A discrete GPU means the Vivobook Pro 15 offers some solid gaming performance, even if that’s not the main purpose of this laptop. I tested a few games, such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Marvel Rivals. Because this is a 40-series GPU, you have access to frame generation, which can net you over 90 frames per second at Ultra settings, so long as you turn off ray tracing and play at 1080p. On the other hand, a lighter game like Marvel Rivals feels great and represents the perfect type for the Vivobook Pro 15.
Battery life sadly falls short of expectations. The combination of those power-hungry components and the high-resolution OLED screen take a lot of juice to power. Playing a local video file on loop, it only lasted 6 hours and 21 minutes before dying. That was with the screen at a standardized 100 lux of brightness, and the keyboard backlighting turned off. A heavier load will drain the battery fairly quickly, so this isn’t the best choice for work on the go.
Tread Carefully
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
The Vivobook Pro 15 costs $1,500, and I’ll be clear: That’s slightly too expensive in my book. The OLED display is excellent, and the performance is solid, but if you’re trying to save a buck, there are cheaper laptops that offer similar performance.
Take the Vivobook Pro 16, which launched last year and also had an RTX 4050. Thanks to some price drops since its launch, you can currently buy it for $1,000. The screen resolution is lower—it is not OLED—but it’s a more modern laptop thanks to its 16:10 display. It also only comes with 16 GB of RAM instead of 24 GB. But it’s also a $500 price difference. There’s also last year’s Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, which frequently dips to $1,350, also comes with the RTX 4050, and is a similar size. You don’t get OLED, but it includes a higher resolution IPS touchscreen panel with a faster 165-Hz refresh rate to make up for it.
Ultimately, the problem with the Vivobook Pro 16’s value proposition is the lack of a new GPU onboard. The generational CPU upgrade this year likely won’t make a huge difference over the prior Intel chip, and since it uses the same graphics card, it’s hard to make a case for paying this much more. That’s especially true since the RTX 5050 may just be a few months away. The quality of the OLED still makes it stand out—if only it weren’t in an outdated aspect ratio.
