So, does the Vivobook 13 Slate OLED do enough to marry computing and entertainment? The heart of this product is the 13.3-inch OLED tablet. Both the stand and the keyboard attach to the tablet via strong magnets, and the whole setup felt reassuringly sturdy during the review period. Also, when packed down the three components stay solidly attached. The tablet measures 19cm wide by 30.99cm deep by 0.79cm thick (12.2in. x 7.48in. x 0.31in.), and weighs 785g (1.72lbs). A sleeve is provided, so the whole setup is well protected in transit or when stashed away. Asus shows the stand propping the screen up in both landscape and portrait orientation, although we found it considerably more stable in the former mode. Asus bundles its Pen 2.0 for use with the touch screen. This is charged via a USB-C connector that’s hidden behind a retractable upper section of the stylus until needed – Asus also provides a short charge cable. There are two buttons on the barrel (right-click and erase) and a further function button on the top end. Four tips are provided, and these are graded like real pencils – 2H, H, HB and B. The Pen 2.0 is nicely weighted and comfortable to use. It comes with a magnetic holder that adheres to the tablet, with a loop in which to stow the Pen. But there’s no magnet along the sides of the screen, to use when the keyboard is attached. It’s great to have a stylus, but the experience is let down by a poorly executed fixing to the main device. Make sure you don’t lose it. There are two USB-C ports on the tablet, one of which is required when the battery is being charged, but there’s no Thunderbolt support. Elsewhere there’s a 3.5mm headset jack and a MicroSD card slot. This isn’t a lot of connectivity if you need access to multiple peripherals. Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5.2 cover the wireless connections. There is a 13MP camera at the back and a front-facing 5MP camera in the long bezel above the screen. The latter doesn’t have IR support for Windows Hello face authentication; my review unit also lacked a fingerprint sensor (this is an option, built into the power button), so device security and login was entirely password-based. Asus bills the Vivobook 13 Slate OLED (T3300) as a laptop/TV combination, so it needs a top-quality screen. The glossy 13.3-inch OLED panel delivers FHD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels, 16:9 aspect ratio, 166ppi) with 550 nits peak brightness; it’s also Pantone Validated, VESA Certified (DisplayHDR True Black 500), supports 100% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and reduces the amount of harmful blue light. The screen is certainly good, but it’s not great: the resolution is pretty standard, for example, and I found that text could be fuzzy at times. And although video was punchy, it didn’t exactly ‘sing’. Having absorbed all the bullish marketing from Asus, I was left just a little disappointed. The speakers don’t pull their weight, either. Leave the volume at around 50% and they sound rather trebly, but passable. Push the volume up to full and not only does the absence of bass become obvious, but some distortion also kicks in. The keyboard section is sturdy and lays flat on a desk or table, so there’s no bounce in the base. The keys are large and well-spaced, with elongated half-height arrow keys and a half-height row of Fn keys coloured grey, in contrast to the black of the remaining keys. The Enter key has a white graphic design that’s a little visually jarring but has no effect on usability. The keys have 1.4mm of travel, which is enough to give a responsive typing action. Key presses are slightly ‘clacky’ but not intrusive. The trackpad is large and wide. I had no issues with either keyboard or trackpad, and was able to touch-type at near my normal speed. The Vivobook 13 Slate OLED runs on the distinctly low-end Intel Pentium Silver N6000 Processor, a quad-core CPU with integrated Intel UHD Graphics and, in this instance, just 4GB of RAM. A basic workload of half-a-dozen browser tabs and a concurrent video stream didn’t cause any performance issues, but this is very much a setup for the undemanding user. There is 128GB of eMMC storage, and out of the box my review unit had 79GB free. That’s not a great deal for anyone who wants to store a lot of videos, photos or other large files. Indeed, 128GB is pretty much entry level for smartphone storage these days. At least there’s a MicroSD slot for storage expansion. SEE: Windows 11: Here’s how to get Microsoft’s free operating system update According to Asus, the 50Wh battery should last for up to 9.5 hours, and should reach 60% charge in 39 minutes using the provided 65W charger. Because the charge connector is USB-C, you can also use a range of other chargers. In one session with half a dozen browser tabs open, video running continuously and writing into web apps, the battery fell from full to 66% over three hours, which extrapolates to around 9 hours in total. Asus’s claim seems perfectly reasonable. To test charging, I plugged in when the battery reached 31%. After 15 minutes it rose to 51%, after 30 minutes it got to 71%, and after 45 minutes it was at 87%. This equates to a 56% gain over 45 minutes. This doesn’t quite match the Asus estimate, but it’s reasonably close.
Conclusions
Asus pitches the Vivobook 13 Slate OLED (T3300) as both an OLED TV and a 2-in-1 detachable laptop. Unfortunately it doesn’t excel at either job. The OLED screen is a bit short on resolution and the speakers are poor, which compromises video viewing. On the computing front the low-end processor and 4GB of RAM will struggle with demanding workloads, and on-board storage is limited. It’s also a shame that neither Windows Hello face authentication nor – at least on my review unit – a fingerprint scanner are available. On the plus side, the keyboard is very comfortable to work with, Asus provides both a stylus and a protective sleeve, and it’s nice to see MicroSD card support. A 2-in-1 with an OLED screen for £550/$600 looks like an attractive proposition, but the trade-off is a pretty basic level of performance. RECENT AND RELATED CONTENT CES 2022: Asus launches 17-inch folding OLED laptop and space-themed Zenbook Asus unleashes torrent of new laptops with OLED displays for digital creators HP Spectre x360 16 (2021) review: A high-quality 16-inch convertible with a superb OLED screen The best tablets: iPad isn’t your only option Best 2-in-1 laptop 2022: Top hybrid notebooks Read more reviews
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