REVIEW: The ASUS Vivobook S 15 Lets You Take the Power of AI Anywhere
The latest innovations in AI have truly revolutionized the digital landscape. This is why when looking for a laptop, an AI PC is a true game-changer in both productivity and creativity.
PC powerhouse ASUS integrates this cutting-edge technology into their already impressive laptops with the new ASUS Vivobook S 15. Aside from being the brand’s first Copilot+ PC and having a Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip powering it, there are a lot of exciting features to unwrap in this AI PC from ASUS.
We recently got our hands on the ASUS Vivobook S 15 (S5507) which runs on the Snapdragon X Plus. Here are our thoughts about this new AI-powered laptop.
First Impressions
Out of the box, the ASUS Vivobook S 15 is a charmer with its 15” surface (13.88″ width x 8.93″ depth) that feels premium to the touch. It has the Cool Silver color which looks clean with just a subtle branding of “ASUS Vivobook” to give it an identity.
The hinge side of the monitor’s back panel also has a slight inward step which is always a nice touch compared to the usual fully rectangle lid of most laptops.
Pulling it out and carrying it around feels just right. It is slim and fairly light at 1.42 kg, but it also has a weight to it that feels premium and sturdy.
I also like that it has a metal chassis, which is more reassuring when I’m out and about compared to having a plastic-bodied laptop in my bag.
Add the flexibility of the device’s 180-degree hinge, and the Vivobook S 15 is a highly portable and efficient productivity companion for students, digital nomads, and workers of different setups, be it at home, onsite, or a mix of both.
Stylish RGB Keyboard & Smart Gesture Touchpad
When you open up the laptop, you’ll be greeted by the 15.6-inch display along with the keyboard and touchpad combo.
The full keyboard offers comfort and speed for both number crunchers and wordsmiths. It offers 1.7mm key travel and minimal sound, perfect for working even in shared spaces.
A dedicated AI button sits beside the arrow keys, keeping your AI tools within reach all the time. More details on this later.
While the laptop’s back panel keeps things simple, the single-zone RGB backlight of its keyboard adds flair to your setup when at work. Set the mood with your chosen color and mode, which is available in Solid Color, Strobing, Breathing, or Rainbow.
The touchpad space is quite generous and comes with smart gestures to control volume, brightness, playback speed, and window navigation.
An Ultra-Vivid OLED Display
Now onto the display, the Vivobook S 15 has a 15.6-inch 3K OLED display (2880 x 1620) with 89% screen-to-body ratio and 120Hz refresh rate.
Combining the OLED display and 3K resolution along with the 100% DCI-P3 color gamut really ups the viewing experience. The colors are vivid, contrast is crisp, and highlights just pop. Streaming videos, gaming, and doing creative work is a delight with this device.
The laptop’s brightness goes up to 600 nits. I tested it under a small shade outdoors and I can still see what I’m working on pretty clearly at maximum brightness. It also has TÜV Rheinland low blue-light certification to ensure your eyes are protected.
This laptop still has the 16:9 aspect ratio, but with this quality of display and other impressive specs and features, I don’t see it as a dealbreaker.
Display is definitely one of the Vivobook S 15’s strongest suits. Whether you’re working in a room or al fresco, this laptop delivers a punchy display to power your productivity wherever you go.
Strong Speakers, Clear Calls, and Swift Connectivity
The Vivobook S 15 comes equipped with Harman Kardon speakers to complement the vivid viewing experience.
Even with the speakers being placed on the underside of the laptop, the sound still comes out loud and clear. When elevated, the sound comes out even better. You can also fine-tune these speakers via the Dolby Access app.
The laptop’s full HD IR camera and microphone with AI Noise Cancellation allow for clearer conference calls. The camera also has a sliding shutter for added privacy and security.
For connectivity, the Vivobook S 15 is also packed with ports for your needs.
On the left are the HDMI 2.1 port, two USB4 Type-C ports with display and power support, a MicroSD card reader, and an audio jack. On the right side are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and indicator lights.
It also combines Wi-Fi 7 and the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 technology for an ultra-fast internet connection while its Bluetooth allows you to use three headphones simultaneously.
Powerful & Long-Lasting Performance
Let’s talk about power and performance. The Vivobook S 15 joins the curated lineup of laptops that sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip. In our case, it’s the Snapdragon X Plus, while the pricier S5507-MA032WSM variant has the more powerful Snapdragon X Elite.
Tailored for AI computing, the Snapdragon X lineup proves to be a worthy rising competitor for the Intel, AMD, and Apple M chips.
Both the Snapdragon X Plus and Elite variants of the Vivobook S 15 are also complemented by 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD for peak performance.
Multitasking with productivity tools and browsing with over ten tabs both went smoothly. I also tested video editing tools such as CapCut and DaVinci Resolve, which both worked without issues.
Casual gaming can also be a treat with this device. I played the fast-paced Hades and the 3D game Honkai Impact 3rd, and they both ran smoothly even with Max settings. I did encounter compatibility issues with the game Valorant, which just refused to launch.
I also played Honkai: Star Rail which needed a lower resolution to run without frame drops. Thanks to the OLED display though, the game still looks fantastic and bursting with vivid colors.
ASUS’ IceCool thermal technology also seems to work well, as the laptop didn’t heat up significantly after multiple hours of play and I never noticed any fan noise.
For a closer look in its performance, here are the unit’s benchmark scores while in Performance mode:
Cinebench R23 – 6593 (Multi Core); 1087 (Single Core)
Geekbench 6 – 11032 (Multi Core); 2288 (Single Core)
Battery life is impressive too. The 70 Wh high-capacity battery promises over 18 hours of use. In my hands-on experience, the battery went down by 10% to 12% per hour when working and streaming (80% volume and 50% brightness). When playing performance-heavy games, it went down 12% to 15% every 30 minutes.
These are with the battery’s Balanced Mode, but you can prolong the use of your laptop with the Best Power Efficiency mode.
It supports USB fast charging and upon trying it out, the laptop juiced up from zero to about 50% in just 30 minutes when not in use. When using it for work or gaming, it charged 50% after an hour.
With the Vivobook S 15, you can do your daily tasks and play casual games anywhere you go for long hours without a hitch. With its AI capabilities, you can do your tasks even faster.
Built-in AI Features
As the first Copilot+ PC from ASUS, the Vivobook S 15 streamlines work and play through its AI features in many ways.
With a click of its dedicated key, the Copilot AI chatbot pops up ready to answer queries and requests. No need to go to your browser and type up ChatGPT or Gemini.
When it comes to its responses, the Copilot is often more direct and concise with its answers as long as your questions are specific. It doesn’t go off stretching what could’ve been a short answer like other AI tools seem to do frequently. That is, unless you ask it to.
Its answers are up to date, and I didn’t encounter any inaccuracies when fact-checking the data. If you need references for your research, it will also pull up links you can use. I asked it to give me links about a certain news topic, and it included the articles with thumbnails for easy navigation.
It can also generate images for your presentations or for online content use. For the best results, just keep descriptions clear. I asked it to create an image with specific details and I got it.
As expected, there are limits to how absurd, complicated, or NSFW your prompts can be to avoid abusing the technology. Don’t deliberately push the Copilot’s boundaries and you’ll be fine.
What really impresses me about Copilot though is its speed. Whether it’s answering a question or generating an image, the results are there in just a few seconds.
If you don’t want to type long questions or prompts, just use the microphone like I did, and the responses will also be read out loud by the AI with a very human-like voice. It also supports different languages. I asked it in Filipino via the microphone and it also answered with a fluent Filipino voice.
Outside the chatbox, you can also generate images from your simple drawings with the Paint app, which comes embedded with Cocreator. I just had to sign in and was instructed to download the Image Generation Extension from the Microsoft Store then everything went smoothly from there.
Make some scribbles, type in a prompt to describe it, and tweak the available settings and sliders. Cocreator will then use these as references to create an AI-generated image.
If you’re principled to avoid AI image generators like these though, there are still numerous AI features from this laptop that can boost both your human creativity and productivity.
For creatives and everyday users who always find their devices packed with photos and videos, the ASUS StoryCube app can help.
It compiles all your files from your cloud and devices and then uses AI to recognize the content to help you search, sort, and manage them. There’s nothing to worry too, as their privacy policy clearly states that all content stays in your device and won’t be transmitted elsewhere.
Live Captions is also part of this laptop’s AI arsenal. It captions and even translates calls in real time using AI. It doesn’t seem to support Filipino translation yet, but it’s pretty useful as it is not confined to any app.
You can also rely on the laptop’s AI Noise Canceling capability to keep calls clear. Meanwhile, Windows Studio Effects automatically applies improved lighting and blurred background to whatever platform you’re using, be it Zoom, Teams, Loom, or even with just your laptop’s camera app. It’s very accessible as it also shows up in the Quick Settings of your Taskbar.
For gamers, there’s also the Automatic Super Resolution which uses AI upscaling to help bridge the gap between high graphics and high frame rates for some games.
The Verdict: Highly Portable & Extremely Capable AI PC
The Vivobook S 15 has so much to offer for such a thin and lightweight laptop. It gives you the luxuries of an OLED display, powerful chipset, long-lasting battery, and the impressive AI features of a Copilot+ PC.
While some of these AI tools are available online, having them all in one place through Microsoft and Qualcomm’s trusted technology is such a boost in convenience and confidence.
Plus, its quality also meets its price point, making the ASUS Vivobook S 15 a worthy investment with its AI advantage that you can take anywhere you go.
You can now buy the new ASUS Vivobook S 15 at a price of P69,995 for the Snapdragon X Plus variant and P84,995 for the Snapdragon X Elite variant. It also comes with a free Office Home & Student 2021 and a 1 Year Microsoft 365 Personal subscription.
After your purchase, ASUS also provides peace of mind as this laptop comes with a free 4A Quality & Service warranty package.
Get your hands on the new ASUS Vivobook S 15 today through these stores.
Quick Specs
Display | 15.6-inch 3K OLED |
Processor | Snapdragon X Plus or X Elite |
Graphics | Qualcomm Adreno GPU |
Memory | 16GB LPDDR5X |
Storage | 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD |
Operating System | Windows 11 Home |
Battery | 70WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-ion |
Dimensions | 13.88″ W x 8.93″ D x 0.58″ H |
Weight | 1.42 kg |
Ports | 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A2x USB 4.0 Gen 3 Type-C (display / power delivery support)1x HDMI 2.1 TMDS1x 3.5mm Combo Audio JackMicro SD card reader |
Price | P69,995 (Snapdragon X Plus); P84, 995 (Snapdragon X Elite) |