One of the first of the newly dubbed “Copilot+ PCs” to arrive in Australia, the Asus Vivobook S 15 OLED, promises both extreme portability and an all-day battery life in a slick form factor.
It’s another one of the Snapdragon X-powered laptops as part of Microsoft’s partnership with Qualcomm driving the new Copilot+ PC range. That means the Vivobook gets the new AI features, like Recall and Live Captions, alongside some Asus-specific apps designed to take advantage of the Snapdragon chip’s neural processing unit (NPU).
So, with lots of different laptop companies employing the same architecture – see the likes of Acer, Lenovo, and HP – what sets the Vivobook apart? Its design, mostly. Building on the big OLED push from last year’s models, the Vivobook S 15 OLED goes big and bold, minus the heft.
The visible beating heart of Asus’ newest laptop is a 3K Lumina OLED 120Hz screen. It’s a generously-sized 15.6 inches which doesn’t translate to an unwieldy size. Hitting the scales at 1.42kg, the Vivobook S 15 OLED weighs less than a 15-inch M3 MacBook Air. An aluminium finish caps off the laptop’s design, a material increasingly favoured by premium laptops.
Asus also claims upwards of 18 hours of battery life on a single charge. It’s not quite the mammoth 26 hours boasted by HP but 18 hours is nothing to sneeze at.
As light as the laptop is, Asus hasn’t sacrificed ports, thankfully. Replete with a full array of USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, and MicroSD ports, the Vivobook even has a 3.5mm audio jack. More brands are getting on board with faster wireless tech too, with both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 supported.
What about AI?
Far from being the only Copilot+ PC on the way, the Vivobook employs a few Asus-specific tools aimed at using the latest AI-based hardware. Asus StoryCube is one, an app that helps organise photos and videos via AI technology.
Aimed mostly at creative professionals, it’s meant to sort and categorise digital assets in various ways, like shot types, colours, and other identifiers that go beyond just interpreting file metadata.
Battery conservation and security are other uses Asus looks to deploy AI assistance for. If you look away from your screen, the laptop will automatically dim the display to reduce power consumption. Similarly, if you move away, the device will lock, so others can’t snoop around, and unlock when you return.
Ultimately, Asus positions the Vivobook S 15 OLED as a versatile laptop for all. With up to 32GB of RAM, it should be beefy enough for most users, and the integrated Snapdragon GPU is said to even handle gaming, much like the Intel Core Ultra, AMD Ryzen, and Apple M4 platforms.
In its launch materials, Asus referred to a recent Salesforce-commissioned study that found 53% of Australia professionals currently use or experiment with generative AI. It’s clearly a big focus for computer companies, proclaiming the benefits of the latest hardware.
Interestingly, the same research cites the generative AI push as being largely top-down driven within companies. Only 34% of professionals in non-management roles have embraced the technology. There could be many reasons behind this, possibly including AI models being trained on copyrighted data, and other data collection concerns.
With newer hardware, the reliance on cloud servers for AI functionality is lessened. Many of the features mentioned by Asus run locally on the device, providing a more secure experience than accessing cloud servers.
Asus Vivobook S 15 OLED release date and price
Up for pre-order now, the Asus Vivobook S 15 (S5507 model) costs $2,699. It’ll then launch on 18 June, the same day as the rest of the day-one Copilot+ PCs. If it takes your fancy, there’s a $200 coupon up for grabs when you pre-order via the online Asus store.
It’s a swish laptop, making a decent first impression. Once the Copilot+ range arrives next month, we’ll find out just how useful the increased AI integration is.
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Chris Button travelled to Sydney as a guest of Asus.
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