Review: ASUS VivoBook S14 (M433)

A few months ago, we reviewed the ASUS VivoBook S14 S433 – the S Series from the company is aimed at younger crowds looking for a stylish think and light laptop. The S14 S433 we reviewed back then was the variant that’s powered by Intel’s 10th Generation Core i processors. A few days ago, ASUS sent us the VivoBook S14 M433, which is the company’s laptops running AMD Ryzen series of processors.

The VivoBook S14 (M433) a slim and lightweight laptop that comes clad in either a Dreamy White or an Indie Black shell, featuring a colour-blocking yellow Enter key.

The one we received for this review was the Dreamy White variant. The VivoBook S14 features a 15.9 mm chassis and weighs around 1.4 kgs.

The laptop also comes with a thin-bezel 14-inch NanoEdge FHD display – here, ASUS has packed a larger screen into a smaller chassis. The FHD display is treat to look at – it offers rich viewing experience and a very good viewing angle.

Under the hood, the ASUS VivoBook S14 (M433) is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U Mobile Processor running at a clock speed of 2GHz, with up to 16GB RAM.

You also get AMD Radeon graphics to help you power through graphics-intensive apps. In terms of connectivity, you get two USB ports, one microSD card reader, and the power and battery indicators on the right edge of the laptop. On the left edge, you get the power port, an HDMI port, a USB port, a USB-C port and the headphone/mic combo port.

For storage, you get a 1 TB PCIe SSD – that’s ample storage for your project files, movies and pictures. For audio, you get harman/kardon speakers.

Select VivoBook S14 models also come with the ASUS NumberPad 2.0, a touchpad that also works as a touch-sensitive numeric keypad for quick data entry.

ASUS also offers the MyASUS software that lets you easily collaborate and multi-task with mobile devices, such as smartphones to tablets.

New features on the MyASUS software include wireless file and URL transfers for users who frequently need to share files or view websites seamlessly between their PC and mobile devices, Remote File Access to allow easy access PC storage via a mobile device, and Mirror and Screen Extender modes that allows users to multitask across a connected mobile device and PC.

In terms of performance, the VivoBook S14 truly shines. The AMD processor and Radeon graphics combo work really well together and are able to handle everything you throw at it.

The full HD screen makes for a very nice display for watching movies or playing games. Since the laptop also offers multi-screen collaboration through MyASUS software, sharing content from your mobile device to the laptop and vice versa is hassle free.

When it comes of battery life, the provided 50Whr 3-cell Li-Po battery has a fair endurance. On normal work settings with brightness set to average and a balanced setting with a workload that involved word processing, web browsing and some light photo editing, it managed close to 8 hours of work.

Charging it from the bundled charger from 20% to full takes about an hour and 20 minutes which is a reasonable pace.

For a starting price of AED 2899, the Asus VivoBook S14 (M433) offers an excellent price to performance ratio, helped in large part with the inclusion of AMD’s efficient AMD Ryzen 7 4000 series of mobile processors and Radeon graphics that does not compromise performance.

It can tackle basic computing and gaming as well as simple creator work such as photo editing, and so on. This is an ideal choice for students and users looking for an affordable think and light laptop for general day to day computing.

Price: AED 2899 onwards

Photography by Ranbir Sen