Asus VivoBook S432F
The novel ScreenPad misses the mark, but that can’t take the shine off this speedy and nicely portable laptop
SCORE PRICE £666 (£799 inc VAT) from currys.co.uk
The S432F is the new flagship of Asus’ mid-price VivoBook range, and it looks upmarket. Mine came in tasteful “moss” green with an orange go-faster stripe, but you can also choose a businesslike “transparent” silver colour scheme, or go the other way with “punk” pink.
Aside from the colours, the laptop has one other key distinction – a novel feature that Asus calls the ScreenPad (or the ScreenPad 2 to be precise, following on from the original version on the 2018 ZenBook Pro). Simply put, it’s a 14.5cm touchscreen beneath the keyboard. It works as a regular touchpad, but also provides visual shortcuts to selected apps and features, serves as a handwriting input area and transforms into a numeric keypad at the tap of an icon. You can even use it as a second screen and drag app windows down onto it for safe keeping.
On paper, it’s a clever idea. Sadly, in practice, I didn’t find it useful in the slightest. That’s partly because very few popular applications make use of it, although it does come with built-in shortcuts for commonly used functions in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. A much bigger issue is that when the ScreenPad is operating as a touchscreen, it can’t be used to control the mouse pointer – so taking advantage of its features means either plugging in an external mouse or tediously switching back and forth between modes. It wasn’t long before I ended up disabling the touchscreen features entirely.
Despite that disappointment, the VivoBook S432F still has a lot to offer. For one thing, it’s one of this month’s fastest laptops, with an overall score of 91 in our desktop benchmarks. That’s thanks to an Intel Core i5-8265U processor capable of boosting up to a massive 3.9GHz. The extra speed gives it a leg-up in gaming performance, too – so while the S432F uses ostensibly the same Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU as the likes of the Acer Swift 3 and HP Pavilion x360, it delivered frame rates at least 25% higher in all the GFXBench tests.
Another feather in the VivoBook S432F’s cap is a lightning-fast Western Digital SN520 SSD. Its sequential read rate of 1,562MB/sec beats all comers this month, but what’s really impressive is sequential write performance: at 1,169MB/sec, it’s nearly 40% faster than the secondplace Chillblast. All of this, coupled with a decent 8GB of RAM, ensures that the VivoBook S432F feels fast and responsive no matter what you’re doing. The cherry on top is one of this month’s best battery-life performances, with 9hrs 32mins of video playback on a single charge.
Not all aspects of the VivoBook are quite so impressive. Its display measures 14in across the diagonal, and its skinny bezels make it look huge. However, brightness peaks at a slightly drab 230cd/m2, and while a contrast ratio of 1,080:1 is pretty decent, the screen’s matte coating makes everything look flat. Colour performance is iffy too, with sRGB
“All of this, coupled with a decent 8GB of RAM, ensures that the S432F feels fast and responsive no matter what you’re doing”
coverage of just 60% and an average Delta E of 3.51. That means photos and films may not come out with the colour tones they’re supposed to.
It’s worth noting that the main display isn’t touch-enabled either, and there’s no tablet or “tent” mode: aside from the ScreenPad, this is very much a laptop in the traditional mould. The one mechanical trick it does have is an asymmetric hinge that elevates the keyboard by about a centimetre when the lid is open. It’s a good idea, but I didn’t find it had any noticeable impact on my typing.
Still, Asus has resisted the urge to cram a numeric keypad or other fripperies into the 14in chassis, so there’s plenty of room for full-sized keys with clear gaps between them. The action is solid and positive, and you can cycle through four levels of backlighting with the F7 key. Other function key shortcuts lock the screen, disable the camera, take a screenshot and – ahem – disable the ScreenPad.
Around the edges you’ll find a decent set of connectivity options. At the left, twin USB 2 sockets rub shoulders with a microSD card reader, while USB 3, USB-C and HDMI connectors are set into the opposite side. There’s a headphone socket too, which you might be grateful of: while the Harman Kardon speakers sound clear, they don’t go loud at all.
The miniature touchscreen might be a valiant misfire, and the VivoBook S432F’s main display could be better. All the same, performance is excellent for the price and, with a long-lasting battery and a weight of just 1.43kg, the S432F makes a great travelling companion, too. If it’s a conventional laptop you’re looking for, the S432F may suit you very nicely indeed.