Asus Vivobook S16 Review: Unleashing Power and Productivity with Style!

Asus continues to make a mark with its Vivobook series—laptops designed for everyday use while offering a touch of personalization. The latest addition, the Vivobook S16, expands this concept with a 16-inch OLED display, powered by Snapdragon technology, targeting millennials who appreciate style in their gadgets. This review assesses whether the S16 delivers as an all-day performer while looking stylish.

Design

The ASUS Vivobook S16 maintains the signature Vivobook aesthetic, featuring a sleek metallic chassis. Measuring 35.7 cm by 25 cm and with a thickness of 1.79 cm, the 16-inch laptop strikes a well-balanced profile. Weighing 1.74 kg, it feels substantial without being cumbersome, with weight evenly distributed across the chassis.

The review unit showcased a striking BFF Peachy color, a metallic peachy-pink hue, while Salvia Green is also available. Both colors feature a matte metallic finish, providing a premium look targeted at today’s millennials.

The S16 comes equipped with a 16-inch OLED display featuring a resolution of 1920 x 1200, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and a peak brightness of 300 nits | Photo Credit: Bijoy Ghosh

Display

The S16 features a 16-inch OLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and a peak brightness of 300 nits. The display renders vibrant colors, making it suitable for media consumption. While watching The Bads of Bollywood on Netflix, the screen effectively captured the rich hues and fast-paced action sequences. Despite its glossy finish, reflections were well-controlled, which enhanced the viewing experience.

The downward-firing speakers deliver decent audio quality. Positioned on the left and right sides of the laptop’s front, they handle complex arrangements well, as evidenced by songs like “Kadhalikkum” from *Kadhalan* and Boney M’s “Rasputin.” However, vocals may sound less prominent and lack depth. Nonetheless, the laptop’s sound quality is adequate for occasional use as a party jukebox.

Keyboard

The keyboard on the S16 is satisfactory for typing long documents, featuring large plastic keys for comfort. However, the keys have a soft feel and lack tactile feedback with each keystroke. The spacious trackpad is a notable feature, providing effective palm rejection and a natural feel, reducing the need for an external mouse. While a glass trackpad could enhance the experience, the current design performs effectively.

Performance

Powered by a Snapdragon X X1 26 100 processor with 8 cores and 8 threads, the S16 boasts a 30MB cache and clock speeds up to 2.97GHz, supported by a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU providing up to 45 TOPS for advanced AI tasks.

In the Cinebench R24 benchmarks, the laptop scored 92 points in the single-core CPU test, ranking fifth overall, and achieved 556 points in the multi-core test, placing seventh, just behind the Apple M1 Max. Despite its focus on productivity and media consumption, gaming such as Solitaire performed well on this device.

The laptop features CoPilot support for tasks like script generation, and the Full HD webcam is adequate for video calls, equipped with a physical shutter for privacy-conscious users. A 1-minute 30-second video exported with basic transitions in Premiere Pro in under 56 seconds, demonstrating solid performance despite not including the higher-end Snapdragon X elite processor.

Ports

The S16 is equipped with two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, two USB 4.0 Gen 3 Type-C ports that support display and power delivery, along with an HDMI port. The port selection is robust, though an additional USB-C for power on the right side would have enhanced its flexibility, especially in docked setups with HDMI cables and peripherals.

Battery

The laptop offers commendable battery life, lasting nearly 10-12 hours when connected to the internet for tasks like typing and streaming music, extending up to 12 hours with light document work. However, with occasional gaming and video editing, the battery life reduced to around 4 hours. The provided 65-watt USB-C charger fully recharges the laptop in approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Verdict

The ASUS Vivobook S16 enhances the strengths of the S14, featuring a larger display and excellent single-core performance, making it a suitable choice for both professional and home use, all within a stylish design.

While competing models such as the Acer Swift 3 and Lenovo IdeaPad 5 may offer better battery life and pricing, the S16’s overall feature set and value make it a compelling option for consumers.