It wasn’t that long ago that I was sceptical about the idea of a family laptop. Now I see the Asus Vivobook16X with optimism.
It’s a simple question. What are you looking for in a laptop that can be used by everyone at home? It’s quite easy: A low price, sufficient horsepower to meet the basic needs of your home, decent ergonomics and display, and a sturdy enough design that it can withstand even the most stubborn of fingers.
Outside of the Huawei MateBook D16 laptop, the Vivobook16X is a great option for parents.
ASUS VIVOBOOK 16X PRICE & CONFIGURATIONS
Here’s some bad news for America. You’ll only get a Vivobook16X Pro 16-inch laptop, which is a powerful system. It’s not the laptop for families, however, at $1,700.
We tested the Vivobook 16X model X1603, which is widely available in the U.K. These are the configurations available and their prices:
The base model, which we tested, is PS549 (opens in new tab: Intel Core i3-1220p with 8GB DDR4 RAM. A 512GB SSD is also available).
Mid-range: PS699 (opens in new tab: Intel Core i5-12400H with 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB SSD and an Intel Core i5-12400H).
Fully-specced: PS999 (opens in new window): Intel Core i7-12600H and RTX 3050 GPU. 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB SSD.
These prices are very reasonable for the quality you get. The base model costs PS200 less than Huawei MateBook D 16 and the mid-range, which is similar in specs, is PS50 cheaper.
ASUS VIVOBOOK 16X DESIGN
Asus Vivobook 16X
This design is simple. There’s no flash. There is no pomp and circumstance. Asus calls it a safe laptop that is elegant and practical.
It’s quite portable considering it is a 16-inch laptop. It measures 14.1 x 9.8 x 0.8 in and weighs 4.1 pounds. The MateBook D 16 is slightly larger and heavier (14 x 98 x 0.7 inch, 3.7 lbs), but the Dell Inspiron 16 adds a little more weight (14 x 9,7 x 0.7 inch, 4.4 lbs). But these dimensions are what you would expect from 15-inch laptops so the fact that Asus has crammed that larger panel into the package makes it a better than you might think.
The plastic shell is flexible in real-world usage, but it doesn’t have the creakiness that you might get with cheaper plastic materials. Let’s not forget about the antibacterial guard. This is what makes it a pleasant family system.
This special silver-ion coating is applied to the most commonly touched areas of the laptop’s surface, such as the touchpad and keyboard. This coating promises a 99 percent bacterial-inhibiting ability, which is quite impressive for a laptop set up to be used by multiple people in a household.
It gives off a tactile, matte feel when you touch these surfaces with your fingers. Even though it is plastic, it feels almost metallic. It can also be easily cleaned with a greasy finger. It may not have the premium aluminum shell but it is solidly built and will withstand time (and dirty hands).
ASUS VIVOBOOK 16XPORTS
Although the Asus Vivobook 16X offers enough ports to allow for casual productivity, they all favor one side. You’ll see a single USB 2.0 Type A port on the left.
Asus Vivobook 16X
To the right you will see USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A ports, HDMI 2.0 ports, a USB C 3.2 port and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Although I would love to have an SD card slot to make it easier to get photos from their cameras, this selection is solid and offers versatility. You can also check out our top picks for USB-C hubs and docking stations.
ASUS VIVOBOOK 16X DISPLAY
The name says it all. This 16-inch LCD display has a 1920×1200-pixel resolution LED backlit panel and a 16 to 10 aspect ratio. It’s great for productivity. Asus claims a 178 degree viewing angle and a peak brightness of 300 nits.
Asus also has a 15-inch laptop-like size, so the screen-to body ratio must be high. This is 86%. Although I don’t have any specific tools to test the color and brightness, I can share my impressions after spending a lot of time with the device and it is fine. It’s fine, nothing extraordinary.
Sharpness is fine, but the color will surprise you. It brought a pleasing vividness to my Andor binge watching experience. You can also do light photo editing without worrying about its accuracy.
The panel is TUV Rheinland certified to emit low-blue light and has flicker-free technology. There is some backlight bloom at the edges.
This is great for indoor work, but it can become difficult to see what’s happening on-screen once there is natural light. Although the matte coating on the display is helpful, the brightness of the laptop doesn’t make it any easier to work on.
ASUS VIVOBOOK 16X Keyboard AND TOUCHPAD
Asus took full advantage of the extra space by using a full-size ErgoSense keyboard. It has a 19.5 millimeter key pitch and subtly dished keys. There is also a 1.4mm travel and a full numeric pad. The MateBook D 16’s MateBook D 16 was 5.2 inches taller than the MateBook D 16, and the touchpad supports multitouch gestures.
It’s all good on paper but I find the experience a little too spongy for long sessions. It almost feels like the cushioning needed for each keystroke is too soft. This makes it less satisfying and causes you to press harder. This causes fatigue and makes it harder to press the keys.
The touchpad feels soft and allows for a smooth glide across Windows. However, it may feel a bit too shallow which could lead to unintended interactions. This is a good tool for getting things done, but could be more useful.
I averaged 76 words per min when I ran the 10FastFingers.com paces. This is lower than what I usually get and highlights how these switches aren’t always suited to writing War and Peace simultaneously.
ASUS VIVOBOOK 16XAUDIO
Although the Vivobook 16X speakers are not great, they offer a good casual listening experience and decent definition.
Higher volumes can cause them to distort, as shown when the 808 bass cuts through Mac Miller’s 2009, which is not surprising for a laptop this expensive. This shouldn’t be a surprise to you so make sure to get wireless or wired headphones.
ASUS VIVOBOOK 16X GRAPHICS AND PERFORMANCE
This Asus Vivobook 16X base model has an Intel Core i3-1220p processor, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage. You’d expect the same results: adequate for basic tasks but not enough for multitasking or more difficult tasks.
It is because the p-tier processors are more reliant on efficiency cores. This one has only two performance cores and eight efficiency cores. It’s fine for casual use, such as running a few Google Chrome tabs and watching 1080p videos on YouTube or Twitch streams. There was also Microsoft Word open and Spotify playing music.
It does slow down when you do more. Adobe Photoshop can be a pain in the neck for the i3-1220p. RAW photo editing causes moments of stuttering or slowdown. Gaming, however, can be a tangled mess, even for casual games like Solitaire. Two Point Hospital runs at 15-20 frames per seconds at low settings. This puts the Intel UHD integrated graphic graphics under tremendous pressure.
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