arrival of Microsoft’s AI-rich Copilot+ PC This has somewhat overshadowed the simultaneous launch of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Xe CPUs, an advanced, ARM-based alternative to the Intel and AMD processors that have long dominated the laptop world.
Qualcomm has some Unbelievable claims The most notable thing about what Snapdragon X will be able to do since its announcement last fall is that it promises to deliver twice the performance of competing CPUs at one-third the power consumption. All of those competing CPUs have been upgraded since that announcement, so it’s important to fully check the status quo with the current environment. The problem is that Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs are only certified to run on Snapdragon X CPUs – at least for now – so if you want the Copilot+ experience with the all-new Windows includes artificial intelligence featuresSnapdragon is the only way to fly.
Before we get to the CPU, let’s look more broadly at the laptops that include it. The Asus Vivobook S 15 (now with a space in the name, but sometimes not) has been around since 2017, when it debuted as an Intel-based product. Intel-powered Vivobooks still exist, note. The Qualcomm-based version reviewed here has model number S5507Q.
The silver laptop has a huge 15.6-inch (non-touch) display running at a resolution of 2,880 x 1,620 pixels. It’s very bright without being annoying, with the screen backed by a powerful Harman Kardon sound system. In addition to the Snapdragon X Elite X1E7810 CPU, the unit has 16GB of RAM and a 1-terabyte solid-state drive, which is standard in modern laptops. The keyboard is large and responsive, with even a small numeric keypad on the right side.
Photo: Chris Null
One interesting thing is the inclusion of colored LED backlighting for the keyboard — something you don’t see often outside of the keyboard world. Gaming LaptopThe single-zone lighting effects can be changed in the preloaded MyAsus app, which controls a variety of functions from fan speed to audio effects. The backlighting is fairly underwhelming as it’s hard to see, since the keys are silver in color. With the backlighting on or off, I had trouble reading the letters and symbols on top of the keys; there just wasn’t enough contrast.
Note that the unit No It doesn’t include Asus’ new CeraAluminum shell – the S15 has an all-metal chassis – nor does it include the older ScreenPad feature (where the touchpad doubles up as a small display), which is present in some other VivoBook offerings.
Port selection is good and suitable for a 15.6-inch laptop, with two USB-C ports supporting usb4two USB-A 3.2 ports, a full-size HDMI port, and a microSD card reader. All ports are side-mounted. The VivoBook weighs 3 pounds and is 20 millimeters thick, which are acceptable stats for a machine of this size.
