ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook: Which ASUS Laptop is Better?

Curious to know the perfect fit between the ASUS VivoBook and Zenbook? Reading this comparison review might just make things a bit clearer.

ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook: At First Glance

ASUS has come a long way since its breakthrough into the laptop market. They’ve become a brand that’s responsible for making some of the best versatile laptops for gaming and office use.

For instance, the VivoBook M580VD-EB54 and the Zenbook Flip 14 UX463, which are the main focuses of this article. While these laptops are great for handling everyday computing operations, they are also powerful enough for playing games.

This is because they feature powerful specs, including optional dedicated GPU options. However, despite the qualities that they both offer, one is expected to deliver more value than the other based on their price tags.

Specifically, in April 2022, the ASUS VivoBook had a starting price of $1,499.77, while the Zenbook had a starting price of $679. Can the ASUS VivoBook justify its more expensive price tag by offering better value?

We will know as we proceed with this comparison article.

ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook: Design, Dimension, and Weight

As always, ASUS’ overall design layout remains simple yet stylish. Specifically, neither the ASUS VivoBook nor the Zenbook has much going on in terms of design, but they both look good.

To give more details, ASUS paints both laptops’ chassis with the same slate-gray color. Due to this, you may find it hard to differentiate both laptops at first.

Also, with their lids closed, there’s almost no way to differentiate the VivoBook from the Zenbook. Besides, both laptops feature a glossy “ASUS” logo on the center of their lids.

In terms of build, both laptops are made with aluminum materials. Thus, they are very sturdy and have smooth edges.

This similar build structure makes it more difficult to easily differentiate the ASUS VivBook from the Zenbook. However, you will be able to spot a few differences between both laptops if you pay close attention to their design aesthetics.

One of these few design aesthetics is the concentric circles on the ASUS Zenbook’s lid. Aside from that, another element that contributes to the difference between both laptops’ designs and builds is their hinges.

While the ASUS VivoBook features a regular hinge, the Zenbook’s hinge is quite different. To be more specific, the ASUS Zenbook features a 360-degree hinge.

Hence, this laptop is a 2-in-1 convertible laptop. As a result, apart from the regular laptop mode, you can also use the ASUS Zenbook in tent mode, stand mode, and as a tablet.

Though the ASUS Zenbook being a 2-in-1 laptop is a nice thing, its size is a bit of a downside. The laptop’s size may not be an issue when you use it in stand mode or tent mode.

However, it will affect your experience when you use it in tablet mode. Specifically, the ASUS Zenbook measure 320 x 206 x 17.9 mm (W x D x H), which I believe is too big for a tablet device.

Nonetheless, this laptop is lightweight, weighing just 1400 g. As for the ASUS VivoBook, which isn’t a 2-in-1 laptop, you get a bigger and heavier laptop.

Precisely, the ASUS VivoBook measures 380 x 256 x 19.2 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 1990 g.

Away from their exterior, both laptops carry on their simple but elegant styling into their interior. To be more specific, both laptops’ slate-gray color theme spreads over to their keyboard deck.

As a result, both laptops’ interior designs have the same premium outlook you get on the exterior. This continuous color scheme did justice to maintaining their premium styling.

However, the thick black bezels surrounding the laptops’ displays did otherwise. In fact, the bezels on the ASUS VivoBook are much thicker than the ones on the ASUS Zenbook.

Nevertheless, the thick bezels on the ASUS Zenbook are a bit understandable, given that you can use it in tablet mode. Basically, when in tablet mode, its bezels will give users enough room to grab the display without unintentionally registering inputs.

Speaking of the display, the displays on both laptops are quite different. However, both laptops’ displays offer an FHD screen resolution of 1920 x 1280.

They also both feature LED backlighting and a 16:9 aspect ratio. Other than these, there’s no other similar display feature between both laptops.

While the ASUS VivoBook’s display is 15.6-inch big, the ASUS Zenbook’s display is 14.0-inch. Aside from their size difference, there is also a clear difference in the picture quality both laptops’ displays offer.

Truly, both displays offer good picture quality, but you will get better quality from the ASUS Zenbook’s display. This display is capable of producing brighter and more colorful images than the ASUS VivoBook’s display.

Also, you will find it less enjoyable to watch movies with plenty of dark scenes on the ASUS VivoBook compared to the Zenbook. The reason for this is that the ASUS Zenbook’s display has a better contrast ratio.

In case you are not familiar with what contrast ratio means, I will explain. Basically, contrast ratio is the ratio between the brightest white a display can produce to the darkest black it can produce.

Furthermore, it determines the black level of a display – how deep the blacks a display can render. This makes it one of the most important factors for determining the picture quality of a display.

In the case of the two laptops we are comparing here, there’s a huge difference in their contrast ratios. Particularly, while the ASUS VivoBook’s display has a contrast ratio of 515:1, the ASUS Zenbook’s display has a contrast ratio of 1,346:1.

Hence, the latter will be able to produce deeper blacks than the former. Besides the contrast ratio, the ASUS Zenbook’s display also has a better peak brightness compared to the VivoBook’s display.

Specifically, the ASUS Zenbook’s display has a peak brightness of 300 nits. Meanwhile, the ASUS VivoBook’s display offers 200 nits of peak brightness.

Hence, the ASUS Zenbook’s display should deliver a better performance during outdoor usage compared to the ASUS VivoBook’s display. One other way in which the ASUS Zenbook’s display scores a point over the ASUS VivoBook’s display is with its touchscreen functionality.

As I hinted earlier, the ASUS Zenbook is a 2-in-1 convertible laptop that allows users to use it as a tablet. Hence, it is quite predictable that the laptop would feature a touchscreen display.

Besides, the ASUS Zenbook’s touchscreen is responsive and accurate at registering touch inputs. Impressively, ASUS also provides a stylus pen for the touchscreen.

With 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, this pen provides comfortable input functionality and a pen-on-paper experience/feel. However, the pen tends to lag a bit sometimes.

Also, you should know that ASUS didn’t provide a compartment or slot on the laptop for storing this pen. Hence, if not looked after carefully, the stylus pen can get misplaced easily.

On a positive note, the ASUS Zenbook offers a backlit chiclet-style keyboard. The keys on this keyboard are well-spaced and they require little pressure to register inputs.

Therefore, they should offer a comfortable typing experience. Similarly, the ASUS VivoBook’s backlit chiclet-style keyboard also offers a comfortable typing experience due to its well-spaced keys.

Moreover, the touchpad below the ASUS VivoBook’s keyboard is quite large, measuring 104.14 x 73.66 mm. The size of this touchpad varies slightly from that of the ASUS Zenbook.

To be more specific, the ASUS Zenbook’s touchpad measures 101.6 x 71.12 mm. Besides, both touchpads feature integrated click buttons and a smooth surface for seamless navigation.

Also, they both support Windows 10 multitouch gestures such as two-finger scrolling.

In terms of ports, ASUS provides a healthy array of ports on both laptops. On the ASUS VivoBook, you get two USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.2 Type-A port.

That’s not all; there is also one USB 3.2 Type-C port, an HDMI port, and an Ethernet port. Meanwhile, the ASUS Zenbook comes with a USB 2.0 Type-A port and one USB 3.2 Type-A port

It also comes with one USB 3.2 Type-C port and one HDMI port.

To round off, the ASUS Zenbook wins this section of the comparison. There are two major reasons for the ASUS Zenbook’s victory in this round.

These reasons include the fact that the laptop is a convertible laptop that can be used as a tablet. Also, it offers a better display performance than the ASUS VivoBook.

That being said, the ASUS Zenbook scores a nine out of ten rating in this ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook design comparison section. Meanwhile, the ASUS VivoBook scores an eight out of ten.

ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook: Processor (CPU) Performance

The processor configuration you get for the VivoBook M580VD-EB54 is different from the ASUS Zenbook Flip 14 UX463. Specifically, with the ASUS Vivobook, you get a quad-core Intel Core i5-7300HQ processor.

This processor has a cache memory of 6 MB. Also, in terms of speed, the processor runs at a base frequency of 2.50 GHz and a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz.

The ASUS Zenbook, on the other hand, comes with a quad-core Intel Core i7-10510U processor. Unlike the ASUS VivoBook’s processor, the Zenbook’s processor has a cache memory of 8 MB.

It also has a faster processing speed compared to the ASUS VivoBook’s processor. To be more precise, the Zenbook’s Core i7-10510U processor runs at a base frequency of 1.80 GHz and a maximum frequency of 4.90 GHz.

The processing performance of these laptops should vary because their processors’ specs differ. Apparently, the ASUS ZenBook should offer better and faster processing performance than the VivoBook. 

For more details about the difference in their processing performance, we will now discuss how they fared in a benchmark test. However, before we go into that, we will first consider how both laptops handled real-world tasks.

Basically, they can effectively handle regular computing operations like word processing and web browsing. Also, intensive tasks like video editing isn’t a problem for both laptops due to their powerful processors.

For the benchmark test, the benchmark test we will be considering in this section is the Cinebench R15 test. This benchmark is an app-based benchmark test that measures the performance of a computer’s processor when handling intensive workloads.

Furthermore, this benchmark runs its test in two sections – single-core and multi-core. In the single-core aspect, it measures how well the computer can handle tasks when it is making use of only one of its processor’s cores.

Meanwhile, in the multi-core aspect, it measures how well the computer can handle tasks when making use of all its processor’s cores. Moreover, on the Cinebench R15 test, a higher score is better.

So, according to the test results, as expected, the ASUS Zenbook outperformed the ASUS VivoBook in both sections. Specifically, while the ASUS VivoBook scored 148 points in the single-core aspect, the ASUS Zenbook scored 197 points.

Also, the ASUS VivoBook obtained a score of 508 points in the multi-core aspect. Meanwhile, the ASUS Zenbook achieved a score of 836 points.

Judging from the results we’ve obtained, the ASUS Zenbook is capable of offering better processing performance than the VivoBook. Hence, I will rate the ASUS Zenbook an eight out of ten while the VivoBook a seven out of ten.

ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook Memory (RAM) Performance

ASUS equips both the VivoBook and Zenbook with a standard memory of 8 GB.

That’s not the only thing common in both laptops’ memory departments. ASUS also allows users to upgrade both laptops’ memory to a maximum size of 16 GB – even though they both have only one memory slot each.

The major difference in laptops’ memory departments lies in their memory types. Specifically, ASUS equips the Zenbook with an older LPDDR3 memory type and the VivoBook with the recent DDR4 memory type.

Technically speaking, being equipped with the recent DDR4 memory type puts the ASUS VivoBook in a good position to offer better performance. However, the laptop’s performance is not entirely dependent on memory type alone.

Other factors like processor efficiency will also have a hand in determining a laptop’s memory performance. This theory proved to be valid in the case of the ASUS VivoBook’s and Zenbook’s real-world test results.

Specifically, because the ASUS Zenbook has a more powerful CPU, it offers a better performance despite featuring an older memory type. Basically, the laptop was able to perform smoothly with 15 Chrome tabs running and a YouTube video streaming simultaneously.

The ASUS VivoBook, on the other hand, was only able to smoothly handle the 15 Chrome tabs alone. In other to further verify both laptops’ performance, I consulted a benchmark test.

The benchmark test I consulted is the PCMark 10 benchmark test. This benchmark test measures a computer’s memory performance by simulating day-to-day tasks like word editing and web browsing.

Furthermore, on this test, higher is better. Hence, based on the test results, the ASUS VivoBook obtained a score of 3833 points.

The ASUS Zenbook, however, was able to achieve a score of 3995 points. For this reason, the ASUS Zenbook wins in this round, as I will rate it a nine while the VivoBook an eight.

ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook Storage Options and Performance

Both the ASUS VivoBook and Zenbook come with SSD (Solid State Drive). However, they support different maximum storage capacities.

While the ASUS VivoBook supports a max storage capacity of 256 GB SSD, the ASUS Zenbook supports a max storage capacity of 1 TB SSD. Obviously, the latter’s max storage should suffice for most users than the former’s max storage.

Thankfully, ASUS provides an SD card reader on both laptops for storage expansion. That aside, both laptops should deliver excellent storage performance and speed because they use an SSD.

This was proven via the laptops’ results on the CrystalDiskMark benchmark test. This benchmark test estimates a computer’s storage performance by measuring the read and write speed.

In case you don’t know, read speed is the amount of time it takes a storage drive to open a file. Meanwhile, write speed is how long it takes the storage drive to save a file.

Besides, a high “MBps” value on the CrystalDiskMark test indicates fast read and write speed. So, from the obtained test results, the ASUS VivoBook has a read and write speed of 493.8 MBps and 413.3 MBps, respectively.

On the other hand, the ASUS Zenbook offered a faster read and write speed. Specifically, it recorded a read and write speed of 905 MBps and 839.9 MBps, respectively, on the CrystalDiskMark test.

In conclusion, the ASUS Zenbook offered a faster read and write speed on a benchmark test. Also, the laptop supports a larger storage capacity compared to the ASUS VivoBook.

For these reasons, the ASUS Zenbook wins this round. Hence, I will rate it a nine out of ten in this ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook storage performance section.

Meanwhile, I will rate the ASUS VivoBook an eight.

ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook: Graphics Card Performance

For the graphics card, ASUS provides two options each for the VivoBook and Zenbook.

First of all, let us consider the options ASUS provided for the VivoBook M580VD-EB54. If you want to buy the ASUS VivoBook, you can buy it with an integrated Intel HD Graphics 630 graphics card.

You can also choose to buy it with a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card. Depending on which of these GPU options you choose, the ASUS VivoBook’s graphics performance will differ.

This is because the graphics card options differ in terms of technical specs. To make you understand better, I will now highlight the essential specs that determine their performance.

The first thing we should consider is that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card comes with a 3 GB GDDR5 dedicated VRAM. Meanwhile, the Intel HD Graphics 630 GPU lacks a dedicated VRAM because it is an integrated GPU.

Generally, GPUs that come with dedicated VRAMs are usually capable of providing more efficient performance than those that don’t. Hence, with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050, the ASUS VivoBook will deliver better graphics performance.

Besides, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 has a base frequency of 1392 MHz and a boost frequency of 1518 MHz. Meanwhile, the Intel HD Graphics 630 has a base frequency of 350 MHz and a boost frequency of 1000 MHz.

As for the ASUS Zenbook, you also get to choose between two GPU options. Specifically, you can buy the laptop with an Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU or a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX250 GPU.

As a dedicated GPU, the GeForce MX250 comes with a dedicated 2 GB GDDR5 VRAM to aid its performance. Meanwhile, as an integrated GPU, the Intel UHD Graphics 620 lacks a dedicated VRAM.

Also, the Intel UHD Graphics 620 has a base frequency of 300 MHz and a boost frequency of 1000 MHz. On the other hand, the GeForce MX250 has a base frequency of 1519 MHz and a boost frequency of 1582 MHz.

For the purpose of this comparison, we considered an ASUS VivoBook that features the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 GPU option. Meanwhile, our ASUS Zenbook review unit features the NVIDIA GeForce MX250 GPU option.

Performance-wise, because they both feature dedicated GPUs, they should offer a decent graphics performance. Basically, the laptops should be able to effectively handle graphics-demanding apps and some title AAA games.

For example, on a gaming test that required both laptops to run The Witcher, the ASUS VivoBook was able to play the game at 111.45 fps. Meanwhile, the ASUS Zenbook offered a slightly better frame rate of 125.5 frames per second while running the same game.

Moreover, when both laptops ran Dota 2 Reborn, the ASUS VivoBook played the game at 72.3 frames per second. Meanwhile, the ASUS Zenbook also played the game at a better frame rate of 83.2 frames per second.

Surprisingly, there was a turn of events when I proceeded to analyze their benchmark results. To be more specific, the ASUS VivoBook outperformed the ASUS Zenbook on the 3DMark benchmark test.

In brief, this benchmark test measures how well a computer can render 2D and 3D graphics. Furthermore, on the test, a high score means better performance.

Thus, according to the test results, the ASUS VivoBook achieved a score of 5468 points. Comparatively, it outscored the ASUS Zenbook, which recorded a score of 2618 points.

Since there’s no clear difference between both laptops’ overall graphics performance, this section ends in a tie. Hence, both laptops score an eight in this ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook graphics card section.

ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook: Battery Life and Performance

ASUS equips the VivoBook and Zenbook with different battery types. While the ASUS VivoBook comes with a 3-cell 47 WHrs Li-ion battery, the ASUS Zenbook comes with a 3-cell 50 WHrs Li-ion battery.

We don’t know what to expect from both laptops in terms of battery life because ASUS didn’t make any promises or claims. However, based on the continuous web surfing test results I retrieved, both laptops offer adequate battery runtimes.

To be more specific, the ASUS VivoBook was able to last 6 hours and 32 minutes on the test. The ASUS Zenbook, on the other hand, lasted a bit longer – it lasted 7 hours and 41 minutes.

From these battery test results, it is clear that the ASUS Zenbook is superior to the ASUS VivoBook in terms of battery life. With that being said, the ASUS Zenbook scores an eight in this ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook battery life and comparison section.

Meanwhile, the ASUS VivoBook scores a seven out of ten.

Our Rating Summary

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Based on the comparison we just concluded, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t go for the ASUS Zenbook. After all, it is superior to the ASUS VivoBook in terms of overall performance.

Basically, the ASUS Zenbook has a better processor, memory, storage, and battery life performance. Nevertheless, the ASUS VivoBook is also a well-equipped and decent laptop but doesn’t offer enough to outperform the ASUS Zenbook.

Besides, the ASUS Zenbook is more affordable than the ASUS VivoBook.

Hence, based on our comprehensive comparison of the ASUS VivoBook vs Zenbook, we recommend the ASUS Zenbook Flip 14 UX463.

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