Review – ASUS Vivobook 15X K3504

For today’s review, we have the ASUS Vivobook 15X K3504. Although it can be classified as a budget laptop, it still wasn’t that budget to being with since it sits at RM3,099 so practically 3.1k. On paper, the value proposition seems okay. You got an Intel Core i5-1335U, 8GB RAM, and 512GB PCIe SSD. But for any electronic gadget, we have a full story to share.

First off, the build quality. From what I can tell, judging from the sound that it produces when being tapped, it is mostly plastic. But a quick disclaimer: There is nothing objectively wrong with plastic and there are several great offerings in the market made like that.

The K3504 is quite sturdy though, as only minimal flex is observed during some bend test, while also being minimalistic enough to fit into any environment.

Pull up the lid and there’s the 15-inch IPS LCD screen. Running at 1080p resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. But right off the bat, the color seems inaccurate from my viewpoint, as I’ve dealt with too many monitors.
The tint of yellow-green hue is always there, and the colorimeter only proves my assumptions – 60% sRGB color gamut.

But one redemption point is there which is the Delta E rating at about 1. Brightness-wise, it is about 280nits which is enough for indoor use but any sort of strong light source such as the sun would instantly overpower the screen and render it “unseeable”.

Off to the keyboard. Keycaps are rough and feel like a sand layer getting glued onto the surface. It did take me some time to get used to it but I liked it eventually.

Typing feel can be attributed as bouncy and fun and look, the Numpad is here. Mostly subjective in accordance with one’s job scope, I guess fellow accountants would greatly appreciate it. Since I don’t need one, I would omit it out of my personal taste.

Next, the trackpad. Palm rejection wise is just mid at best since there are many times I can see the cursor just randomly jumping on the screen but it gets the job done.

Furthermore, there’s the fingerprint scanner at the top right corner for Windows Hello authentication.

I/O ports are pretty good in my opinion, but the arrangement and position can be further optimized in my opinion as I can easily bump into a connected flash drive with my mouse.

The 65W charger utilizes a barrel jack which is okay and pretty standard but it is great that ASUS added USB-C PD so yes, you can juice up with aftermarket chargers too!

Now on to the performance. The Intel Core i5-1335U CPU plus 8GB RAM should be fine, theoretically. However, it proved that all wrong once Genshin Impact was launched.

Graphical settings? Lowest. Frame rate? Literally unplayable. it was at 30fps idling. That’s… disappointing. But why is that? Then the “Intel Iris Xe Eligible” term came into mind.

It basically means that although it can be fitted with one, it doesn’t have to have one. Therefore, the iGPU within the CPU is the Intel UHD Graphics.

But funnily enough, according to Redditors, one may stick in extra RAM to make it dual channel and the iGPU should “become” Iris Xe.

ASUS Vivobook 15X K3504 review — You can upgrade it to Iris Xe.

So then, it is time to open the laptop up. Sure enough, there’s an empty SO-SIMM slot. Since 8GB is just the bare minimum in 2023, I suggest just upgrading to 16 GB. RAM sticks are so affordable at this time and age.

The battery life is pretty cool at about 4 hours for web surfing, YouTube marathon, or playing music through Spotify. But honestly, I expected more.

Conclusion

Now the main question is, is RM3,099 justifiable for the Vivobook 15X K3405? Truthfully, I don’t think so.
One reason for that is that the last year model, M1503, pretty much crushed it with better screen since it is an OLED panel, higher refresh rate, wider resolution, and use of AMD mobile processor that provides way more performance via its Radeon Graphics iGPU.

Therefore, you may treat it as the M1503 being way too good, thus making the K3405 somehow missing the mark.
And yes, the M1504 still has a Numpad.