The $799 / $649 ASUS Vivobook S 14 is a Good Deal - Full Review - S5406SA

[@jstanovic]

I bought this computer for my son this last summer, as he was going to start college. His came with a 1tb drive from Best Buy for the same price. He lives it.

[@jmr]

Thanks @Lon for including Linux!

[@tomflanagan3889]

@Lon I second that!

[@polarvortex6601]

i got a ASUS Vivobook 16” PC Laptop, Intel Core i7-1255U, 16GB, 512GB, Win 11 Home, for over 400 bucks at walmart just last year and while competent the battery is not. but i think that i got a deal for the price. its the best laptop out there but it does its job

[@Starchface]

Nice laptop for the price. I am so used to laptops with the worst low-end TN panels that the idea of an OLED is blowing my mind. If we see this model up here in Canuckistan it will definitely be in the $1500 range. This is why we can't have nice things.

[@chrisbullock6477]

Doesn't have a nice Ryzen 890M Integrated GPU but, it checks all the boxes. 7-Series CPU, 32gigs, 1TB hard drive, thunderbolt. The perfect all around spare laptop with good battery which is most important. Love the SD card Slot for an easy hard drive expansion.

[@DarthVader1977]

Almost time for another livestream. 🙃🎉

[@ericB3444]

@@DarthVader1977 MUAHAHAHAH

[@chrisbullock6477]

We have been between this and the LENOVO Thinkbook & Yoga line that are from the 2024 year at discounted prices in both the AMD and Intel flavors

[@MackenzieHorn]

Why are laptops still made without a USB c on both sides so you can charge from either side. So frustrating.

[@tannenguitar]

It is nice how in USA you can get very cheap nice laptops, not in Europe :) In Europe we buy refurbished thinkpads and put linux on them :)

[@dragonflyhk]

I just saw this for sale here in Hong Kong for only HK$4100... About 🇺🇸 $5xx... I'm not sure the specs, but it looks really cool and it's quite light!

[@yensteel]

Where did you see it? The Vivobook 14 name carries across multiple years. For example, the X1404VA and X1404VAP models have a core i3 and Intel core 3 Processor 100U, for HK$4100. The Cheapest Vivobook S 14, M5406NA is $7000 HKD with AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS. The HK laptop market doesn't have extreme sales like in the US. A lot of laptops in China also have similar prices to that of HK, eliminating the use of grey markets. Both Walmart and Bestbuy dislike forwarding services, so it's difficult to acquire them internationally without using a purchase assistance services.

[@mikeburke7028]

Do you know what resolution it can manage with external displays?

[@ThatsaTastyBurger]

Man, the specs are awesome at that price. Doe it have windows hello? Arc graphics are getting pretty good. Integrated graphics can’t run vr, correct. Can’t reproduce the double frames, I think.

[@LonSeidman]

I demo'ed hello in the video. VR is definitely a bit too much for these unfortunately. Maybe some of the older titles.

[@hawleygriffon9290]

Not cheap in Canada. A unit like this is typically $1,600 - $2,000CAD. You might get a couple hundred $ discount when its on sale but thats it...

[@AD34534]

How's the battery life on Linux?

[@aurthorthing7403]

I prefer used thinkpads and Dells.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I don't blame ya on that one as long as they don't have 100% soldered RAM, and Storage, and I have a small collection of Thinkpads I've gathered over the years, but Last year I snagged to 2 refurbished Lenovo ideapads off Lenovo's outlet store, being a 14.1in AMD Ryzen 5 5625U, and a 15.6 Intel 12th Gen Core i5 1235U, then I bumped both machines up to 24GB DDR4 RAM, and 512GB NVME drives and they both cost me about what this one ASUS he showed cost. So again I agree, used, and refurbished is the way to go when you can, as it also keeps more e-waste out of landfills that can't be fully recycled.

[@aurthorthing7403]

@@CommodoreFan64 I hit the local pawn shop once or twice a year and buy broken laptops for 20 bucks each. So far I have gotten all of them but 2 working. Now I'm spoiled...lol

[@Daniel-z7q6f]

512GB, for 649, this market has gone cheap

[@LonSeidman]

$649 is a 512GB I think

[@CommodoreFan64]

Yes NVME storage has gotten cheap, as you can get a decent Silicon Power 1TB NVME SSD for about 50 bucks these days.

[@yensteel]

Double checking, 512GB. The Wallmart one at $799 has 1TB and 32GB of ram.

[@Daniel-z7q6f]

Oh, sorry, I’ll update it

[@WiseAcres-i4d]

Nice. Most of what you review is not available in Canada. It becomes much more expensive with shipping, duty/taxes, and exchange.. if the product can even be shipped here. Impending tariffs are going to become an issue for me being able to get a PC this year.

[@NexusFantismo]

For those that may want to game on the laptop at home I think those thunderbolt ports will work with an eGPU

[@LonSeidman]

they will!

[@ericB3444]

LonBall I got m2 16 gig ram MacBook Air for 749. It’s better.

[@jaredhuang2225]

Depends on the use case, some people need Windows. Was your MBA new, what kind of warranty did it have?

[@ericB3444]

@ no it’s a holiday sale at Costco. New. 83 days ago

[@CrimsonTideGuy]

nothing in a closed ecosystem is best

[@ericB3444]

@@CrimsonTideGuy most persons only need their PC to play pong or pong plus. Even an M1 is good. And Mac is fine for that.

[@CommodoreFan64]

You could not pay me to use a MacBook, or WIndows, & as some who's a gamer, does office work, light video/audio editing, Solus Linux does all that for far less, and is so easy to use my 95 year old neighbor uses it daily on her Thinkpad with little issue.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I don't think I would call any laptop with soldered on ram, and storage a good value, as it makes it far more harder, and more expensive to fix when they fail, and storage is the most common part to fail on my any computer.

[@djxcel23]

You can get a refurbished mac for that price. It will last longer

[@CrimsonTideGuy]

if ram is soldered on, it has zero value. I really detest this action, I bought an HP once from walmart that had soldiered ram, It was a dog

[@CommodoreFan64]

Agreed, if I does not have at least one slot for RAM, and upgradable storage I personally won't tough it unless I find it at the recycle for free.

[@vinyfiny]

I'm not sure how long ago you bought that HP, but the only issue with soldered RAM is the lack of upgradability. Soldered RAM is typically clocked FASTER than socketed, and given that this has 32GB upgrading won't be necessary for the typical user over the typical life of the laptop.

[@jstanovic]

At or near this prove point, they all are soldered, Dell, etc.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@jstanovic No they don't, as Lenovo still sells Ideapads, and Thinkpads if you look on their website that don't have all soldered RAM, and storage I own 2 Ideapads a 14.1" Ryzen 5, and a 15.6 Intel Core i5 model, also they even have models that are certified to run on Linux around this price point, and even cheaper if you check their outlet store.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@vinyfiny Some of us want our own upgradality, and easier repairability if our RAM, and/or storage fails for whatever reason.