Paired up with numerous hardware upgrades, Vivobook 16 (A1605), the latest in the ASUS Vivobook line of laptops, comes with some hefty AI functions but is the machine worth the price?

Maintaining its minimalist and sleek design, the ASUS Vivobook 16 (A1605) emits an invigorating aura that screams professionalism, making it a suitable laptop to be used anywhere without eye judgment. This sleek machine comes with a 16-inch screen display with an aspect ratio of 16:10 with a fairly thin bezel, providing a wide viewing experience for its users. Interestingly, the display can be pushed up to 180 degrees to allow for users to easily share information during group meetings. 

As described, the Vivobook 16 is built with ergonomics in mind, making it a great machine to work with for a long period of time. Even after all day work, the laptop is still comfortable to use. Typing never feels sluggish even hours spent, largely due to the ErgoSense keyboard.

In terms of size, the dimensions are 5.84 x 24.95 x 1.99 cm (W x D x H) with a weight of 1.88 kg. This makes for quite a lightweight laptop that we could even effortlessly hold in one hand. With such as thin and light form factor, the Vivobook 16 is indeed a nice machine that is extremely portable. Despite its thin and light nature, the laptop did not sacrifice on the durability front as extra care is given to the machine. 

Display and Audio 

As previously mentioned, the Vivobook 16 (A1605) has a 16-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The resolution of the display is 1920 x 1200 WUXGA and supports up to 60 Hz refresh rate. The screen-to-body ratio of 86% of the laptop made for a satisfying display to look at. 

Furthermore, the display comes with three-sided NanoEdge technology with an LED backlight panel. The screen is not exactly bright and its peak brightness is only up to 300 nits. Even so, it is still a pretty display to look at.

Speaking of visuals, the display produces absolutely gorgeous and charming colors, especially when viewing videos, say YouTube content, or scrolling through social media. For those of you who care about privacy, the laptop’s webcam does come with a privacy shield in the middle of the upper bezel. That way, even if you accidentally switch on the camera, your privacy is still protected with the cover.

As for the audio experience, it definitely gets an upgrade compared to the previous model. Now equipped with Diract technology, the audio system in this laptop is much clearer than ever, while providing a balanced audio experience. The listening experience is especially amazing when you are in a closed small room.

Keyboard and Trackpad 

Onto the keyboard, it is indeed very responsive and has great key placement that eases you in as you adapt to the machine. Thanks to ASUS ErgoSense, the keyboard provides a fairly swift and accurate typing experience.

Despite its wonderfulness, the arrow keys can feel rather awkward to use as they are squashed into a compact part at the bottom of the keyboard, making us type “0” in by mistake often. Wonderfully, the laptop did not sacrifice the number pad to save space, which is great for those who often work with data entry. The keyboard also comes with various hotkey features, making swift typing a breeze.

At first glance, the laptop’s trackpad can seem a little bit too big but by the end, it is quite comfortable to use. Although the trackpad is always on, the mouse cursor rarely moves by itself. This trackpad is also equipped with a fingerprint scanner on the right corner, allowing users to quickly unlock their laptops without needing to input passwords.

With various bacteria and virus concerns these days, the laptop is also covered with ASUS Antimicrobial Guard Plus, a coating that damages microorganisms and prevents their reproduction.

Performance

Equipped with the new Intel Core 5 120U processor, with 10 cores and 12 threads, the Vivobook 16 is a power-efficient machine. Considering that the machine also comes with Intel’s integrated graphics, expect some acceptable level of graphical performance for light graphical work.

It also comes armed with 16GB DDR4 RAM as well as up to 512 GB PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. To maintain its temperature, Vivobook 16 is equipped with an 87-blade IceCool fan on the CPU with two vents located on the back and left side of the laptop.

Here are some benchmark test scores:

• PCMARK10: 5540
• 3DMark: 1318
• Cinebench (Multi Core): 447
• Cinebench (Single Core): 110

Gaming Experience

If you are looking for an immersive gaming experience, unfortunately, you might have to look elsewhere as ASUS Vivobook 16 (A1605) is designed primarily for office work. Since it only comes equipped with integrated Intel Core 5 120U graphics, it has no ability to run some of the graphically heavier games.

As a test, we tried 3 games on this laptop, namely Persona 5 Tactica, Palworld, and Genshin Impact. Most of the games are played in the lowest possible settings except for Genshin Impact, which was running at Medium setting.

Even at Medium settings, Genshin Impact is only hitting an average of 30 FPS while roaming around the overworld, and it can barely hit 45 FPS during cutscenes. While it is at a playable state, some players may not prefer it as Genshin Impact can become timing intensity when it comes to boss battles and the Spiral Abyss challenges. The laptop temperature also heats up significantly, so it is quite comfortable to game for long hours.

As for other games, Persona 5 Tactica runs quite smoothly on this laptop, aside from some stutters here and there during battles. That said, the game does suffer from extreme stutters while moving around,  making it quite a challenge to travel from place to place. If you are only there for the Phantom Thieves stories, the laptop is certainly an alright machine for it.

Meanwhile, the experience of playing Palworld on the laptop is not exactly pleasant as the game can only run at 15 FPS on average. The frequent stutter can be quite headache-inducing, and battling the Pals has proven to be quite a challenge as they disappear and reappear due to the low FPS. Temperature while playing Palworld is also quite extreme, so best to avoid playing the game on this laptop.

I/O Port

As for the ports, the ASUS Vivobook 16 (A1605) does come with the essentials, including 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Type-C, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x Combo Audio Jack 3.5mm, and 1x DC-in. 

Like the previous model, it maintains this port layout, where one USB 2.0 port is located on the left side, while the rest is on the right. As such, some might this design a little messy, especially if you use a majority of the ports on the right side.

Battery Life 

In terms of battery life, the Vivobook 16 has a 50WHr battery and is able to last up to 5 hours, a rather impressive battery performance. To test this, we have done various tasks, including preparing documents, surfing the web, watching videos, and listening to music on Spotify all day.

Even if the battery runs out, the laptop has fast charging capability, allowing you to top up the battery to 100% in just over an hour.

Additional Software

For personalizing your own experience, ASUS does provide some software already pre-installed on the laptop. Among the software include MyASUS, where you can monitor your laptop’s system, update software, optimize performance, and much more.

There is also GlideX, which makes it easy for you to share your screen on any platform and OS. Additionally, the ScreenXpert helps you manage applications across displays connected to your ASUS PC and gives you full control over your workflow.

Verdict

The Vivobook 16 (A1605) is undeniably a worthwhile choice for professionals and students alike, offering room for great productivity while being a highly portable device. Packed with great features such as a vibrant large screen, responsive keyboard and trackpad, and superb battery life, the Vivobook 16 is a great option for those needing to do light work on the go. 

The laptop is available at the price of RM 3,099 and comes in two color options, Indie Black and Cool Silver.