ASUS Vivobook 15 F512JA-AS34 review

The Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) may impress you with its premium look, but its meager battery life, weak audio and dim display will quickly change your mind. Find more in ASUS Vivobook 15 F512JA-AS34 Review along with how to do ASUS Vivobook 15 F512JA-AS34 RAM upgrade?

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Pros & Cons

FOR
Premium design
Minimal bezels
Solid port selection

AGAINST
Sub-par battery life
Dim and dull display
Below average CPU performance
Weak audio

Price – ASUS Vivobook 15 F512JA-AS34 Review

The Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) costs $399 and, like another lower-priced options from Asus, manages to deliver a premium look befitting a notebook twice the worth . Given the worth , the general size and weight of the VivoBook 15, a laptop with a 15.6-inch screen, may be a pleasant surprise also .

Unfortunately, things disintegrate a touch from there; the display is dim and dull and therefore the battery life is brief even for a laptop during this price range. Performance holds up OK for easy web work, but anything more taxing goes to be painfully slow on its Intel Core i3-1005G1 processor.

There are some nice design touches on the Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) and, if you would like a laptop at this price point, there are certainly worse options out there. However, you ought to consider taking a glance at our greatest laptops under $500 or, if Windows 10 isn’t a necessity, our greatest Chromebooks rankings for other options.

Design

Asus has done a solid job of carrying over a number of the premium design touches of its higher-end ZenBook line. While learning the VivoBook 15 (2020) gives away the plastic construction both thanks to feel and therefore the plain black plastic bottom, the illusion is unbroken when it’s sitting on a desk. The textured Slate Grey finish paired with the silver metallic sheen of the Asus logo centered on the lid makes for a pleasant contrast.

Lifting the Slate Grey lid reveals the ErgoLift Hinge, which angles the keyboard deck slightly upward for a superior typing experience. the inside of the laptop carries over an equivalent finish because the lid, including a color-matched trackpad with a built-in fingerprint sensor while the keyboard breaks from this with a typical black finish. the world round the keyboard also gets a subtle texture change with tiny indentations and it’s slightly recessed, presumably to avoid contact with the display when closed. The NanoEdge Display lives up to its name with minimal bezels on all sides , but it might be nice if that included the highest bezel also .

At 3.7 pounds, 14.1 x 9.2 x 0.8-inches, the VivoBook 15 isn’t getting to be challenging premium thin and lightweight laptops, but it compares favorably to other 15-inch laptops during this price range. It comes in only a hair lighter than our top choice for best laptops under $500, the Acer Aspire 5 (3.8 pounds, 14.3 x 9.9 x 0.7-inches), and it’s even lighter than the HP 15 Laptop (4.4 pounds, 14.8 x 9.7 x 0.9-inches). because of its thinner and narrower dimensions, it’ll slot in a rather more compact laptop bag also .

Ports

If you haven’t converted to an all USB Type-C life, then the bounty of ports on the VivoBook 15 goes to be a welcome sight as this laptop offers a solid array of options.

The left side of the laptop is somewhat sparse with just two traditional USB Type-A ports, both USB 2.0, but things get tons more interesting on the opposite side.

The right side of the Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) features an influence jack, another USB Type-A port (USB 3.1), an HDMI 2.0 port, a USB Type-C port, a combo headphone/mic jack and eventually a microSD card slot.

While i might swap out one among the USB Type-A ports for a second USB Type-C port, overall this is often a superb setup. If you are doing happen to wish a further port, an RJ45 Ethernet port or a full-size SD card reader, for instance , you’ll take a glance at our greatest USB Type-C hubs page and cash in of that powerful port.

Display

The VivoBook 15’s 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 display produces sharp images, but I found the colours were washed out and therefore the panel overall was quite dim.

Watching the trailer for the live-action remake of Mulan, the VivoBook 15 couldn’t reproduce the vivid red of the titular character’s costume and left the rich and varied environments feeling drab and listless. The screen also suffers from a somewhat aggressive sweet spot when it involves your viewing position; if you get just a touch off-center in any direction, the image falls off quickly.

Our colorimeter protected my experiences with the VivoBook 15’s display, which displays only 65% of the sRGB color gamut. This actually comes in slightly before the Acer Aspire 5 (63%) and just behind the HP 15 Laptop (67%), but is well behind the category average of 85%.

Brightness may be a serious weakness of the Asus VivoBook 15, which is capable of only 205 nits in our testing. That compares poorly to the Acer Aspire 5 (258 nits) and even the HP 15 Laptop (222 nits), which were also below the category average of 268 nits.

Keyboard and touchpad

I averaged 80 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test with the VivoBook 15, which is slower than my current average of 86 wpm. i used to be surprised that the 1.4 millimeter key travel wasn’t easier . Instead I found the keys were mushy and lacked a robust bounce that helps move your fingers from key to key.

The key spacing is superb for the foremost part, I just wish there was a rather greater separation between the quality keyboard and therefore the numpad, but its presence is great for those that got to enter figures regularly. i used to be pleasantly surprised by the backlighting on the keyboard, it delivered even lighting on the keys and made for a simple low-light typing experience.

Turning to the touchpad, the 4.1 x 2.9-inch surface is large enough for basic navigation and Windows 10 gestures. The panel was to be responsive and accurate. I did, however, run into a few of things that I didn’t like about the touchpad. Clicking doesn’t feel great on either side and causes a flex across the outside of the touchpad. Also, the inclusion of the fingerprint sensor on the touchpad is awkward despite its convenience when quickly logging in.

Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) audio

The dual bottom-firing speakers on the VivoBook 15 manage to remain clear throughout their range, but simply aren’t capable of high volume and can’t produce any meaningful bass.

I listened to “Snowchild” by The Weeknd and even at full volume, the VivoBook 15 couldn’t fill my small front room to a satisfying degree. The vocals were acceptable, but lack a number of the punch that you simply would get with a more premium set of speakers or good headphones. The atmospheric music simply doesn’t come through even once I sat directly ahead of the laptop.

ASUS Vivobook 15 F512JA-AS34 performance review

The Intel Core i3-1005G1 processor paired with 8GB of RAM doesn’t sound impressive, but the laptop loaded up twenty-four Google Chrome tabs, including two YouTube videos running at 1080p and a pair of Twitch streams without a stutter as I jumped between all of them. Obviously, you aren’t learning the VivoBook 15 for gaming, but when it involves simultaneously handling an array of web tasks and apps, you shouldn’t have any issues.

However, performance benchmarks were but glowing for the Asus VivoBook 15. The notebook got a score of two ,399 on the Geekbench 5 test overall performance, well below the two ,744 of the Acer Aspire 5 and even further behind the category average of two ,983.

Our Handbrake video transcoding test, which needs the laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution, was similarly difficult for the VivoBook 15. The laptop finished with a time of 28 minutes and 33 seconds. This was quite bit longer than the Acer Aspire 5’s 21:55-finish and therefore the 25:53 time of the HP 15 Laptop. thereupon said, it handily beats the budget laptop category average of 39 minutes and 20 seconds, so if you would like to try to to some video conversion during a pinch, things might be much worse.

The VivoBook 15’s 128GB SSD isn’t doing it any favors taking 29 seconds to duplicate 4.97GB of mixed-media. this is often good for a transfer rate of 177 megabytes per second. And while it had been well before the HP 15 Laptop (57 Mbps), it had been considerably slower than the Acer Aspire 5 (369.4 Mbps) and nearly a 3rd the speed of the category average (452 Mbps).

Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) graphics

With the Intel UHD graphics of the VivoBook 15 aren’t getting to have you ever playing any remotely demanding games, but that isn’t really expected. If you’re assail a gaming PC, you’ll got to spend up a minimum of a touch more on one among our greatest cheap gaming laptops.

The VivoBook 15 managed only 8 frames per second on Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, well shy of our 30-fps playability threshold.

Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) battery life

Depending on your use case, the battery life result for the VivoBook 15 could be the nail in its coffin because it lasted only 5 hours and 20 minutes during our test, which involves continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. This was ok to beat the HP 15 Laptop (4:57), but it’s well below the 6:55 of the Acer Aspire 5 and therefore the average across all budget laptops (6:39).

Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) camera

It’s hardly alone during this problem, but the Asus VivoBook 15 is a superb reminder to select up an external webcam, particularly considering the frequent use of video conferencing and video chat apps lately .

A glimpse at the live image on the display might fool you counting on the lighting, but take a selfie with the 720p camera even in bright light and you’ll immediately see an abundance of noise and an entire lack of detail.

Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) heat

The exhaust vent that runs the length of the VivoBook 15’s back edge including the trio of vents on rock bottom of the laptop were enough to assist it ace our heat test without a drag .

The test involves playing a 15-minute, 1080p video then taking temperature readings on various parts of the laptop. On the VivoBook 15, the touchpad remained at a cool 72 degrees Fahrenheit while the underside got a touch toastier at 91 degrees, but even its hottest spot, next to the rear vent, never went above our 95-degree comfort threshold.

Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) software and warranty

Asus doesn’t overload you with proprietary software or maybe much bloatware. there’s no Candy Crush in view , for instance , but it does provide you with an AudioWizard app to undertake to squeeze more performance out of the speakers and therefore the useful MyAsus app that gives you with information regarding your warranty and repair options along side the serial number and access to some system utilities.

You can use the MyAsus app to tweak your hardware settings for the display, battery, and other such features. It also includes a tab which will offer deals on some apps, just like the Adobe Suite. it’ll also walk you thru the method of putting in and connecting the link to MyAsus app for your smartphone, which allows you to regulate your iOS or Android smartphone to varying degrees.

The VivoBook 15 ships in Windows 10 S Mode, but switching to full Windows 10 is free and straightforward if you would like to be ready to install non-Windows store apps. Just remember that when you turn over, there’s no going back to S Mode.

The VivoBook 15 comes with a one-year limited warranty. you’ll see how Asus fares generally on this front in our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands special reports.

Bottom line

The Asus VivoBook 15 is a superb looking laptop for $399, but the performance and overall feature set just doesn’t deliver on the promise of its design. The display looks great in terms of a minimal bezel experience, but that only lasts until you power it on because the screen is dim and dull.

There are aspects of the keyboard experience that are good, the ErgoLift hinge does a pleasant job of angling the keyboard slightly and therefore the spacing and key travel are quite nice, but it’s undercut by the sponginess of the keys.

And while the dimensions and weight of the VivoBook 15 would make it a comparatively nice option for people who got to haul their laptop around, the beautiful abysmal battery life makes it tough to recommend for that purpose. While there are always getting to be trade-offs on a sub-$400 laptop, there should still be some highlights, and there just aren’t enough of them to recommend the VivoBook 15.

ASUS Vivobook 15 F512JA-AS34 ram upgrade

A large majority of notebooks have 2 memory slots which may be upgraded with either one among two modules. Many of those are shipped with 2 low-density modules of matching capacity.

However when upgrading these sorts of notebooks you are doing not need to remove both modules and put during a matching pair. it’s even as effective to stay 1 of the prevailing modules and replace the opposite one with an outsized capacity module.

Most desktops have an identical found out . they typically have 2 or 4 memory slots that are upgradeable. repeatedly they’re shipped with an identical pair. However when upgrading you would like only to feature one module at a time regardless whether the device was shipped with 1 module or 2 originally. Your Asus motherboard will run quite happily with 3 modules assuming it’s 4 or more memory slots.

1. Remove the bottom plate

The bottom panel is fixed in place by 10 Phillips-head screws. Bear in mind that the clips of the chassis are pretty tight and you need some patience when prying it up.

2. Battery

As always, the first thing you need to do before upgrading is to unplug the battery connector, so no current is going through the motherboard. The battery itself is a 37Wh unit and is held in place by a metal bracket that you need to remove before you are able to take the battery off.

3. Memory and storage

Traditionally, this is the only upgradable section of a laptop. In the case with the VivoBook F512 (X512), there is only one RAM DIMM for upgrading as there are 4GB of memory soldered to the motherboard. Additionally, the laptop is equipped with an M.2 NVMe slot.

4. Cooling solution

In the cooling segment, we saw the actual innovation, if we may say. The laptop now has something like a heat spreader, that is placed (wait for it) on the place where the GPU would sit, should the laptop have one. In addition to that, there is a heat pipe that connects it to the CPU and a fan that blows towards it. Interestingly, the bottom panel is designed in such a way that it channels the air towards the heat spreader.

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ASUS Vivobook 15 F512JA-AS34 review – how to do RAM upgrade?

Pros & Cons

Price – ASUS Vivobook 15 F512JA-AS34 Review