Asus Vivobook S15 S5507 (Snapdragon X Elite) review: An excellent, affordable 15-inch notebook
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Looking for a beast of a 15-inch laptop that’ll get you superb performance and long battery life without leaving you penniless? Meet the Asus Vivobook S15 S5507.
Asus outfitted this 15-inch wonder with the powerful new Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor, a stunning OLED display, and nearly 13 hours of battery life for just $1,299.
As you might’ve noticed, the era of 16-inch notebooks is here. However, the Asus Vivobook S15 is out here flaunting its anodized aluminum 15.6-inch silver chassis.
While it’s beset with poor speakers and middling graphics, its real offense is the plastic touchpad, which is so tough to navigate.
However, if you can overlook a few grievances, the Asus Vivobook S15 is an excellent choice for those looking to upgrade to an affordable 15-inch notebook.
Will the Asus Vivobook S15 S5507 make Laptop Mag's guide to the best 15-inch laptops? Let’s find out.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Specs
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Price and configurations
I tested the higher-end model of the Asus Vivobook S15 ($1,299), which comes with a Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 15.6-inch, 2880 x 1620, 120Hz display.
A lower-specced model — for $1,099 — offers the also-new Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 CPU and 512GB SSD. And that’s about it. There are only two configurations.
Want something even cheaper? Check out our best laptops under $1,000.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Design
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve reviewed a 15-inch laptop. As you might’ve noticed, the era of 16-inch notebooks is here. However, the Asus Vivobook S15 is out here flaunting its anodized aluminum 15.6-inch silver chassis.
The font on the glossy Asus Vivobook logo has a futuristic air, and the Vivobook overall feels quite elegant — despite its lack of the bright color that I wish this laptop category could embrace. (Not everything needs to mimic a MacBook.)
A similar theme extends to the interior, with a silver deck and keys consuming the space. The hinge allows the display to stretch 180 degrees, and what’s more impressive are the super-thin bezels all around (including the bottom).
Also, we can appreciate a webcam up top with a privacy shutter in a world of privacy concerns.
At 3.2 pounds and 13.88 x 8.93 x 0.58~0.63 inches, the Vivobook S15 is lighter than an Apple and is smaller in depth than the rest of the competition.
For better or worse, these laptops offer more space on the deck than the Vivobook S15 S5507:
The MacBook Air 15-inch M3 (3.3 pounds, 13.4 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches)
The Acer Swift Edge 16 (2.7 pounds, 14 x 9.7 x 0.57~0.60 inches)
The LG Gram SuperSlim (2.18 pounds, 14 x 8.95 x 0.43~0.49 inches)
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Ports
Seeing this many ports, even in a 15-inch laptop, is refreshing, to say the least (I’m looking at you, Apple).
On the left, you’ll find an HDMI port, two USB Type-C ports, a microSD card slot, and a headphone jack, while the right side features two USB Type-A ports.
If you still need more ports, check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Display
While the Asus Vivobook S15’s 15.6-inch, 2880 x 1620, 120Hz OLED display may not be the best, especially up against its current competition, it offers respectable color and brightness for the price.
In the Borderlands trailer, the stars and massive planet on the horizon looked vivid on the Vivobook’s display. However, half of the space captured the glare of the window behind me. But its high resolution shined when highlighting the sharp geometrical objects in the vault. Use the Asus Vivobook in a dark room and you’ll get the absolute best out of its OLED display.
Use the Asus Vivobook in a dark room and you’ll get the absolute best out of its OLED display.
We tossed our colorimeter on the Asus Vivobook S15, which reproduced 82.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, slightly below the average premium laptop (86.7%). It is more colorful than the MacBook Air (77.5%), but both were trounced by the Swift Edge (139.2%) and LG SuperSlim (139%).
At 370 nits of brightness, the Asus Vivobook S15 is well-lit, but it might not be enough for some, especially since the Vivobook features a glossy display. It’s also dimmer than the average premium laptop (464 nits), the MacBook Air (482 nits), the Swift Edge (387 nits), and the LG SuperSlim (384 nits).
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Keyboard and touchpad
I expected to like this keyboard, especially since Asus advertised it with 1.7mm key travel, which is great. That depth translates well when I depress each key. However, there isn’t much click or bounce to it, so the typing experience feels average at best.
I hit 79 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, slightly below my usual 81-wpm average. Like I said, I didn’t feel much bounce to get me to each key. And, while this didn’t impact me, the corners of the laptop are rather sharp. Someone with larger hands might be uncomfortable typing.
Another surprise is its keyboard lighting: It’s RGB-lit! It may be only one zone, but it’s a neat feature.
The 3.5 x 4.3-inch touchpad comes with a few unique features. You can adjust the brightness and volume of the laptop by scrolling on the right or left side of the touchpad, respectively. However, it’s super resistant to my fingers, so I’m fighting to click on anything half the time.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Audio
The Asus Vivobook S15’s bottom-firing speakers are unbalanced and nasally.
I listened to Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” and its usual ethereal percussion decided to come in sharp and nasally. The percussion found itself at the forefront of the track, keeping pace with the vocals in an awkward balance. If my ears could squint, that’s what they would be doing when listening for the synths buried beneath every other instrument.
It is outfitted with the Dolby Access app, but I wasn’t a fan of any of the selections when applied, which include Dynamic, Music, Game, and Movie.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Performance
Rocking a shiny new Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100, the Asus Vivobook S15 tore through a couple of dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos without issue while Spotify played in the background.
On the Geekbench 6.3 overall performance test, the Asus Vivobook S15 nailed 14,522, which crushes the average premium laptop (9,078). It also did a number on the MacBook Air’s M3 (12,052), the Swift Edge’s AMD Ryzen 7 7840U (10,682), and the LG SuperSlim’s Intel Core i7-1360p (10,282).
The Vivobook S15 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in just 4 minutes and 27 seconds on our HandBrake benchmark, flying past the category average (7:16), MacBook Air (6:30), Swift Edge (6:04), and LG SuperSlim (10:41).
Asus’ 1TB SSD features a transfer rate of 1,296 megabytes per second, which is only slightly behind the average (1,412 MBps). It’s faster than the Swift Edge (1,270 MBps) but slower than the LG SuperSlim (1,692 MBps).
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: AI performance and features
We’ve tested a wave of Snapdragon X Elite CPUs as the age of Copilot+ PCs has dawned upon us. The Vivobook’s Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 is the third-highest performing chipset in the Snapdragon X Elite series. We put the Vivobook S15 and others through rigorous testing to judge their AI capabilities (see how we test AI PCs). As we learn more about what these AI PCs can do, our methods will adapt as necessary. But let’s see how the Vivobook S15 did.
On the Geekbench ML 0.6 AI performance test, the Vivobook S15 hit an ONNX/CPU score of 2,913. None of its current competitors took this test, but it does outmatch the HP Spectre x360 14 2024 (2,876) and just misses the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Q425M (2,971). Remember that Qualcomm’s CPU is likely not optimized for Geekbench ML 0.6. And this doesn’t test the NPU, which is where Qualcomm ultimately beats the competition.
There’s more than AI performance under the hood of Copilot+ PCs. They support new software and features. Naturally, the biggest and most controversial feature is Recall. Imagine a playback of the entire history of your PC's use. You can hop around your timeline to see what you did hours ago. This information is intended to be stored locally, but it only makes sense to worry about it connecting to the cloud. However, you do have the option to adjust the type of information stored. Plus, Recall is limited to Windows Insiders and disabled by default.
Our favorite Copilot+ PC features include Windows Studio Effects and Live Captions. AI art programs are also available, but they are not without controversy.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Graphics
As we’ve seen with each test of the Qualcomm Adreno GPU, there’s not much gaming or graphically intensive software you’ll be using with the Asus Vivobook S15.
On the benchmark for Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (Medium, 1080p), the Asus Vivobook S15 averaged 21 frames per second, which doesn’t make it across the necessary 30-fps minimum threshold. The LG SuperSlim’s Intel Iris Xe Graphics did relatively better (25 fps) — meanwhile, the Swift Edge’s Radeon Graphics 780M clocks in at a solid 44 fps.
Turning to the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic graphics test, the Asus Vivobook S15 scored 6,172, far from the average premium laptop (9,033). It beat the LG SuperSlim (4,842) again, but not the Swift Edge (6,873).
It may not be a gaming laptop, but Qualcomm made a few claims about gaming on the Snapdragon X Elite chipset, so naturally, I tried gaming on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition... I wanted to cry.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Battery life
At this point, it’s not surprising that the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 offers that killer battery life.
On the Laptop Mag battery test, the Asus Vivobook S15 survived 12 hours and 53 minutes, cranking in over an hour more than the average premium laptop (11:17). It also outlasted the Swift Edge (7:18) and LG SuperSlim (11:38). However, the MacBook Air (15:03) did take the lead.
Qualcomm has had a tough time catching up to Apple’s battery life scores, but it did, once at least. I am, of course, talking about the Dell XPS 13, on which we spent over 115 hours testing the battery life.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Webcam
Nothing makes me look more like a grainy hot mess than a laptop webcam, and that remains true with the Vivobook S15’s 1080p shooter.
My hair and skin blended so awkwardly that I can’t tell where one begins and the other ends. Parts of my face are so pink that I look like a nesting doll. Even the divide between my hairline and the image made it look like my scalp was straight-up bleeding. The poor contrast blew out the window behind me, turning my blue shirt black. Do yourself a favor and check out the best webcams.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Heat
It might get uncomfortable in your lap.
After streaming a 15-minute video, the Asus Vivobook S15 measured 97 degrees Fahrenheit on its underside, just slightly above our 95-degree comfort threshold. At the center of the keyboard and touchpad, the Vivobook reached 94 and 77 degrees, respectively. The hottest it got was 111 degrees on the underside, between vents just left of the center.
Asus Vivobook S15 S5507: Software and warranty
You get MyASUS, which provides access to your device settings, system diagnostics, system updates, and warranty. You can monitor your CPU, memory, battery, and hard disk space. There are additional display and audio settings.
Since this is a Copilot+ PC, you also get the AI features mentioned above.
The XPS 13 9345 comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Dell performed on our Tech Support Showdown ranking.
Bottom line
While the Asus Vivobook S15 S5507 isn’t perfect, it hits the key notes that make a tremendous 15-inch laptop: performance, battery life, and display—all of which are stellar. However, my biggest pet peeve is the touchpad. It’s the window in which you access the laptop; my finger should not feel like it’s sprinting to get control of the cursor.
Do you know which laptop doesn’t have this problem? That’s right, the MacBook Air 15. MacBooks use glass touchpads, whereas this particular laptop uses plastic. Going with the MacBook also nets you longer battery life. However, it’s also pricier ($1,699).
For the price, the Asus Vivobook S15 S5507 does many things right. So, if you’re comfortable with getting a wireless mouse or you don’t mind a stiff touchpad, then this laptop is perfect for you.
