Asus VivoBook Pro 16 (2023) Laptop Review: Core i9-13900H, RTX 4050, and 3.2K OLED augur well for hobbyist creators

[Dale Huhtala]

Memory Upgradable up to 24 GB... ?

WTF ?

Maybe you mean 240 ?

Yeah, their numbers are strange - and incorrect. I have this laptop and I removed the 8GB from the slot and replaced it with a 32GB SODIMM - it works fine for a total of 40 GB RAM. Still would have expected to upgrade to 64 though...

[Baron]

I had sworn off Asus, but I bought this laptop based on this review because I have been an avid supporter of notebook checks ratings for a decade.

Here's why I wish I didn't.

1. It doesn't have a second storage drive, which was a key part of my purchase. How was this missed? The second slot is shorter and occupied by the wifi module.
2. It runs incredibly hot, just bearable at low load and still significant at idle. The keyboard is hot at any realistic load and it is unusable on the lap.
3. It is surprising sluggish for the processor SKU, along with its 32gb of RAM. I expect this is because of woeful thermals. Performance tanks on battery.
4. The keyboard has a nice feel, and I like have a numpad, but the placement of the mousepad frequently causes interference.
5. Any flex in the bottom triggers the mouse click, so if the computer is at an odd angle at all, or if you're holding it, the mouse is unusable and triggering randomly. I shouldn't be able to click the mouse from the underside of the computer, or when picking up a corner to move it.
6. This has been said, but the port placement is really terrible. It supports USB C charging, but the port is in the *middle* of the righthand side.

I cannot understand the score that this machine was given; it is literally the worst computer I have ever owned. My daily driver was a Xiaomi Notebook Pro from 2017. It had 16gb ram, 2x NVMe slots, virtually no bloatware, beautiful and robust chassis, and it never ever got hot. It was also substantially cheaper than the Vivobook. The only reason I don't still use it is because I dropped and beat it so many times that the power connector finally packed it in and they no longer make it. I mourn that machine, and the new iterations don't seem to be relevant.

I will be considering this writer's subsequent reviews with serious skepticism, as this one is wildly off the mark.

[RobertJasiek]

Performance tanks on battery.

I understand your criticism but this point is said to apply to almost all Windows notebooks with fast CPU or dGPU so not specific to your model.

[NikoB]

and I like have a numpad

Asus has never had a full-fledged numpad in this series. It is impossible to use this damaged, stripped-down version, especially with blind input. Therefore, in fact, there is no numpad here.

I dropped and beat it so many times that the power connector finally packed it in and they no longer make it

How can the power connector go bad if you are running on battery power? And if you are working from a power supply, then the main drawback is precisely what I have been writing about from review to review for many years - the moronic and fragile USB-C should not be the main socket for power - the main one should be the round angled classic plug - it is an order of magnitude stronger . In addition, even USB-C can be easily brought out at the back of the laptop so that it does not interfere when used on sofas and beds when operating from a power supply. Greedy and stupid laptop manufacturers (with rare exceptions like Acer's Travelmate) introduce only usb-c for power supply in new laptops, most often on the left, and not symmetrically left and right, as it should be (and even Intel intended it that way), where right-handed feet on the bed and when the USB-C spontaneously breaks off easily with your feet.

Ordinary people, only having experienced all these shortcomings in their own skin, understand how much these idiotic decisions of manufacturers contradict ergonomic standards.

[Baron]

How can the power connector go bad if you are running on battery power?

I'm speaking of my old laptop; you drop the machine enough times with the cord in, bend it accidentally or just use it enough (I believe the power sockets on laptops are rated for X thousand inserts) and eventually the port will pack it in. Had I bought a spare in 2020 I could have potentially kept it going, although even the keyboard was starting to fail. It had a crack diagonally across the screen, which was only visible at certain angles. I took that machine all over the world and it survived being bashed and bruised through well-considered mobo and part layout, as well as an incredibly robust chassis (second only to the Macbook Pro). Only real problem with it was that the fans rattled after about 6 months, but this was solved by taking the fan blades out and adding some extra lithium grease to the blade insert hole.

the moronic and fragile USB-C should not be the main socket for power

I am finding this with the Vivobook - and at every insert/removal of the cord it gives an incredibly irritating 'slow charging' message, which you can't disable - but did not at all with the Xiaomi Notebook Pro. Also, having a generic plug (I used a 100w but could get away with less) means that if your cords or power pack are lost or break you can find one inexpensivelyand instantly, which is especially valuable when travelling. You're right about the charging sides, it should be possible both left and right, ideally with more than one on each side and set as far back as possible. In this case you can't have rear ports because the screen can open to 180 (why? ~120 or 360 are the only meaningfully useful angles!) so the hinge prevents it - I'm totally fine with this and would trade rear ports for a good strong hinge.

But I agree with you on the general anger at laptop design and this one especially. It's overpowered for its cooling system and the ergonomics suck. I would add (again) that the chassis is absolutely awful due to upward pressure from the bottom affecting the keys and the trackpad especially. How can this pass QA?

Asus has never had a full-fledged numpad in this series

I can use it onehanded and blind once I became used to it, and it is vastly preferable to the arrow keys for macros/gaming and the above letter key numbers for typing, IMHO. I would have preferred a smaller trackpad and full-sized arrow keys, larger F keys and properly sized enter/backspace/delete etc. The trackpad picks up too much from the thumb and wrist anyway, so being smaller would actually benefit the entire layout. Why make the pad so big? How many giants and farmers are using it? I'm 6'5/196cm and hate it!

I understand your criticism but this point is said to apply to almost all Windows notebooks with fast CPU or dGPU so not specific to your model.

Many laptops allow you to adjust the degree of their performance. Asus locks the BIOS and locks voltages and other parameters from being altered through things like Throttlestop. Why? General multimedia consumers have no interest in this while advanced users are going to want to improve thermals and performance. Despite this laptop being a 2023 model, I doubt there will be a BIOS update that fixes this.

[NikoB]

All the dissatisfaction with the location and types of power connectors, their strength, has been described by me dozens of times over the years on NB and a bunch of other sites. But manufacturers deliberately make fragile unified USB-C power connectors (and on the left side, which is the most inconvenient and dangerous when used on beds and sofas by reclining right-handed people) intentionally, because... this reduces the lifespan of laptops and forces owners to buy new ones. And because USB-c in most non-gaming series becomes overwhelming - right-handers have no choice but to accept the loss of rights and comfort or refuse to buy a laptop for the home.