| VivoBook Pro 14 OLED |
Specifications
VivoBook Pro 14 OLED vs M2 MacBook Air
Introduction
I was on the lookout for a Windows alternative for my M2 MacBook Air. I stumbled upon the Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED which it is the perfect windows alternative to the M2 MacBook Air. It comes with the latest Ryzen 6000 series processor RTX 3050 graphics and to top it all off OLED display that too on a fairly compact chassis that weighs lesst 1.5 kgs but the best thing is that for all those specs the price of this laptop is not that crazy expensive either at least not when you compare it with the M2 MacBook Air it costs 1200 in the US or some 2 lakhs in Nepal for the 16 GB RAM and 1tb SSD configuration whereas it is also launching pretty soon in India most likely at 1 lakh rupees or less.
Design/Color option, I/O
Alright getting on with the review let me talk about the design first I would say that the VivoBook Pro looks equal parts subtle and equal parts elegant the visual Aesthetics is quite unique here which is mostly because of the metallic lid and this not so subtle branding it's available in blue and silver color options both of which look very nice to reduce the cost as well as the weight of the device. The rest of the body here is made of plastic but thanks to this nice matte finish it does not feel cheap. Asus also says that this laptop's surface has been treated with antibacterial coating which apparently prevents bacterial growth by up to 99. However I really wish that this laptop had an anti-fingerprint coating too since this blue color variant is a fingerprint magnet. Now we know that AMD notebooks have historically fallen behind than those with an Intel CPU when it comes to IO choices mostly because Intel's Thunderbolt interface was not available on AMD processors but that scatter changes with the ryzen 6000 series as it supports usb4 which includes Thunderbolt 3 compatibility as a result this usb4 port on the viewer Book Pro is capable of a lot of things like connecting an external GPU and 8K 60hz display up to 100 watt power delivery or up to 40 gbps data transfers. Other than this you will find plenty of ports in here with one HDMI 2.1,One USB 3.2 type, a one micro SD card reader, one 3.5 mm headphone jack on the right whereas you get couple of USB 2.0 type A ports on the left side
Display
Another big highlight of the VivoBook Pro is its display this 14 inch glossy OLED panel with a sharp 2.8 resolution and a modern 16 is to 10 aspect ratio is an absolute feast for the eyes with this everything here just looks super crisp super vibrant super Lively and with super rich contrast. I absolutely love it and with 408 nits of peak brightness outdoor visibility is not an issue here either plus with 100 DCI P3 collar gamut that's Pantone validated for accuracy this is also great work monitor for graphic designers video editors and basically anyone who needs a color accurate screen so it's really got everything you could ask for in a flagship display. However at the same time you might be concerned about OLED Bonnet but Asus has loaded it with a bunch of features like pixel shifting and pixel refresh to prevent burn in. so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Keyboard/ trackpad
Like the display the keyboard on VivoBook Pro is fantastic as well. The keys are well laid out and they have a nice rubbery spongy feedback that makes me just want to keep typing whatever and thanks to the short 1.4 millimeter travel distance and a fairly quiet sound profile. This is easily one of the best Ultrabook keyboards I've used in 2022 so far.
It's also backlit but I think this is also where thing could have been a little better that's because the keyboard backlight bleed here can be distracting when you're working in a somewhat dark room I don't have any major complaints with this trackpad too it's certainly not as good as the one on the M2 MacBook Air but this glass trackpad is not bad either. It is smooth and large enough for different gestures and stuff plus. If you are someone who uses a lot of number crunching software like spreadsheets for example then I am sure that you are going to find this number pad a lot more useful than I do. However I'm facing this weird issue on my unit as the trackpad randomly decides to lag sometimes. I have double checked its sensitivity settings updated the latest drivers even performed a clean Windows reinstall and still nothing this looks like a software issue so I do hope it gets results soon.
Speakers / webcam
likewise another area where VivoBook Pro is not as good as MacBooks are the speakers and webcam the down firing stereo speakers here can get plenty loud but there's simply no match for what MacBook Air delivers in terms of details and overall Clarity plus I think it's high time for Windows laptop manufacturers to include better webcams on their Ultra books what the VivoBook pro has is just below part potato webcam considering the price.
Performance
Performance wise the VivoBook Pro 14 is only available with AMDs ryzen 7, 6800 Edge processor and RTX 3050 Graphics.
You can choose from multiple storage options. however Asus only ships with 16 GB of ddr5 RAM so you cannot upgrade it down the line. With this it has handled my casual everyday usage just fine like editing 4K video projects on Premiere Pro with multiple layers has also not been a problem I even edited a few After Effects projects with simple text animations and it handled all that without breaking a switch.
While this is something the M2 MacBook Air does not struggle with either but I found the VivoBook Pro to deliver much faster rendering times in tools like blender and Premiere Pro since it has a much more powerful dedicated graphics unit.
Gaming fps
Besides content creation this laptop also lets you play games including a few rate race titles like cyberpunk 20 77 and control at medium or low settings and guess what even to this day gaming is something Mac OS simply sucks at. Out of seven games I tested only CS go was available on the Macbook without having to use any virtualization tool like parallels plus . The difference in gameplay between the two machines is quite large not just average FPS but the VivoBook Pro also manages a far smoother gaming experience overall. You can also enjoy popular games like GTA 5 Forza Horizon 5 FIFA 23 and OverWatch 2 with above 70 FPS on average at medium to high graphic settings here. but since Asus has not certified this display with any kind of variable refresh rate technology like g-sync or freesync. I did notice screen tearing issues on particularly fast paced titles like OverWatch 2 here. It's nothing to worry though you can just assign a Max rate to the game assigned global settings inspired the NVidia control panel or turn on vsync to solve screen Theory.
Battery
As for The Thermals VivoBook Pros fans also do a decent job of keeping the temperatures in check. It gets the hottest in the middle of the keyboard deck where I measured a peak temperature of just 42 to 43 degrees Celsius. So not bad finally about the battery life it is powered by a Modis 63 watt hour cell and it consistently gave me about 4.5 hours of screen on time under regular usage that's nowhere near MacBook level but I guess that's not terrible either but what I found impressive here is that the standard fan profile the laptop stays whisper quiet and the keyboard deck also rarely gets warm making it perfect for taking it to your college or office to Juice It Up Asus ships this rather clunky 150 watt Aca. I would have given the VivoBook Pro a perfect 10 in terms of portability but I must deduct a point because of this I just don't understand why can't Windows Ultra Book ship with Sleek power adapters like MacBooks.
Conclusions
I guess that's all there is to talk about the Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED and like I said in the very beginning I think this the perfect windows alternative MacBook Air in fact there ares things that it does much better than the MacBook like this spectacular OLED display extensive Port selection and all its gaming possibilities it also comes two to two with what apple is offering in terms of portable build quality clean design and a killer keyboard so if you don't want to switch to Mac OS or can't adapt to Mac OS because of its limitations the VivoBook Pro is easily one of the best options out there especially if you're looking to buy a capable 14 inches Ultra Book without spending too much I am certainly not going to recommend it to content creators with a demanding workflow but casual users who want a little bit of gaming and light editing can definitely consider this so guys that was all for this video If you were to choose between the Asus VivoBook Pro 14 OLED and the M2 MacBook Air which one would you go for do let me know in the comments and while you're there don't forget to follow.
So here is the link
Go and buy this VivoBook Pro 14 OLED
https://amzn.to/3HglGT3
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