ASUS Vivobook S16 – Longevity meets Productivity

ASUS continues its venture into productivity with another batch of laptops sporting Qualcomm Snapdragon goods. The latest of the bunch is the Vivobook S16 armed with the latest Snapdragon X CPU.

This is our first rodeo with such a device as they were never for gaming. Yet here we are, limit testing its capabilities. Although the million dollar question is, is it even capable? Well let’s all find out in our ASUS Vivobook S16 review!

Simple, thin, and light

As expected from a device with productivity on the forefront, we’ve got a simplistic design. No two-tone color scheme, etches, or any aggressive esthetic. Just your standard single color chassis with the ASUS Vivobook logo for identification and sass.

Yet its simplicity does have its charms such as an aesthetic made for a professional and a premium feel, like you’re handling a very expensive device. Pair that with a thin and relatively light chassis and what you get is the perfect productivity partner.

Surprising display quality but just okay audio

The screen resolution on the ASUS Vivobook S16 took us by surprise. It’s already rare to see a 2.5K (2560 x 1600 WXGA) display on a mid-ranged device let alone one in this price range. Yet that is exactly what the S16 has. A high resolution crisp display with nice viewing angles and sharp and vivid color. On top of that we also have 144Hz refresh rate, another feature typically reserved for pricier devices. Making any and all tasks look smoother and more fluid.

Perhaps this is one of the advantages of having a Qualcomm chipset, there is budget to splurge on other components. Either way, this yet another perfect component for productivity and even gaming. Though more on that later.

As for audio, well it’s nothing to be proud of nor be ashamed of. We’ve got above average Dolby Atmos speakers. It will leave you wanting more but it does suffice. Mids and Highs are respectable and lows are present but lacking. As expected with laptop speakers.

In any case, volume is decently loud as it can easily fill a studio room. Sound also remains clean and crisp even at max volumes. However, we still recommend using your audio gear of choice for any professional work. It’s more than enough for casual music listening and video watching though.

Huge pad, compact keys

This laptop truly has no shortages of surprises. First a stunning display and now probably the most enormous trackpad we’ve seen on a laptop yet. We could understand why though as a larger pad means more movement for gestures and scrolling. Then you have a distinct area for the left and right clicks. It’s definitely something professionals used to just trackpads will enjoy.

The keyboard is your standard chiclet for laptops with an included numpad. Tactility is fine and it’s nice to type on. However, to maintain the laptops small frame and to accommodate that huge trackpad, we got shrunken arrow keys. This leads to misclicks and a bit of struggles if you often use them.

The Snapdragon dilemma

We’re excited to see more competition in the computing market. However, we can confidently say that Qualcomm’s still got a long way to be a competitor in the space. The Snapdragon X, while a serviceable CPU, has quite a bit of glaring issues. The biggest of them is compatibility, thankfully most basic windows apps and programs are supported. The wider problem is with 3rd party apps and programs such as games and benchmarks. Most of our standard synthetic testing tools failed to run on the ARM device due to compatibility issues.

Same with some games, some we were able to open, others just crash a few seconds or minutes in. Performance-wise, the Snapdragon X is sufficient enough for menial and light tasks. Heavier ones though will definitely put a strain on the system or outright crash it. However, don’t expect snappy responses all the time as even when we were installing apps and programs, the device took a while to process. So in essence, the Snapdragon X really is strictly for light to medium productivity tasks only.

So, what about gaming?

Alright, so we know the Vivobook S16 wasn’t made for gaming but let’s still answer the question if it can. Right out of the gate the device struggled mightily in our synthetic benchmarks. Unigine Heaven and Valley along with 3DMark scores were abysmal to say the least. It wasn’t able to run Superposition due to compatibility issues as the program doesn’t support the Adreno GPU. So, poor performance on this front.

Synthetic benchmarks are one thing but what about the S16’s actual performance in games? Well, we once again ran into the compatibility issues and/or possibly bottleneck. Most of the triple A titles we tried to play either only open up until the menu screen or the intro video then crash. We didn’t even get the chance to properly benchmark.

Then what about PC ports of mobile games, after all Qualcomm is the reigning manufacturer for CPUs on phones, it shouldn’t be a problem right? Well not really as even the PC port of Genshin Impact crashes during intro. Google play games on PC isn’t supported as well, so we had to resort to getting 3rd party launchers (ex. Netmarble launcher) to try and test PC ports. So sadly, you’ll be playing cat and mouse if you wish to game on the ASUS Vivibook S16. Our experiences may vary though as you may be able to play the games we weren’t able to run. Either way, it’ll be a trial and error process to even begin playing a game. Then there’s also the question of performance.

Of the games we were able to play, both mobile and PC, we barely got any frames when using the native resolution (2560 x 1600). Playing on lower settings and resolution did improve performance and made some of them playable. Yet the amount of hoops you have to go through just to play may, at times, not be worth the extra effort. Even though we already knew the answer before all the testing, we still wanted to see how far the Snapdragon and Adreno pair can push PC gaming on their devices. Suffice to say, there’s still a mountain to climb before they can market their components as “gaming ready”.

AI anywhere, anytime

Alright gaming aside, let’s get to the strengths of the Vivobook S16 and one of those is ASUS’ Co-Pilot+. An AI program built into the laptop, allowing users a whole slew of assistive features that’s within reach anytime. Co-Pilot+ includes its own companion for easy searches and tasks, voice commands, image creation and editing, live captions, and even video call enhancements.

As a person who hasn’t fully grasped incorporating AI in their daily work routine, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of options I now have at my fingertips. While I am most probably been using these AI features inefficiently during my time with the S16, it is a very welcome feature to have. It made my writing, searching, and even times editing easier and faster. It’s also more efficient than accessing the same AI features on a browser. It may not be able to game but for productivity, having an AI companion anywhere, anytime is king.

A battery that feels like it lasts a lifetime

Perhaps the biggest reason you may want to consider getting the ASUS Vivobook S16 is its insane battery life. Powering the device is a 70WHrs 3-cell Li-ion battery, yes I know nothing new or surprising. However, pair that with the other efficiency features and the not-so power hungry, although underperforming, Qualcomm Snapdragon X and what you get is a laptop you almost rarely charge. During our 1080p video loop test (screen brightness at 50%, volume at 50%, wifi on, no battery saver) the laptop lasted a staggering 19 hours and 34 minutes.

That’s close to a day of continuous screen time, which is impressive to say the least. How about real life usage? Well, we tested how it’ll fair if we used it 8 hours daily on the same settings as our loop then shutting it down after, mimicking office hours duration. It lasted around 3 days and 5 hours before we had to plug it in. You may even be able to push it a bit more by turning on battery saver, reducing screen brightness, turning off wifi and the like. On this front, the Vivobook S16 definitely delivered on its marketing promise and then some.

Verdict

The ASUS Vivobook S16 isn’t our typical review device here at Dice & D-Pads. Yet the laptop still gave us quite a number of surprises. It stayed true to its name of being a productivity focused device. Featuring an amazing display with a high refresh rate, something that’s normally reserved for more expensive laptops. A more than capable and ever present AI program to facilitate a quick and more efficient work flow. Then the biggest plus of them all, a battery life that lasts for days.

It failed miserably on gaming and performing heavier tasks but we’re not holding it against the device. After all, it was never meant to be such, it was just our curious and stubborn minds that made us push it to the limit. At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a laptop solely for productivity then there are but a few competitors who could match the ASUS Vivobook S16’s bang for your buck.

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