice finish and a sturdy build, the surface of the laptop is a fingerprint magnet and picks up grease easily. As someone who has moist hands, keeping the laptop constantly clean and pristine was a chore, especially on its extra-large touchpad.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Verdict

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Review

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED for RM3,999 is a great laptop for work and light entertainment as it is portable and has great thermals. However, you do need to keep in mind when using its built-in speakers to watch any videos or attend any online meetings but I do think that it is not a major drawback as most of us use an earphone when we are outside.

At the end of our ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED review, I award this laptop with our Silver Pokdeward.

Pokde-Silver

Big thanks to ASUS Malaysia for sending us this laptop for the purpose of this review.

About The Author
Charlotte Wu
Once upon a time, a farmer obtained some beans in exchange for a cow. The beans became me. My love for eggs is very strong.

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