But over time, I got used to OLED screens on smartphones, and my enthusiasm eventually died down. But then I got the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED, unboxed it, and after the first trunk, I was amused by the laptop’s 4K OLED display. The colors shone, and everything looked fantastic on display.
With that confession about the OLED display out of the way, let us get back to the notebook. I have been using the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X as my primary laptop for a little over a week now, and here is my take on this latest OLED offering from Asus.
Build and Design
In traditional TechPP fashion, let us first start with the build and design of the Vivobook Pro 16X. The laptop is made entirely of aluminum and feels good in the hand, which is exactly what you would expect considering the notebook’s price. Also, all the bends (pun intended) are well contained, for example, the lid and the deck. As for the weight of the laptop, it’s not exactly light at 1.95 kg, but considering the size and form factor of the laptop, it’s fine. While the notebook’s build quality is quite good for the price, I would have liked to see a bit more on the design front. There is nothing wrong with the overall design and functionality of the laptop, but it is rather generic. Asus is known for being innovative and experimental when it comes to notebook design, and the design of the Asus Zephyrus G14 is a perfect example of that. Also, the black color variant catches fingerprints and smudges quite easily, so that’s something to consider. However, you’ll like what you see once you open the notebook. Asus has played with the keyboard colors a bit, and I have to say it looks pretty cool, especially the orange Esc key. Overall, the laptop is pretty well built, with a design language that just works and nothing that would draw attention or stand out from the crowd.
Display
With the impressive 4K OLED display, the laptop recovers the lost points in the design. Let me get the specs out of the way first because the list is long. For starters, the notebook features a 16-inch (3840 x 2400) 4K 60Hz OLED display that covers 100% of the DCI-p3 color space and is TUeV Rheinland Eye Care certified and Pantone validated. As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, the display is absolutely stunning, and Asus hit the ball out of the park for a sixer (longer than MSD’s sixer? Not sure about that). Furthermore, I had no problems using the notebook outdoors in direct sunlight, thanks largely to the peak brightness of 600 cd/m². Asus targets the Vivobook 16X OLED at creatives/designers for whom the display plays an important role when editing photos and videos. However, the display’s refresh rate is limited to 60 Hz, and a higher refresh rate like 90 Hz would have been the icing on the cake. One of the main reasons many laptops do not ship with an OLED display is burn-in. However, Asus has taken measures to prevent burn-in, such as enabling Windows Dark Mode by default, using Samsung’s Pixel Shift technology, etc. But we cannot confirm the effectiveness until we have used the laptop for a few months.
Performance
One of the most important aspects of any laptop is its performance. My machine is equipped with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX chipset, and the Nvidia RTX 3050ti handles the graphics duties and 16 GB LPDDR4 RAM and 1 TB NVme PCIe 3.0 SSD. My workflow involves constantly working with multiple Chrome tabs and music playing in the background, and the notebook handles all of these tasks without breaking a sweat. The notebook should also perform well in demanding tasks like photo and video editing, as the NVIDIA 3050ti is a pretty powerful GPU. As mentioned earlier, the laptop is aimed at content creators. That said, I tried playing my favorite PC games on the laptop to test the GPU, and I am happy to report that you can play very comfortably on this laptop at low to medium graphics settings. For example, I tried playing Valorant on the laptop, and the experience was very good; I consistently averaged 180-200 FPS at medium graphics settings; when you increase the resolution to 4k, FPS drops to 100. The thermal situation of the laptop is also pretty good, and fan noise kicks in when you start putting a heavy load on the laptop, but that’s pretty normal, and the noise is not exorbitantly annoying like some gaming laptops.
Benchmarks
I have run a series of tests on the laptop to test its performance, so you can get a better idea of how the Asus Vivobook 16X OLED performs. Let us take a look.
Cinebench
Geekbench
SSD Speed
Ports and Connectivity
You will find the following ports in the laptop’s ports and connectivity:
1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 2 x USB 2.0 1 x HDMI 1.4 1 x 3.5mm Audio combo jack 1 x MicroSD card reader
While the availability of the ports is very good, there is still much to be said about their functionality. One of the most glaring omissions is USB power delivery support, and for someone like me who uses a PD charger to charge all devices, it’s a bit cumbersome to carry around an extra charger. Also, the HDMI port is HDMI 1.4 instead of 2.0, and the Type-C port does not act as a display output either, so connecting to an external display may not be the best experience. However, apart from these things, the connectivity situation is fine. On the other hand, the connectivity of the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X laptop is very good. You get support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0, and there is also support for Asus WiFi Master technology, which the brand says increases WiFi range.
Battery Life and Charging
Asus has equipped the Vivobook Pro 16X with a large 96WH battery, which performed exactly as expected during our test. As a result, you can easily expect 5-6 hours of battery life when performing normal daily tasks like browsing the web, working on presentations, etc. When you perform demanding tasks like photo and video editing, the battery life drops, which is to be expected. Still, we recommend plugging the notebook in when you use it heavily to get the best performance possible. The company includes a 120-watt fast charger that can quickly charge the device.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The good things continue with the Vivobook Pro 16x’s keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard works very well, registers all keystrokes well, and has decent key travel as well. In addition, thanks to the overall size and form factor, Asus has managed to include a full-sized keyboard with a Numpad, which is always good. I had no problems typing for hours on this notebook. There is also a three-level backlight, so typing in the dark was no problem. The trackpad below the keyboard, which has a few tricks up its sleeve. First, Asus has included a directional pad that can be activated by swiping inward from the shift key on the trackpad and is indeed an interesting addition. It serves as a brightness/volume control with added functionality in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop applications. Secondly, the trackpad is well-sized, and all Windows gestures work great.
Software, Speaker and Webcam quality
The Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED runs a pre-activated Windows 10 and can easily be upgraded to Windows 11. Windows 10 works great on the laptop, and Asus also includes Office 2019 if that’s what you are looking for. For the speakers, Asus has teamed up with Harmon Kardon, and the quality of the speakers is pretty good. However, I wish they were a bit louder; it would have enhanced the overall experience on the laptop. The quality of the laptop’s webcam is also fine, and nothing to get excited or overwhelmed about. There is also a physical shield for the camera to maintain privacy while working on the laptop.
Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED Review: Verdict
In summary, Asus has done a good job with the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED, and that is exactly what you would expect from a brand like Asus. Certainly, with a price tag of Rs 1,29,990 (USD 2754.99), the notebook is a premium device that is not for everyone. Instead, Asus has targeted the notebook at creatives and designers for whom the display plays a crucial role, and the brand has managed to get the notebook’s display perfect. If you are one of those people, you should consider the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED, as it will not disappoint you in this regard. Besides the excellent display, you get good performance, a pleasant keyboard and trackpad, great build quality, the Asus dial-pad, and more. Yes, it’s not perfect, and Asus could have done a few things better, such as a higher refresh rate and ports functionality. But maybe that’s something we will see in the next iteration of the laptop. If you are looking for something smaller, check out the Asus Vivobook Pro 14X OLED, which offers similar specs. Buy Asus Vivobook Pro 16X
