Asus’s Vivobook S series laptops offer some of the most compelling value propositions on the market. Not only do these notebooks feature good build quality and OLED displays, but the machines can be had for quite reasonable prices. Moreover, retailers often discount Vivobooks by quite substantial margins, making them an even easier recommendation.
You can now get the 2024 Asus Vivobook S 14 (S5406SA) with the latest Intel Lunar Lake APU for only $799 at Walmart. The laptop comes with the 8-core Core Ultra 7 258V APU with 32 GB of RAM on-package memory, 1 TB of storage, and a 14-inch OLED display. For reference, the same Vivobook S 14 configuration is currency retailing for $1,199.99 at Best Buy. This makes the Walmart offer a massive $400 cheaper.
Asus Vivobook S 14 punches above its weight
Thanks to the inclusion of the Lunar Lake APUs, a respectably sized battery, and an OLED display, the Asus Vivobook S 14 is a lot of laptop for the relatively affordable price tag. Our review sample with a 6-core Core Ultra 5 226V and 16 GB of RAM earned a “Good” rating of 86% thanks primarily to the long battery life, low emissions, and the solid display.
Starting with the battery life, thanks to the combination of a 75 Wh battery and the efficient Core Ultra 5 226V, our Vivobook S 14 review units lasted an incredible 17 hours in the Wi-Fi websurfing test conducted at 150 nits. Even at full brightness, the laptop endured for around 11 hours. You can expect the same great runtimes from the Core Ultra 7 258V-based SKU on sale.
The strong battery life of the Asus Vivobook S 14 pairs quite well with the display, as the OLED panel on offer is quite good for media consumption. The 1200p screen boasts rich, accurate colors and a max HDR brightness of 600 nits. The only major downsides of the panel are the 60 Hz refresh rate and its reflective nature. But, considering the price, these limitations should be far from dealbreakers for most people.
When it comes to performance, the Asus Vivobook S 14 with the Core Ultra 7 258V will be a snappy machine during routine use. The APU is on par with the Core i9-13900H in single-core and is in the same league as the Core i7-1360P in multi-core workloads.
Finally, Asus has also outfitted the Vivobook S 14 with a healthy port selection highlighted by two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, a comfortable keyboard with 1.7 mm of travel, and a relatively low weight of 1.3 kg (2.89 lbs).
So, the Asus Vivobook S 14 has all the markings of a worthy daily driver. At the currently reduced price of $799, there aren’t a lot of machines on the market that can compete with the hardware on offer.
Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.
Source(s)
slickdeals, Walmart (linked above), Teaser image: Asus, Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash, edited