Focus on the screen. Most laptop manufacturers fail in this department, which brings down the overall experience. Not Asus. The company has been championing OLED displays and once you get used to it, it’s very difficult to move to any other laptop. And that’s the case with Asus Vivobook Pro 14 OLED, which we have been reviewing for the past couple of weeks.
Looks simple but can do extreme tasks
It comes with an ordinary looking chassis but the shell holds a good configuration. The machine hits the soft spot with office-goers as well as content creators. From design perspective, the VivoBook and ZenBook series share a few similarities. The VivoBook comes in a design that’s subtle but don’t go by looks. It is a sturdy machine that can take a pounding.
The first thing you will notice are the bezels, which are not too thick but not slim enough for 2022. But I can overlook that because of the beautiful OLED screen. There is an HD webcam with privacy shutter. If you are the kind who gets a bit worried about whether the camera is turned off or not, simply use the privacy shutter. As long as you see an orange dot above the screen, you know the camera can’t see you.
They keyboard is compact but there is no compromise on the typing experience
The keyboard is compact yet the keys are well spaced out. But I would have liked to see the fingerprint scanner/power button key placed elsewhere and not above the backspace button because I keep pressing it accidentally. The touchpad too is great to work on and there is no flex.
Like I said, the display is the real winner of the machine. The OLED panel is a treat to the eyes. It’s a 14-inch Pantone-validated display and there is 100 per cent DCI-P3 colour gamut, 90Hz refresh rate and 16:10 aspect ratio. It can offer lifelike colours. Anybody making videos for presentation, it will show the correct colours. Also consuming content is a joy. The contrast ratio is very good and there is excellent separation of light and dark. The aspect ratio offers more screen real estate, which helps during editing videos or when multiple windows are open. Viewing angles are great and there is no colour shift when you look at the display from an angle.
The built-in speakers are surprisingly loud with minimal distortion at max volume. It is good for casual movie watching and even during film editing.
Asus Vivobook Pro 14 OLED is light and well designed
Top-notch performance
Powering the device is AMD Ryzen 5 5600H with Radeon Graphics. The review unit came with 16GB RAM. The dual-fan system keeps the machine cool when you are editing videos or playing games.
This is not an Intel system but that’s fine. I could easily work on 10/12-minute-long 4K videos without the machine buckling under stress. There is up to 45W CPU performance. Gaming is quite a pleasant experience, easily executing games like Valorant. In case you want the best out of the machine, do drop the graphic settings a bit and voila. What surprised me the most is while editing short videos, the fan doesn’t flare up too much and you can’t really hear it. For those who want a dedicated GPU, there are several options from Asus.
Should you buy it?
The selection of ports could have been better for 2022. What you get is one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, HDMI 1.4, two USB 2.0 and micro SD card reader. Plus, 3.5mm headphone jack. There is no Type-C USB port which means you need to carry the charging brick with you.
Day-to-day performance doesn’t pose a problem. All productivity-based applications get a buttery-smooth treatment. Editing photos and small 4K projects? Sure go ahead. The battery life is also good at around six hours of on-screen time, which is the same as on many rival devices.
Once again I need to return to the display, which is simply gorgeous. The combination of horsepower and display make Asus Vivobook Pro 14 OLED a worthy choice.
The laptop can easily slip into any bag
At a glance
Device: Asus Vivobook Pro 14 OLED
Price: Upwards of Rs 59,990
High notes
- No compromise on the display
- Good audio output
- Enough processing power
- Acceptable battery life
Muffled note
- USB-C is missing