Asus VivoBook Flip 12 TP203NAH (N4200, HD) Laptop Review

In the VivoBook Flip 12, Asus bets on a colorful plastic case. Our test unit comes in a golden color. Alternatively, rose-gold and gray are also available. The top of the base has a texture that simulates brushed metal. The case shows good workmanship and has no shortcomings in that regard. In terms of stability also, there is nothing to complain about. The battery is built-in, and the computer does not have a maintenance flap. 

To get inside, all the screws on the bottom have to be removed. Then you have to put the convertible on its feet again and open the top of the base unit. For this, you need a flat lever and have to be very careful, since the top is held in place by many plastic brackets that can easily break. After you have loosened the top, you still cannot take it off, since inside the case runs a flat cable that is glued to the top of the base unit as well as the frame of the hard drive. It is above the keyboard, almost right in the center. At this point we gave up trying to open the device to avoid causing damage.

The VivoBook offers a decent selection of connections. The small computer brings three USB 3.1 Gen-1 ports (1x Type C, 2x Type A). There is also a video output (HDMI). There is much to like about the position of the connections, which are on both sides towards the back. Thus the area of the palm rest remains free of cables. 

The convertible has a Qualcomm WLAN chip (QCA9377) on board. In addition to the WLAN 802.11a/b/g/h/n standards, it also supports the fast ac standard. The transfer speeds that we measured under optimal conditions (no other WLAN devices in close proximity, close distance between notebook and server) turned out to be good.

With the VivoBook, Asus delivers an 11.6-inch convertible that has sufficient performance for applications in the office and Internet areas. Our test unit can be purchased for about 500 Euros (~$560). At the time of the test we could not find other model variants, but only color variations.

The VivoBook comes with an Intel Pentium N4200 (Apollo Lake) quad-core processor. Thanks to a low TDP of 6 watts the chip can be cooled passively. This is also implemented here. In the tests, the processor fares considerably better than the direct Braswell predecessors (N3700/N3710). Intel has been able to increase the performance per MHz considerably. The new architecture delivers a performance increase of up to 30%. The processor operates with a basic speed of 1.1 GHz, which can be increased via Turbo up to 2.5 GHz.

The Turbo is used in mains and battery operation. In Multithreaded applications, the operating speed is lowered already after a few seconds from 2.4 to between 2.0 and 2.1 GHz. Single-threaded applications are not affected by this.

We test if the Turbo is used steadily by running the Multithread test of Cinebench R15 for about 30 minutes in a constant loop. From the first to the fifth run, the performance is lowered by half and then remains at that level for a while. From the fifth run on, the performance rises slightly again and then remains at that level permanently. The original performance is not achieved again. Thus, there is a considerable drop in performance, which is not surprising and is to be expected from a passively cooled device.

The built-in SoC offers sufficient computing power for office and Internet applications. The PC Mark 8 benchmark result was quite decent and corresponds with the performance of the SoC. The overall performance can be increased by exchanging the HDD for an SSD. The system would react faster and the loading times would shorten. The exchange might not be that easy to do, however.

A conventional 2.5-inch hard drive by Seagate serves as the system drive. It offers a 1-TB storage capacity and runs at 5400 RPM. The transfer rates are at a normal level for 5400-RPM models.

At most, the VivoBook can display a handful of games on the screen smoothly - at low resolutions and low quality settings. However, this is only true for games that make very few demands on the hardware. There are considerably more playable games among the casual games you can find at the Windows Store. 

Since the VivoBook does not have a fan on board, you can only hear the soft murmur of the hard drive. If you were to replace the HDD with an SSD, you would get a silent system.

The stereo speakers are placed at the bottom of the device. Their sound is basically okay, but the bass could be more pronounced. For a better music experience, we recommend the use of headphones or external speakers.

Frequency comparison (Checkboxes selectable!)

Since the computer has an economical and weak SoC, it does not use up much power over the whole load range. While idling, we measured a maximum consumption of 8.7 watts. During the stress test, the value rose to just 19 watts, since the CPU and GPU are throttled. Overall, the VivoBook uses more power than a comparable device such as the Dell Latitude 3189. In particular in idle and under low load, the energy consumption turns out considerably higher - this is also reflected in the battery life. The power supply of the VivoBook offers a nominal power of 33 watts.

In our practically relevant WLAN test, we simulate the load when opening web sites. The "Balanced" profile is active, the power saving functions are deactivated, and the display brightness is adjusted to about 150 cd/m². The VivoBook achieves a runtime of 6:05 h.