A New Breed of Laptop: Asus Vivobook S15 OLED with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite
Asus has always been a pioneer in the laptop market, and their latest offering, the Vivobook S15 OLED (S5507), takes a bold step into the future. This isn’t your typical Intel-powered machine. It’s powered by the groundbreaking Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chipset, designed specifically for laptops. This new chip promises impressive performance in a sleek form factor. But how does the Vivobook S15 OLED hold up in the real world? We spent some time with the laptop to see if it delivers on its promises.
Asus Vivobook S15 OLED Design: Classy and Slim
The Vivobook S15 OLED, sporting a Cool Silver finish, shares a striking resemblance to its Intel Core Ultra counterpart, but with a few subtle distinctions. It boasts a clean, minimalist design that truly shines. The laptop is 14.7mm thin at its slimmest point, with slightly curved edges. Weighing in at just 1.42kg, it’s incredibly portable.
The laptop lid can be opened with one hand
Despite its all-metal construction, a slight flex is noticeable on the lid and keyboard area. The hinges are sturdy and wobble-free, allowing the screen to open smoothly to a full 180-degree angle – a welcome feature for sharing presentations or collaborating. Opening the lid with one hand is effortless thanks to the well-designed hinges.
The Vivobook S15 OLED doesn’t skimp on ports. On the right side, you’ll find two USB Type-A ports, while the left side boasts one HDMI 2.1 port, two USB Type-C ports, a microSD card slot, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The rear of the laptop houses exhaust vents, and the bottom features intake cutouts for ventilation, alongside dual speaker grilles.
Asus Vivobook S15 OLED Display: Colourful and Bright Indoors
The Vivobook S15 OLED opens to a beautiful 15.6-inch OLED display, boasting a stunning 3K (2880 x 1620 pixels) resolution and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. With HDR support and up to 600 nits of brightness, the display truly shines. While the panel is glossy, it’s ideal for watching videos and editing photos, delivering deep blacks and vibrant colors that pop.
The hinge lets you lay the laptop flat
Brightness, however, is not as impressive outdoors due to the glossy finish and reflection. The display does get bright enough for indoor usage but could benefit from a higher peak brightness.
Super-thin bezels surround the display, creating a nearly bezel-less experience. The top and bottom bezels are also remarkably thin. Asus touts the display as being TÜV Rheinland and SGS Eye Care certified, further enhancing its appeal.
Asus Vivobook S15 OLED Keyboard, Touchpad, Speakers, and Webcam
The Vivobook S15 OLED comes with a full-size chiclet keyboard equipped with one-zone RGB backlighting. The keys have ample 1.7mm of travel and are spaced nicely for comfort.
The keys offer good travel but aren’t very legible due to them being silver
However, the backlighting falls a tad short in terms of brightness despite offering three levels of control. The silver-colored keys aren’t very legible during the day, and the arrow keys are regrettably small. A dedicated Copilot key sits on the keyboard, a testament to the laptop’s AI capabilities.
The keyboard sits above a large, slightly off-centre touchpad. It’s smooth to use and provides excellent tactile feedback, supporting multi-touch gestures. It’s a clear winner in the touchpad department.
Audio performance comes from dual downward firing speakers positioned on either side, certified by Harmon Kardon. They produce loud sound but with a lack of bass. Vocals come through clearly, devoid of distortion even at full volume, thanks to the inclusion of Dolby Atmos. This provides an immersive surround sound experience while watching videos and movies.
The manual privacy shutter is nice to have
The Vivobook S15 OLED packs a full-HD webcam with a reassuring physical privacy shutter. It also includes an IR sensor for smooth Windows Hello authentication and a microphone. Video and photo quality are good in well-lit environments. However, low-light conditions result in noticeable noise.
Asus Vivobook S15 OLED Software: Basic with Some AI
The Vivobook S15 OLED S5507 is a Copilot+ PC, granting access to a variety of AI features such as Live Captions, Cocreator, and Windows Studio Effects. Features like the controversial Recall are yet to be fully rolled out.
Cocreator, a Microsoft Paint tool, uses AI to complete unfinished art in real-time. While it does work, it’s not as effective as hoped, possibly due to the user’s own artistic abilities.
Live Captions is a more practical feature, offering real-time captions for any audio content. The Windows Studio Effects are designed to elevate your video calling experience.
The laptop runs Windows 11 Home out-of-the-box
There aren’t many built-in Asus apps, though you do get MyAsus. This app is essential for managing various system settings, installing firmware upgrades, choosing fan profiles, and adjusting the keyboard backlighting.
While commonly used browsers, media players, social apps, editing tools, office tools, and coding programs are supported on the ARM platform, the overall software experience is still evolving. Some less common apps are still in the beta stage.
Asus Vivobook S15 OLED Performance: Solid
The Vivobook S15 OLED is powered by the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor, paired with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB PCIe 4.0 storage. Graphics are handled by the Qualcomm Adreno GPU.
The laptop handles most productivity applications with ease, even on a balanced power profile. However, opening more than a dozen tabs in Google Chrome can lead to some lag. This seems to be related to RAM allocation rather than the Snapdragon X Elite chip itself. With the processor drawing up to 50W in full performance mode, it’s well-equipped for handling various productivity tasks, editing tools, and streaming apps.
The laptop offers 16GB RAM, but it’s not enough for resource-intensive tasks
While the laptop does get slightly warm during benchmark runs, it doesn’t pose an issue for everyday use. The heat, when present, is primarily concentrated around the top section of the keyboard, near the function row.
Here’s a breakdown of benchmark scores:
| Benchmark | Score |
|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 Single | 2,331 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | 13,739 |
| Geekbench AI NPU (Quantized) | 21,978 |
| CrossMark | 1,103 |
The laptop scores well in Geekbench and CrossMark. Though a few games are compatible with the ARM chipset, don’t expect heavy gaming. The fans remain silent during everyday tasks, such as work, YouTube streaming, and photo editing. However, they do kick in during heavy usage but aren’t loud enough to be distracting. The fans only reach full speed when running demanding applications. The 1TB storage drive delivers solid performance.
Asus Vivobook S15 OLED Battery: Pretty Good
One of the key selling points of the ARM chipset is its superior battery life, and the Vivobook S15 OLED does impress, though not quite reaching the claimed figures.
With normal usage, including work, the laptop easily lasts a full day, even with brightness set to around 50 percent and the power profile on balanced. Adding YouTube and Netflix streaming slightly reduces battery life, but it’s still considered all-day battery life. The power consumption in sleep mode is particularly impressive, thanks to the efficiency of the Snapdragon X Elite chipset.
There are four performance profiles available in the MyAsus app
The 90W power adaptor facilitates rapid charging. An hour of charging can push the battery to 80 percent, with a full charge taking about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Asus Vivobook S15 OLED Verdict
There’s no denying that the Vivobook S15 OLED S5507, priced at Rs. 1,24,990, is a premium laptop. It competes directly with models like the Apple Macbook Air 15, offering a potent contender in terms of battery life and design. However, it falls behind in performance due to the limited 16GB RAM available in India.
If performance isn’t your top priority, and you’re primarily going to use the laptop for work that doesn’t involve heavy video editing, the Vivobook S15 OLED is an excellent choice. While it’s not a powerhouse, it’s capable of handling many tasks. The beautiful OLED display is ideal for content consumption, the design is sleek, and battery life is exceptional. Overall, the Vivobook S15 OLED excels as a 15-inch laptop.
