Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED : The Performance You Need

Asus is on a mission to bring OLED laptops to the masses. The ZenBook 13 was the cheapest 1080p OLED panel we’d seen when it launched earlier this year, and now, the Vivobook Pro 16X is doing the same for 4K OLED.

The high-resolution screen comes in a base configuration that starts at just $1,100. In a world where OLED is typically reserved for laptops over $2,000, the Vivobook Pro 16X is a big step in the right direction.

Paired with a Ryzen 9 5900HX processor and RTX 3050 Ti graphics card, the ingredients are all in place for an excellent content-creation machine on the cheap. As it turns out, it’s exactly that — and much more.

Design

The design of the VivoBook Pro 16X is not its strong suit. It’s where the low price of the laptop rears its head. It’s not an unattractive laptop per se, more just a very basic one. The dark gray chassis doesn’t stand out much, and the fairly large, plastic bezels keep it from feeling cutting-edge. The few design flourishes it does have, such as the orange Esc key and the nameplate on the front bearing the phrase “#BeExplorers,” feel a little hokey.

The design just doesn’t have the premium look of some of its competitors, such as the Dell XPS 15, MacBook Pro 16-inch, or even the HP Envy 15. But again, this is considerably cheaper than many of those other options. Ultimately, the Vivobook Pro 16X is for those who prefer a cheaper laptop without taking a cut to performance. Design isn’t the priority.

Fortunately, that doesn’t mean the Vivobook Pro 16X is a poorly built machine. It’s plenty durable. It’s only weak spot is at the center of the lid along the hinge, but that’s typical. It’s an otherwise sturdy-feeling laptop to use and move around.

Asus also didn’t cut corners with portability. Despite being a very large laptop, the chassis is 0.74 inches thick and 4.3 pounds — a bit thicker than the XPS 15, but half a pound lighter than the HP Envy 15. The Razer Blade remains one of the thinnest options for laptops of this size and performance level.

One similarity the Vivobook Pro 16X has with the Razer Blade is that they’re both absolute fingerprint magnets. The lid, in particular, was quickly covered with fingerprints that were hard to remove.

Display

The Vivobook Pro 16X has a super-glossy OLED display, which is still fairly rare on laptops. You’ll find it as an option on the most expensive creator-based laptops, such as the Dell XPS 15. On that laptop, the cheapest you can configure an OLED screen is $2,300. HP can get you one on its Spectre x360 15 for $1,580. But $1,100? It’s unheard of, and yet, it’s exactly what the Vivobook Pro 16X accomplishes.

If you’ve seen any of the OLED screens on those laptops, you know what you’re getting with the Vivobook Pro 16X: Inky deep blacks, insane contrast, and a warm tint. Reds and oranges are cranked up, but not to the point of being unrealistic. You can force colors to pop even more with the “Vivid” color mode, found in the MyAsus application. You can also tweak the color temperature, either cooler or warmer. I’ve always found these Samsung OLED panels to be a bit too warm for my tastes, so being able to cool them down a bit is perfect. That piece of software also includes some OLED care tips, including pixel shifting, pixel refresh, and the ability to automatically hide the taskbar. These should, in theory, prevent any potential burn-in you might experience.

Using a Spyder colorimeter, I measured the color saturation, brightness, gamma, and color accuracy — and was impressed across the board. Again, this is nearly identical panel to what you find in other OLED laptops like the HP Spectre x360 15 or Dell XPS 15, and that’s a good thing. It hits nearly perfect in P3, AdobeRGB, and sRGB color spaces, and color error is low enough for more precise color grading. It just may be the best laptop screen I’ve ever tested  — especially at this price point.

On top of all that, the Vivobook Pro 16X is the first laptop with a larger 16:10, 16-inch screen-to-feature OLED.

Ports

Asus keeps the port selection fairly simple, though it’s decidedly old school. That means you get three USB-A ports, HDMI, a barrel power connector, and just one USB-C port. Although the USB-C port can deliver power, Asus unfortunately chose to put it on the same side as the standard power connector.

The Vivobook Pro 16X also features a microSD card slot rather than a full-sized one. That’s a bit less convenient when uploading content straight from a camera, which seems like one of the primary uses for a laptop like this. That’s too bad.

The inclusion of the barrel plug is also not ideal. Laptops like the XPS 15 rely solely on USB-C power, and that seems to provide enough overall juice to the whole laptop without compromising performance. USB-C is not only more convenient, bt it also allows you to fully charge on either side of the laptop.

Keyboard and touchpad

Asus brought over the same keyboard from its higher-end ZenBook line. The keypresses feel snappy and the keycaps don’t have too much wobble. There’s not a ton of travel here, but I found it to be a fairly comfortable typing experience.

In addition to the orange keycap, the keyboard also features a racing stripe on the Enter key and some color distinction between. The keyboard includes a nu