Asus VivoBook 15 KM513 Laptop Review: Ryzen and OLED goodness that doesn't break the bank

Chassis construction is one of the major differences between Asus's ZenBook and VivoBook lineups. As is the case with most VivoBooks, the VivoBook 15 KM513 is also a predominantly plastic construction. Therefore, some amount of flexing is to be expected in the keyboard deck region. That being said, the flex is only noticeable under excess stress, so it should not have any impact in daily usage.

The lid, which can be opened with one finger, has an aluminum alloy finish and an embossed "ASUS VivoBook" branding it that lends it some class. The hinges are tight-enough and display wobble is barely noticeable in normal use unless deliberately shaken.

While the overall construction is decent, the 1.8 kg weight feels a bit on the higher side for a late 2021 device given that there is no dedicated GPU involved.

In typical VivoBook fashion, Asus has endowed the VivoBook 15 KM513 with a decent port selection but with some deficiencies.

Towards the left, we have two USB 2.0 Type-As. On the right, we get to see a USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A and USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C ports, a HDMI 1.4-out, a 3.5 mm combo audio jack, and a microSD card slot.

Unfortunately, the USB-C port does not support DisplayPort-out and Power Delivery, which means you cannot use your existing USB-C 65 W adapters for charging the laptop.

Also, the HDMI 1.4-out is only suited for 1080p60 output. 4K output is possible but is limited to just 30 fps at 8-bit color.

The built-in microSD card reader is definitely slower than other laptops in its class. That being said, assorted file copying is on par or better than the competition in this price segment while sequential reads are somewhat on the lower side.

The microSD card sits almost flush with the chassis when fully inserted.

The webcam is the standard 720p fare we find on the vast majority of laptops. With large color deviations, perceivable grain, and reduced sharpness, it is just about enough for the occasional video call or two as long as there is enough ambient lighting.

There is no IR camera for Windows Hello. There is also no physical privacy shutter, but the webcam can be toggled on/off by pressing Fn+F10.

Asus has equipped the VivoBook 15 KM513 with a fingerprint sensor embedded in the touchpad. The fingerprint sensor is easy to setup and is generally quick to recognize the fingerprint.

A dedicated TPM 2.0 module is available. The laptop is ready for Windows 11 which was, in fact, already offered for download via Windows Update during our testing.

There are no additional accessories in the box apart from the 65 W charger and the usual paperwork.

In India, Asus offers a standard one-year warranty for the VivoBook 15 KM513. Buyers can further extend the warranty by an additional year (₹99) or two years (₹999). Additionally, a one-year local accidental damage protection can also be availed for ₹499.

The keyboard is of the standard VivoBook kind and does not bring any few functionalities than what've been seeing so far in this series. The 1.4 mm key travel is decent, but the tactility is somewhat mushy. Also, those used to a centered keyboard without a numpad may take some time getting used to this layout. The Enter key is yellow color-blocked in signature VivoBook fashion.

A three-stage backlight is available. However, the Transparent Silver color option that we have offers keys with a black font. This makes it somewhat difficult to view the keys in low backlight levels particularly when there's some amount of ambient light.

Color accuracy is decent out-of-the-box with an average Delta E of 2.7 in Grayscale and 3.24 in ColorChecker. Calibrating the display against DCI-P3 yeilds tangible improvements resulting in a Delta E of 0.7 in Grayscale and 2.13 in ColorChecker. The display seems to show higher deviations in the blue color compared to red and green.

Our calibrated ICC file can be downloaded from the link above.

As is the characteristic of most OLED panels, we recorded very low response times with the VivoBook 15 KM513 particularly with the 50% grey to 80% grey transitions. 

Asus uses DC dimming to adjust the backlight intensity. DC dimming at 60 Hz is active in the brightness range between 50% and 100%. At 49% and below, PWM kicks in with a frequency of about 490.63 Hz.

Both these frequencies are quite low, so users sensitive to PWM should exercise caution while using the screen for long hours at a stretch. 

For more information, check out our articles, "Why Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) is such a headache" and "Analysis: DC Dimming vs PWM — Can you dim AMOLED displays without the flickering?". You can also get an overview of measured PWM for all reviewed devices in our dedicated PWM ranking table.

The MyAsus app offers three Asus Intelligent Performance Technology (AIPT) modes to choose from: Balanced, Performance, and Whisper. While the PL2 remains constant at 40 W in all modes, the PL0, also known as Skin Temperature Aware Power Management (STAPM), and PL1 change as below:

We ran all benchmarks in the Balanced profile as that is the default and best suited for a majority of use cases. We have shown the performance differences between Balanced and Performance modes wherever applicable. Interestingly, we noticed that Performance mode favors CPU performance at the expense of GPU scores.

Check out our dedicated AMD Ryzen 5 5500U page for more information and benchmarks.

Performance in PCMark 10 does not throw up any surprises in comparison with other Ryzen 5 5500U laptops and is also comparable to that of the Ryzen 7 5700U. The system was quite responsive in daily use, and we did not notice much trouble while opening a plethora of tabs in Edge or watching 4K YouTube videos.

AIDA64 memory test results are on par with what is expected of a typical Ryzen 5 5500U-based system. We recommend equipping the device with larger memory capacity depending on requirement and feasibility.