ASUS Vivobook S15 (Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite) Laptop Review

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Qualcomm launched its new Snapdragon X series of SoCs a couple of months ago with the initial launch of Microsoft's venture into AI with Copilot+, with ASUS launching one of the first Copilot+ AI laptops with its Vivobook S15, which we've got here today to take a look at.

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ASUS has plenty of laptops across its family of products, with the Vivobook S15 powered by Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon X Elite processor. This is a mobile-focused Arm-based SoC that runs Windows on Arm which is very, very different to regular Windows (x86). If you're in the market for a new laptop that has powerful performance, incredible battery life, 16GB RAM + 1TB SSD, and a beautiful OLED display... then the ASUS Vivobook S15 laptop could be for you. However, you've got to know this isn't a regular laptop and not all software and games will work with it.

ASUS provides the powerful Snapdragon X Elite processor, a gorgeous 3K 120Hz OLED panel, and all-day battery life for $1299. Not too bad at all, so let's dive deeper into the Vivobook S15.

Specs

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-78-100)
• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 1TB SSD
• Display: 15.6-inch 2880 x 1620 (1620p) @ 120Hz (OLED)

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Inside of Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Elite processor is the Qualcomm AI Engine with up to 45 TOPS of AI performance from the NPU, with a 45W TDP on the CPU, with ASUS using its IceCool thermal technology to keep the Vivobook S15 laptop running cool under load.

This is also not the best Snapdragon X Elite SKU on the market, as there are a few:

• Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-00-1DE): 12 cores @ up to 3.8GHz, LPDDR5X-8448 RAM, Adreno GPU (4.6 TFLOPs)
• Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-84-100): 12 cores @ up to 3.8GHz, LPDDR5X-8448 RAM, Adreno GPU (4.6 TFLOPs)
• Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100): 12 cores @ up to 3.4GHz, LPDDR5X-8448 RAM, Adreno GPU (3.8 TFLOPs)
• Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-78-100): 12 cores @ up to 3.4GHz, LPDDR5X-8448 RAM, Adreno GPU (3.8 TFLOPs)
• Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-64-100): 10 cores @ up to 3.4GHz, LPDDR5X-8448 RAM, Adreno GPU (3.8 TFLOPs)

The ASUS Vivobook S15 laptop has the 4th one down (same 12 cores, but clocked at 3.4GHz versus 3.8GHz in its full X1E-00-1DE form).

Price + Configurations

ASUS sells the Vivobook S15 (S5507 model) for $1299, but the company also offers a lower-spec Vivobook S15 laptop with the Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-64-100) processor and 512GB SSD (down from the X Elite + 1TB SSD) which is sold for $1099.

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Features

Design

One of the first things that strikes you is the thin-and-light design that ASUS has deployed with its Vivobook S15 laptop, with a premium CNC-engraved logo that adds a touch of class, says ASUS, while the versatile tapered unibody design ensures solidity and stability.

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The ASUS Vivobook S15 laptop starts at just 1.47cm thin, weighs in at only 1.42kg, and looks gorgeous in its premium all-metal body design... oh, and there's a 180-degree lay-flat hinge.

I/O

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ASUS includes plenty of I/O on the Vivobook S15, so while there's not an AMD or Intel processor inside, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite handles everything you need to do on the side of the Vivobook S15 laptop.

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On the left side of the laptop, from top to bottom, we've got 1 x HDMI 2.1 port, 2 x USB4 ports that support external displays and super-fast data transfer, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

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On the right, there are 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports.

The ASUS Vivobook S15 features a 70Wh high-capacity battery that the company promises up to 18 hours of battery life with, where in our testing we saw around 16-20 hours of battery life depending on the situation. I had Netflix streaming in the background for an entire workday (9am until around 10pm with a few breaks in between) and the Vivobook S15 only dropped to 30% or so.

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The next day, I continued watching Netflix on the side and that additional 30% lasted for another few hours (with the display at 50% brightness) and then I dropped the brightness to 30% and it lasted a few more hours of me watching the first 4 episodes of Superman & Lois S4 (it's so good).

I do dig the USB-C Easy Charge support, because virtually everything else I use is USB-C, making it easier to plug the Vivobook S15 laptop into charge wherever I am (house, car, friends house, etc).

Display

The standout feature for me on the ASUS Vivobook S15 laptop is the absolutely gorgeous 15.6-inch 3K 120Hz OLED display. It has a native 2880 x 1620 resolution, with a super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate, and that gorgeous oh-my-god-blacks and oh-my-god-those-colors OLED panel.

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The 15.6-inch 3K 120Hz ASUS Lumina OLED display features an 89% screen-to-body ratio, an ultra-fast response time of just 0.2ms (it just sucks that this isn't a gaming laptop), 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and up to 600 nits of peak brightness.

Audio

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ASUS provides some rather decent Harman Kardon audio on the Vivobook S15 laptop, with Dolby Atmos support that offers some great audio for a 15.6-inch laptop. There's also Smart Amplifier and ASUS Audio Booster technology that drives audio up another level.

Keyboard + Touchpad

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The keyboard was fantastic to use, and the fact that its RGB-lit is a bonus. I was going between typing on the Vivobook S15 laptop keyboard to my own Logitech G915 wireless keyboard, but found typing on the laptop keyboard a joy. Would I want to do it permanently? Probably not. But for on-the-go use? No worries.

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The trackpad was interesting, with some unique features from ASUS in the form of adjusting brightness and volume by scrolling on the trackpad (far right, or left side depending on the function).

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It's not the best trackpad, but it'll do. I use an external wireless mouse anyway, lightly using the trackpad if I'm totally on the go.

Battery Life + Webcam

Another thing that impressed me was the actual, all-day battery life out of the ASUS Vivobook S15, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor.

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It handled an actual day of Chrome tab abuse, with 70+ tabs open across multiple windows and me going a million miles a second typing, moving the mouse, and windows around at that buttery smooth 120Hz refresh on that gorgeous OLED.

ASUS includes a webcam with a physical cover for privacy and an integrated privacy shield that slides over the webcam for instant protection (if you're in an environment that needs that, like at work).

Performance + Personal Use

I used the ASUS Vivobook S15 laptop for around a month for personal and professional use, using the Snapdragon X Elite-powered system for my daily workload on TweakTown, watching Netflix and other TV/movies, and I tried (yes, tried, but not successfully) ran some games.

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I would NOT recommend buying ANY of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X-based laptops as they run Arm-based processors and run Windows on Arm. This is not the world you want to live in if you've been using Windows all your life, or even an Apple Mac of some form.

However, for my regular use of the ASUS Vivobook S15, it was mostly fine: crazy amounts of Chrome tabs, photo editing, streaming content, and surfing the web. For all of that, the Snapdragon X Elite excels... all-day battery life, super thin-and-light design, and USB-C powered are all up my alley.

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I had no issues with software compatibility running Google Chrome (because it obviously works on Android phones, which use Arm-based processors... most of them Snapdragon chips). This means that virtually all of my work was easy to do on the Vivobook S15 laptop.

Gaming... just don't even try it.

Overwatch 2 is my gaming addiction, and it just didn't work on the Vivobook S15, and that's not ASUS's fault, that's the Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor. You can't run most games through emulation on Windows on Arm, and if you do the performance is horrible. For games that work (mobile-focused, Arm-based games) you'll be fine.

• Read more: What is a Copilot+ PC? Do you need an AI PC? Should you buy one?

Final note: steer clear of this laptop if you want to do even light gaming. Grab yourself something like the ASUS Zenbook S16, which uses an x86-based AMD Ryzen AI 300 series called "Strix Point" APU. Yeah, you won't be doing 4K 120FPS, but 1080p 60-120FPS is achievable thanks to the RDNA 3.5-powered GPU inside of the Strix Point APU.

AI Features

I wouldn't run out and buy a new laptop because of its AI features, but ASUS includes a bunch of AI applications on the Vivobook S15 that will help your daily routine with "unparalleled convenience" says ASUS. However, in reality... they'll assist you, but "unparalleled convenience" is the shiny marketing term for that.

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ASUS includes using AI for organizing your media with StoryCube, an AI-powered digital asset-management tool which automatically organizes your photos and videos. AI is also used for security with ASUS Adaptive Dimming, which automatically adjusts your screen brightness based on your presence (I loved this feature).

ASUS Adaptive Lock also keeps your system secure, saving energy by locking the laptop when you're away (another great feature by ASUS). There's also ASUS AI Noise cancellation, which uses a massive deep-learning database to reduce background noise in meetings and calls (something I didn't use too much of, but I did play with it, and it was impressive enough).

Benchmarks

Cinebench 2024

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Starting in Cinebench 2024, a 10-minute run sees the Vivobook S15 with its Snapdragon X Elite only trailing the Zenbook S16 with its Strix Point APU. We've got 981 points for the Strix Point (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370) versus 957 points for the Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-78-100) for multi-core points, and 111 versus 107 points for single-core on the Zenbook S16 and Vivobook S15 laptops, respectively.

3DMark TimeSpy Extreme

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3DMark TimeSpy Extreme scores are also not good for the Snapdragon X Elite processor, spitting out a graphics score of 953 versus the RDNA 3.5-powered Strix Point APU with 1816 points... but at least 3DMark works on the Arm-based chip.

3DMark TimeSpy

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Next up, we've got 3DMark TimeSpy, which sees the ASUS Vivobook S15's Snapdragon X Elite once again losing in a huge way to the Strix Point APU-powered Zenbook S16 with 1915 points in the graphics score of TimeSpy versus the 3554 points on the Strix Point APU. Ouch... but again, it works, unlike most games.

3DMark FireStrike Ultra

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Things start to fade real fast for the Vivobook S15 and its Snapdragon X Elite processor, where in 3DMark's older FireStrike Ultra benchmark run, the Vivobook S15 scores just 1531 points in the graphics score of FSU, compared to the 2230 points out of the RDNA 3.5-powered Strix Point APU inside of the Zenbook S16.

CrystalDiskMark

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Lastly, I ran the ASUS Vivobook S15 laptop through CrystalDiskMark, which spat out a decent 5GB/sec (5000MB/sec) reads and up to 3.6GB/sec (3645MB/sec) writes.

Final Thoughts

ASUS has crafted a beautiful 15.6-inch laptop with its Vivobook S15, but would I recommend buying it? Well, probably not. That's not the fault of ASUS but Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor. It's an Arm-based processor that you must be well aware of before diving in.

Yes, it's a Copilot+ PC, but that doesn't mean it's equal to other Copilot+ PCs on the market powered by x86 processors from AMD and Intel. The Snapdragon X Elite chip inside the ASUS Vivobook S15 is fantastic, don't get me wrong: it handled my workloads, streaming content, using the cloud, and had fantastic all-day battery life.

But, all-day battery life is something you can get out of an AMD or Intel-powered x86-based laptop - whether it's a Copilot+ system or not - and most of the time (but not all), you're going to be plugged into power on a laptop anyway. However, if you want all-day battery life on the go and live inside a web browser, the Vivobook S15 could be up your alley.

Led by a beautiful 15.6-inch 3K 120Hz OLED panel, the display on the ASUS Vivobook S15 will instantly make your eyes fall in love. It truly is love at first sight with the OLED panel on this laptop. The 3K resolution is great to work with, while the 120Hz refresh rate makes things liquid-smooth.

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ASUS makes the best it can with the Vivobook S15 laptop, which stands on its own with 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and that beautiful 15.6-inch 3K 120Hz OLED display. You are likely deciding against laptops like the Apple MacBook Air 15 and Microsoft Surface families, which are more comparable to each other than x86-based Windows laptops.

If you know about the risks of Arm-based software, running Windows on Arm, and being unable to run all your software, then the Snapdragon X Elite-based ASUS Vivobook S15 should be on your radar. You're looking at $1299 (or $1099 for the slightly knocked-down Vivobook S15), which isn't too bad, especially with the 16GB RAM + 1TB SSD + 3K 120Hz OLED + all-day battery.