ASUS recently unveiled its latest laptops under the Vivobook S family, the 16-inch Vivobook S16 and the 14-inch Vivobook S14. These laptops come in different configurations to cater to those with different needs and budgets. Sitting in the middle of the S14 line is the ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA), sporting a 14-inch WUXGA screen and powered by an Intel Core Ultra 5 255H processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD.

Upon taking it out of the box, I was immediately impressed at how premium the Vivobook S14 looks and feels. I own an older Vivobook, and I was expecting a lot of plastics given its price positioning. Before, if you were looking for something sleek and premium, you’d have to browse through the Zenbook line. Not this time. While the new Zenbooks are still in a different league, the Vivobook S14 is looking good.

The design is stylish and modern with a minimalist approach, which is evident in the cold metal lid and its CNC-engraved logo. It’s also slim and light, measuring 1.59 cm and 1.4 kg, and has wedge-shaped sides to make it look slimmer. Given its overall size, it’s easy to put in a small backpack and carry around. And if you’re going to frequently commute with it, you can worry less about minor bumps and vibrations as it is built to the US MIL-STD 810H military-grade standard.

Found on the left side are two USB 3.2 Type-C Gen 1 with DisplayPort 1.2 and Power Delivery 3.0, along with HDMI 1.4, USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 1, and Audio combo jack. On the right is the USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 1. In terms of wireless connectivity, it has WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3.

Lift the lid and you’ll see the 14.0-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) IPS screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 60Hz refresh rate, and 300 nits brightness. I’m used to 2K OLED screens, yet I find the display quality to be decent with natural colors and can certainly help get some work done.

The bezel at the top might be a bit thick, though understandable considering that it houses the FHD camera with privacy shutter and IR camera for Windows Hello, as well as an array microphone. The speakers, on the other hand, which are found underneath, are okay. They don’t sound like you’re listening from cheap speakers, but they’re not amazing either. If you’re in a video call or streaming on YouTube or Netflix, these should be fine.

While the lid is cold metal, the rest of the laptop is plastic. Yet the premium approach continues thanks to the metallic finish, especially on the backlit (3 levels) chiclet keyboard. It’s well-spaced, has 1.7 mm of travel, and is quiet. You can work in a library and not worry about disturbing other students. The precision touchpad is huge and smooth. It even supports smart gestures like swipe up and down on the extreme right side to adjust the screen brightness. Do it on the left side and you can adjust the volume. Swipe left or right at the top for forward and backward video playback.

Powering the ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA) is an Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 255H clocked at 1.7GHz, Intel AI Boost NPU up to 13 TOPS, Intel Graphics, 16GB DDR5 RAM, and 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD.

Given the said configuration, students and office workers will be able to handle heavy multitasking with plenty of Chrome tabs running. It comes with Office Home 2024, so MS Office apps are not a problem. If you’re coding, it should be able to compile quickly. Basic photo or video editing is not an issue on apps like Canva, Figma, Photoshop, even Premiere Pro at moderate levels. Since it has an NPU, AI-assisted workflows and applications shouldn’t be an issue, like Copilot, Notion AI, and Windows Studio Effects for AI-enhanced webcam features. You can also take advantage of noise suppression in Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet.

When it comes to battery life, the Vivobook S14 (S3407CA) boasts up to 20 hours with its 70WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion battery. Its compact 65W USB-C charger can replenish the battery to 60% in just 49 minutes.

The ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA) is a premium-looking laptop designed for students, office professionals, and digital multitaskers. It’s more than capable of handling demanding schoolwork, heavy multitasking, and remote meetings, while also supporting AI-driven features and apps. Priced at PHP 52,995, it delivers solid performance, useful features, portability, and long battery life, all without the premium price tag found in more expensive ultrabooks.