ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA) Quick Review — pricier but faster and more efficient
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Laptops today aren’t cheap, so it pays to take a little time to pick out a laptop that will meet your needs without overspending on features you do not need. We’ve already checked out the ASUS Vivobook S16 (S3607VA), so today we’ll be focusing more on the ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA). These two may seem like very similar laptops at first glance, both coming in sleek metallic finishes and portable designs, differentiated only by their screen size. But the main differentiator lies under the hood — the Vivobook S14 comes with the latest Intel Core Ultra 7 255H, while the ASUS Vivobook S16 touts the mature Core i5-13420H processor. So let’s see if this is worth getting over the other.
“Arrow Lake” Intel Core Ultra 7 255H is pretty impressive
Arrow Lake is Intel’s first multi-chip module (MCM) design that’s available for both desktops and mobile platforms. Focused on performance versus the efficiency-focused Lunar Lake, Arrow Lake scales from 15W to 125W. The Intel Core Ultra 7 255H we’re looking at here today is rated for 28W TDP, although ASUS has taken liberties to push the chip to 35W TDP, a testament to their experience with laptop cooling. In any case, let’s put it through its paces to see how it performs.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, the graphics capabilities of the ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA) is somewhat limited, and would need another stick of RAM to deliver its full performance. In any case, the showing is pretty promising, and based on what we found online, this Intel Arc 140T in the Core Ultra 7 255H is one of the fastest integrated graphics out there, outperforming even the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and Core Ultra 7 258V‘s respective integrated GPUs.
CPU performance is solid, and we’re seeing the Core Ultra 7 255H post chart-topping single-core scores. Despite dropping HyperThreading in favor of power and die space efficiency, performance is still pretty good in multi-threaded benchmarks. Overall, the change seems to have paid off as performance in PCMark 10 doesn’t seem all that affected, and we are also seeing better battery life than the competition can offer.
Before we end this section, it’s also worth mentioning that Arrow Lake comes with an NPU. It’s essentially the same NPU as the one in Meteor Lake, which means that it doesn’t quite meet Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC requirements. Rated for 13 TOPS at INT8, it isn’t fast enough to handle most on-device AI workloads, but you can use it for noise cancellation or the Windows Studio Effects for better conference calls. The ASUS Vivobook S14 does come with a decent FHD camera that does aid when it comes to higher quality video calls, so there’s that.
Hobbled by its display
The main flaw of the ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA) has to be its display: this display covers a mere 45% NTSC, which means that you won’t be seeing all the colors you will on a better display. If this laptop came with an OLED display, I would recommend it to budding content creators in a heartbeat. However, this mediocre display means that while the performance for content creation is there, the display isn’t. Which seems to be a shared issue for recent ASUS laptops like the ASUS Vivobook 14 (M1407KA).
ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA) Specifications
| Processor | Intel Core Ultra 7 255H, 16C/16T (6P+8E+2LPE) @ up to 5.1GHz 24MB L3 cache 28W TDP TSMC N3B (Compute tile) + TSMC N5P (GPU tile) + TSMC N6 (SoC & I/O tile) + Intel 16 (Foveros interposer) |
| Memory | 16GB DDR5-5600, on-board, dual-channel 1 x DDR5 SO-DIMM slot vacant |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics, 8 Xe-cores @ up to 2.25GHz *Intel Arc 140T when SO-DIMM slot is populated |
| Storage | 1TB Micron 2500 (M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD, NVMe 1.4) |
| Display | 14-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) 60Hz BOE NV140WUM-N44 IPS display 300 nits max brightness, 45% NTSC gamut 89% screen-to-body ratio |
| Connectivity | WiFi 6 + Bluetooth 5.3 (Realtek RTL8852BE) 2 x USB-C (USB 3.0, 5Gbps) with display-out, USB-PD 2 x USB-A (USB 3.0, 5Gbps) 1 x HDMI 1.4 1 x 3.5mm combo audio jack |
| Audio | Stereo speaker system Dirac, Audio Booster Built-in array microphone Two-way AI Noise Canceling |
| Power | 70WHr 4-cell Li-ion battery 65W USB-C power adapter |
| Dimensions | 315.2 x 223.4 x 15.9 mm |
| Weight | 1.4kg |
| Included Accessories | Backpack |
ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA) — should you buy this?
Unless you have a specific need for the performance that’s brought about by the Arrow Lake processor in the ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA), I would probably point you towards the ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407VA) or Vivobook S16 (S3607VA). With a price difference of RM4,099 versus RM3,199, you will be getting a less efficient and less powerful processor under the hood, but is the chip alone worth the extra RM900? Personally, I think you have to really think if you can actually take advantage of the extra longevity and horsepower. Both won’t give you Copilot+ PC features, and neither has a screen good enough for content creation. With that said, a case can be made for the Arrow Lake-powered ASUS Vivobook S14 (S3407CA), if you’re willing to upgrade the RAM to unlock the full integrated GPU’s performance for some light gaming. Out of the box, the RAM configuration limits the performance of what should be a stellar Intel Arc 140T integrated graphics.
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- ASUS Vivobook S14 (Lazada): https://s.lazada.com.my/s.JrUTL
- ASUS Vivobook S14 (Shopee): https://s.shopee.com.my/10rIkQyZIO
- ASUS Vivobook S16 (Lazada): https://s.lazada.com.my/s.JpNaN
- ASUS Vivobook S16 (Shopee): https://s.shopee.com.my/50NOV4SFBQ
