Asus VivoBook S15 S510UQ (i5-7200U, 940MX) Laptop Review

With its rounded corners and wedge-shaped unibody appearance, the VivoBook S15 clearly takes its cues from the more expensive ZenBook series by the same manufacturer. Instead of the concentric design on the back of the case lid typical of the ZenBook, here it is decorated by a classical modest brushed-metal finish with the usual silver Asus logo in  the center. According to the manufacturer, the metal case can only be purchased in Champagne or Gold color. The edge surrounding the top of the base is a bit too sharp for our tastes. The small bezels ("NanoEdge display"), which enable the small footprint, stand out. 

You do not need much force to slightly twist the base which offers a good grip. The S15 responded to our attempts with some creaking noises. In the area of the left palm rest and under the space key, the case slightly gives way under pressure. The very thin, moderately robust case lid, which is not resistant to pressure, can barely be opened with one hand and bounces for up to two seconds in response to vibrations. We did not notice any poor workmanship in the case, which has been cleanly assembled from only a few parts. Considering its thinness, the construction still gives a solid impression overall.

While we were able to attest a compact size for a 15.6-inch multimedia notebook to the Acer Swift 3 SF315 that we have recently tested, Asus goes a step further with our test unit and shaves off a few more millimeters in the width, depth, and height. Besides the thinness, the low weight of only about 1.7 kg (3.75 lb) is also remarkable. The competitors cannot keep up with this by any means. The fact that the competitors from Lenovo and HP are larger and considerably thicker is due to the more powerful hardware with higher cooling needs, at least in the case of the HP, while Lenovo simply does not particularly care about a more compact case in the ThinkPad-E series.

It is probably due to the particularly slim and wedge-shaped form of the Asus VivoBook S15, that the choice of connections seems rather rudimentary. But this is no excuse for two lame USB-2.0 ports, which neither correspond to the current standard, nor the increased price of the laptop. Right-handed users who want to use one of the 2.0 ports for an external mouse will have to guide the cable behind the device.

Cables and USB sticks will more likely be connected to one of the two USB-3 ports (1x USB 3.1 Type-C) on the left side. But there they might be more in the way as on the right side. The reverse of the positions would have been more sensible. At least the ports are as far as possible towards the back. Purchasers will have to make do without VGA, Ethernet (RJ45), DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt connections.

Asus and Acer are not doing any particular favors for photographers with their slow USB-2.0 card readers. At least, things look better with Lenovo and HP, whose card readers are apparently connected via USB 3.0. But even those two candidates remain far from the top results of way above 200 MB/s, which card readers connected via PCIe can reach while copying pictures. For our measurements, we use our Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II reference storage card as usual.

In terms of communication, Asus uses the proven Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 MIMO-2x2 module (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2,4, and 5 GHz) with a theoretical gross data rate of up to 867 MBit/s and integrated Bluetooth 4.2 (driver update might be necessary).

Considering the unavoidable overhead of perhaps 200 MB/s, the Asus VivoBook S15 S510UQ, as well as the other competitors except for the HP Pavilion Power, are a little weak when receiving data and achieve only transfer rates that are less than optimal. However, when sending, all is well. Here the HP and the Lenovo ThinkPad fall behind by 30%. Asus does not offer any models with a wireless modem. We perform our measurements under ideal conditions at one meter (~3 ft) distance from our Linksys EA8500 reference router.

Asus emphasizes the mobility of the slim and light VivoBook S15 and builds in a current Trusted Platform Module (TPM 2.0) as well as a fingerprint sensor. It can be easily setup via Windows Hello and is positioned in the top right corner of the ClickPad. It unlocks the device quickly and reliably.

The box contains the power supply, the customary quick-start and setup instructions, and warranty information. Asus does not offer any accessories that are specifically designed for the VivoBook S15 S510UQ.

There is no maintenance hatch, and the battery cannot be removed from the outside. However, apparently the back cover, which is secured by 10 Philips screws, can be removed easily.

Asus offers a 24-month manufacturer's warranty. Please see our Guarantees, Return Policies & Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.

The widely used Intel Core i5-7200U from Intel's Kaby Lake generation is an ULV dual-core processor with Hyperthreading. Due to its low TDP of 15 watts, the CPU is also quite suitable for particularly small and compact laptops. The base clock speed is 2.5 GHz, and the dual-core Turbo is 3.1 GHz. Besides the DDR4 storage controller, there is also an Intel HD Graphics 620 on board, which handles 2D graphics calculation, thanks to Nvidia Optimus.

Due to its higher clock speed, the processor achieves a performance increase of 10 to 15% compared to the i5-6200U direct predecessor (2x 2.3 to 2.8 GHz, Hyperthreading, TDP 15 W), handling most demanding tasks and multitasking without any trouble. However, programs that make strong use of parallel processing, which also include the current games, clearly benefit from four or more physical cores, as for example offered in the i5-8250U Kaby Lake update chip (4x 1.6 to- 3.4 GHz, Hyperthreading, TDP 15 W) which is not offered in this series.

In our Cinebench-R15 loop, the i5-7200U consistently achieves above-average scores of 330 to 332 points, so that we can attest the Asus VivoBook with an optimal Turbo use. In battery operation, the clock speeds do not change.

Considering the different hardware configurations, it is not surprising that our test unit gets the worst results of our competition in PCMark 8. While the scores are very close together in the less-demanding Work benchmark, we see the following sequence in the results of the Home benchmark: i5-7200 + 940MX < i5-7200U + GTX 950M < i5-7200U + MX150 < i7-7700HQ + GTX 1050. In light of its much faster SSD and the comparable graphics performance, the Lenovo ThinkPad E570 could also have landed in front of the Acer Swift 3.

However, in practice the perceived differences should remain within limits. Even though the VivoBook does not act quite as fast as a gaming notebook with quad-core, the operation always feels smooth, and the OS and programs start without any delays worth mentioning.

It is unfortunate, that Asus did not choose the new GeForce MX150, since with the 940MX (GM108, 2 GB) which is one-and-a-half years old at this point, the advantages to processor graphics such as the Intel HD 620 remain very limited. At least it is the slightly faster GDDR5 model here. Although the card masters DX12 (FL 11_0), it is too slow to display the corresponding games smoothly. Thanks to Nvidia Optimus, the considerably more efficient Intel HD 620 handles the 2D graphics computations.

Since we have no filter for the GM108 models with GDDR5, we can only state generally that the built-in model is expected to be one of the faster 940MX cards. If we look at the large advantages of the MX150 which has an almost identical consumption, we finally have to deny the 940MX its mid-range classification. A run of the Fire-Strike benchmark in battery operation resulted in an almost identical score.

The problem of the GeForce 940MX is that (like the Intel-HD graphics) it is not suited to display the current and even moderately graphically demanding 3D games in medium presets smoothly. Although the mostly ugly minimum settings (1024x768 or 1270x720) are possible with comparatively more FPS, who wants to do this nowadays? Isometric games such as "Diablo III" can often be displayed smoothly on processor GPUs in medium settings, so perhaps the 940MX permits slightly better visuals in some games.

While idling, the case does not reach any high temperatures worth mentioning. Under constant maximum load, which in practice does not even occur while gaming, we measured up to 49 °C (120 °F) at the bottom, which might become uncomfortable on the lap. The area of the palmrest never becomes warmer than a harmless 26 °C (79 °F).

Our stress test led to considerable throttling. After a few minutes of the torture which is not very realistic in practice, the processor speeds leveled out between 1.8 and 2 GHz, with the CPU reaching a maximum temperature of 85 °C (185 °F). The GeForce MX940 fares better here, not changing its base clock speeds despite similar core temperatures. In practice you can count on unhindered performance even during gaming, which is also confirmed by the benchmark results.

Frequency comparison (Checkboxes selectable!)

There are only three 15-inchers that have an i5-7200U and a GeForce 940MX in our database, and only one of them brings a conventional hard drive. We have included the two other laptops in our comparison diagram below. The comparatively high power consumption of the HP Pavilion Power is explained by its quad-core CPU and the GeForce GTX 1050.

The comparison between the Asus VivoBook and the identically equipped Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15IKBN, which was still more energy efficient in all load scenarios, was interesting. However, those measurements come from an external test and may therefore not be comparable. The 65-watt power supply is sufficiently sized.