ASUS VivoBook Flip 14: At First Glance
ASUS has done well for themselves since the inception of their convertible laptops called “flip” in 2015.
As the name implies, this laptop has a touchscreen and flexible hinges that help the laptop function as a tablet. Not forgetting the ASUS stylus pen that comes in the box.
ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 comes with a variety of Intel Core and AMD Ryzen processor configuration options. Asides from the CPU, there are also configuration options for graphics.
The laptop also falls in the category of budget-friendly laptops. At the time of writing this review (August 2021), the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 had a starting price of $879.46.
ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 Design, Dimension, and Weight
The ASUS Vivobook Flip 14 has a sleek metal chassis with matte finishing and a plastic base. ASUS provided a sophisticated look to this laptop even with the addition of plastic.
In terms of color variants, there are three color options for this laptop to choose from. You can get it in bespoke black, star grey, or galaxy blue.
Before opening the laptop’s lid, you will see the “ASUS VivoBook” text logo by the right edge of the lid. The silver metallic look of the text logo and the hinges really compliments the all-black chassis of the laptop.
In terms of portability, ASUS advertises its creation as a “burdenless laptop” which is true. This laptop is 1500g in weight, 324 x 220 x 18.2 mm in dimension, and 18.2 mm thick.
This means that ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 is far from heavy.
Comparatively, ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 is a lot handier than the 1750g weight of Dell Inspiron 14 5000 2-in-1. However, VivoBook Flip 14 is slightly heavier than Lenovo Yoga C740 14 which weighs 1400g.
Now that you know what’s on the surface, let’s know what’s under the lid. You’ll need both hands to open this laptop and that’s because of its stiff hinges.
Speaking of the hinges, ASUS featured its very own ErgoLift hinges which are normally found on ASUS ZenBook. This ErgoLift hinge lifts the keyboard to a 3-degree angle.
The essence of this feature is to provide convenient use of the keyboard when typing on this laptop. It also increases the effect of the cooling fan when the laptop is being used on a hard surface.
Still on the hinges, there are two tiny rubber strips on both hinges of the laptop. This protects the laptop from scratching a surface when you’re opening it.
Although, I would have preferred a full rubber covering on the hinges like the Dell Inspiron 15 5000. Apparently, the remaining exposed metal area of the hinges serves as the magnetic hold for the stylus pen.
This magnetic hold is a way of reducing the chances of losing the pen when not in use.
The 360° metal silver hinges of this laptop have a way of giving you a durable, yet flexible feel. In addition to its durable feel, the hinges perform well whether you have Vivobook Flip 14 on laptop or tablet mode.
Interestingly, ASUS states that the hinges of the VivoBook Flip 14 passed a 20,000-cycle open-and-close test. This is ASUS’s way of assuring users that the VivoBook Flip 14 is durable and reliable.
On opening the laptop’s lid, you will find the near bezel-less display with an 82% screen-to-body ratio. The bezels on the side and at the top are quite narrow but the lower bezel is fairly thick.
The ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 joins the likes of ZenBook and Dell XPS within the 80% bezel-less display. By the way, a screen-to-body ratio is how much the screen represents compared to the whole device.
Moving on, you can power the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 without opening the lid.
Interestingly, the power button of this laptop is nowhere close to the keyboard. Instead, you’ll find it on the right side of the laptop beside the ports.
After switching on the power, you’ll have a very reflective 14-inch matte display touchscreen. This Full HD display also features 59% sRGB and 178° viewing angles.
The sRGB is an important aspect of display that provides more color vibrancy, and visuals to a display. In terms of display brightness, ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 features 250 nits.
Unfortunately, the sRGB and nits are low, especially for this laptop which is said to be ideal for creatives. Also, the screen brightness on this laptop is quite low which makes outdoor use not enjoyable.
Following the display, I flipped the laptop to tablet mode to have a feel of the touchscreen and stylus pen. The touchscreen feature is really responsive.
While using the touchscreen selecting items, dragging and dropping files felt more like a game than a task.
ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 features an optional Zeus stylus pen which will cost you extra if you decide to get one. The latency of the stylus is good but definitely not as good as Samsung’s S-pen 2020.
By latency, I mean the time it takes for the pen to respond with the strokes you are creating on the screen. Above all, I enjoyed using it for note-taking and using some graphic design tools on Corel Draw.
Overall, the stylus pen is smooth to use on the responsive touchscreen.
Moving on to the keyboard, the most noticeable feature on the keyboard is the enter key. This “enter” key is yellow-edged which really makes it stand out on an all-black keyboard layout.
The full-size keyboard on ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 is backlit which makes it perfect for working in dim-light environments. The keys are soft, fluffy, and well-spaced.
Also, it has key travel of 1.4mm to provide a comfortable typing experience. Key travel refers to how deep a key goes into the chassis and bounces back on one press.
Just below the keyboard layout is the touchpad. This very responsive touchpad is made of sophisticated plastic that almost feels like glass which gives it a smooth texture.
Interestingly, ASUS features a numeric pad on the touchpad called “NumberPad”. This NumberPad combines the function of a touchpad and a numeric keypad.
To activate this LED-illuminated numeric pad, there’s a soft-touch icon on the top right corner of the touchpad. ASUS created this feature to tackle the challenge of not having number pads on smaller size laptops for crunching numbers.
Also, the NumberPad has the ability to distinguish between the cursor function and the number typing function.
Furthermore, the NumberPad activation icon on the touchpad also doubles as the fingerprint scanner. This fingerprint sensor unlocks the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 in less than a second.
In terms of connectivity, the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 is equipped with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, a USB 3.2 Gen 2, and USB 2.0 ports. It also has an HDMI port and a microSD card reader.
Unfortunately, there’s no thunderbolt slot on this device.
Above all, the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 has more impressive than disappointing features in this section. I will be rating it an eight out of ten.
ASUS VivoBook Flip 14: Processor (CPU) Performance
In terms of processor, the Asus VivoBook Flip 14 comes with multiple CPU processor configuration options.
The 2021 edition of this laptop features the AMD Ryzen 4000 or AMD Ryzen 5000 series processor. While the 2020 and 2019 editions feature the Intel Core i3 or i5 or i7 series processor.
The AMD Ryzen 3 5300U processor has a base frequency of 2.6 GHz and a boost frequency of 3.85 GHz. It is a 4-core processor with a 4MB cache.
Another option is the Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor which has a base frequency of 2.4 GHz and a boost frequency of 4.2 GHz. This is also a 4-core processor with 8MB cache
For the AMD 4000 series, ASUS offers AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor. This is a 6-core processor which has a base frequency of 2.3 GHz and a boost frequency of 4.0 GHz with an 8MB cache.
My review laptop is the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 2021 edition with AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor.
The AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor has a 2.00 GHz base frequency and a boost frequency of 4.10 GHz. This processor is an 8-core processor which has an 8MB cache.
To figure out the CPU performance of the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14, I conducted a Cinebench R15 test. The Cinebench R15 is a benchmark test tool that measures how a computer’s processor performs under an immense workload.
According to the Cinebench R15 test result, ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 scored 2829 points.
In this same test, the Intel Core i7 processor of the Dell XPS had a score of 2410 points. On the other hand, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 which has the exact processor as the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14, scored 2401.
During the test, I noticed that the laptop’s fan started working at 85°c. However, even though the fan was working hard, there was no extreme heat on the body of this laptop.
The AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor performance on this laptop is good for the price tag. It performed better than its pricier competitor.
Also, there are many multiple CPU configuration options to chose from. For the above reasons, it deserves a score of nine in this processor performance review.
ASUS VivoBook Flip 14: Memory (RAM) Performance
The ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 features the DDR4 memory type with a standard memory size of 4GB RAM.
Furthermore, this laptop has two memory slots and can be expanded up to 16 GB RAM. It is worth noting that one of these slots is soldered onto the motherboard, which means it cannot be replaced or upgraded.
The second slot on the other hand is available to maximize the capacity of the memory.
In other to test the memory performance of the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14, I conducted a PCMark 10 test. This is a benchmark test tool that scores the laptop based on how well it can multitask on business workflows tasks.
At the end of this test, ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 had a score of 5214. Comparatively, this score is higher than that of Lenovo IdeaPad flex 5 14 which scored 4678.
Also, Acer Spin 3 scored lower with a score of 3612.
Our focus laptop is an impressive multitasker for mid-level and low-intensive tasks. However, it would be safer not to overwork the laptop with high intensive tasks such as 4K video editing.
For the reasons above, the memory performance of the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 deserves a score of nine.
ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 Storage Options & Performance
In terms of storage, the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 comes with a 512GB SSD storage drive. This laptop storage is expandable to 1 TB.
In addition to its 1 TB expandable feature, this laptop also supports a microSD card reader for more storage options.
To determine the speed of the SSD storage of this laptop, I carried out a Crystaldiskmark test. The aim of this benchmark is to test a storage drive performance by determining its read and write speed.
If you’re wondering what “read” and “write” means, when you open a file like excel, it is described as “read”. On the other hand, when you save the file, it is described as “write”.
At the end of this test, the VivoBook Flip 14 scored 1805.58MB/s for the read speed and 645.58MB/s for the write speed.
Comparatively, Honor Magic book 14 scored higher with a read speed of 2591MB/s and a write speed of 2133MB/s. However, the Acer Swift 3 didn’t get close with a read speed of 1682MB/s and a write speed of 931MB/s.
The large storage option and fair storage performance of the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 deserve a score of seven.
ASUS VivoBook Flip 14: Graphics Card Performance
As I mentioned in the “My Initial Thoughts” section of this guide, there are two models of this laptop – however, this review is based on the 2021 model of ASUS VivoBook Flip 14.
The 2021 model features an AMD Radeon Graphics card. This is an integrated graphics card with has a base frequency of 300MHz and a boost frequency of 1300MHz.
It is worth noting that an integrated graphics card offers low gaming performance compared to a dedicated graphics card.
This is because an integrated graphics card shares memory with the CPU. On the contrary, a dedicated graphics card has its own memory.
This means an integrated graphics card has limits to the kind of tasks it can perform. For example, a computer with an integrated graphics card cannot do well with graphics-intensive applications of games.
One of the ways to measure graphics performance is by carrying out benchmark tests. For the VivoBook Flip 14, I conducted a 3D Mark 11 test which is a video card benchmark test for measuring a laptop’s gaming performance
At the end of this test, the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 had a score of 5105 points. On the same test, Lenovo Ideapad 5, which is a competing laptop with the same graphics card had a score of 4660 points.
Also, Dell Inspiron 14 which is another competing laptop, had a score of 3316 on the same test. Apparently, ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 performs better than its close competitors.
Moving on, for the real-life gaming experience, I played Fortnite. It is playable at a low setting of 720p and highly playable at a medium setting of 1080p.
On both settings, Fortnite played at 66 fps to 81 fps. GTA 5 is another game that survived on this laptop and played between 61 fps to 84 fps at the same settings as Fortnite.
For a non-gaming laptop, the ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 has a good graphics performance. Based on this, I will be rating it an eight for graphics performance.
ASUS VivoBook Flip 14: Battery Life & Performance
The ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 features a 3-cell 42 WHrs Li-ion battery. Without giving specifics, ASUS stated that this laptop battery lasts all day.
Additionally, in their promotional material, ASUS claims that this laptop fast charges at 60% in 49 minutes. To ascertain their claim, I put the battery to real use to test just how long it lasts.
At the beginning of the test, the laptop was fully charged at 100% with the brightness set at 70% and I also had the WiFi connection on. Now to the test, I had 14 web tabs open and spreadsheet data entry.
At the end of this test, the laptop lasted 9 hours 40 minutes. This test proves how long the laptop lasts when using it for minor tasks.
The ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 seems to be doing better than Lenovo IdeaPad flex 5 14 that lasted 8 hours 30 minutes on this same test.
After concluding the battery life tests, I decided to check the fast charge claim by ASUS. On a completely low battery, the laptop got fully charged in 1 hour 15 minutes.
Above all, the battery should last you for a full working day when using the laptop on few tasks. However, don’t expect that same duration when doing high-performance tasks like video editing.
For its performance and fast charge feature, I will be rating it a nine.
Frequently Asked Questions
At the time of publishing this article in August 2021, the VivoBook Flip 14 had a starting price of $879.46. However, it will cost more depending on the configurations of the laptop.
Yes. This 14-inch laptop features a responsive touch screen display.
Yes. There is a stylus pen which is optional and will cost you a bit more.
This laptop is ideal for students, business executives, and creatives who do not require a high-performance laptop
Yes. However, this is not a laptop ideal for gamers.
Conclusion
According to ASUS, the VivoBook Flip 14 was made for the creatives. Specifications such as its responsive touchscreen, stylus pen, good battery life, and lightweight are great features for its target market.
However, its display does not exactly meet up to the standard of a creative’s choice. Despite that, this laptop can handle day-to-day use like office tasks, some video editing, and some gaming.
Overall, it is an affordable, average-performance convertible laptop.
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