Asus Vivobook 16X OLED Review: Roomy OLED Laptop for Less #GeekLeap

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Asus Vivobook 16X OLED

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Like

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  Gorgeous, spacious 4K OLED show
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  Inexpensive for a 16-inch OLED laptop computer

Do not like

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  So-so construct high quality
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  Middling efficiency
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  Weak audio output
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  Grainy 720p webcam

There’s one motive and one motive just for buying the Asus Vivobook 16X OLED laptop computer: its spectacular 16-inch, 4K OLED show. The display has beautiful readability and distinction and coloration accuracy that is clearly and unmistakably higher than what you’d get from a midrange laptop computer with a typical LCD show. The 16-inch measurement is unimaginable, too, with a 16:10 facet ratio for ample workspace. 

Outdoors of the OLED panel, the Vivobook 16X is a middling midrange laptop computer. For its $1,200 value, we’re wonderful with the laptop computer’s Twelfth-gen Core i7 H-series processor, even when it is now a technology behind. However someplace alongside the way in which, Asus lower corners with the {hardware} as a result of it is a step behind equally configured laptops we have examined. Plus, the show could be rather more helpful for content material creators if Asus had fitted it with a finances Nvidia RTX GPU. Add to these the plasticky, flimsy really feel and a 720p webcam that disappoints in decision and readability and the Vivobook 16X OLED is hard to advocate. Nonetheless, for those who can decide it up at a reduction, the drawbacks could be price overlooking for the Vivobook 16X’s unimaginable and spacious 16-inch, 16:10, 4K OLED show.

Asus sells just one model (mannequin F1603) of the Vivobook 16X OLED. It prices $1,200 and might be discovered at Amazon, Greatest Purchase and different on-line retailers. We couldn’t discover it accessible on the market within the UK or Australia, however the value converts to £955 and AU$1,800. It incorporates a 16-inch OLED show with a 4K decision (3,480 by 2,400 pixels) and a 16:10 facet ratio. An Intel Core i7-12700H, 16GB of RAM, built-in Intel Iris Xe graphics and a 512GB SSD spherical out the interior elements. It is accessible in both silver or deep blue; our take a look at system was the latter, and it appears good.

You may see comparable Vivobook Professional 16X OLED fashions — the key phrase right here is the “Professional” within the mannequin identify. These Professional fashions function the identical 16-inch, 4K OLED show however ship RTX 3050 or 3050 Ti graphics and as much as 1TB of storage. In addition they have a metallic lid and, for some motive, an orange Esc key.

Our non-Professional Vivobook 16X OLED take a look at system produced uninspired ends in lab testing. It trailed equally configured programs on Geekbench 5 and was at or close to the again of the pack on our Cinebench and 3DMark exams. Along with an undersized SSD for graphics execs, its lab efficiency is one other disappointment for anybody trying to make use of the 4K OLED for media enhancing. In the meantime, its runtime of simply over 7.5 hours on our battery drain take a look at was merely common.

Hole and flimsy

Not like the Vivobook Professional 16X OLED fashions, the Vivobook 16X OLED options an all-plastic chassis. Once I first picked up the laptop computer, I used to be dismayed to really feel the lid and backside panel flex between my thumb and fingers, particularly the lid. It flexed to the purpose of feeling hole. After opening the laptop computer, I felt the identical troublesome flex with the keyboard deck. A metallic lid and keyboard deck would have gone an extended strategy to making the laptop computer really feel a bit extra premium. As constructed, it seems like you’re getting a premium OLED show wrapped in a finances enclosure, which averages out to a midrange laptop computer.

For having such a roomy show, the Vivobook 16X OLED stays moderately transportable. It is solely 0.8 inch thick and weighs 4.1 kilos. It is significantly lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Professional, which weighs 4.7 kilos, and the 4.6-pound Dell Inspiron 16 Plus. Then once more, if you’re searching for essentially the most transportable 16-inch, 16:10 laptop computer, the Acer Swift Edge remarkably weighs simply 2.6 kilos and is barely 0.6 inch thick, and it, too, has a superb OLED show. 

Keyboard consolation is restricted by the flexy chassis. Underneath the fingertips of my moderately thunderous typing, the keyboard deck flexed always. The keys themselves felt snappy and responsive with shallow journey. And it was one of many quietest keyboards I’ve encountered shortly. It is a good decide for working in a espresso store or workshare house; you needn’t fear about any clacky typing bothering these round you. 

Asus squeezes in a quantity pad, which you may recognize for those who spend parts of your day getting into knowledge into Excel and the like. Personally, I would moderately have the keyboard centered under the show and together with full-sized arrow keys. All 4 of the Vivobook 16X’s arrow keys are half-height, despite the fact that there’s room to a minimum of make the 2 side-arrow keys full top. 

The keyboard options three-level backlighting, which is appreciated as a result of it allows you to select the suitable stage for the ambient gentle in your setting. One final observe on the keyboard: The Enter key has white-and-black striping alongside its backside edge. I do not learn about you, however the Enter secret’s concerning the final key I need assistance finding. It is giant and situated in a straightforward spot to press. The striping is distracting, and I shortly grew peeved by its presence.

The touchpad is of first rate measurement and felt correct, however its click on response — like the remainder of the system — felt flimsy. It had an excessive amount of journey and had a “clacky” response when pressed. On the upside, it incorporates a fingerprint reader within the upper-right nook for simple, safe logins.

Superior OLED show

Once more, on the coronary heart of the Vivobook 16X is a spacious, sharp and vivid 16-inch OLED panel with a 4K decision and 16:10 facet ratio rated for 600 nits of brightness. My testing with a lux meter confirmed that determine after which some — I recorded a most of 650 nits. The brightness of the show, mixed with the power of the OLED panel to provide absolute blacks, ends in an unimaginable distinction ratio. Asus claims it has a 1,000,000:1 distinction ratio, and I am unable to dispute it. The picture it produces is totally attractive. Colours are correct and vibrant, and the sides of pictures and textual content look razors sharp. Based on Asus, the show covers 100% of the DCI-P3 coloration vary, which is par for OLED shows.

The show incorporates a 180-degree hinge, however I query its usefulness. It makes extra sense to me with contact assist as a handy strategy to share your display with a collaborator. However with out a contact panel it appears superfluous. 

I additionally do not see the purpose of outfitting a laptop computer in 2023 (or 2022, for that matter) with a 720p webcam. Practically each mainstream mannequin launched within the final yr incorporates a 1080p digital camera. Solely finances fashions can squeak by at this level with such an outdated webcam. And positive sufficient, it produces a grainy, poorly uncovered picture. The webcam does have a bodily privateness shutter, an merchandise we’re all the time comfortable to see.

The Vivobook 16X OLED’s audio system, too, are subpar. Films look implausible on the big, high-res OLED show, however the audio output sounds muddy. You will have to activate subtitles so you do not miss any dialog or attain in your headphones. 

Getting a roomy, high-resolution OLED show at this value seems like a steal, however you may have to make quite a lot of tradeoffs to get away with it. The flimsy plastic enclosure is the largest concession you are compelled to make, and content material creators searching for an reasonably priced, big-screen OLED laptop computer might want to limp by with built-in graphics and solely 512GB of storage. And the tinny audio system restrict its attraction as an leisure laptop computer. 

We advocate stepping as much as the Professional model if potential. It is roughly $350 extra, and also you get the identical nice show with higher construct high quality, sooner processing and a discrete GPU for newbie content material creation. For $300 extra, the Acer Swift Edge presents a 16-inch, 16:10 OLED show inside a slim but inflexible magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis. It additionally repeatedly goes on sale at Costco for lower than $1,000. Or for those who do not thoughts a smaller show, contemplate the HP Pavilion Plus 14, which is available in many configurations at extra reasonably priced costs.