The Asus Vivobook 15 P1504CZA is an affordable 15-inch laptop that delivers solid performance and rocks a beautiful design without being too expensive. With a sub-£500 price, you’d think you have to make do with an ugly brick, but the VivoBook 15 punches way above its weight to deliver a lot in terms of style and build quality than laptops costing considerably more.
And the Vivobook 15 P1504CZA, with its Core i3-1215U CPU, 8GB RAM, and 512GB SSD is a nice laptop for work and school. It’s affordable. It’s fine. It works. But it doesn’t attempt to compete with the best laptops out there. If your competing needs are nothing out of the ordinary, this Vivobook 15 is money well spent.
Asus Vivobook 15 P1504CZA Specs
- CPU: Intel Core i3-1215U
- GPU: Intel UHD
- RAM: 8GB
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080
- Battery: 5:20
- Size: 35.97 x 23.25 x 1.79 cm
- Weight: 1.70 kg
Design & Features
For a cheap laptop, the Vivobook 15 is a nice-looking device. Asus’ silver plastic chassis is quite familiar, with the company having released many laptops that look the same over the last few years.
The design brings nothing innovative, save for the fold-flat hinge that makes usability more comfortable. On the lid, there’s a satin finish while the underside is matte grey, which at least has the benefit of not picking up fingerprints or other greasy marks in the same manner a shiny top does.
The VivoBook 15’s plastic body is surprisingly thin for a 15-inch laptop, weighing around 1.7 kg slightly heavier than the Acer Aspire 5 and the HP 14-dq5009nr (2.6kg and 1.75kg, respectively). It may not be the thinnest around, but it’s hard to complain at this price range.
The VivoBook 15 has a decent collection of ports for a laptop that’s quite slim, but I wish it had Thunderbolt 3 input. Port selection is decent enough for a budget laptop: one USB 2.0, one USB Type-C, two USB 3.1, an HDMI port, and a headphone/mic combo jack.
Display, Keyboard & Touchpad
The Vivobook 15 P1504CZA has a 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 NanoEdge display with a little bezel on either side but a bit more at the top to accommodate the webcam. But beyond the widescreen display, the display’s dim color profile and unsettling viewing angles make it an underwhelming device for consuming online videos.
While you can get through YouTube videos without recognizing the display’s middling color quality, it becomes apparent once you switch displays. The viewing angles on this laptop are a bit odd, too. You have to look at the VivoBook 15 at an exact angle – about 100 degrees – to see the contents on the screen without a sheen.
The inside of the Asus VivoBook 15 holds a keyboard fitted to the rest of the laptop body; the same design available on Asus’ premium model. Also, the trackpad is flush on the wristrest without being an eyesore, and it also gets a fingerprint scanner for locking up the system.
The keys offer a decent amount of travel and tactile feedback, resulting in accurate and responsive typing. The inclusion of a numeric keypad is a welcome addition for those who require it for data entry or calculations. The touchpad is smooth and responsive, supporting multi-touch gestures and providing accurate cursor control.
Performance
The Asus VivoBook 15 as configured, is on the beefy side for a mid-priced laptop, that offers better performance than competing notebooks, like last year’s Lenovo IdeaPad 3. The 10th Gen Intel Core i3-1215U is a 12th-generation mobile chip that offers strong performance matched with efficiency, and the 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage give it a serious boost over similar machines with the 12th generation processors.
For graphics, you have an Intel UHD graphics card that is quite usable for basic tasks that utilize an integrated card, though it is not enough to power AAA gaming.
The VivoBook 15 will easily keep up with your demands on day-to-day use. Four cores of computing power are plenty for most tasks, and with headroom-to-boot clock speeds of 4.4GHz, it can burst as needed. This keeps the laptop feeling snappy, with the SSD launching programs quickly, and some simple tasks, like basic photo editing, working fast.
Most budget laptops can last well over six hours on a single charge, but the VivoBook 15 struggles to hit this mark. It only lasts five hours and 24 minutes through continuous surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. While it beats out other 15-inch laptops like the Acer Aspire 5 (5:16) and the HP 15 laptop (4:58) in the same tests, it’s still at the tail end of the spectrum compared to a couple of other budget laptops (6:42).
Asus Vivobook 15 P1504CZA Review: Verdict
You can’t expect a laptop that costs less than £500 to be perfect. That’s not why we have the Asus Vivobook 15. Buying laptops at this price comes down to weighing the pros and cons and finding the right device for your needs. In that view, the VivoBook 15 is pretty well-rounded in terms of features and performance, however, it’s not meant for demanding or complex tasks.
The screen is thankfully 1920 x 1080 for a far clearer picture than HD, though it does lack some color and maxes out at 250 nits brightness. The screen is perfectly usable when paired with the Core i3 CPU, and it does a fine job with word processing, email, heavy web browsing, and streaming. However, for things like photo editing – which require a strong CPU and precise color reproduction, consider something like the Asus ZenBook Pro 14 with an Intel Core i9 processor and Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics card.
Bottom line? The Asus Vivobook 15 P1504CZA is a standout among other budget laptops we’ve reviewed lately – such as the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 and Acer Aspire 5 – for its balance of price and performance. It’s not completely flawless, but it’s one I’d suggest for anyone who needs a cheap, do-ot-all PC at home.
Recommended Configuration
Acer Aspire 5 A515-57G Laptop - Intel Core i5-1235U, 8GB, 512GB SSD
£472.00 in stock
The Review
Asus Vivobook 15 P1504CZA Review
The Asus Vivobook 15 P1504CZA is a good all-rounder for anyone looking for a capable laptop for writing, browsing, chatting, and office work. It has a good keyboard and high-end build quality, but the display would be better and brighter.
PROS
- Affordable
- Decent build quality
- Solid performance
- Balanced set of features
CONS
- Dull display
- Thin audio
Review Breakdown
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ARS SCORE
