ASUS VivoBook F402BA-EB91 Review

When you look for budget laptops, it is important not to lose features to get a better price. ASUS is one brand that has given us a lot of budget computers, and in this ASUS VivoBook F402BA-EB91 review, we are discussing this new inexpensive laptop.

For people on a budget, the ASUS F402BA-EB91 laptop model might turn out to be a decent choice. With a dual-core processor, eight gigs of RAM, and 1TB storage, this laptop can easily satisfy the needs of a light user.

Let’s take a detailed look at this laptop.

Design

When taking a look at this ASUS F402BA-EB91 model, it is easy to mistake this for a laptop that is priced much higher. That’s mainly because of the premium design this laptop carries.

The laptop has a dark blue lid which makes a good first impression. It even can be compared to the brushed aluminum finish you can find in other laptops from ASUS.

The lower half of the laptop also sports the same material. Since you’ll rest your hands here, you get an idea of how sturdy the material is even though it isn’t metal.

With a footprint of 13.3 x 9.3 x 0.9 inches, the ASUS F402BA-EB91 is more portable than most laptops in this category. You can easily slip this machine in your backpack and go traveling.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is a chiclet-type keyboard that is a pleasure to use. There is a bit of travel that mechanical keyboard lovers will like. You can hear a bit of noise when typing, but that is something you get used to in most laptops.

There is no dedicated number on this keyboard, thanks to the smaller 14″ footprint.

The touchpad doesn’t feel like it belongs to a budget laptop. It tracks your finger movements accurately, and the taps are registered with any misses. You can make all the Windows 10 gestures, which is impressive in a budget machine.

Multimedia Performance

Being a laptop with a budget price, you can’t have flagship expectations regarding multimedia performance.

The display we have here is a 14″ one that rocks an HD resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. This display is not even full HD, but we can give it a pass as this is a low-priced machine. One good thing here is that the pixel density is slightly better as we’re dealing with a smaller screen.

You can watch content online on this display without any issues. Yes, you can get better screens, but that’s also going to affect the final price tag. The viewing angles are not that impressive, so you have to be right in front of the display to get the best possible output.

If you’re someone who works with colors, like a photographer or a designer, then this screen is a not choice for the work you do. You are better off with laptops that offer a higher resolution and better image quality.

Audio Output

There are a couple of 9cc speakers that lie under the palm rest.

The audio in the laptop is SonicMaster-enhanced. While this is something, ASUS says about every computer, we’ve not seen great results when it comes to audio output.

You can fill a small-sized room with excellent audio and a medium-sized room with decent sound. Out of the box, the bass is way off. You’ll have to do a bit of tweaking with the pre-installed ICE-powered AudioWizard utility to get better sound output.

Performance

For everyday performance, the ASUS F402BA-EB91 budget laptop brings in enough power. The AMD A9 processor (dual-core chip) is a decent one for simple daily tasks. You can do things like surfing the web, watching videos on media players, sending emails, and more without any issues.

The clock speed of 3.0GHz gives you enough juice even when you have to do some heavy lifting like editing photos or doing a bit of coding. The processor can also clock up to 3.6GHz, thanks to the turbo core feature.

There are eight gigs of DDR3 RAM, and it gives you all the reason to do some multitasking. Since web surfing is one of the better things you can do with this laptop, you can do more by opening more tabs at once. You also have a media player running in the background while working on an office application. We can go on, but you get the idea.

The laptop is usually cool when you are just browsing or consuming media. When you put those two cores to work, it can get really hot which is why this laptop is better suited for light users and some mid-range users.

Storage

The ASUS F402BA-EB91 model has a traditional hard drive with storage of 1TB. This mechanical hard drive is a 5400RPM one and is probably the slowest option out there.

For the price, this storage is neat. But ASUS could have at least opted for a 7200RPM drive which is a tad faster than this one.

Putting the rant aside, this hard drive gives you ample space for all the things you need. You also get Windows 10 signature edition pre-installed which is nice.

Graphics Performance

One of the first things we should inform you about this product is that it is not a gaming laptop.

The ASUS F402BA-EB91 laptop comes with an integrated R5 graphics card. This R5 is a low-end graphics card and is suitable for simple games that are usually pre-installed in the operating system.

You may even play some online games depending on how less graphically intense they are. If you have dreams to play the latest games on your laptop, we prefer going after other models with a dedicated graphics card.

Connectivity

When it comes to ports, the ASUS F402BA-EB91 doesn’t look like a budget laptop at all. We have a USB type-C 3.1 port which is perfect for connecting with superfast hard drives, external display, and also does data transfer at high speeds.

There is also a USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port which can be used for connecting peripherals. The HDMI port can also be handy for some folks. There a LAN port and an SD card reader as well.

The laptop also supports WiFi 802.11ac connectivity which can offer internet speeds that are six times faster than its predecessors. You also get BlueTooth 4.1 connectivity which is nice.

Battery Life

The battery life of the ASUS F402BA-EB91 model is adequate for any kind of user. The laptop lasts for about 7 hours on an average based on different battery tests.

If you’re going to spend your time on this device by watching movies online or just browsing the web, you can reach that figure quite easily. If you want to do some work and play some games, then you can expect around 3 to 4 hours which isn’t shabby, in our opinion.

ASUS Vivobook F402BA-EB91  – Bottomline

The ASUS F402BA-EB91 is a simple budget laptop that promises one thing: a straightforward user experience for light users.

It lacks all the bells and whistles which is acceptable at this low price point. You can watch all the media you want, browse all the internet you want, and you can also do some work if you intend to.

If you seek better performance, there are better models out there. But if you’re on a shoestring budget, then the ASUS F402BA-EB91 budget laptop can be a good choice.