ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED (K3402Z) Review

The balance between the beautiful screen and performance

ASUS again has been actively releasing new Laptop lineups to refresh the specs and hardware upgrades this year in 2022. All along even the current selling ASUS Vivobook lineups has been an impressive ones with it’s beautiful OLED screen display added with some productivity features alongside it.

Lets quickly dive into the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED, a mid tier ranged Laptop for Home and Business use that came with a fast refresh rate screen powered by the new Intel 12th Generation processor.

Unboxing

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED came with the following

• ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED Laptop
• USB C 90w Power Adaptor
• User Manual and Stickers
• Bagpack

Design & Ports

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is indeed follows the same language design from last year and current Vivobook series of Laptops, with the weight of 1.5KG, this is certainly not the lightest of them all, but well comfortable and light enough to carry on any Laptop backpack. It’s features 180 degree of lay flat hinge which makes viewing angle flexible and sharing friendly when it comes to references and presentations. Apart from that the whole construction body is tough with a thickness of just 18.9mm over it’s sleek black coated color that is well fitted anywhere, any occasion.

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED left side came with 1 USB 2.0 Port for data and charging. Over to the right you have a full size USB port, a 3.5mm headphone microphone combo jack, HDMI 2.0 port and two Thunderbolt 4 USB C port for charging, expansions and extension for external display which also supports speeds up to 40Gbps. Experience with the keyboard with white backlight LED is smooth with good key travels and the best part is the fairly spaced Windows Precision TouchPad. Apart from that, the keyboard is further protected with ASUS Antibacterial Guard which repel bacteria over the surface that lasts up to 3 years. On the Webcam, it does come with a privacy shutter and built in microphone with noise cancellation functionality.

Display & Audio

Display wise the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED came with a 14.0-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED 16:10 aspect ratio with 90Hz refresh rate that fully supports HDR natively over a pleasurable viewing and working experience with low latency of just 0.2ms with rich color displayed whether you are using it for design purposes, light gaming, Office tasks, some editing or just blogging with it while watching Netflix in full HD. Worth to mention that the display is Pantone Validated which gave a huge like from me when viewing photos and editing via Photoshop.

From the audio side, its is tuned and powered by Harmon Kardon with DTS Audio technology bringing in better immersive soundstage which expands the loudness over the small pair of speakers in the Laptop. It also has noise cancelling microphone for clearer communications and it is compatible with Zoom and Microsoft Teams for conferencing.

Benchmarks & Scores

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED features Intel® Core™ i5-12500H Processor Intel 12th Gen 12 Core processor and 16 Threads with Integrated Intel XE Graphics, 8GB DDR4 system RAM and 512GB of fast NVME Gen 4 SSD. Below are the benchmark results.

During benchmark we observed that the temperature rose up to about 83 degree Celsius which is quite warm for an Intel Based Laptop but it dissipates quite fast after that to its idle temperatures after 15 minutes . Overall such scores are quite satisfactory since this is designed as a work oriented laptop with single fan for dissipation.

Performance

We tested 3 games on this laptop and below are the best configurations.

The Laptop GPU is equipped with integrated Intel XE graphics, the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED can run a few games at Low mixed with lowest settings which makes it suitable over casual and indie gaming category users that still plays quick esports title such as DOTA 2 which definitely can get you over 60FPS no problem. Just keep the graphical settings to medium or low with resolutions between 720P to 1080P, you will be enjoying your game play just fine and smooth.

Over general performance, from Microsoft Office to Video streaming, even some medium editing with Adobe Photoshop, video editing with Filmora will work as intended. 

Technical Specifications

Verdict & Thoughts

The ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is one that keeps the newest Intel processor in a system with utilizing current generation DDR4 module which is still relevant to keep the cost down while focusing what matters the most for home and business user’s today, effectiveness with good performance for work and portability convenience. My most praise goes to the 90Hz 1800P fast refresh rate screen that keep the smoothness and more viewing estate making it suitable for apps such as Word or Excel, which is so comfortable and worry free on the webcam’s privacy shutter that makes this laptop my work favorite during the course of the review.

Currently at this point of writing, the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED is priced from RM3,999 starting with Core i5, 8GB RAM/512GB storage, Windows 11 installed with Microsoft Office Home & Student included.

Pros

• Comfortable Keyboard and Touchpad
• Great OLED Display with High Refresh rate
• A Privacy Webcam Shutter

Cons

• 720P Webcam
• Missing SD Card Slot Reader
• Fingerprint Smudge Magnet

Special thanks to ASUS for loaning us the product to review

For more information on the ASUS Vivobook S 14 OLED, visit HERE