Asus Vivobook Pro 14 OLED in review: Pantone Validated laptop packs a lot of processing power

Asus offers a lot of performance at a comparatively low price with the VivoBook Pro models. These laptops are available in 14-, 15-, and 16-inch formats with Intel and AMD processors, as well as various options for graphics cards. Our test device is particularly impressive with its high-resolution OLED display.

It delivers 2,800×1,800 pixels at a size of 14 inches. An AMD Ryzen 5 5600H , an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 , and 16 GB of RAM ensure high computing power. Some retailers and Asus currently charge less than 1,000 Euros (~$1,016) for this.

We already reviewed the 15-inch version of the VivoBook Pro OLED a while back. Several multimedia and office laptops with a dGPU come into question as contenders. These include the much more expensive Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio , the cheaper Acer Swift X SFX14 with the GeForce GTX 1650, and even the Asus Zenbook Pro 15 .

The Asus VivoBook Pro 14 looks slim, and it generally presents a rather discreet design. The laptop’s base unit is made of plastic, and the display lid is made of an aluminum alloy. Both parts look extremely sturdy.

It takes a lot of force to warp the laptop. The color of our review unit is a grayish-blue shade, which can also look plain gray depending on the light. The screen can be opened with one hand; the maximum opening angle is 130°.

This provides a lot of headroom when it comes to positioning. Although the hinges are smooth, the screen holds its position well. The bezels around the screen are relatively narrow, but the device can’t quite be called “narrow bezel” yet.

Small design elements lighten up the laptop’s overall look. The stripe pattern on the enter key and the 3D logo on the lid are also found on other Asus laptops. With a thickness of a good 19 mm and a weight of 1.

5 kg, the VivoBook 14 is neither particularly thin nor light for a multimedia laptop. But the powerful computing hardware with the Ryzen 5 and the GeForce RTX 3050 also needs to be cooled appropriately. As a result, the Asus laptop is in the midfield compared with other multimedia laptops that have a dGPU.

For a multimedia laptop that’s also intended for media creators, the Asus VivoBook offers quite a low number of fast ports. We find two USB 2. 0 Type-A ports on the left side.

On the right side, there’s at least one USB Type-A and one USB-C port with USB 3. 1 (5 Gb/s). The AMD processor doesn’t support Thunderbolt 4.

The microSD card reader, on the other hand, is only connected via USB 2. 0. Ultimately, the VivoBook lacks the possibility to transfer data really fast.

Due to the USB 2. 0 connection, even the fast AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60 reference card can’t deliver high data transfer speeds. However, the card reader also remains well below the maximum speeds of USB 2.

0 (480 Mb/s) with a maximum of 304. 8 Mb/s. MicroSD cards can’t be inserted completely into the card reader, either.

Large metal case parts can have a negative impact on the transfer rates of laptops in Wi-Fi tests. This also suggests that the Asus VivoBook won’t necessarily have the highest Wi-Fi transfer rates. However, the rates of 950 and 920 Mb/s for sending and receiving, respectively, are still quite good for the MediaTek MT7921 Wi-Fi module.

The sending and receiving speeds are clearly above the average performance of the inexpensive module here. The 0. 9 MP webcam only provides you with a good image to a limited extent.

The privacy shutter is a good feature that can be used to hide the lens of the built-in camera. According to the spec sheet, the Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED also has a fingerprint sensor that’s integrated into the power button, in addition to the security features offered by the AMD Ryzen 5 5600H . However, we were unable to check the sensor’s function in the test because Windows didn’t recognize it.

Besides the usual collection of papers and the power adapter, a collection of stickers is included in the VivoBook’s scope of delivery. The packaging almost completely lacks plastic. Only a small seal sticker indicates here whether the laptop’s box has already been opened.

Nine Torx 5 screws hold the laptop’s bottom cover in place. Since the RAM is soldered, and there’s no second M. 2 slot, either, the laptop can hardly be upgraded.

Asus offers laptops worldwide with 36 or 24 months of warranty from the date of purchase. The battery is covered by a twelve-month warranty. One of the labels shows whether the laptop has a 36 or 24-month warranty.

In this way, our test device comes with a 24-month warranty. The VivoBook Pro 14 OLED’s backlit keyboard delivers a typing experience that is just about acceptable. This is due to its mediocre key travel and moderate haptic feedback.

However, keystrokes are pleasantly quiet, and the keys have a good layout. Like many recent Asus laptops, the VivoBook Pro 14 OLED has a hidden numpad in the touchpad. Once activated, it lights up behind the black ClickPad.

Mouse control is still possible, but somewhat limited, since a tap doesn’t trigger a mouse click, but enters a symbol where applicable. In practice, the virtual numeric keypad proves to be helpful when entering data. However, with its silky matte and slippery surface, the ClickPad could be built a bit better.

You can see clear gaps at the edges here, and the ClickPad feels a bit wobbly. This doesn’t result in any disadvantages for mouse control. It feels like inputs are detected and implemented without latency.

As the name suggests, the Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED has an OLED display. In the 16:10 format, 2880×1800 pixels provide a sharp image at 243 ppi. As is typical for the display technology, there are no illumination flaws here.

With 384 cd/m², the display is bright. However, the laptop’s massively reflective surface can be a bit strenuous. Users looking for an even higher display resolution will find it in other configuration variants of the VivoBook Pro 14.

The 90 Hz display is also quite flicker-free. Fast response times make the laptop interesting even for gamers. When playing videos, you also notice clearly that ghosting doesn’t stand a chance during fast movements.

The Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED’s display is Pantone Validated . This means that Pantone, as a manufacturer of the most accurate color scales, has tested and verified the color reproduction for accuracy. Our measurements show that the laptop’s display has a very wide color space and a good color reproduction.

On average, the color deviations are barely perceptible out of the box with a DeltaE of 1. 75. In practice, the display shines with vivid colors.

The display is ideally suited for image and video editing. The glossy OLED display can’t fully prove itself in outdoor use. Depending on the viewing angle, you get strong reflections or the refractions of the ambient light that are typical for OLEDs.

Nevertheless, it’s usually possible to find a position where the screen content is legible. Color shifts or a significant change in brightness can’t be observed, even from more oblique viewing angles. The display of the Asus laptop is color accurate from all directions.

With its AMD Ryzen 5600H and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 , the multimedia laptop is a powerful all-rounder. Image and video editing as well as the latest games pose no problems for the Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED with its 16 GB of RAM. The laptop is also available in other configurations with Intel processors or without a dedicated graphics card.

The MyASUS app allows you to set three different performance modes. Performance mode, Standard mode, and Whisper mode are available here. Performance mode can only be used in conjunction with an external power source.

We selected different performance modes depending on the test requirements. In this way, the benchmarks were performed in Performance mode. The battery endurance under load and the energy measurements under average load were performed in Standard mode.

Whisper mode was selected for the battery runtime measurement and the idle energy measurements. The maximum energy consumption was measured in Performance mode. All three performance modes were also tested for noise emissions.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600H is a relatively powerful mobile processor with six cores and twelve threads. In everyday use, the Ryzen 5 manages all load levels with ease. In the performance benchmarks, the processor displays the high multi-core performance that is typical for AMD, while it clearly lags behind Intel’s processors in single-core benchmarks.

The processor maintains its high performance even under prolonged load. However, there are a few laptops in our database with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600H that draw even more performance from the processor. Depending on the performance mode, the Ryzen 5 in the Asus VivoBook Pro 14 is allowed to run at slightly more than 50 watts, even over longer distances, as long as the Nvidia GeForce’s performance isn’t required as well.

On battery power, the laptop’s performance control only lets the processor run at 15 watts. This almost doubles the runtime of the 25 runs in Cinebench R13. Compared to other multimedia laptops with a dGPU, the Asus VivoBook Pro 14 doesn’t show the best performance, but the laptop’s scores in PCMark and CrossMark are exceptionally good.

With the Nvidia Studio drivers, the laptop can primarily achieve very high scores in the Digital Content Creation subcategory. Once again, this indicates that the multimedia laptop is also aimed at content creators. The latency test with LatencyMon resulted in a latency of slightly less than one millisecond.

This means that the laptop is just about capable of handling real-time applications in our tested hardware and software configuration. No frames were dropped during the playback of our 4K 60 Hz YouTube test video. The built-in Intel SSD ranks in one of the lower places in our HDD/SSD Benchmarks article .

Therefore, it’s not surprising that the storage isn’t particularly fast in the Asus laptop, either. Nevertheless, the data transfer speeds are sufficient for most use cases. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 that’s integrated into the Ryzen 5 solves most everyday tasks.

If more graphics performance is required, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 kicks in. Depending on the performance mode or power supply, the graphics card operates at 30 to 50 watts. This results in significant performance drops in some cases.

Comparing the different modes with the Fire Strike benchmark in 3DMark results in the following rates: Since the graphics card in the ASUS VivoBook Pro 14 can hold its relatively high performance just as well in the long run, the RTX 3050 manages to keep up with the slightly more powerful RTX 3050 Ti in the rival devices as well. This is how high the VivoBook scores in the various benchmarks with 3DMark and 3DMark 11. Asus installs the Nvidia Studio driver for the GeForce RTX 3050 here.

This driver is optimized better for demanding programs that are used for 3D editing and video editing. However, 3DMark doesn’t offer benchmarks optimized for the driver, so there’s a possibility that another graphics driver could produce better scores. The Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED achieved good frame rates in all the games that we tested, even using high settings.

The multimedia laptop even handles the current Ghostwire Tokyo easily, which shows its gaming skills. The combination of the Ryzen 5 5600H and the GeForce RTX 3050 provides great performance here. Most of the time, the laptop’s two fans remain almost silent.

Even under moderate load, they only rev up slightly and stay at around 30 dB(A). Only under heavy load, such as computer games, does the laptop become clearly audible. Nevertheless, the VivoBook Pro 14’s noise profile is only marginally bothersome, since it contains more mid-range frequencies.

Even though the laptop’s surface temperature rises under sustained load, it can still be used comfortably. The top side remains quite comfortable with a maximum of 43 °C (~109 °F) on the area of the keyboard and the palm rests, just above ambient temperature. Temperatures of up to 50 °C (~122 °F) can develop at the bottom of the case.

This is still bearable as well. The stress test with Prime95 and FurMark shows the processor’s high boost performance at the beginning. During the first three minutes, the graphics card and processor run at around 35 watts.

Afterwards, the Ryzen 5’s performance is reduced to around 25 watts. The GeForce RTX 3050 continuously runs at 35 watts. The CPU and dGPU temperatures remain constant over the one-hour test.

The VivoBook Pro 14 OLED’s speakers are characterized by clear mids and highs. Lows could be a bit stronger at least at high volumes, but they keep up well up to medium volumes. Overall, the laptop’s speakers are satisfactory.

Without load, the laptop runs with an energy consumption of between 6. 6 and 9. 6 watts.

It should be noted, however, that the OLED display requires different amounts of energy depending on the screen content and brightness. This means that the laptop requires considerably less energy for dark screen content. Under higher loads, the energy consumption is between 70 and 90 watts.

The laptop also gets close to the power adapter’s specified 120 watts for a short time. In the long run, however, the VivoBook Pro 14 stays well below the power adapter’s capacity, which means that the latter is well suited for the laptop’s performance. Provided that the multimedia laptop’s requirements don’t stress the dGPU, it offers impeccable battery runtimes.

The results in the Wi-Fi web browsing test of up to 9:29 hours of battery life prove that the VivoBook Pro 14 can get through a full workday. This is also due to the comparatively high capacity of the built-in battery. It’s quite generous at 63 Wh.

Therefore, it’s only a little surprising that the laptop can boast almost 2 hours of battery life even under load. The Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED’s highlight is its outstanding display: Featuring a 3K resolution in the 16:10 format and nearly a 100% coverage of the Display P3 color space, the display hardly leaves anything to be desired. The Asus laptop also shows impeccable rates in terms of general system performance.

The Ryzen 5 and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 ensure fast response times and high frame rates in modern games. Combined with long battery life, low noise emissions, and relatively good speakers, the laptop can be recommended to users who can accept compromises in terms of connectivity. This is because the Asus VivoBook only offers the bare essentials in this respect.

USB 2. 0 and the microSD card reader, which only provides USB 2. 0 speeds as well, are no longer up to date.

However, the laptop’s low price point should also be considered here. Some retailers and Asus are already listing the VivoBook Pro 14 OLED for under 1,000 Euros (~$1,018). Consequently, the multimedia laptop with its GeForce RTX 3050 offers a good price-performance ratio.

The VivoBook Pro 14 OLED sets standards for the displays in mid-range laptops. The laptop’s computing power is also more than adequate. The combination of the powerful hardware with the brilliant display in contrast to the rest of the connectivity, which seems almost cheap, might seem unusual.

Nevertheless, Asus cuts corners in the VivoBook in areas that only marginally affect productivity. As a result, the VivoBook should also be of interest to anyone who spends their spare time doing creative image editing. At the time of writing, the predominant model in the US seems to be the VivoBook Pro 14 OLED equipped with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU , the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, 16 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD.

You can currently get this configuration for $1,199. 99 both on Amazon as well as in Best Buy’s online store . .