ASUS has recently unleashed its new ProArt lineup of laptops, including Vivobook Pro 14X OLED that has purposefully been made for creators and professionals. The laptop had been there with us for a lot of weeks, even before the launch, and so we have a good idea about how it performs? Why should you definitely buy it if you are into creativity?
Previously I reviewed both VivoBook K15 OLED and the ZenBook 13 OLED which both turned out to be excellent laptops overall for creative users. They are good laptops, but they are not explicitly meant or is a part of ASUS’s ProArt lineup, which they have handcrafted, keeping in mind productivity users.
The new ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X, as the name suggests, comes with a 14-inch OLED display and a 2.8K resolution along with a modern 16:10 aspect ratio. This not only makes the laptop look stylish but also gives more display to content creators, and never will you feel that the laptop has a small display.
Powered by the latest AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX Mobile Processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics, this is a productivity monster while weighing just 1.45 kg. So, it is effortless to carry anywhere while also providing you with good battery life thanks to its 63WHrs battery and incredible efficiency of the AMD Ryzen processor.
Overall, much like as I enjoyed using the VivoBook Pro 14X OLED, here we will focus on why you should buy it? Also, we will give every detail you will require before making a decision of purchasing this laptop:
Specifications
- Operating System: Windows 10 Pro upgradable to Windows 11 Pro, new laptops will ship with Windows 11 Pro by default
- Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX Mobile Processor (8-core/16-thread, 20MB cache, up to 4.6 GHz max boost)
- Graphics: Up to NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX™ 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, Boost up to 1500MHz at 35W (50W with Dynamic Boost) NVIDIA Max-Q technology for peak performance and efficiency, 4GB GDDR6, here we got the RTX 3050 GPU variant
- Display: 14.0-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED 16:10 aspect ratio, 0.2ms response time, 90Hz refresh rate, 600 nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 1,000,000:1, VESA CERTIFIED Display HDR True Black 600, 1.07 billion colors, PANTONE Validated, Glossy display, 70% less harmful blue light, SGS Eye Care Display, Screen-to-body ratio: 86％
- RAM: 32GB DDR4 onboard, Memory Max Up to:32GB
- Storage: 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
- I/O Ports: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, 1x DC-in, Micro SD card reader
- Expansion Slots (includes used): 1x M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4
- Keyboard & Touchpad: Backlit Chiclet Keyboard, 1.35mm Key-travel and Support NumberPad (Optional)
- Camera: 720p HD camera with privacy shutter
- Audio: Built-in microphone, Built-in array microphone, harman/kardon (Mainstream) with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6(802.11ax)+Bluetooth 5.0 (Dual band) 2*2
- Battery: 63WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-ion with 120W AC Adapter
- Weight and Dimensions: 1.45 kg (3.20 lbs), 31.74 x 22.85 x 1.79 ~ 1.79 cm (12.50″ x 9.00″ x 0.70″ ~ 0.70″)
- Built-in Apps and MyASUS Features: MyASUS, ProArt Creator Hub, AppDeals, System diagnosis, Battery health charging, Fan Profile, Splendid, Tru2Life, Function key lock, WiFi SmartConnect, Link to MyASUS
Design & Build Quality
The ASUS VivoBook series has been mostly looked upon as a budget/mid-range option with the decent build quality, and the best designs mainly were reserved for the ZenBooks. However, in this case, the ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X OLED being part of its ProArt lineup of creativity, focuses on making the laptop both professional and unique.
The VivoBook Pro 14X OLED comes in Meteor White and 0˚ Black color variants, while here we got the latter variant. If you opt for the Meteor White variant, you will see a unique textured coating on the lid that softens the feel of tough, hard metal, while the 0˚ Black variant gives more of a black metal design with a clean look.
By the look of it, you will see the laptop has a premium vibe to it even though ASUS has carefully maintained its simplicity. The 0˚ Black is a pure black color with anodized aluminium texture and gives you a straightforward feel, while the unique way of carving the ASUS logo has given this laptop a special touch, and you will find this in the entire design.
There are bits of unique touches given the VivoBook Pro 14X OLED carefully and be it the unique keys on the keyboard to a carving on the top of the lid, and the design looks superb!
Display
A creativity laptop’s key highlight has to be its display and here ASUS has used a high-quality 14.0-inch OLED display with 2.8K (2880 x 1800) resolution thanks to the modern 16:10 aspect ratio. This always gives more area to work with even in a small factor like a 14-inch display, personally, I have been using the VivoBook Flip 14, and I always felt that I got more display with this laptop.
That extra bit of display always helps, primarily if you work on apps like Adobe PhotoShop or Premier Pro. The best part is the quality of the display, ASUS has got no competition in providing OLED panels on laptops these days and much like the other models like ZenBook 13 OLED or VivoBook K15 OLED we reviewed previously, this laptop didn’t disappoint me at all.
This is a bit of an upgrade of other OLED panels ASUS uses as this is meant for creative people, featuring up to 600 nits of peak brightness, 0.2ms response time and a 90Hz refresh rate. These minor upgrades to its existing OLED panels have made the display of the ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X special; you can experience that fluidity when you work, thanks to such low response times and higher refresh rates.
With an incredible 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, you experience deeper blacks and whiter whites, this display gives an incredible experience which you cannot understand until & unless you actually see the laptop in action. The punchier colours on the display look great, making it a good recommendation for media consumption as well. It is also is PANTONE Validated while emitting 70% less harmful blue light.
We ran some display tests with our SpyderX Pro and the results is mostly what we expected:
As you see in the tests, this ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X OLED has one of the best color accuracies in the market, covering 100% sRGB color gamut, 96% AdobeRGB, 100% DCI-P3 and 95% of NTSC color gamut. The other tests also show the positive effect of using a high quality OLED panel on this VivoBook Pro 14X OLED, while in our variant, the peak brightness went up to a max of 400 nits.
I highly recommend experiencing the laptop’s display before buying, be it productivity, casual work or even leisure; this VivoBook 14X OLED has one of the best displays in the market. Read more on the product page of this laptop to know more benefits of an OLED panel over a regular LCD IPS panel.
Performance
One of the biggest reasons this ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X OLED quickly became my favourite is its sheer performance. Beneath this 1.45kg laptop, you have a full-fledged AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor with eight cores and 16 threads, the best AMD processor that consumes 45W TDP.
Now, add to that, you also have an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 discrete graphics in a form factor which you will probably have thought to be any other ordinary budget laptop. Thanks to the RTX 3050, you get access to NVIDIA Studio drivers that help you make content or use the creative applications for better performance.
Now, this, paired with a 32GB RAM and fast 1TB NVMe SSD, makes the VivoBook Pro 14X OLED one of the best laptops for creativity and even for casual gaming if you want. Surprisingly, even on a thin & light form factor like this, the Ryzen 9 5900HX performs brilliantly both in terms of single-core and multi-core performance.
Here are some the synthetic performance benchmarks:
Though the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX is not as powerful as the 11th Gen Tiger Lake-H processors, however, they are the most efficient options out there in the market is based on the 7nm process. The optimizations by AMD and ASUS helps make the laptop stay quiet when doing regular work, and the processor jumps in when some high-end application like Premier Pro is used.
Even while taking intense benchmarks like 3DMark FireStrike or TimeSpy, the laptop doesn’t heat up, and this tiny laptop easily handles any task you throw at it. Here are some of the 3DMark benchmarks which will give you a better idea about the laptop’s productivity performance:
While it’s not the most powerful discrete GPU on a laptop but much better than any iGPU, so, creators who are not willing to spend ransom amount but need a reliable option can go for the VivoBook Pro 14X OLED that performs well, staying within TDP limits while still giving you good productivity performance.
Last but not least, let’s talk about the 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD; well, we know the Ryzen 5000H processors do not support PCIe Gen 4 SSD, but the NVMe SSD used here is quite fast. Giving read speeds of up to 3577MB/s is in itself very fast, and writes go up to 3060MB/s, overall incredible speeds for a creative laptop like this VivoBook Pro 14X OLED.
Thermals & Upgradability
One of the key reasons why ASUS has become so successful in making laptops off recently is because of its experience in making a wide range of laptops while also hearing from reviewers and critics, and consumers. While still affordable, the Taiwan giant is spending more on its R&D to beat the competition.
This clearly is a representation of what you see in the thermals of the new VivoBook Pro 14X OLED, in a small form factor because of a highly efficient dual-fan cooling system with two heat pipes. As ASUS calls this, the IceCool Plus thermal technology helps keep the laptop’s thermals well-behaved most of the time.
Though you have three fan profiles to choose from in MyASUS based on personal need, the laptop knows when to kick its fans. While working on most of the applications or usually just work, you won’t hear the fans spinning only and unless if it’s essential, so ASUS has focussed more on the thermals and has given you the freedom to tune your laptop according to your needs.
Not only do you have upgradable RAM slots up to 32GB but also one M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4 expansion slot (depends on the model). The upgradeability options are not the best but are still good enough on a VivoBook line of laptops, considering the budget.
Audio & Webcam
Much like any other ASUS laptop, the audio is also a strong point for the VivoBook Pro 14X OLED. Both the speakers of the laptop fire when you listen to songs, do music production or do anything related to audio. Not one of the loudest to my ears but possibly one of the most accurate, certainly not in line with MacBooks but close.
Overall, the audio of this laptop is good and much better than many others in the competition. At the same time, the webcam is still nothing more than “usable” I think laptop makers should start improving webcams from next year. The Webcam shield or the privacy shutter is a handy addition. It easily slides over the webcam for instant privacy.
Keyboard & Trackpad
I have reviewed many ASUS laptops and personally use the VivoBook Flip 14 a lot; however, my improvement on the VivoBook Pro 14X OLED is practically huge. Though you have the same backlit chiclet keyboard with 1.35mm key-travel, the keycaps give you a mechanical feel and “feel”, so the quality has certainly improved.
It’s not the plastic keyboards you notice on a typical VivoBook laptop, but more of a premium ZenBook like a keyboard with good essential travel and is comfortable to type on. Also, the last time I was impressed with the trackpad on an ASUS laptop was the ZenBook 13 OLED and the same I am with the trackpad on this VivoBook Pro 14X OLED.
ASUS claims to provide a 49% bigger trackpad on this VivoBook Pro 14X OLED, and I would say to some extent, this full-size smooth-textured touchpad is one of the best I have used on an ASUS laptop.
This is a much bigger trackpad than you see on even a ZenBook laptop and this trackpad easily made me forget of using a mouse which I generally do because of the awful trackpads on a laptop. Easily, this trackpad is very much comparable to a trackpad on a MacBook to some extent and for creative professionals, this is a good sign.
The DialPad on the trackpad is another useful addition for creative professionals as with this virtual interface on the touchpad you are in full control of adjustments in all compatible Adobe creative software like Lightroom, Photoshop and others. This is a very convenient option by ASUS for professionals looking for this laptop.
Ports & Connectivity
Coming to the ports, as you expect from a creator focussed laptop, the VivoBook Pro 14X OLED has an ample amount of ports to work with. On the right-hand side, you have the HDMI 1.4 port, 1x DC-in, Micro SD card reader, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C and USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port and obviously one 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack.
On the left-hand side, you have only two USB 2.0 Type-A ports while also having the crucial LED indicators as well.
You are also covered in terms of connectivity as well because the ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X OLED houses the latest WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 combo, which is further enhanced by ASUS WiFi Master Premium technology, which includes ASUS WiFi SmartConnect. I got good Wi-Fi speeds with my 300MB/s JioFiber and faced no lags or issues in my work at any time.
Battery Life
I was surprised with the battery life I saw on this laptop; even with a beast like Ryzen 9 5900HX inside, the VivoBook Pro 14X OLED gave an average battery life of 7 hours, and if you want, you can even stretch this to 8 hours with regular usage. This is excellent battery life as my work mainly included working on the backend, writing, streaming, listening to music and a whole range of work with it.
So, this is one of the key advantages of AMD’s efficiency and ASUS’s optimizations that this laptop enjoys; this makes the VivoBook Pro 14X OLED an ideal solution for those who love to carry their laptop and work on the go. It is far from the MacBook Air’s battery life but still compared to any other Windows laptop with this much horsepower and form factor; undoubtedly, the new VivoBook Pro 14X OLED lives up to expectations.
Verdict
The new ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X OLED is a new productivity wonder for those looking for a powerful, efficient, phenomenal display and obviously for an excellent overall experience. As a Windows laptop, the new ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X OLED checks all the most important things a creative professional looks at on a laptop.
Despite weighing only 1.45kg, ASUS managed to stuff every bit of important feature that is necessary to make this laptop complete in its true sense. From excellent battery life to an entirely new design, ASUS’s new ProArt lineup of products simply feels premium and delivers high standards.
Suppose you are a professional and looking for a cost-friendly laptop and has no compromise on the key ingredients of a creative notebook. In that case, the ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X OLED is definitely for you. However, for the best experience, please visit your nearest ASUS store and get an understanding of this laptop to make a final decision.
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Can you provide a link where to buy this model? With the 32GB RAM?
You cannot find with 32GB RAM out of the box but can upgrade it manually