Are you looking for a sleek looking laptop but don’t want to empty your pockets right away? The Indian Wire technology team came across one such laptop with premium looks and the brand is none other than Asus!
Asus comes with the VivoBook X510U which is claimed to outclass most of the existing premium laptops at a budget price. The device is equipped with an 7th
Gen Intel Core processor, a ‘NanoEdge’ display and together with premium looks, anybody would assume the cost to be above 50k! However, looking at its Rs 34,900 price tag came as a pleasant surprise for us.
The connectivity options are splendid with the VivoBook 15 having a USB 3.1, a USB 3.0 port, 2 USB 2.0 Type A port, audio jack, HDMI 1.4 and a SD card reader. The USB 3.1 is however a Gen 1 C-type port.
The company has also opted for keyboard tapering to make the device elegantly slimmer but the disadvantage lies with no backlight which may be a discomfort for the night users. Additionally, there is a fingerprint sensor in the corner which can be set up using Windows Hello. Single, double and three finger gestures are also there for triggering certain functions.
The 15.6-inch display, brightness levels and colour reproduction is all normal and nothing exceptional to what we find in other laptops these days at this price. Although the NanoEdge screen with 7.8mm bezels comes as an advantage but the matte coating is something that makes it really difficult to see from acute angles. However, the anti-glare display will save you from the reflections.
Giving special attention to videos, Asus VivoBook 15 features Tru2Life Video Enhancement tech that clarity, colour and contrast to give you the best possible combination to view. Regular users won’t actually need this much tweaking and may be fine with the default settings. However, there is no harm in having the aforementioned options.
The Core i3 processor is supported by 4GB DDR4 RAM with Intel HD Graphics 620 handling all the animations and visual load on the device. The device doesn’t even heat up when watching movies for hours or working on apps simultaneously.
The device has a pre-installed Windows 10 Home and includes 1TB HDD and no SDD, which can be disappointing for some but then we can’t argue more given the price. Still you get Asus Webstorage option, in addition to Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and other third-party apps like Dropbox and more.
With a good display, above average processor, ample storage space and more in tow, how long do you think the VivoBook 15 would’ve lasted? On light usage this piece of machinery can run for up to 6 hours before you go searching for the charger. If in case you are doing some heavy work no it, it may work up to 3-4 hours. It all depends on how you use the device.
Asus says its VivoBook 15 is backed by a 42 Whrs 3-cell Li-ion battery along with SuperBattery technology, which when activated, can stretch the life of the laptop by up to 3 times. The device can also be charged up to 60% in 49 minutes. The company additionally claims that with this tech the laptop can achieve a total of over 900 charge cycles as compared to 300 cycles in conventional laptops.
All of the above features make it better for a student’s use but from a developer point of view, you may just need more. As far as the competitors go, HP, Lenovo, Dell and more are still offering Core i3 Intel 6th gen processors at the same price if not less. Now that Asus has made the first move it may be just a matter of time before others catch up.