Asus VivoBook 15 OLED K513 Review: Can a display upgrade make a laptop great?

The everyday work laptop has made significant progress in recent times. Talk about build quality, and you’re no longer getting boring, boxy builds that weigh a ton. In terms of performance, both Intel and AMD have ensured that basic laptops also don’t succumb to creeping speed within months. SSDs have upgraded storage media stability and improved boot times, and overall it’s safe to say you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck. The Asus VivoBook 15 OLED K513 is now also trying to upgrade the budget laptop screen.

To be specific, Asus’ idea for an upgrade is to put an OLED screen on the laptop and match it to acceptable specs. Typically, OLED panels are only reserved for the most premium and expensive laptops, and that’s not just for laptops – even smartphones today have OLED displays at the top of the product lines. With the Asus VivoBook 15 OLED K513, mainstream laptop buyers get a chance to own a bright display with high contrasts, crisp whites, and deep blacks — all without breaking the bank.

Key specs:

The Asus VivoBook 15 OLED K513 SKU we’re reviewing here has an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, paired with 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM. Storage is handled by a combination of a 1TB HDD and a 256GB NVMe SSD. The star of the show is a 15.6-inch, full HD OLED display with a conventional 16:9 aspect ratio and a maximum brightness of 400 nits. The screen claims to cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and has TUV Rheinland and Pantone validated certifications.

In terms of connectivity, the VivoBook 15 OLED features two USB 3.2 Gen1 ports: one Type-A and one Type-C. On the other hand, it houses two USB-A 2.0 legacy ports, which we think could be important for those who still work quite a bit offline. There’s also a 3.5mm combo port for wired audio, a full-size HDMI port (albeit an older generation), and a built-in microSD card reader. On the wireless front, it supports Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6. The laptop has a 720p webcam, measures 18mm at its thinnest point and weighs about 1.8kg.

Display: the OLED upgrade does make a difference

The star of this show is inevitably the OLED screen. Even until a few years ago, the functional laptop at around Rs 50,000 had a very basic 720p LCD display, which was far from great by any measure. You may have come to terms with it over time, but that’s no reason why you should be left with sloppy colors, poor viewing angles, and dreary contrast forever.

With the Asus VivoBook 15 OLED K513 you get an OLED display for Rs 45,990, which is certainly interesting. It’s important to note, though, that OLED or otherwise, today’s competing mainstream laptops also have screens that aren’t as shabby as they were before. In standalone terms, the VivoBook 15’s OLED display is sharp in terms of both color and resolution. Plenty of RAM and a new-generation processor combine with the more precise nature of OLED panels (as opposed to LEDs and LCDs) to make scrolling feel organically smoother.

The high contrast ratio makes working at night a seamless experience. There’s no need to constantly adjust the brightness every few minutes depending on changing web pages, which makes a bigger difference to usability than you might think. Since this is an OLED panel, you can actually dim with the brightness level, which can be pleasing to the eye if you have to work in low light. Viewing angles are better than older mainstream laptops, but compared to a new generation non-OLED laptop at about the same price, the difference isn’t that big. If you upgrade after four or five years, you will probably notice the difference.

However, is it a convincing jump that sets it apart from others in the market? We’re not completely convinced. The VivoBook 15’s screen is reflective, which means you’ll have to wait a while so as not to get the inevitable reflection. The use of an OLED panel also means that the VivoBook 15 could theoretically be slimmer and lighter than other laptops, but Asus has played a little too safe here.

Build quality and design: sturdy enough, but could have been smarter

That Asus has kept things simple is both good and bad. In terms of positives, this means that if you’re looking for a simple, functional, no-frills laptop, the VivoBook 15 OLED K513 is for you. It’s also a mind-blowing game, with Asus showing that you can get premium features without being experimental or overspending.

As for the negatives, we believe that the VivoBook 15 could have been slimmer and lighter had it been designed better. OLEDs, as we know, are considerably slimmer than LCDs and LEDs, but the VivoBook 15 doesn’t seem to have really used this factor to its advantage. The laptop doesn’t make the most of its chassis space and could have been more compact. While the side panels are slim, the top and bottom straps are a bit too thick. The story is also the same in terms of its weight, all of which suggests that Asus may have been a little too conservative and unimaginative with this one.

Given how competitive the mainstream laptop market is these days, we’re not sure if this is enough. Take the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 for example – you get the same processor, the same amount of RAM, comparable storage (with a larger SSD), an IPS LCD display the same size as our VivoBook 15, a larger 57Wh battery and equivalent additional features (such as the number of ports, backlit keyboard, etc.), for a lower price, more compact size and also 150 grams less weight.

Could Asus have done better? Of course. The VivoBook 15 OLED K513 looks ordinary, and the sudden neon green highlight around the ‘Enter’ key isn’t particularly elegant or seamless. It’s built well enough, but in terms of next-generation looks, it’s not the benchmark, and the OLED display alone can’t take away from the fact that you can get a laptop from another OEM that looks smarter and has a better performance. similar experience too.

Inputs, ports and ergonomics: a bit of a mixed bag

The Asus VivoBook 15 OLED K513 offers a full keyboard with a dedicated numeric keypad and a trackpad large enough with an integrated fingerprint sensor on it. In terms of ports, the VivoBook 15 offers a healthy mix of essential ports. However, only one of the four USB ports is USB-C and only one of the three USB-A ports is the faster USB 3.2 Gen 1 type. Even the HDMI port, albeit a full-size one, is the older HDMI 1.4 port, which is also a little confusing to see.

The keyboard is pretty good for typing, but the keys aren’t as ‘clicky’ as you’d like. They feel a little soft to the touch, which reduces the harsh key feedback that fast and regular writers would want. The trackpad is good, but nothing special to write about – it’s on par with the competition. It’s the ergonomics that make you feel that while the VivoBook 15 OLED isn’t too heavy, it probably could have been lighter. The notch makes opening the laptop easy, but you’ll immediately wish the size was smaller as there’s plenty of room to reduce the excess size.

Perhaps the next generation of the VivoBook would have a bolder redesign, making it distinctly better than the competition. Until then, the laptop has plenty of ports, a good trackpad, and a usable keyboard, but nothing but the ordinary that stands out.

Performance and battery life: adequate for its price

The performance of the Asus VivoBook 15 OLED K513 is adequate for its category. It is powered by an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor and 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM. Boot speed is fast thanks to a 256GB SSD, while the 1TB HDD adds to the storage volume. The VivoBook 15 performs stably on day-to-day workloads and can run heavy CMS pages in addition to about 25 active tabs in a web browser without much trouble.

Additionally, you might have a background music app streaming in high quality to a connected Bluetooth speaker or earbuds, while apps from the Microsoft Office suite would also be open in the background. All of this contributes to making the VivoBook 15 a reliable everyday laptop, and with Windows 11 coming in, you’re getting a laptop that should be good enough for normal workloads.

The integrated Iris Xe graphics are good enough to run light games like the Asphalt series from the Microsoft Store without much fuss. Light video and photo editing via Adobe apps like Premiere Pro and Photoshop is possible, but things get slow if you load too many layers in Photoshop, or need to render a large number of layers and effects in Premiere Pro. However, light editing of both videos and photos is quite possible, and in these cases the color fidelity of the OLED screen is a big help.

Watching video content on the VivoBook 15 is a lot of fun, thanks to the OLED screen. It feels like a miniaturized version of an expensive television, and while the refresh rate is limited to 60Hz, there’s no denying that this is a lot of fun indeed. The screen also affects battery life, but Asus may have pushed its luck here. The cell is 25 percent smaller than competitors, giving the VivoBook 15 an average screen-on run time of 5 hours 35 minutes. This can be stretched to about 6 hours and 15 minutes when used conservatively, but there may be a need for further optimizations here.

Verdict: It’s Good, Sure, But Do You Need the OLED Display?

In summary, the Asus VivoBook 15 OLED K513 is a solid mid-range that uses a reliable processor to provide adequate performance. It has enough RAM to allow for multi-tab browsing, and the integrated graphics chip is good enough for light gaming and photo and video editing. The star of the show is the OLED display, and as far as displays go, it’s certainly one of the best in mid-range, mainstream laptops.

However, the question is, do you really need OLED screens on your average laptops, as the typical full HD LCDs have gotten much better? Probably not, but you’d realize you wouldn’t mind if you did. In the long run, having a screen that’s cinematically capable makes a big difference in the way you work on it every day, and the VivoBook 15 feels like it stands out in that area.

That said, it could have been smaller and lighter, the battery life, keyboard and trackpad could have been better, and the ports could have been from the newer generations. These factors mean that the Asus VivoBook 15 OLED K513 has a lot of room to improve, but at its price of Rs 66,990 for the version we reviewed, it’s on par with the competition. This makes it a recommended purchase for those looking for a daily work laptop for less than Rs 70,000.