ASUS Vivobook 16" Cool Silver Review

It's a big, slow box with great USB ports. Buy it only if screen size is your only metric and your budget is rock-solid.

The ASUS Vivobook 16 is a big-screen budget laptop that makes one thing very clear: you're paying for the real estate, not the specs. For around $580, you get a massive 16-inch display and a surprising number of ports, but you're making serious compromises on performance and modern features. If your entire workflow fits inside a web browser and you just want a big canvas to look at, it's a contender. If you need to do anything more demanding, you'll hit its limits fast.

The Intel Core i5-13420H is a decent chip, but it's paired with integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics that land in the 18th percentile for GPU performance. Our database shows that score is basically a flashing 'no gaming' sign. It'll handle web browsing, video calls, and documents just fine, but the moment you try to edit a photo or run more than a few Chrome tabs, you'll feel it start to sweat. The real surprise is the port selection, which is in the 95th percentile. Having four USB-A ports and a USB-C in 2024 is almost a novelty, and it's a genuine win for plugging in old peripherals without a dongle.

At $580, it's cheap for a 16-inch laptop, but you get what you pay for. The value is entirely in the screen size and the ports. Everything else—the aging Wi-Fi 5, the mediocre screen quality, the weak GPU—feels like a cost-cutting exercise. It's worth it only if a big, basic screen is your absolute top priority and you have zero interest in future-proofing.

This Vivobook gets absolutely smoked by its own siblings. The ASUS Zenbook Duo, while more expensive, offers transformative dual-screen productivity. For a similar big-screen experience but with actual power, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (a gaming laptop) is in a different universe performance-wise, though it costs more. The most relevant comparison is to other budget 15-16 inch laptops; here, the Vivobook's port advantage is its main selling point against models that might have slightly better screens or Wi-Fi 6.

If you're a student needing to carry this around campus, skip it. It's too heavy. If you do any creative work, gaming, or even heavy multitasking, skip it. The GPU and CPU aren't up to the task. Go look at a refurbished business laptop or save up for a model with a better screen and Wi-Fi 6.

We can't recommend the Vivobook 16 for most people. It's a niche product for a very specific user: someone who needs a big, cheap second screen for their desk and doesn't care about speed, modern connectivity, or portability. For students or business users, its low scores in our database (around 50/100) tell the story—it's middling at everything except having lots of USB ports. Spend a little more for a better all-rounder, or accept that you're buying a one-trick pony.