Manage updates with the Download AppNew name, but otherwise this Vivobook's the same Video
New name, but otherwise this Vivobook's the same Video Transcript
Hi, I'm Scott Stein. Happy Holidays! You're looking for a Windows 8 laptop, what exactly do you buy? That's pretty confusing landscape with all these fliptops and the safest bet tends to be right now a standard laptop with the touchscreen. The price for a lot of these laptops has been centering around $700 as of late and the Asus Vivobook S400CA offers that package for $700, a pretty good deal when you realize that it's got a core i5 processor, 500-gigabyte hard drive, 4 gigs of RAM and most importantly, a 14-inch touchscreen with nice glass on edge to edge over here. Now, that sounds nice, but the battery life on these laptops are little lacking. It's not as good as you would find on a lot of other ultrabooks and this really is a big bone ultrabook. It's heavy. It's 4 pounds, which is more than you would expect for something that looks like this and it's a little thicker than you would expect. It's in that 14-inch ultrabook territory, lacking a DVD drive, which wouldn't be a deal breaker except for the fact that the Acer Aspire M5 just recently reviewed. It has a DVD drive at the same price with a backlit keyboard. This one does not have a backlit keyboard. And the overall feel is solid. It's a nice design, nice brass metal feel in the back, 2-tone, black and silver, but it feels like a couple of corners have been cut when you compare it to a super slim laptop like the Zenbook, Asus top of the line ultrabook category that came out over the past year. The Vivobook is a new class of laptop by name. This crazy Vivobook, what does exactly does that mean? Well, it's basically a regular laptop with a new name trying to emphasize the fact that there's a lot of touch involve here with the touchscreen and a very large pretty comfortable touchpad. Nothing like as good as a MacBook Air in my opinion, but it's pretty good than the Windows 8 universe. All in all, it's an okay laptop. It's a pretty good value. It's a somewhat forgettable final product that definitely covers all the basics that you're looking for, but I guarantee you're gonna find a lot of laptops like this out there at that price range and by this time next year that's going to seem like a lot of money for this, but even at the beginning of 2013, I think they're gonna be a lot of laptops coming out that gonna offer similar value, maybe even better. If you feel my enthusiasm flagging just a little bit for this laptop it's because we've seen a lot of this before. This touchscreen laptop that's your standard issue right in that $700-price range, the Vivobook doesn't really rise above the competition and provide anything the right home about, but it's not a terrible deal if you happen to buy one. I'd hold out. I'm Scott Stein and that's a look at the Asus Vivobook S400CA.
Related Videos
It's great to see more touch-screen Windows 8 laptops under $600, but note that the Asus X202E requires some compromises in performance and battery life.
Budget-hunter special: Asus VivoBook S500CA
A touch-screen Windows 8 ultrabook for under $700 turns out to be a pretty good deal, but this 15-incher's not a light load.
The Asus VivoBook Smart ME400 does Win 8 for under $500
In a sea of hard-to-distinguish Atom-powered Windows 8 tablets, the Asus VivoBook Smart ME400 stands out a bit thanks to clever add-on accessories.
Asus' graphics-boosted 14-inch laptop has some nice specs for $999, but it severely lacks battery power, and has few distinguishing features that push it over similarly-priced competition.
A poorly designed keyboard and stiff mouse buttons prevent a higher recommendation for the Asus X83VB-X1, which is an otherwise well-built 14-inch laptop that delivers chart-topping performance for a low price.
For a full set of features in a Core i5 laptop at a $600-level price, it's extremely hard to beat the Samsung QX411-W01UB: a great keyboard and impressive extras rise above the pack.
At CES 2010, Dan Ackerman checks out the NX90, a multimedia laptop by Asus with a dual touch pad design.
Lenovo's 14-inch IdeaPad Y460 is a well-designed gaming-multimedia laptop, but in this price range, the competition is also bringing its 'A' game.
Can HP's Spectre XT cure your 15-inch MacBook envy?
With Thunderbolt and a touch screen, this 15-inch laptop is plenty premium, but could use better battery life.
With nearly double the battery life of last year's model, Toshiba's new R800 series of Portege laptops are hard to beat, even in the highly competitive 13-inch laptop category.
Asus VivoBook S400CA Review
The good: The Asus VivoBook S400CA is a reasonably priced 14-inch laptop with a touch screen, and a solid, mostly metal body.
The bad: An uncomfortably mushy keyboard, a lower-resolution display, and unimpressive battery life make this laptop feel like a series of compromises.
The bottom line: You get a decent 14-inch laptop package in the Asus VivoBook, especially given that it has a touch screen, but it doesn't add up to anything particularly impressive that you can't get elsewhere either with better design or for a lower price.
Asus VivoBook S400CA Specs
Manufacturer: Asus
Part number: S400CA-DH51T
- Product Specifications
Asus VivoBook S400CA Prices
Online stores
| Store | Certified rating | Inventory | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  Rate this store See store profile | In stock | $1,153.00 |
 | Rate this store See store profile | In stock | $1,153.00 |
| Walmart.com |  Rate this store See store profile | In stock | $699.00 |
| BuySehi | Rate this store See store profile | In stock | $690.88 |
| J&R Music and Computer World | Rate this store See store profile | In stock | $725.99 |
