The first wave of Copilot+ PCs are making their way around the world and the first model I received is the ASUS Vivobook S 15.
Watch the ASUS Vivobook S 15 Review Below
This new notebook not only marks my first hands-on with a Copilot+ PC but this is also my first experience with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X. This ARM-based alternative to Intel and AMD promises double the power of say Intel’s Ultra CPUs at one-third of the power draw. At the moment, a Qualcomm notebook is also the only way to benefit from Copilot+ so this certification is a big deal for those hungry for Windows AI features.
Of course, since Qualcomm came out with these bold new chips, Intel has also announced its Lunar Lake range so we’ll have to see how competitive things get later down the line. But for now, this is the ASUS Vivobook S 15 and it is here with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X. This specific model in this review is the S5507Q specification.
It comes in what ASUS calls Cool Silver. Comparing it to a Macbook Pro Silver model, the colour is identical. This means the notebook has also been built entirely from aluminium with the only plastic found around the display. The bottom is also metal but a bit thinner than the top shell. The whole device is cold to the touch.
In terms of dimensions, the notebook weighs only 1.42 kg. It is 35.26cm long and 22.69cm deep. At its thickest point, the notebook is 1.59cm and at its thinnest point, 1.47cm. It features a sleek ASUS Vivobook logo at the top and the lid has a curved cut-out on the back end that gives it a bit of class.
When it comes to ports, the ASUS Vivobook S 15 comes with two USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports on the right-hand side. There’s also the battery eject hole and a small white LED that shows the sleep mode and charge status of the notebook.
On the left-hand side, the device includes an HDMI 2.1 port and 2 USB Type-C 4.0 Gen 3 ports. There’s also a MicroSD card reader and a 3.5mm Audio Combo Jack.
Can’t really complain about much here besides the MicroSD card slot not being a larger SD card slot. Would have just been the cherry on top of the already robust port selection. Keep in mind that you’ll also charge this notebook using one of the USB C ports. It is charged with the included 90W charger.
Inside, the notebook includes a 15.6-inch OLED Panel. It packs a resolution of 2880 x 1620, a refresh rate of 120Hz and 600 nits of HDR brightness. It also features 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut and ASUS eye protection perks.
The screen takes up 89% of the lid and leaves enough room for the ASUS Vivobook S logo underneath it and a 720p webcam with infrared sensors on top of it.
The keyboard is a full-sized chiclet keyboard with 1-zone RGB. I was surprised to see this keyboard featuring RGB instead of just white LED. The extra colour options and the sleek silver case create some gorgeous combinations to work with even if you can only change the entire keyboard to one colour.
Saying that, however, the keyboard wasn’t my favourite. The text on the keys is hard to see. There’s very little contrast between the silver keys and the grey text which makes the keyboard sort of blend together. Even with the RGB lighting, this doesn’t seem to change. You’ll get used to this over time but I can’t wonder if the colours were reversed if perhaps the letters would be easier to see.
Keep in mind that this ASUS Vivobook S 15 doesn’t feature any ScreenPad so the touchpad you’re getting on this notebook is just a touchpad. It is a decent size and large enough for gestures. My only issue is that it is plastic which means it will likely wear away over time and have that horrible shiny spot.
Apart from the difficult-to-see keyboard, I enjoyed the design of the new ASUS Vivobook S 15. The back air vents have a cool-looking aircraft design to them and the bottom rubber feet keep it sturdy while typing. The entire device looks premium and the silver shell definitely wants to sit up there with the Macbook. I don’t blame it, the Silver Macbook is a timeless piece of technology.
The ASUS Vivobook S 15 holds up quite well when it comes to its performance. There are clearly still some hiccups here and there with the Snapdragon X CPU. A few apps crashed and some benchmark tools simply refused to run. These tools and apps will likely be updated over time to accommodate this chip.
On the graphics front, this Qualcomm Snapdragon X isn’t made for gaming. Tests showed low frames across most results and you’ll get around 20% less performance across games on this notebook compared to the Core Ultra 7. This means most games are likely unplayable. You can get away with the odd Windows Store app here and there but don’t expect much more.
I was actually surprised to see 3DMark Steel Nomad run on the notebook. The fan didn’t turn on at all and the visuals were impressive. Sure, the test only came out with 15FPS but it was still cool to see in person.
Here are some results from tests I was able to run:
3DMark
- Steel Nomad
- Overall: 2039
- FPS: 15.6FPS
- CPU Profile
- Max Threads: 9753
- 16 Threads: 9289
- 8 Threads: 6530
- 4 Threads: 3287
- 2 Threads: 1646
- 1 Thread: 824
- Geekbench
- Single-Core: 2450
- Multi-Core: 14352
The Qualcomm Snapdragon X promises to deliver “double the power” compared to the Intel Ultra 7. Does it reach that? No, but it does provide a 15% increase in performance across Geekbench and comes with some unworldly battery life. So there’s already a lot to love about this chip.
There’s also the cooling. This fan barely turns on. I only heard it when running a CPU profile test but with everything else I did, this system remained dead quiet. This reminds me of the Macbook Pro. I have only heard that fan a few times when exporting a 4K video in the middle of a heatwave. This Vivobook is silent. A day and night difference compared to almost every single Windows Intel notebook I have tested in the past few years.
While Intel notebooks promise silence, this often comes at the cost of performance by enabling low-performance silent modes. This Vivobook doesn’t need that. It simply works. I won’t be surprised if we see fan-less Snapdragon notebooks somewhere down the line too given how excellent this experience was.
The battery life was equally as impressive. On full brightness, I managed an entire day of use and more. This equals around 12 hours of full video playback on max brightness. Something unheard of on a Windows notebook. Charge times are mostly unchanged though. But at least this notebook will provide the experience of forgetting your charger at home.
Copilot+ features also work but often they felt a bit restricted due to the notebook’s lack of a touch screen. Cocreator in Microsoft Paint, for example, would have been a better experience if I could draw and sketch my prompt. But that is likely going to be an issue across all notebooks going forward.
Live Captions, on the other hand, let me translate English to other languages. It works well but does struggle a bit if the audio is playing too fast.
Can I say I can feel the performance of these NPUs in the Snapdragon X CPU? In some cases yes. When it came to image generation, the device was able to deliver results in under 10 seconds. This is thanks to the on-device processing power compared to the usual cloud-based features.
I enjoyed most of the Windows Studio Effects. The Flawless Skin Filter could smooth out my face and improve lighting during video calls. The Background Blur also helped create cool blurs around me.
These are features I won’t likely use on a daily basis but for those who do have daily video calls, it will come in handy for sure. Most of the AI tools in Copilot+ likely have a similar case-by-case situation.
So I don’t think the addition of AI is the selling point of this notebook. Instead, I would look at this Vivobook as really great device with excellent cooling, decent performance and a battery life that will blow you away. The AI stuff is more tact-on as a “cool to have”. I wouldn’t buy a notebook for its AI features and I don’t think you should either. Performance and value are more important.
The ASUS Vivobook S 15 ticks those boxes. It has great mobile performance and finally a battery life that can carry a heavy user through the day. Sure, the AI stuff is cool but it is only a fraction of what you’ll actually do on this device. Everything else boils down to the screen, portability, battery life and performance. Of which, the notebook is excellent. If you can look past the dim keyboard, of course.
Summary
The ASUS Vivobook S 15 is a breakout product for the brand featuring a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon X, incredible battery life and almost silent performance. It marks the start of a new generation of notebooks and so far, things look great.
