Looking for a new productivity laptop with top-end entertainment and aesthetic features? ASUS has got you covered.

In case you missed the announcement earlier this month, the latest ASUS Vivobook laptops with OLED displays are finally here in the Philippines. The ASUS Vivobook S 14X OLED and ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED powered by Intel’s 12th Gen Core i7 and Core i5 processors are now available with local pricing starting at P59,995 (around $1,024) for the base configuration with Core i5 internals. As an added value to customers, one month of Adobe Creative Cloud is bundled with each purchase.

You can find both models at ASUS stores as well as partner retailers nationwide (check out the list of stores here). Personally, we think the Vivobook S 14 OLED, in particular, is an excellent choice for students and professionals in need of a sleek, portable OLED notebook for work and leisure viewing. And if you need more reasons to seriously consider the standard model, here’s a rundown of our favorite Vivobook S 14 OLED features that you should know about.

Oh-so-good OLED on a laptop!

The first thing we’d like to point out is also the most obvious (once you start using the laptop, we mean): this device’s OLED display, which we absolutely love. The screen itself measures 14 inches across and sports reasonably slim bezels, resulting in an 85% screen-to-body ratio.

ASUS says the cinema-grade display on the Vivobook S 14 OLED boasts “best-in-class color accuracy” and 550 nits of peak brightness and is Pantone-validated, meaning it offers superior fidelity in reproducing the Pantone color system. It’s important for digital artists and professionals who work in the creative, design, and print industry, as a Pantone-calibrated laptop screen ensures that colors are displayed accurately.

The OLED panel comes with 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and 133% of the sRGB, along with DisplayHDR 600 True Black certification from screen experts VESA. This ensures deep blacks and punchy highlights for a more convincing HDR experience when viewing shows and movies.

ASUS also says that the Vivobook S 14 OLED is capable of maintaining color detail at any brightness level, so you can adjust the brightness setting according to your environment and enjoy less exposure to harmful blue light with a dimmer screen. Additionally, the OLED panel emits 70% less blue light than LCD panels and has been certified by TÜV Rhineland to ensure that the unit adheres to high safety and quality standards.

The resolution is sharp as well — up to 2,880 x 1,800 — with a wide 16:10 aspect ratio, making the Vivobook S 14 OLED ideal for viewing content and casual gaming. For a smooth and responsive user experience, the refresh rate goes as high as 90Hz. By default, the refresh rate is set to 60Hz, so you’ll need to go to Settings > System > Display > Advanced Display and choose the 90Hz option. Alternatively, you can open the MyASUS app and set the refresh rate to 90Hz under the Customization tab. Keep in mind that a faster screen uses more power.

High on productivity

Another highlight here, of course, is the performance. Powered by Intel’s latest 12th Gen H-Series CPUs with Intel Evo, the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED houses up to a Core i7-12700H processor, up to 16GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM, and 512GB of speedy PCIe 4.0 SSD storage.

This setup allows the laptop to handle your daily workload easily. It even has enough power to run more strenuous tasks like photo and video editing and 3D rendering, but we highly recommend that you plug in the notebook first and enable Performance mode (by pressing Fn + F and cycling between the presets) for a more fluid experience.

Serious gamers may want to look away, though, as the Vivobook S 14 OLED doesn’t have a dedicated GPU for gaming and intensive graphics processing.

On average, our review unit boots up in seconds and can perform multiple basic tasks, such as streaming while uploading a sizable video on YouTube and keeping several Google Chrome tabs open without major hiccups.

For better thermal performance, the Vivobook S 14 OLED is equipped with ASUS’ IceCool Thermal Technology and arrives with a 97-blade built-in fan with dual heat pipes and dual vents, allowing the processor to operate at 45 watts in Performance mode with zero throttling issues.

The preinstalled MyASUS app on the new Vivobook lets you set the laptop’s fan speed and enable AI noise cancellation for the built-in speakers and microphones. There are also settings for the OLED panel and several options to prevent burn-in damage and extend its lifespan, including ASUS OLED Care settings and Target mode. The latter dims non-active areas on the screen for power saving and minimizing possible display aging.

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED comes with a generous 70Wh battery. It’s larger than what most other laptops offer at this price point and generally delivers all-day battery life, so you can afford to leave the charger at home and not have second thoughts for the rest of the day.

Fast charging up to 90 watts over a Thunderbolt port is supported out of the box using the sizable power brick that ASUS ships in the box. We found that it doesn’t take long to get a full charge, but to avoid overcharging the laptop and degrading its battery over time, we recommend going to the MyASUS app and limiting the charging to 80% (Balanced mode) or even 60% (Maximum Lifespan mode).

Practical and convenient design

Our review unit has a gray chassis featuring the new Vivobook logo on the lid, which reminds us of striped construction barriers you’ll find on highways. The lid’s striped pattern is found on the Enter key, too, while the red Esc key stands out as well.

And although not the slimmest or most portable laptop around, the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED looks good in gray and features a slightly more aggressive styling direction than competing notebooks, especially in the keyboard area.

Speaking of which, ASUS equips the latest Vivobook with its ErgoSense full-size keyboard, which has been designed and engineered for both comfort and accuracy. The keyboard is a joy to type on and feels reassuring to use, offering 19.05mm of key pitch as well as 1.4mm of key travel. Its dished key caps likewise match the shape of your fingertips for added ergonomics.

When logging into the laptop, you have the option to either use the Windows Hello facial recognition or fingerprint scanner that’s embedded into the power button. The trackpad is large and smooth, too, and comes with support for multi-touch gestures to help you navigate Windows with ease.

For connectivity options, you get two USB Type-A ports, two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports, an audio combo jack, and an HDMI 2.0 out for up to 4K signal support.

This and that

On the audio front, the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED packs Harman Kardon-certified speakers, with the latest DTS audio technology for louder sound, clear vocals, and deeper bass. If you want a richer audio experience, you’ll need to plug in a set of headphones or connect one wirelessly via Bluetooth.

The 720p webcam, on the other hand, has a physical cover for your peace of mind. It uses ASUS’ image-optimization algorithms to sharpen and reduce noise in images in real time. It even boasts several image-processing features, including Background Blurring for enhanced privacy, Lighting Optimization to brighten faces, Motion Tracking to automatically keep you at the center of the frame, and Eye Tracking, which reduces the effect of your eyes wandering away from the camera.

Should you buy the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED?

Again, the Vivobook S 14 starts at P59,995 ($1,024) in the Philippines for the base variant powered by a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12500H processor with 8GB RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. The Core i7 system with 16GB RAM and the same amount of storage, on the other hand, is priced at P68,995 ($1,177).

After using our Core i7-based unit for weeks, we found that the laptop delivers high-end productivity performance on a sharp and punchy OLED panel with solid display credentials. We would recommend the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED to creatives and individuals who work with images professionally and for media consumption, while those looking for a big-screen laptop that can double as a portable gaming machine probably need to look elsewhere.

ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED specs

• 14-inch OLED display (non-touch), 2.8K (2,880 x 1,880) resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 16:10 aspect ratio
• Up to 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H
• Intel Iris Xe graphics
• Up to 16GB DDR4 RAM
• 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD
• Thunderbolt 4 USB-C x2, USB-A x2, HDMI 2.0 port, and microphone + headphone jack
• HD webcam with physical shutter
• Fingerprint power button
• 70Wh battery
• 90-watt Thunderbolt charging
• Microsoft Windows 11 Home

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