ASUS Vivobook S16: Now with Snapdragon X, AI, and an extra long battery life

The Vivobook series is one of the most popular ASUS laptops in their lineup. Not only are they light, but they also pack some power to match. It’s a good compromise for those who want to work and play in one setup.

For 2025, ASUS made some changes to the new Vivobook S16. One of them is the use of AI with Windows Copilot. The other is probably more significant for users – a new chipset. It’s not running an Intel or an AMD chipset. Instead, it’s powered by Snapdragon X. Yes, the same Snapdragon chips found in smartphones.

However, the rest of the features of the Vivobook remain unchanged. It’s still slim, lightweight, and still features an affordable price tag. So if you’re curious about the Snapdragon X-powered ASUS Vivobook S16, I suggest you read on.

A very snappy chipset

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room first – the Qualcomm Snapdragon X chipset that powers the ASUS Vivobook S16. You might be more familiar with Intel and AMD chips, but this chipset has been used in laptops since last year.

The Snapdragon X chipset used in the Vivobook S16 features an 8-core, 8-thread chipset with clock speeds of up to 2.97GHz. It also comes with an integrated Qualcomm Adreno GPU and a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU up to 45 TOPS. Our unit comes with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of SSD.

From our experience, you won’t really feel the difference since it still runs on Windows 11 out of the box, especially if you’ll be using the Vivobook S16 mainly for work. Despite the different chipset, you can install and run x86 programs without any issues, making it great for work and play.

If you’re mainly using the Vivobook S16 for productivity purposes, the Snapdragon X chipset can handle almost anything you throw at it. You can have multiple tabs open in Chrome and run other apps at the same time. It can easily run Lightroom, Photoshop, and Premiere and export 4K photos and videos without any issues.

For those who like to work and play, the Snapdragon X chipset can run games, but you do have to set expectations. We were able to get Genshin Impact running, but we weren’t able to max out the graphics settings. It’s a similar story when we played Forza Horizon 5. Despite that, it was still enjoyable to play on the Vivobook S16.

This being a Copilot+ laptop, you also have AI features at your disposal. Just hit the Copilot button, and you can bring up the AI program of your choice. It makes life easier, especially if you need to quickly get work done. Let AI handle your stuff for you.

Nonetheless, it’s a capable chipset if you want to work and play in one setup. To give you a better idea of what the Snapdragon X chip on the ASUS Vivobook S16 can do, check out the benchmark scores below.

Slim and lightweight design

Despite packing the capable Snapdragon X chipset, the ASUS Vivobook S16 retains the same design language we’ve come to love from the Vivobook lineup. It’s still slim and lightweight, measuring just 1.59cm thick and weighing 1.74kg. Mind you, this has a 16-inch display as the name suggests.

Even with its slim chassis, the ASUS Vivobook doesn’t skimp on ports. Users get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, 2x USB 4.0 Gen 3 Type-C ports with support for display and power delivery, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm audio port.

The styling of the Vivobook also remains unchanged from before. The aluminum decklid features a clean design with only “ASUS Vivobook” on it. No logos or anything else. The aluminum construction also makes it feel premium to the touch. Not to mention it helps keep nasty fingerprints away.

We like the clean decklid, especially in this Metallic Matte Gray color, but what do you think?

While it might be slim and lightweight, the chassis feels solid. The hinges don’t feel like they will break, even though you repeatedly open and close the screen. Speaking of the screen, you can open it up to 180 degrees, which some of you might find useful.

Of course, our favorite feature of any ASUS laptop is the keyboard. On the Vivobook S16, you have a full-size keyboard at your fingertips. The keys are spaced properly and have long strokes, making it comfortable to write on. There’s also three stages of backlighting, so even in dark environments you’ll be able to type properly.

Below the keyboard is a large trackpad. It’s slightly offset to the left, which makes it easier to scroll. Our fingers easily glided over it, and we didn’t have any misclicks using it. The trackpad also has several shortcut functions at your disposal, like adjusting the screen brightness and volume.

2.5K Display with 144Hz refresh rate

Let’s move on to the part of the ASUS Vivobook S16 that you will be looking at the most – the display. As mentioned above, the Vivobook S16 features a 16-inch display with thin borders on the sides.

Although it uses an IPS panel, it comes with a 2.5K resolution (2560×1600) with a 16:10 aspect ratio. It also has a 144 Hz refresh rate, giving users smooth animation whether you’re playing games or just moving the arrow around in the menu.

Together with the dual-stereo speakers, you can have an immersive viewing and listening experience. The speakers are loud with a good sound stage, too. Even if you max out the volume, there’s no drop in audio quality.

Even though it’s an IPS panel, the colors on the Vivobook S16’s display are great. They’re very vivid and, more importantly, color accurate. Whether you’ll be watching videos on Netflix or YouTube or editing photos and videos on Premiere and Lightroom, you will have an enjoyable time with the large, high-resolution display.

With the 144Hz refresh rate, gamers will enjoy playing games on the Vivobook S16 too. Of course, we wish it had an OLED panel, but that would make this laptop a lot more expensive.

A long-lasting battery

When it comes to battery life, the ASUS Vivobook S16 is one of the most power-efficient laptops we’ve tried recently. Under the hood, it packs a large 70WHrs 3-cell Li-Ion battery pack, and it lasts a very long time.

It’s so power efficient that I don’t bring the charger with me when I go out. For reference, I used it for two consecutive days, and it still had a little juice left afterwards. ASUS claims the battery life to be up to 32 hours of use.

However, do note that battery life is still very much dependent on the end user. If you plan on playing games on the Vivobook S16, expect the battery to drain a bit faster. The same goes if you’re going to leave the keyboard lighting on, along with maxing out screen brightness.

But if you’re mainly going to be replying to emails or fixing work stuff on Google Sheets and Docs, then you won’t have any battery problems. And if you do need to charge, you can just bring a power bank and a USB-C cable. Alternatively, you can bring the 65W charger since it’s relatively small.

An affordable but capable laptop

For everything the ASUS Vivobook S16 offers, you’d expect it to be an expensive laptop. Thankfully, that isn’t the case. If you’re interested in the Vivobook S16 in a similar specification to ours, it retails for just PHP 50,995.

At that price, it offers great value for money, especially for everything it has to offer. It can handle all your productivity needs and last a long time on a single charge. Not to mention it’s slim and lightweight, making it easy to bring around with you.

Those who purchase the ASUS Vivobook S16 will also receive an ASUS backpack, lifetime Office Home 2024, 1-year of Microsoft 365 Basic, ASUS 2-Year International Coverage, and 1-Year Accidental Damage Warranty.

If the Snapdragon chipset isn’t your thing, then you can also get the ASUS Vivobook S16 with an AMD or Intel chipset. There’s also the smaller Vivobook S14 with an Intel chipset available for those who want something even more compact.

Want to know more about the ASUS Vivobook S16? You can check out the official ASUS PH website 21 for more information. You may also visit https://ph.asus.click/wheretobuy2025 14 nationwide to try it out for yourself.

But so far, what do you think of the ASUS Vivobook S16? Will it be your next laptop for work and play? Share your thoughts in the comments below.