The rear mount snaps on via a magnet when you want to go hands free
PRICE £458 (£550 inc VAT) from currys.co.uk
There are two ways of looking at this machine. One, an open goal missed. Two, a cleverly balanced use of budget that places all the focus on the thing you look at all day: the screen. Having spent three weeks in the Vivobook’s company, I lean towards the latter.
Its biggest selling point is AMOLED technology, with its 13.3in panel offering 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. It isn’t a wide-gamut panel, only covering 70% of the DCI-P3 colour space, but it’s sharp and accurate, with an average Delta E of 0.45. And it covers almost all of the sRGB gamut, 97.6% to quote precisely from our tests, with a respectable peak brightness of 395cd/m2. It would have been nice to go even brighter than this, but how can you complain when the whole computer costs less than £600?
The panel is at its best when playing back films and games, with many of the Netflix sci-fi titles I tried looking fantastic thanks to the deep blacks that AMOLED so enjoys. If you’re looking for faults then you can spot banding when displaying gradients, but I’ve seen far worse on TVs. The pair of speakers are capable of handling most soundtracks, too, but if you need bass then head elsewhere. Amon Tobin’s “Bridge” came through all mids and trebles, with the beat of the drums lost in the background.
Tablet test
This story is from the May 2022 edition of PC Pro.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2022 edition of PC Pro.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Robobutlers may never happen, but robot care workers are on their way
Do you hate loading the dishwasher enough to pay someone to do it remotely? Nicole Kobie wonders about the weird future of home robots
Technical debt
Cutting corners now means more work down the road - but Steve Cassidy asks whether that's always a bad thing
Zyxel ZyWALL ATP500
Zyxel delivers tough gateway security and advanced threat protection at a very appealing price
CREATIVE WORKSTATIONS
Intel and AMD both offer compelling CPU choices for workstations, giving us ten machines with the widest variety of specifications we've seen for years
ANDROID PHONES FROM £219
As this roundup of four affordable contenders shows, there's no need to spend a fortune on a phone
Amazon Echo Pop
If you want a compact Alexa smart speaker, the Pop is now the cheapest choice - but what does it really add?
Getac X600
A powerful alternative to the Panasonic Toughbook 40, with the bonus of optional Nvidia graphics
Amazon Fire Max 11
With its 2K screen and sleek design, this is Amazon's best tablet yet-but FireOS remains a hindrance
Google Pixel Fold
The Pixel Fold delivers with a thin and durable design, a wide front display, smart software and great cameras
Welcome to the Fediverse
Have commercial social networks had their day? Darien Graham-Smith looks at the free, community-run apps that could usurp Twitter, Reddit and the Meta empire