ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED: The Most Affordable OLED Laptop

Positioning

According to retailers’ reports, ASUS laptops are the top sellers. This fact could be explained poetically by saying that ASUS in their products focuses on innovation (the first to introduce the latest video cards, release laptops with two screens, digital blocks built into the touchpad, etc.), and people love it very much . But that would only be half the truth. The other half is that ASUS is able to innovate at the best prices.

For example, the new ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED. This is a classic all-round laptop with great performance, fast PCIe 3.0 storage, a wide range of ports and a power efficient 7nm AMD processor.

The price of this model is from $1,000 (depending on the configuration). But an unexpected twist: the laptop has a 15.6-inch OLED panel with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and 600 nits of peak brightness. A plot twist like this changes everything. And just out of curiosity – ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED turns into perhaps the most interesting option in its price category.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the device. Let’s analyze all the strengths and weaknesses.

Specifications

• Screen: 15.6″ OLED, FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels), 16:9 aspect ratio, 400 nits, 600 nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut
• Processor: Up to AMD Ryzen 7 5700U 1.8GHz (8MB cache, up to 4.3GHz, 8 cores)
• Graphics: AMD Radeon Graphics
• Memory: 8GB DDR4 on board + 8GB DDR4 SO-DIMM
• Storage: 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD + 2.5” SATA HDD slot included
• Keyboard: numeric keypad, backlit, 1.4mm travel
• Webcam: 720p
• Audio: built-in harman/kardon speaker
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 5 + Bluetooth 4.1
• Battery: 42Wh, 65W adapter
• Case materials: aluminum
• Dimensions: 35.98 x 23.53 x 1.86 cm, weight 1.8 kg
• Ports:
  • 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A
  • 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C
  • 2x USB 2.0 Type-A
  • 1x HDMI 1.4
  • 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack
  • Micro SD card reader

Design

The body is made of brushed brushed aluminium. For a 15.6-inch laptop, VivoBook has a rather modest size – 35.98 x 23.53 x 1.86 cm. It was possible to cut off extra centimeters due to thin frames around the screen. ASUS calls them NanoEdge.

The weight of the laptop, depending on the configuration, is 1.7-1.8 kg. This is the standard value for this category.

As conceived by marketers, VivoBook is designed for a younger and more fun audience than serious ExpertBooks or sophisticated ZenBooks. Thanks to this, the VivoBook series is always the most visually striking. In addition to the classic black and silver shades, there is also Hearty Gold, which can literally be translated as vigorous gold. It’s actually rose gold.

Positioning the VivoBook 15 OLED as an all-around laptop for everyday business is a must. The laptop has a wide range of ports that allows you to connect any peripherals:

• 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C
• 2x USB 2.0 Type-A
• 1x HDMI 1.4
• 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack
• 1x microSD card reader

Separately, it is worth noting the slot for memory cards microSD. MicroSD is the most common memory card format used in smartphones today. So the user can easily quickly upload a large amount of files to the smartphone.

OLED screen

OLED screen in this price range is the main advantage of the laptop. Flagship smartphones and ultra-premium TVs have long switched to OLED displays. However, for a long time manufacturers did not dare to use this technology in laptops because of the high price.

ASUS was one of the first companies to introduce laptops with OLED displays, first in its premium segment, and now the VivoBook line, which is quite affordable for the average consumer, has also received this technology.

OLED screens have several key benefits that everyone will appreciate.

Firstly, it is, of course, much brighter and more saturated colors. OLED screens are ideal for both creativity and content viewing. A cinematic color gamut DCI-P3 (100%) allows you to see the film exactly as it was intended and seen by the director.

The second thing that immediately catches your eye is the perfect black color.

In OLED panels, black is achieved by turning off a pixel, rather than mixing colors, as on IPS LCD screens. Thanks to this approach, the contrast and clarity of the image immediately increase.
By the way, OLED screens are ideal for playing movies with an abundance of dark scenes. Where there was gray haze on the IPS screen, the OLED screen will have a clear picture. You will want to watch some films again. The screen, by the way, is certified DisplayHDR 600 True Black.

And, of course, the point-to-point disabling of the pixels allows you to get rid of the light that even the best IPS screens suffer from.

There are OLED screens and implicit pluses. For example, unlike IPS, they have accurate color reproduction at any brightness. This is an important point that not everyone pays attention to. But most IPS-screens give out the declared color gamut only at high brightness. Accordingly, when working with color (or just when you want to look at a beautiful picture), you have to twist the screen to the maximum. It is logical that the eyes get tired of this faster.

In ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED, the declared color gamut of 100% DCI-P3 is maintained even at minimum brightness.

This should also include the fact that OLED screens can reduce blue light that irritates the eyes. With an IPS screen, blue light reduction is achieved by applying a filter, which leads to a “yellowing” of the screen. The VivoBook 15 OLED filters blue color by shifting the color spectrum, which minimally affects color accuracy.

ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED has a peak brightness of 600 nits in content mode and 400 nits in operation. 400 nits is significantly more than the 250 nits found in laptops in this price range. This should also include another bonus of OLED screens. On them, the image looks brighter. Where an IPS LCD screen needs 400 nits of brightness, an OLED screen needs only 200 nits.

Peak brightness is the ability of the screen to produce brightness above the nominal in a certain area. With this feature, the OLED screen exhibits a wider dynamic range, thereby improving image quality.

The laptop screen is excellent. So we recommend that you definitely watch the screen live, as they say, instead of a thousand words.

Keyboard and touchpad

ASUS engineers did not experiment and made a keyboard with a classic layout, which will be appreciated by everyone who is looking for a laptop for work or study. The laptop has a chiclet keyboard with a good distance between the buttons, optimal key travel (1.4 mm) for long typing, and a separate numeric block.

The bright stroke is the highlighted Enter key. Just for beauty. There are no secret functions here.

However, there is something to criticize the keyboard for. VivoBook are positioned as universal laptops, not office ones. Apparently, for this reason, although ASUS engineers made separate arrow keys (this, by the way, is a big plus), they still combined them with Home, End, PgUp and PgDn. So typical office hotkey combinations will have to be launched through the FN function key. An odd decision, given that the space allowed for another column of buttons.

The laptop has a standard touchpad, slightly increased in height. In models with a fingerprint scanner, it is mounted in the upper right corner. Of course, ideally, I would like the touchpad to be extended not only in height, but also in width.

Performance and mobility

In terms of performance, we have a sample of a modern ultrabook, ready for almost any task.

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700U is responsible for performance. This is an 8-core processor (16 threads), made using 7 nanometer technology, which makes it very energy efficient. Despite the fact that the battery in the laptop is not the largest, 42 Wh, the user will get 6.5-7 hours of real work. At maximum load, the laptop will be discharged in about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Along the way, it is impossible not to note the low noise level, which even under load does not exceed 45 dB.

The processor is integrated graphics Radeon RX Vega 8 with 8 computing units and a frequency of up to 1900 MHz.

The processor is assisted by a PCIe 3.0 SSD and DDR4 RAM. Thanks to this solution, the start time is less than 7 seconds.

The user can replace the SSD drive, as well as one bar of RAM. The second is soldered on the board. Thus, the maximum amount of RAM in the laptop is 16 GB.

The laptop also has a slot for a classic SATA HDD, that is, the user can install an additional HDD, resulting in a combination of SSD + HDD.
Of course, the laptop easily copes with any office tasks and the Internet. A complex software like Photoshop laptop opens in less than 10 seconds.

The processor-integrated Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics provides good graphics and gaming performance. The card is capable of running even AAA games, but we are talking about HD resolution.

Conclusions

Summing up, we can say that ASUS has an interesting product that will dominate its price segment.

Among the advantages, one can single out an interesting design, good stuffing, a full-fledged keyboard and a wide range of ports.

A review of competitors shows that others are not yet ready to offer an OLED screen at this price. If you go to any online market, it is easy to notice that the cost of the closest competitors starts at $1,600.

Given the general shortage of components that has affected the entire electronics market, there are big doubts that the ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED will stay on the market for a long time. Most likely, they will sell out, and then pre-order and wait.

Of course, the laptop also has its downsides. But they are point and specific (for example, the location of Home, End and other keys), so most users will not pay attention to this.