Why do light-thin laptops just have to be expensive? With this motto, Asus is branding their new Vivobook series. Actually so. The new laptops in the Asus VivoBook series (such as the Asus VivoBook S15 S530) look and sound like absolutely premium grade laptops. But in terms of price, these are within the reach of middle class or college / university students. For this reason, Vivobooks have always been popular in Bangladesh with a budget of around Rs 50,000.

Asus has recently unveiled a new lineup of S14 (14 inch) and S15 (15 inch) models of VivoBook series in the market of Bangladesh. Priced at just Rs 47,000, these laptops use all the latest generation components and the latest Asus designs.

Basically, except for the display and body size, the S14 and S15 are almost identical in all other respects. Today we have come up with a complete review of Asus’ latest VivoBook S15 model new edition S530. The model is available in several variants depending on the hardware. Our review unit was a higher-end variant priced at Rs 72,500. The configuration was as follows: Core i5 8250U, 8 GB RAM and 1 terabyte storage. And with Nvidia GeForce MX130 model 2GB dedicated graphics.

First of all, let’s take a look at the specifications it has brought to Bangladesh.

Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) Specification

• Processor: Intel ® Core ™ i7-8550U / i5-8250U / i3-8130U
• Display: 15.6 inches; Full HD 1920 × 1080 pixel NanoAge display, 16 ° wide view
• Graphics card: Intel ® UHD Graphics 620 / Nvidia: GeForce: MX150 / Nvidia: GeForce: MX130, 2GB DDR5
• Memory: 8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 (expandable up to 16 GB)
• Storage: 1TB HDD + 8GB SSH / 1TB HDD + 256GB SSD
• Wireless: Dual band 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2
• Camera: 720p HD sensor
• Port: USB 3.1 Generation 1 Type-C 6 (1), USB 3.1 Generation 1 Type-A (1), USB 2.0 (2), HDMI (1), Micro SD Card Reader (1), 3. 5mm Combo Jack (1)
• Audio: Stereo speakers and microphone arrays with Asus Sonicmaster technology
• Battery & Power: 42Wh 3 cell lithium prismatic battery
• Size: 361.4 mm x 243.5 mm x 16 mm
• Weight: 1.8 kg

Pricing table

Design and build quality

Needless to say, the Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) laptop is not like any other 15-inch laptop. Laptops with 15-inch display can be called big nowadays. But after taking this laptop in hand, the overall body seemed much smaller to me. This is mainly due to their slender bezel nanoage display technology. As a result of the use of this design technology from Asus, the screen to body ratio of the laptop stands at 7 parts. Really nice thing. Because that’s what we usually see on premium laptops priced at lakhs of rupees.

The laptop is quite slim and weighs only 1.6 kg. The use of Asus’s signature ergolift technology with the slender bezel allows the upper part to be comparatively higher when the lead is open. This also increases air circulation with air vents and also facilitates typing.

The lid of the laptop is covered with a sheet of brushed finish. However, the rest of it is made entirely of polycarbonate.

The most striking aspect of the laptop is the use of various bright colors in the Isicol Gold and Gunmetal color variants. However, its colored accents have only been used on the inside of the laptop, on the keyboard and trackpad, and on the side port. Depending on the color of the laptop, its keyboard will also be available in two variants, white and black. You can tilt the lid up to a maximum of 140 degrees. This is enough to keep it normally on the desk.

Keyboard and trackpad

Many people do not use heavy laptop keyboard. But even after that, for those who write regularly, it is very important that the keyboard is good. In fact, the Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) laptop has a negative impression of the keyboard.

Because you will not get much comfort in typing with its keys. The palm rest part of it is made of thin plastic so it gets a little warped by hand. There is nothing to fear. It will not break easily. On the contrary, it seemed very strong to me.

On the plus side, the Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) has a dedicated numberpad on its keyboard. As always, function keys have quick toggle options for different settings. And there is a backlit for writing in the dark.

The trackpad is much smaller than the laptop’s chassis. However, all the gestures of Windows have worked well on the trackpad.

Display, audio and sensor

The Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) laptop uses a 15.6-inch display with full HD 1920p resolution. The display is a matte display of IPS technology. The contrast and viewing angle of the display was good. However, the color was not very accurate. However, many companies still offer HD 8P displays in this budget. Asus has done a very good job as such. However, in the light of my personal experience, I have to say that you will enjoy the movie and media content very well on this display.

Unlike other Asus premium laptops, the Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) notebook does not use the audio driver of any famous audio company. However, they have used their own software based Sonicmaster technology. This allows you to have an enhanced audio experience using their specially tuned presets for different types of content. The sound is quite loud even though it is located at the bottom of the speaker grill.

The laptop uses 720p webcam with HD resolution. No one else takes selfies on the laptop in this era! As such, it is enough to make a few video calls.

And yes, there’s a fingerprint reader right next to the trackpad. This allows you to login to Windows and various services without password using Windows Hello.

Performance

Let’s see how this beautiful laptop works. I mentioned at the outset that our variant was the latest generation Core i5 processor of 8th generation, with 8GB RAM, 1TB storage and 2GB graphics card of Nvidia MX130 model. From everyday routine to tuk-tuk gaming, this specification will go well with you. Moreover, if you want better performance, you can take any variant with Core i7 or SSD.

If you take it with dedicated graphics, you will get a little higher frame rate in the latest games. This does not mean that you can play all kinds of games. For those casual gamers, the MX130 graphics card will go a long way because you can play almost all the games by lowering the resolution in low settings. And it’s powerful enough for everyday web browsing or playing movies in Microsoft Office or Fork. If you want, you can add a more powerful MX150 GPU with a little more money.

The good thing is that you can expand its RAM up to 16 GB. Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) Laptop has hybrid storage facility so you will get an M dot to SSD slot. So even if you can’t buy a variant with SSD, you can install SSD without changing the primary storage if you want later.

Port and connectivity

The Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) laptop has three full size USB ports. Two of them are USB 2.0 and the other is USB 3.1. However, even in 2019, I did not like to give USB 2.0. Of course, 2.0 port is better than no port at all!

On the plus side, the Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) notebook also has a USB 3.1 Generation 2 supported Type C port that can transfer data faster. It also has a full size HDMI port and a 3.5mm standard port for audio output. There’s also a built-in microSD card reader. In my opinion, it would have been more convenient for photographers to have a larger SD card reader without a microSD card reader.

It has high speed AC WiFi chip and Bluetooth 4.2 for wireless connectivity. However, I did not understand the reason for not giving an internet port to a 15-inch laptop.

Battery backup

The Asus VivoBook S15 (S530) laptop uses a three-cell 42-watt lithium prismatic battery. For a 15-inch screen laptop, its battery capacity is a bit low. However, if you use a little calculation to reduce the brightness, you can easily pass the office or class hours without a charger. From our experience it is said that with its battery you can watch full HD movie for about 7-8 hours. Moreover, you can easily get a backup of 4-5 hours by browsing or using Microsoft Office.

Asus is providing a 75-watt charger with the laptop, which allows you to quickly charge its battery.

Conclusion

As easy as it is to write or read a review of a laptop, it is just as difficult to decide to buy one from many laptops. With a budget of 45-55 thousand, students or employees in Bangladesh probably buy more laptops. Other companies in this budget are also providing laptops with almost the same specifications. However, the unique and classy design of Asus VivoBook S15 (S530), fingerprint scanner or Nano Edge display will undoubtedly put it ahead of many.

Maybe it won’t give you super-performance, but it’s not okay to expect more from a laptop on this budget. So if you can compromise on some small things, it can be said that there is no other better option in this budget market. What is your opinion? You can let us know in the comments. Thanks.

Bonus: Here are 10 things to keep in mind when buying a laptop

Will you buy Asus Vivobook S15 S530 laptop? How did the device look? You can let us know in the comments.

Gratitude For the review unit Asus BangladeshThank you. Our regular readers to help publish this post Faisal Farooqi RafatThank you.