ReviewThree new laptops from ASUS have OLED screens, but are also quite affordable. What do you get with such a ‘cheap’ OLED laptop?
Read the full review Tweakers.
OLED screens are extremely popular with televisions and smartphones. High-end products in both categories are almost impossible to get without such a panel. It’s not going that fast with laptops, although you can purchase laptops with an OLED screen since 2016. This is because the first OLED screens for laptops were expensive and were not manufactured in large quantities.
If you’re looking for laptops with an OLED screen at the time of writing, 117 out of 138 are from ASUS. Of the cheapest 30 models, 28 even come from ASUS. In short, it is high time to put those cheaper OLED laptops to a test.
In this review we look at three of the new OLED models: the ASUS Vivobook 15 and 15 Pro with Intel processor, and the Vivobook 14X with AMD chip.
What is oled?
OLED stands for ‘organic light emitting diode’. It is organic material, which lights up when current is passed through it. If a color filter is added to this, that light also gets a certain color. In OLED screens, these organic diodes replace the classic image crystals in an LCD screen. Due to their luminous nature, they do not require additional side or back lighting.
This means that not only do the colors feel much more ‘natural’ (they come from the pixels themselves), but also that the screen becomes considerably thinner. OLED screens also have a high contrast and much better black values than LCD screens.
Vivobook 15 and 15 Pro
The Vivobook 15 is the ‘entry-level model’ in the Vivobook series, where we looked at a model with a Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 512 gigabytes of storage. You pay 1000 euros for that. You then get a laptop with a partly metal housing: at the back of the screen. That looks nice, but doesn’t offer the sturdiness you would hope for. The metal springs easily under pressure. For a laptop of 1000 euros, we find that somewhat disappointing.
That also applies to the Vivobook 15 Pro. That model is equipped with a Core i7 chip and an extra GTX 1650 video card. One difference between the two laptops is the positioning of the touchpad. With the Pro this is in the middle of the housing, while with the regular Vivobook it is placed in the middle below the alphanumeric part of the keyboard. ASUS has opted for a glass touchpad with both laptops and the touchpad is slightly larger with the Pro. Due to its positioning, you often sit with your wrist over the touchpad while typing, but luckily the laptop knows how to distinguish a wrist from a finger.
As far as connections are concerned, ASUS has cut back a lot. The HDMI connection only supports version 1.4 of the protocol, which means you can’t connect 4k displays at 60 frames per second, and the two left USB connections work at USB 2.0 speed. There are also fast connections; there is a Thunderbolt 4 port on the right side, with a USB 3 port next to it. So you can connect that 4k screen via Thunderbolt and external hard drives or SSDs can be connected to the fast USB connection on the right, but from a 1200 euro laptop you can expect all USB ports to be fast and at least HDMI 2.0 present. is.
We are pleased with the keyboards of both Vivobooks, which are pleasant to touch because they have a lot of travel. If you want to use the laptop to make (video) calls, you can, because the built-in speakers manage to produce quite a bit of sound, although tinny. The webcams have a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels, like most laptops, and with the Pro the camera can be hidden behind a slider.
Vivobook Pro 14X
The Pro 14X is an even more luxurious model. The model we tested has a fast Ryzen 9 processor, 32 gigabytes of RAM and a screen with a resolution of 2,880 by 1,800 pixels, which refreshes smoothly at 90 frames per second. With such specifications, the price also goes up considerably and the version we have tested costs 1700 euros.
The metal housing feels a bit sturdier than the other two models, although the metal back of the screen is also easy to press. Also with this model ASUS has made the incomprehensible choice to build in two slow USB ports and an HDMI 1.4 port on the left side. In addition, you will not find Thunderbolt here.
The Pro 14X is equipped with ASUS’ DialPad. That’s a ‘rotary knob’, which is incorporated into the touchpad. You can, by swiping in from the top right corner, activate the DialPad and then use the circle as if it were a rotary knob. However, because the touchpad does not provide tactile feedback, you are constantly looking at your touchpad during use to see whether you are operating it properly. Moreover, the relatively small circle is not suitable for more subtle turning. We can therefore well imagine that buyers of a laptop with DialPad play with it for a while and then never touch the functionality again.
Conclusion
For less than a thousand euros, ASUS provides this laptop with an OLED screen, which therefore has excellent image quality. Unfortunately, the case of the laptop could have been sturdier and the outdated USB 2.0 and HDMI 1.4 connections are impractical.
With an i7 processor, 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, the Vivobook is smooth and the performance is as you would expect. However, we would not buy this one, but the version with AMD processor, which is significantly cheaper and has two more CPU cores.
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