Ultraportable Asus Vivobook S14: a numeric keypad in the touchpad

Presentation

Asus Vivobooks are generally ultraportables at a reduced price and well balanced. The new model from the Taiwanese manufacturer, the Vivobook S14 S430, has the particularity of offering a Numpad to artificially enlarge the size of the keyboard; a bit like the Zenbook Pro - which offers a second screen - the touchpad acts as a numeric keypad here. An interesting gadget that does not interest the computer.

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Construction

Asus does not change its formula and this PC presents a design with a premium aluminum look when the hood is closed. If the screen part is neat, this is not the case for the rest of the chassis, made of plastic and with coarse shapes. Remains a global design rather successful and without real false note.

Small novelty of this edition, the part which integrates the keyboard is raised when the PC is open. It is in fact the lower part of the screen cover which serves as a stand and which raises the assembly. Some users will appreciate, occupational therapists a little less, the position of broken wrists with the hands going up is not recommended.

Despite its coarse appearance, the keyboard manages to offer a very pleasant typing, with a short stroke, and this despite a certain lack of resistance. The trackpad responds for its part correctly and has the distinction of integrating the Numpad that we mentioned above. It is actually a numeric keypad which is activated by pressing the dedicated sensitive button. If we are far from the screen of the Zenbook Pro 15, this Numpad remains a smart gadget that does not hinder navigation in any way. On or off, the trackpad responds to the finger and the eye and makes the difference between the use of numbers and the movement of the cursor.

The connection, rather complete for a computer of this type, offers two USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 port, a USB Type-C port, an HDMI port and a microSD card reader, all accompanied of course by the eternal mini-jack connector .

The Vivobook S14 manages the heating well. During our usual test protocol (Unigine Heaven benchmark for one hour), the PC is mounted up to 42 ° C on the upper part of the keyboard, an acceptable score. Breath level, it should be noted that the ventilation is done at the hinge, the noise being reflected on the screen before coming towards the user. The noise measured is 41 dB, which is not intolerable, but still higher than that of other ultraportables on the market.

The Vivobook S14 is therefore a relatively successful computer in terms of design. If excellence rubs shoulders with the rough, Asus still manages to offer something clean overall, without overdoing it.

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Screen

The Vivobook S14 is equipped with a 14-inch mat IPS screen with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 px. Asus puts a lot on the thin edges to attract the eye. The screen / facade ratio is thus 81%, despite the wide band under the slab. A screen that is good, if not exceptional.

contrast 1150: 1 Delta E 5.4 temperature 6562 K

The contrast measured by us thus amounts to 1150: 1, which allows a good vision of the shades of gray. The screen temperature is almost perfect (measured at 6,562 K, almost the video standard, 6,500 K). The slab therefore does not draw towards blue or red. Its only weakness is the respect for colors. The average delta E is indeed 5.5, a little too much above the 3 which symbolize the threshold above which the human eye perceives colorimetric drifts. It is especially the blues, the greens, the purples and the magentas which are not respected.

The maximum brightness of the screen is 280 cd / m², which allows you to work serenely outdoors. Finally, the remanence of 17 ms is a little high, but without impact on a PC not dedicated to games.

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Performances

The Vivobook S14 is equipped with an Intel Core i5-8250U processor (4 cores, 8 threads) supported by 8 GB of RAM, a 256 GB SSD, a 1 TB hard drive and an integrated Intel HD Graphics 620 iGPU. medium configuration which is sufficient for office automation.

During our usual test protocol (video, audio, photo compression), the PC reached the score of 63 on our scale. That puts him shoulder to shoulder with the 2018 MacBook Air, but still behind Lenovo's Ideapad 320S. However, this is still sufficient for office automation and Internet browsing without any slowdown.

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Mobility / Autonomy

The Vivobook S14 is not the lightest (1.4 kg) or even the thinnest (18 mm thick). However, it is ultra-mobile and fits easily in a bag or pouch. You can even easily take your small charger with you.

In terms of autonomy, the Vivobook S14 remains average but does not work miracles. During our usual protocol (Netflix in Chrome, backlight off, brightness set to 200 cd / m² and headphones plugged in), the PC shut down after 6:42. A little fair, but adequate.

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Audio

The speakers of the Vivobook S14 are placed under the chassis, at the front. Sound is thus emitted far from the screen - which can be disturbing when watching a video - and the computer is dependent on the surface on which it is placed, the sound being muffled on a tablecloth, for example. On the technical side, the speakers offer a very narrow sound, which is sorely lacking in bass and even midrange. However, the voices are still intelligible and this Vivobook will do the trick during long distance conversations. It should be noted that software is present - and well hidden in the menus - to significantly improve listening in Game mode.

The headphone jack displays correct results. Let us simply note a certain lack of power which will force the user to opt for a portable headset rather than a model of the hi-fi type.

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Conclusion

Asus succeeds in delivering a decent PC that does not have serious faults. If we can regret the slightly noisy breath for an ultraportable as well as a colorimetry to slightly adjust, the rest is of good quality and shows that Asus takes as much care of its mid-range as the high-end. Good job.

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