ASUS Vivobook S 16" S5606CA Review

A breathtaking OLED canvas paired with a beast of a CPU, but a gaming disaster. Buy it only if you'll never game, and even then, haggle for the $1400 price.

The ASUS Vivobook S S5606CA is all in on two things: a jaw-dropping 16-inch OLED screen and a brutally quick Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU. If you live in spreadsheets, code, or just want a portable 4K HDR theater, this machine sings. But the integrated graphics are a gut punch for anyone who games, and the price swings wildly depending on where you look. Know what you're getting into: this is a productivity powerhouse with zero gaming ambition.

That 2880x1800 OLED is the real star. It's 120Hz, covers 100% DCI-P3, and hits 400 nits, making it one of the best screens you'll find on a Windows laptop right now. The Core Ultra 9 285H chews through heavy multitasking and compile jobs without flinching, and the 32GB of RAM means you can open every tab in existence. What surprised us? The integrated Arc Graphics actually handle light video editing and 4K playback smoothly. It's not dead weight, it's just not a gaming chip. And that's where the 22/100 gaming score comes from. Don't even try installing Cyberpunk.

The price spread is massive, from $1400 up to $1915. At the low end, if you find it around $1400, it's a reasonable deal for that CPU and screen combo, especially for developers and media junkies. But at the high end, you're flirting with MacBook Pro M5 territory, which offers a top-tier GPU, vastly better battery, and sturdier build. Shop around aggressively, and don't pay a cent over $1500.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Pro M5 Pro, the ASUS wins on raw CPU core count but loses everywhere else, especially battery life and GPU muscle. The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro offers a similar OLED beauty in a lighter body with longer endurance, but its processor can't keep up with the Core Ultra 9. If you need to render or run GPU-heavy workloads, both pale next to the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i and its discrete RTX graphics, though that machine is a chonk to carry. The MSI Prestige and HP ZBook Ultra G1a are better suited for reliability-conscious buyers, but they cost even more and still lack the ASUS's screen pop.

If you want to play any modern games, dabble in 3D rendering, or need robust offline GPU acceleration, this isn't it. Save your money and grab a Lenovo Legion Pro 7i or step over to a MacBook Pro M5 Pro. You'll get a real GPU and a more reliable overall package for similar cash.

The ASUS Vivobook S S5606CA is a fantastic desktop alternative for someone who wants a single, beautiful machine for work and media, and absolutely does not game. That screen and CPU are worth celebrating. But the average reliability and total absence of gaming performance make it a tough sell for all-rounders. We'd only recommend it if you find a steep discount and your idea of a good time is compiling code or streaming movies.