Asus Vivobook S 14 (M5406) - the year-end upgraded version with Ryzen 9 AI 370 CPU has really dominated ultrabooks in terms of performance and battery life until now. If you purchased the Intel Core Ultra version of the Asus Vivobook S 14 earlier this year, this review of the AMD version may leave you feeling a bit regretful. This upgrade offers significant improvements in both performance and battery life.
Asus Vivobook S 14 Review
Design
With this update, Asus enhances performance while keeping the streamlined look from earlier this year—a practical choice. The new silver-gray finish offers a refined alternative to the previous blue and black versions.
The Vivobook S 14 is the best laptop for students and a lightweight laptop for travel. Its compact design makes it easy to carry daily. While the chassis is mostly plastic, it feels solid and well-built. Weighing only 1.3 kg, this slim Asus laptop with a 75Wh battery is perfect for study or travel.
The design remains consistent, but the Vivobook S 14 stands out among ultrabooks under $1,000. Its design combines sturdiness, elegance, and portability—qualities that make it an excellent lightweight laptop for travel.
Connectivity
The Asus Vivobook S 14 includes all essential ports to support a full work experience. On the left side, it offers an HDMI port, two USB-C ports (one for charging), a microSD card slot, and a 3.5mm audio jack. This design ensures users have convenient access to various connectivity options.
The main drawback of the AMD version is its USB-C port, which only supports USB 4 and lacks the faster bandwidth of Intel’s Thunderbolt 4. However, unless you frequently edit directly from an external Thunderbolt 4 drive or output to 8K or dual 4K displays, this limitation is unlikely to affect you.
On the right side, the device has two more USB-A ports to expand the connection of components (or integrate a conversion cable) for a more complete experience. There is also a signal light on this side, so you can easily control the device’s on/off status.
Keyboard and Trackpad
While there are no major changes from the previous version, this time I’ll delve deeper into the keyboard and trackpad experience on the Asus Vivobook S 14. This 14-inch laptop provides an almost full keyboard layout, though it doesn’t include a numeric keypad. In return, the typing experience is excellent, with high sensitivity and quick response, allowing for smoother and more accurate operation.
I appreciate the laptop’s keys for their sensitivity and light touch, but the narrow navigation keys can make games a bit challenging.
The keyboard’s key travel is moderate—neither too deep nor too shallow—and offers a satisfying typing experience. The keys provide a good level of elasticity, and the “clacking” sound while typing is soft and pleasant. The physical keys are square, evenly spaced, and have a comfortable distance between them, allowing for quick and accurate typing without accidental key presses. Oh, and about the backlight below, ASUS integrates a rather interesting light blue backlight, helping you to work anywhere more easily.
The body is compact, but the company has integrated a spacious trackpad, allowing the cursor to move freely without obstacles. However, it’s easy to accidentally touch the trackpad, especially for those with larger hands like mine.
The touchpad surface is smooth and soft, with fast response speeds, and the two physical keys are easy to press without making noise that might disturb others nearby. Occasionally, during mouse movement, you may notice slight lag (when the device is not plugged in). This isn’t a fault but occurs because the device hasn’t switched to Performance mode or the 120 Hz screen setting. I’ll discuss this further in the display section of the Asus Vivobook S 14 review below.
Display
The display remains unchanged from the Intel version, featuring a 16:10 ratio, 3K resolution, and Lumina OLED panel, which is exceptionally high-end for this segment.
This compact and slim Asus laptop has impressive internal features. One major advantage is the Vivobook S 14’s 120 Hz refresh rate, delivering a smooth gaming experience with fluid visuals.
An anti-glare coating to reduce reflections and increase contrast would improve outdoor visibility and clarity in bright light.
Asus Vivobook S 14 review test
The defining feature of this laptop is its internal performance. This Asus Vivobook S 14 review model is powered by the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU, delivering top-level power.
The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX impresses with its game-processing capabilities and build quality. The chip, built on a 4nm process, features 12 cores, 24 threads, and a clock speed reaching up to 5.1 GHz.
Also see: Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 2024 AMD Review
It also includes an integrated Radeon 890M GPU based on RDNA 3.5 architecture, ranking high among integrated graphics cards and competing directly with other thin and light laptops on the market.
Benchmark Scores
To evaluate the performance of Vivobook S 14 in the most realistic way, I used scoring software in parallel with real-life experience. With single/multi-core tests in both Geekbench 6 and Cinebench R23 software, Asus Vivobook S 14 gave impressive results, and the AI test also brought the highest number currently compared to other AI Laptops.
In addition to the processor, RAM, and SSD are two other key factors worth mentioning in this Asus Vivobook S 14 review. Asus has put great attention into even the smallest details, enhancing the overall experience. The laptop’s RAM is upgraded to 32 GB with four slots, providing ample multitasking capacity. Meanwhile, the 1 TB SSD offers generous storage for essential applications and files. I measured the device’s read/write speeds, and the results are as follows:
Real-life Gaming Experience
When it comes to real-life gaming, the Vivobook S 14 performs impressively. I was genuinely surprised to see this laptop handle games like League of Legends on Very High graphics, CS:GO 2 on High, and Valorant on High settings.
League of Legends
With the League of Legends, I was a bit hesitant about customizing the graphics (for fear of the computer lagging and not being able to handle it). However, at High graphics, the FPS at the beginning of the game reached 330 FPS, which surprised me, so I boldly raised it to Very High, with FPS ranging from 220 – 250 FPS (at the beginning of the game).
Towards the end of the match, the FPS dropped to 150 FPS. However, this did not affect my experience too much, even in intense combats, the FPS only stopped at 170 FPS and did not drop too much. Overall, the AMD Radeon 890M Graphics handled the game very smoothly.
Valorant
Moving on to the Valorant shooter, I set up high graphics from the beginning to test the efficiency and stability in image-heavy games like this. In the early stages of the game, the FPS ranges from 220 to 240 and holds steady for about 10 minutes. After that, FPS gradually decreases but remains above 150, ensuring stable gameplay for the player.
CS:GO 2
Continuing with this momentum, I opened CS:GO 2 to test the power of Vivobook S 14. With high graphics settings, FPS no longer reached 200+ but dropped to hundreds, ranging from 110 – 122 FPS. Near the end of the match, the FPS was around 65 – 80 FPS, but the frame rate was still stable, ensuring that the immersive experience was not affected and did not make me feel disappointed.
You won’t feel like you’re playing games on an office laptop because the screen is smooth, thanks to the 120 Hz refresh rate (although you’ll need to plug in the charger while gaming). Another advantage is that this integrated graphics card doesn’t get too hot. It’s impressive that a GPU inside the CPU can perform as well as a discrete graphics card.
The Asus Vivobook S 14 isn’t limited to gaming. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 combined with AMD Radeon 890M Graphics provides stability and efficiency. Using programs like Lightroom Classic, Photoshop 2025, and Capcut, I experienced almost no lag, even when running Lightroom and Capcut simultaneously. However, it’s best not to push the system too hard, as this could reduce the device’s lifespan.
Battery life and Heatsink
In terms of Vivobook S 14 battery life, although it still retains the same 75 WHrs battery capacity, thanks to the Ryzen 9 AI 370 CPU, which is more energy-efficient and generates less heat than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, the usage time is significantly extended. Testing with BatteryMon and Pure Battery produced impressive results: nearly 11 hours for basic web browsing and about 8 hours when browsing while using Skype for work.
I was also surprised by the battery performance in Pure Battery mode; after 30 minutes of work, the charge dropped from 100% to 93% (a 7% decrease). For gaming, plugging in the charger is necessary to achieve full performance. However, when playing offline games without the charger, the battery lasts around five hours or less.
Regarding the heat dissipation design, ASUS has placed the heat vent along the back edge of the keyboard, similar to other office laptops. However, this vent is noticeably longer to enhance airflow and improve cooling efficiency.
I tested the temperature using HWiNFO64 during overclocking and real gaming sessions. After 20 minutes on Cinebench R23, the CPU reached a peak of 91.8°C, with the CPU SOC at 82.1°C. In Valorant, after 30 minutes, the laptop temperature reached 88°C.
Final line
After experiencing the Asus Vivobook S 14, although there are not many changes in design compared to the Intel version launched at the beginning of the year, the performance is a remarkable upgrade. A compact and stylish design alone isn’t enough; this ultrabook delivers exceptional battery life and powerful performance among AI-driven laptops on the market.
I admit that I initially underestimated the S 14, but it’s clear that Asus is achieving impressive results with the VivoBook series.
The model with 24GB RAM and a 512GB SSD starts at $1,099.99, while the high-end version with 24GB RAM and a 1TB SSD costs $1,199.99 on Amazon and Newegg.
What about you? What do you think about this Asus Vivobook S 14 review? Leave a comment below and let me know.
