Whether at work or play, ASUS VivoBook 15 is the compact laptop that immerses you in whatever you set out to do. Its new frameless four-sided NanoEdge display boasts an ultraslim 5.7mm bezel, giving an amazing 88% screen-to-body ratio for supremely immersive visuals. The ErgoLift hinge design also tilts the keyboard up for more comfortable typing. VivoBook 15 is powered by up to AMD Ryzen 5 processor with discrete AMD Radeon graphics to help you get things done with the least amount of fuss. What’s more, it’s available in four unique finishes to suit your style in different colors: Slate Gray, Transparent Silver, Coral Crush and Peacock Blue. Audio – ASUS Sonicmaster Technology
Felipe –
I bought the Ryzen 5/ 256GB SSD variant. At $479 in Nov of 2020, with a 15’6 screen, backlit keyboard with numeric keypad and this specs, this is a fantastic laptop for the money. The quality of the screen is great and the keyboard pretty comfortable. The sound is also remarkably good, in case you need to watch something through the built-in speakers.I installed Linux straight away, so I can’t review its performance under Windows, but on Linux it works definitely great. This configuration means 8 cores, and everything got recognized and was working flawlessly from the start (at least on Arch Linux, you may get different results with more conservative distros). I haven’t come around configuring and testing the fingerprint sensor yet though.My usage is mostly browsing, office tasks, watching movies and programming.I am not a gamer, but do play Minecraft with my son from time to time. It does work pretty well, once you reduced the max framerate from the default 160 or so to a more reasonable 30FPS. The video card setup is definitely not good if you plan to play other more graphics intensive video games, but for the ocassional game, this would also do.As other user reported, the looks are also great, surprisingly good at this price range. It does have some Macbook vibes, which is always nice, and definitely not expected at this price.My only negative remarks are that despite the extended keyboard, the insert key requires pressing the Function key, so there is an extra complication if you use the Ctrl+Ins, Shift+Ins for copy and paste. Also, as reported in other comments, out of the 8GB of RAM, 2 are dedicated to the video card, so you actually have 6GB for the system. Wait till you receive it, and open it to check if you have the one with a SODIMM module of 4GB. I did so and ordered an 8GB module for not much, to upgrade it to the max possible total of 12GB of RAM (10GB for the system).All in all, another perfectly rounded laptop by Asus. At this price and specs there is really no other competitor. Very satisfied with my purchase.I don’t have time to write many reviews, but this laptop definitely deserved a good one.
Brandon CassataBrandon Cassata –
I originally bought this computer with the intentions of programming on the go.Let’s get the bad out of the way first. This laptop is not designed, nor advertised for gaming by any stretch. You’ll be able to get away with some older games but forget about getting reasonable performance at reasonable graphics levels on anything more modern. We’re talking just barely getting 60fps on Spyro: Reignited Trilogy at 720p, lowest graphic preset. But that’s impressive for not being a gaming laptop. Just keep your expectations in line.The good: This thing is blitzing fast in practically every other regard. This is where the SSD and CPU really take center stage. Everything is incredibly responsive and installs are very painless. Overall usage had me forgetting I wasn’t on my desktop at times, so I give this a laptop a solid A+ in that regard. Boot times are damn near instant and restarting to finish installing applications happens in under 10 seconds.Battery life has yet to be tested very well so I can’t comment too much on that just yet. I’ll update when I get more usage out of the battery but from the get go, it seems pretty standard.Screen quality is again very standard. It’s not winning any beauty contests compared to a decent ISP panel but again, it’s not advertising itself as being anything spectacular in that regard. You get what you pay for and with this laptop, you’re paying for the SSD/CPU performance which it absolutely nails.Style: I absolutely love the way this laptop looks. It’s clean, sleek, and professional. Nothing over the top but doesn’t look or feel cheap. Build quality is very solid. Obviously it’s no MacBook in terms of build quality but it’s also less than half the price of a MacBook so again, you get what you pay for.Sidenotes: My first unit had an odd manufacture defect on the screen; A white blotch that was only visible under certain conditions, namely over more muddy colors like off shades of white, dark blues, etc. It was incredibly distracting but I contacted Amazon who stayed on the line with me while we discussed possible solutions with ASUS and ultimately resulted in Amazon sending me a replacement unit in less than two days. The new unit has none of these issues and looks to be exactly what I was looking for in the first place. So good on both ASUS for making a decent laptop and Amazon for honoring the exchange.
Roman Soto –
For those wondering if this great little laptop will take 16GB of DDR4 RAM, the answer is it sure will!I just successfully updated mine I bought back in late February with this DD4 module I just received earlier -Corsair Vengeance SODIMM 16GB (1x16GB) DDR4 2400Mhz C16https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077S17RPZ/I dual boot mine with Windows 10 and Linux (Pop!_OS 20.04) and in both I have 13.8GB total since 2GB are dedicated to the GPU.BTW there’s only 1 RAM memory slot on this board and the one that came with this laptop is 8GB which means all 8GB are on this module NOT soldered on the board like it says in the Asus documentation.Just thought I’d make this helpful info public since I was looking for someone to confirm this before making my purchase but just went for it so you’re welcome. 🙂
John –
I have had this ASUS VivoBook 15 laptop (AMD Quad Core R7-3700U CPU) for about two weeks now, and I am really impressed with it. I primarily use it for programming C++ and Python, as well general internet surfing. The machine has proven to be very quick and responsive. The SSD drive allows quick startups and shutdowns. The screen is very nice, with a vivid and sharp display. I have not experienced any fan noise at all, but have not played any demanding games. I was a little apprehensive about the ‘chiclet’ keyboard, but I have found it to be very pleasant and accurate to type on. My only concern is what seems to be a fairly rapid discharge of the battery. However since this is my first laptop in quite a few years I really cannot compare this unit’s battery discharge rate with any other machines.All in all, I am highly pleased with my new Asus. The machine is quick and responsive, feels to be substantially built, has a nice display and is lightweight and thin. I will likely add another 4 gigabytes of memory at some point if I use the ASUS for any gaming. I feel that the ASUS VivoBook 15 is a very good value for the price.
Zach & Amber M –
Much research went into the purchase of this laptop. Our son, along with many students throughout the country, has had to start distance learning due to COVID-19. I am pretty up on available computer hardware and components as I have built desktops in the past. There were certain qualities that I felt were necessary in this purchase and they were as follows:- Laptop, not desktop or mobility reasons- 8GB or more DDR4 RAM- 3.0ghz+ Threaded Quad core CPU or 6-core (non threaded)- Integrated on chip graphics- 240GB+ SSD (NVMe prefered)- ~$500 (technology allowance for district)- Windows 10- Dual band wifi card- Backlit keyboard- Numberpad-15.4″ IPS screenWhy did I choose this, I have gone team red with AMD and the introduction of their Ryzen chips, if it’s not Ryzen or Threadripper, I’m not interested in anything red, but when you’re talking APU (CPU & GPU) combined, AMD has this market 100%. The last computer I built had a second generation Ryzen APU as a budget build, and that has very similar specs to this laptop. Combined with 8GB RAM and an SSD I was confident that this would be a laptop that was able to provide my son with a great learning experience for more than a year or two. It has handled everything that we’ve thrown at it so far. It’s certainly not set up for gaming, but because of its specs, it could probably handle some low level gaming, but if that’s what you’re looking for in this price range, I would suggest learning to build a desktop, because there aren’t gaming laptops in this price range. To address preinstalled bloatware, it wasn’t terrible, I would normally do a clean Windows install, but didn’t bother. Comes with a 30 day trial of McAfee virus protection, I would suggest renewing it, it’s great and for a low price you can protect all your families devices for something like $40 for a year. So currently, we have 3 cell phones, 2 tablets and 3 computers all protected by their antivirus software for the same low price.
Barbara K. Powers –
This is a sleek and modern laptop! It barely takes any effort to type. I really like the backlit keyboard as well as the number keypad on the right. There are plenty of ports, HDMI and USB. The screen appears large for a compact laptop and the resolution is amazing. I work with a lot of photos and they look absolutely great! I appreciate the 8 GB of RAM which makes using Photoshop and other programs fast and efficient. This machine is quick to turn on and seems to last a long time on a battery charge. It is very lightweight and will be easy to travel with. I think this is an excellent value! The only thing I had to get used to is that the power button is in the upper right corner where my delete key was on my old computer, so I’ve had to relearn the placement of some of the keys. I highly recommend this computer!
Noblelord –
I just received my Asus Thinkbook 15 via UPS yesterday and finished setting it up. It works just fine and it is much faster than my old Lenovo V570 with an old 2.4 GHz processor. I bought the one with an AMD Ryzen 7, it is a 4.0 GHz processor and with 8 Gb of DDR 4 ram and a 512 SSD. Although this device does not have an optical drive or an ethernet port, you can purchase an ethernet port separately and connect it via a USB port on your device. Once the device is connected via an ethernet port; your internet connection will be much more secure and a bit faster as well. I am a computer science major and this works very well. The notebook itself looks very professional in slate gray and it is also very lightweight as well. The fingerprint scanner is very easy to set up and once you do, you will be able to log into your account with one touch of a finger. It is much better and more secure than an old fashion password. DDR 4 ram is twice as fast as DDR 3 ram, therefore 8 GB of DDR 4 ram is the equivalent of 16 GB of DDR 3 ram. You can purchase a stick of 16 GB of DDR ram and upgrade the memory to 20 GB of DDR 4 ram for about $50. As I stated previously, this is really not a budget computer at all. It is also not a delicate device at all, the hard plastic casing is just as durable as a Lenovo laptop or notebook computer. Too much ram in a computer can cause it to crash, so can a defective stick of memory.
jjustinfire –
The dilemma was…. Wife in Nursing school. Thank god it’s that and not a computer class. When I told her she needed a laptop, she said well it’s only for light school work so just go grab one of those. “Cheap” ones. I as a good husband should. Listened. Well not one semester in and i spent a few days reading about laptops until my eyes bled. I landed on this one for a good college laptop at a good price. I shouldnt have to say that I was worried to say the least. The user is a user who does not know what memory or disk space is. Let alone how to keep the laptop running strong. With that said I took the leap. It paid off. What a great laptop. Powerful. Fast, sleek. Great battery. I would recommend.
Ralph –
This is definitely worth buying. considering the price range for this Laptop, this Laptop is actually powerful enough to compete with a much higher laptop price range. but of course with that being said, its not much for gaming but it can handle games a low to mid settings (depends on the game).the Boot up time is fast. System response is fast as well. although I would highly recommend you minimize any background Apps you have since the RAM is not a lot. 6GB usable , 2GB for Graphics. however, since its Dual channel, its making up for its shortcomings. I just wish that 1 of the RAM was not soldered and should have been replaceable or upgradable.PLEASE NOTE: if you are planning to upgrade one of the RAM, you can do it but at the cost of losing the 2x4GB dual channel.also, the Storage is upgradable, you can just buy new NVMe SSD or you could buy a microSDXC card.all in all I did a bunch of research and watch a bunch of reviews before I bought this laptop, this is just my opinion and I work as a Lab Software Admin which also handles a lot of hardware and stuff.May you have a good one!
Max –
I’ve only had/used this laptop for a day so far. I do a decent amount of video editing and 3D modeling so if your into that, this review is for you.The battery life on this computer is decent. When you’re using it heavily, for example, video editing and modeling (I use cinema 4d and premiere pro), the battery life is not great. You will get roughly 2-4 hours with this computer without it being plugged in.Color accuracy isn’t great, but it’s not bad.The computer is extremely fast for its price. The fingerprint sensor is a very nice feature. I’m yet to do heavy video editing in premiere but when it opens up, it is quick.I used to use a Toshiba Satellite for 3D modeling. Each frame would take around 1 minute with a lot of detail. Using the exact same scene on this computer, it is now down to 20 seconds a frame. (It seems like a while but it really isn’t)Overall I am loving this laptop. As I said it has only been my first day, but so far so good.I will add onto this more as I continue to use this laptop.Update: Over the past month I’ve used this laptop a bunch. For video editing, it’s pretty good. Premiere Pro 2019 runs very easily on this laptop and can do some pretty hefty editing. After effects 2020 also works great but when you want to play back your video, it doesn’t work. Cinema 4D continues to work great with alright rendering times. If you want to game, I don’t recommend this laptop. Other than Minecraft Windows Edition, not many games will run well.