ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 Review

Are you looking for a modern laptop with mid-range specs at an affordable price? If you answered yes, then you’re in the right place. The ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 is one such laptop and comes with mid-range specs that target the light users and also some mid-range users.

In this ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 review, we take a good look at this new affordable laptop and see if it stands up to the claims it makes. The laptop does have the potential to become an all-rounder but is it truly the best option for us out there? Is it worth your hard-earned money? Let’s find out.

Design

The ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 model is a much-improved version of its predecessor, especially in the design department. With a slate gray coat, the laptop looks neat and doesn’t look that cheap. The construction is solid and ASUS hasn’t compromised there. You don’t hear any creaking even when you flex the body a bit.

The laptop takes a smaller blueprint, thanks to its smaller bezels. ASUS calls it the Nano Edge display and it looks super clean and improves your overall viewing experience. With a screen-to-body ratio of 88%, the laptop achieves a portable form and makes it easier to carry around (with a weight of just 3.5 pounds). 

Another nice addition is the fingerprint scanner on the top right corner of the touchpad. It makes logging into your laptop easy and saves you a few seconds which could add up. The touchpad itself is decent and responsive. The surface is smooth and you can glide your fingers on it without any friction.

The keyboard we have here is a full keyboard with a dedicated number pad. The keys are backlit and come with a key travel of 1.4mm which is not too shabby. The keyboard when in use has a 2-degree lift which provides you with an uplifted typing position making it easier to type on.

ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 Specs

The display we have here is a 15.6″ screen with a Full HD resolution. The 1080p resolution and the 16:9 aspect ratio make this display a good fit for media consumption. The display is also an anti-glare one which means you’ll not see any reflections on the screen. 

ASUS’s splendid software enhancement improves the quality of the picture and makes media consumption a good use case for this display. The colors are nice but not as vibrant as you’d find in an IPS display. The viewing angles are decent but you should in right in front of the display for the best pictures.

The audio output of the laptop is adequate. It can fill a small room without any problem. If you’re someone who’s not very serious about the quality of sound, then you’d not have any problems with this laptop. If you’re an audiophile, then this might not be enough.

Raw Performance

The ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 is powered by an AMD R5 3500 processor. This is a quad-core processor with a base clock speed of 2.1GHz. If you need more power, the processor can clock up to a maximum of 3.7GHz with the help of turbo. With multithreading in place, the processor gets a CPUMark score of 7990 which puts this chip in the mid-range category.

The ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 does well when it comes to everyday activities. You can stream videos online, play your favorite music, browse the web, download stuff, and even work on your office docs without any problems. Though this is a mid-range processor, it can handle some heavy apps with ease. 

The laptop gets good support from the 8 gigs of RAM in the memory department. This is more than enough for the average user and you can do a lot with this memory as well. You can run several apps side by side without losing any performance. If you need more memory in the future, you can upgrade the memory as it is easily upgradeable.

Storage and Gaming

One of the better hardware in the ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 model is the storage. We have a 256GB solid-state drive for storage. While this might not be a lot of storage space, you certainly can feel the speed improvements in regular use. The Windows OS boots up in a few seconds and you can say the same with some applications as well.

The laptop does not have a dedicated graphics card in place. For this reason, we can’t call this a gaming laptop. However, the integrated graphics card is good for some light and even some mid-range gaming. You can play most mid-range games without any issues. If you must play some high-end games, you might have some luck after bringing down the settings.

Battery Life and Connectivity

The ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 lasts for about 5 hours with light usage. If you’re going to do something heavy with this laptop, then expect the laptop to last around 2 to 3 hours at best. While this is not the best battery life for a laptop in this category, you can get away with this on a regular school day or when you’re outside.

When it comes to connectivity, the ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 offers you several ports to choose from. There are a couple of USB 3.0 ports, a USB 3.1 gen A port, a USB type C port, an HDMI port, an SD card reader and also headphone jack. The laptop also supports WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity as well. 

Bottomline

The ASUS VivoBook 15 F512DA-EB51 is a reliable mid-range notebook that under-promises and over-delivers. It comes with a decent price tag which makes the laptop more accessible to more users. The laptop excels in everyday usage and allows you to do some decent gaming as well. If you’re looking for an all-round laptop without spending a lot of money, then this one is a good option.