Asus Vivobook S 14X review: Lovely display, sad performance

Simple lines and a minimalist aesthetic. That seems to describe so many laptops lately that I feel like I could cut and paste from one review to another. The Vivobook S 14X fits that description as well, with just a few exceptions. Its chassis is one solid color, with no chrome accents and only a new, more elaborate Vivobook logo adorning the lid. Color choices include Midnight Black (my review unit), Sand Grey, and Solar Silver.

Up to now, every laptop we’ve reviewed with the 45-watt, 14-core (6 Performance and 8 Efficient), 20-thread Intel Core i7-12700H has been equipped with a discrete GPU. The Vivobook S 14X is the first we’ve seen that relies exclusively on integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics. At the same time, every other thin-and-light 14-inch Intel 12th-gen laptop we’ve looked at has used the 28-watt, 12-core (4 Performance and 8 Efficient), 16-thread Core i7-1260P. That makes the Vivobook an outlier on a couple of fronts.

I can imagine what Asus was trying to do: Provide a faster CPU for tasks that can utilize it while minimizing power and heat by skipping a discrete GPU. The problem is that despite its IceCool thermal technology with dual fans and heat pipes, the Core i7-12700H throttled during every benchmark with temperatures reaching as high as 97 degrees C (still less than the chip’s 100 degrees C maximum) and CPU frequencies often dipping down below 1GHz. As a result, the Vivobook S 14X’s performance was inconsistent and, in some cases, downright bad for the class of CPU.

The Vivobook S 14X’s hallmark feature is its 14.5-inch 16:10 2.8K (2,880 x 1,800) OLED display running at a refresh rate of 120Hz. Asus also touts the panel’s incredibly fast 0.2ms response time. Put those two together and you have a display that’s buttery smooth in running Windows 11, with no cursor ghosting, clear text scrolling, and windows that fly across the display. It’s a noticeable difference over standard 60Hz displays, and if the Vivobook were capable of gaming, it would make for a pleasant experience there as well. Of course, the colors were bright and plentiful as always with OLED displays, and the blacks were inky and deep.

According to my colorimeter, this is a phenomenal panel to find in an $1,100 laptop. Its colors were wide at 100% of sRGB, 99% of Adobe RGB, and 99% of DCI-P3, and they were accurate at a DeltaE of 1.07 (1.0 or less is indistinguishable to the human eye). Its contrast ratio was incredibly high, as is typical of OLED displays, and it was bright at 403 nits. It competed well against our very strong group of comparison machines in all metrics.

It’s a spectacular display that will please productivity workers, media consumers thanks to the VESA DisplayHDR True Black 600 high dynamic range (HDR) support, and creators who can live with the laptop’s performance.

Two downward-firing speakers at the front bottom of the chassis provide the sound, backed up by Harman Kardon tuning and DTS Audio Processing. I found the sound clear and bright, with nice highs and mids but minimal bass. The volume was just loud enough to be usable, and I could see myself watching some Netflix without pulling out a pair of headphones.

As mentioned above, the keyboard is color-matched with the chassis and presents a nice appearance. The red Esc key and white stripes on the Enter key are distracting, but I suppose I’d get used to it. The keycaps are large and slightly sculpted, and the key spacing is generous. The switches are light and bouncy, with a nice snap and a precise response. My only complaint is that the bottoming action is a little abrupt, which might get uncomfortable over exceptionally long typing sessions. It’s a good but not great keyboard.

The touchpad is adequately sized, although there’s room on the palm rest for a larger version. It was smooth and responsive, with Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers providing full support for Windows 11’s complement of multitouch gestures. An optional NumberPad 2.0 LED touchpad provides a virtual numeric keypad, which is available on the Solar Silver model only. The display was not touch-enabled, which is always a disappointment.

The webcam is 720p, so it hasn’t kept up with the move to Full HD on many other laptops. It does feature the Asus 3D Noise Reduction technology, which I found to be effective in making a clear image. It’s a fine webcam, but a higher resolution would have made it more effective for today’s hybrid workers. The webcam also features a physical slider that covers the lens for some extra privacy.

Finally, Windows 11 Hello passwordless login is provided by a fingerprint reader embedded in the recessed power button. It was fast and reliable during my testing.

There are 70 watt-hours of battery packed away inside the Vivobook S 14X, which powers both a high-res OLED display and a fast 45-watt CPU. I wasn’t expecting miracles, but what I got was still disappointing.

The laptop lasted just 6.3 hours in our web browsing test that runs through some popular and complex websites, which is a couple of hours less than we like to see. It also made it to just 8.25 hours on our video test that loops a local Full HD Avengers trailer, which is again several hours short. And in the PCMark 1o Applications test, which is the best indication of productivity battery life, the Vivobook S 14X made it to just seven hours.

Across the board, the scores were less than our comparison group, some of which also had power-hungry OLED displays. The Dell XPS 15, for example, had both the same CPU and a larger 15.6-inch OLED panel. Although it had just 23% more battery capacity at 86 watt-hours, it lasted 50% longer in our web browsing test, 53% longer in our video test, and 60% longer in the PCMark 10 Applications test. The Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 also lasted considerably longer with its own 14-inch OLED display.

The Vivobook S 14X is unlikely to make it through a full day of light productivity tasks, and if you push the CPU, you’ll be plugging in by noon. That’s not great, even for a laptop with an OLED panel.

There will be two configurations of the Vivobook S 14X when it ships in July 2022. My review unit will be a Costco exclusive priced at $1,100 with a Core i7-12700H, 12GB of DDR4 RAM, a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD), and the 14-inch WQXGA+ OLED display. The other model will cost $900 with a Core i5-12500H, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and the OLED display.

The Asus Vivobook S 14X is a challenging laptop to rate. Its performance is inconsistent and generally slower than it should be given the fast CPU, and its battery life is poor. Its build quality is also a bit less rigid than I like. But it’s only $1,100 with a competitive configuration and a spectacular 120Hz OLED display that’s better than those on much more expensive laptops.

In the end, the performance and battery life hold me back from recommending the Vivobook S 14X. You might have to spend more money, but there are better 14-inch laptops available today.

Are there any alternatives?