If the communication from manufacturers and the buzz around each year’s products always tend to focus on the high end, it is at the entry and mid-range that we find the products that sell. It’s not surprising then that consumers do not necessarily have the purchasing power to spend several thousand euros on a computer.
At Asus, we often hear about the Zenbook range of laptops. But in reality, it is its sister range Vivobook which records the most sales. Today, we have two “types” of Vivobook: the regular ones, and the “S” which are more anchored in the middle, or even the beginning of the high-end. This is the one we’re going to talk about today: the 2024 Vivobook S 14.
Asus Vivobook S 14 (S5406)Technical sheet
| Model | Asus Vivobook S 14 (S5406) |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 310,5 mm x 15,9 mm |
| Definition | 1920 x 1200 pixels |
| Display technology | LCD |
| Touch screen | Non |
| Processor (CPU) | Core Ultra 7 256V |
| Graphics chip (GPU) | Intel ARC Graphics |
| RAM | 16 Go |
| Internal memory | 1024 Go |
| Appearance | Plastic |
| Operating system (OS) | Microsoft Windows 11 |
| Weight | 1300 grammes |
| Depth | 221,9 mm |
| Product sheet |
The machine is on loan from Asus for this test.
Asus Vivobook S 14 (S5406)Design
After several years of being lost in the box of “black or white metal rectangles”, the Vivobook range is starting to find its own signature. We can see it on this Asus Vivobook S 14, where the light metal chassis (less expensive) allows for some small frivolities. For example, the bottom of the upper shell offers a small recess at the top which has its little effect, when the Asus Vivobook writing in mirror effect is far from being prominent.
We are in a formula of “small touches” which works for an everyday PC, particularly when this one is not very heavy at 1.3 kilograms nor very thick at 1.59 centimeters. In absolute terms, it has nothing to envy of so-called ultraportable PCs, with the exception of course of those seeking to go below 1000 grams. We can feel the moderation choices here, particularly in the quality of the metal used, to lower costs, but they do not impact the displayed standing of the device. Beautiful work.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard is all in all quite traditional for Asus. We find its fairly slippery plastic keys and slightly soft switches that we get used to, but which don’t necessarily have the bite of the high-end. The activation distance is good, but a little more key stability would have been welcome. In truth, it’s the backlighting side that we’re most disappointed with. PVC does not allow enough blue light to pass through, which appears vibrant on our color. More than helping, it hinders the general readability of the product in broad daylight.
The touchpad is very well made for a plastic pad. It avoids the error of textured rendering for a smooth surface that slides well under the finger, and its wide diagonal is perfect for everyday comfort or to take advantage of the shortcuts integrated by Asus.
Connections
On the left, we find an HDMI 2.1 port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a microSD card reader and a combo jack. On the right, we are entitled to two USB A 3.2 Gen 1 ports.
All in all, a very broad connection, which will correspond to a large majority of users. We may regret the fact that a USB-C port has not found its place on the right, so as to let the user charge the device from the angle they want.
Webcam and audio
The Asus Vivobook S 14 benefits from a fairly classic Full HD webcam. Its rendering is not particularly good, but it is not terribly bad either: within the norm, in short. Qualcomm has definitely dusted off this aspect of laptops, making it more difficult to accept the rendering of this computer, but it will easily be suitable for videoconferencing.
The audio experience is similarly low quality. The sound from the speakers is crackling at full volume, without any scene, with a shrill sound that fails to respect the slightest wave it receives. That’s enough for a movie night in bed, if the main goal is to fall asleep.
Asus Vivobook S 14 (S5406)Screen
The Asus Vivobook S 14 has a 14-inch diagonal OLED panel supporting a definition of 2880 x 1800 pixels, or a 16:10 ratio. This panel offers a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which seems somewhat of a step backwards after the popularization of 90 then 120 Hz in recent years, but OLED is still a pleasure to have.
Under our probe and with the DisplayCal software, we can see that this panel covers 168.5% of the sRGB space for 119.4% of the DCI-P3 space in terms of volume. The average color temperature is recorded at 6356K, very slightly warmer than the desired standard, but close enough to be excellent.
The average delta E00 is measured at 1.4, simply impeccable, with a maximum difference of only 3.81 on sky blue tones. The only weakness: the maximum brightness, measured at 387 cd/m², which means that the computer will be difficult to read in direct sunlight.
Asus Vivobook S 14 (S5406)Software
Asus obliges, we always find the usual suspects of computers seeking to lower costs: adware, like McAfee, which we will invite you to uninstall as quickly as possible.
The MyAsus suite is always excellent for finding the important settings of the device in one place, explained to as many people as possible. We can add StoryCube, a very gimmicky application that uses AI to classify your photos… Come on, that doesn’t eat easy.
Asus Vivobook S 14 (S5406)Performances
The Asus Vivobook S 14 is powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V, an SoC with 8 cores – 4 performance, 4 efficient – for 8 threads that can turbo up to 4.8 GHz. It is coupled here with 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1 TB of PCIe 4.0 storage.
Benchmarks
Under Cinebench 2024, we can see the SoC reach a score of 557 points in multi core for 114 points in single core. A number that is not particularly impressive in multi core, where we know that the chip is capable of much more, but which remains competitive in single core, a more important score for an ultraportable PC.
The 3D Intel Arc part achieved its usual score of 3171 points under Steel Nomad Light, proving once again how efficient it is… in theory. In game, we are on essentially the same performance as an AMD SoC from the 7000 generation.
The NPU part is still present and performing well, at 1715 points under Procyon in integer calculation. We are still waiting for a relevant use to justify its integration on PCs which are not dedicated to production, but the performances are competitive.
Finally, the performance of the SSD in PCIe 4.0 very well represents the heights that this technology is capable of reaching… with one big catch. When used fully, the SSD makes an audible hissing noise (coil whine) which is annoying. Fortunately, few applications write continuously to the SSD, but it is a real concern.
Cooling and noise
The thermal management of the PC is excellent. Certainly, the SoC does not send its greatest power, but the computer remains mostly silent on typical tasks, and temperatures do not exceed 48°C under the chassis.
Asus Vivobook S 14 (S5406)Autonomy
The Asus Vivobook S 14 includes a 75 Wh battery. This is recharged using a simple 65W USB-C power supply provided. The computer is compatible with the Power Delivery standard.
In varied office use, with the screen set at 50%, we find autonomy of between 18 and 19 hours. It’s simply excellent, among the best on the market today. Proof that the latest generation of Intel has taken this mission to heart for the x86, and that Asus engineers are succeeding in taking advantage of new architectures and their specificities.
Asus Vivobook S 14 (S5406)Price and availability
The Asus Vivobook S 14 is already available in France at a starting price of 1499.99 euros. On sale at the time of writing these lines, we can already find it at 1349.99 euros.
