Thanks to technological advancement, nowadays OLED displays can be found even in not-so-expensive devices. Just like the ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505) - this one doesn't cost an arm and a leg but the laptop is offered with OLED panel options. The base one is a 1080p model and we decided to buy a machine with this unit since it seems like the smart choice. You don't have to pay an additional amount of money for it but the pixel response time and the color coverage are on point. The optional 2880 x 1620p variant is for people (with a bit wider wallets) who want to enjoy a crisper image. Under the bonnet, there is an AMD Zen 3 Barcelo-U Refresh CPU. If we have to be a bit more specific, you can choose between three processor variants. These chips are notorious for their great efficiency and lower dissipated heat during full load. That's great news because the thermal system shouldn't be tortured too much (at least on paper). We already saw that the modest cooling of the ASUS Vivobook 16X OLED (K3604) is having a hard time taming the powerful 28W Intel P-series chip. That's why a not-so-thirsty AMD chip is a better complement to the Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505) with its single heat pipe system with one fan. Aside from that, the laptop brings a decent amount of goodies to the table such as a fingerprint reader, a keyboard with a NumPad, a privacy shutter, and an ASUS Antimicrobial Guard Plus coating that should inhibit 99% of viruses and bacteria on the frequently touched zones. Considering the price tag, the device has some drawbacks. The usual suspects are the limited port selection and the upgradability. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-vivobook-15-oled-m1505/ Specs, Drivers, What's in the box Drivers All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.asus.com/laptops/for-home/vivobook/asus-vivobook-15-oled-m1505/helpdesk_download?model2Name=M1505YA What's in the box? The package contains some manuals and a small 45W barrel plug adapter. Design and construction The ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505) design reminds us of the one of the Vivobook 15 F1504 (X1504). The device is made of plastic. This leads to a low weight of 1.70 kilos which is pretty good for a 15-incher. The profile thickness is 19.9 mm. The glossy coating attracts many fingerprints but they aren't that visible thanks to the Cool Silver color option. If you choose the Indie Black variant, maybe the smudges will appear easier. You can't open the lid with a single hand but at least you can't bend it too much in a closed position. When the unit is opened, it can be flexed effortlessly and it feels bouncy when changing angle. The whole zone below the keyboard can be pressed down when applying a small amount of pressure and we observed some flex during typing, especially on the right side of the board. This ASUS machine looks modern because of the thin bezels that surround the OLED display. The lower one houses the Vivobook logo and it's a bit thicker than the other three. Above the panel, you can see the 720p Web camera with a privacy shutter that supports ASUS 3D Noise Reduction technology (3DNR). The hinge allows a 180-degree angle of opening. The lid doesn't have a lever design that lifts the chassis but that's not a problem since the back feet are pretty tall. The keyboard with an optional backlight has a NumPad but the Arrow keys are half-sized and this makes them uncomfortable to press. The most important thing is that the board is suitable for typing because of the long key travel and the clicky feedback. The touchpad is pleasantly smooth and the unit works well. The fingerprint reader can be found in the top right corner of the pad. You can see part of the cooling solution through the big ventilation grill on the bottom plate. We can also spot four rubber feet and the cutouts for the speakers. The hot air is pushed through two vents - one on the left and one on the back. Part of the hot air is reaching the display during max processor loads. Ports On the left side, you get just one USB Type-A 2.0 port. On the right, there are many more connectors - a power plug, an HDMI 1.4, two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports, a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with a Power Delivery function, and an Audio combo jack. Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505) is equipped with an OLED panel, model number Samsung ATNA56YX03-0 (SDC4161). It comes with a 60Hz refresh rate. Its diagonal is 15.6" (39.6 cm), and the resolution - 1920 x 1080p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 142 ppi, and their pitch – 0.18 x 0.18 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 60 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Viewing angles are good. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality. Also, a video with locked focus and exposure. The maximum measured brightness is 409 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen (HDR off) and 401 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 5%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6700K („Splendid“ – „Native“ ;„Normal“ mode in „MyASUS“ app). In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits). Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio of OLED panels is practically infinite, due to their ability to turn off black pixels entirely. To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy. Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook. Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day. The yellow dotted line shows ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505)'s color gamut coverage. Its display covers 100% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976, and 100% of DCI-P3, ensuring a super vibrant and attractive picture. The "MyASUS" app also emulates the DCI-P3 and the sRGB color spaces. We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. Below you can compare the scores of the ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505) with the default settings - HDR off, „Splendid“ – Color Gamut: „Display P3“, „Normal“ mode compared to P3-D65 (Display) color space. Also, you can see the sRGB accuracy results (HDR off, „Splendid“ – Color Gamut: „sRGB“, „Normal“ mode). There is one more thing we have to say about color accuracy. “MyASUS” features a “Flicker-Free Dimming” function, which allows you to use PWM-free brightness adjustment. Thankfully, it almost doesn’t affect the colors in the sRGB gamut - we show the compliance with sRGB color space at maximum brightness, "Flicker-Free Dimming" - 50% and "Splendid" - Color Gamut: "sRGB", "Normal" mode. ASUS engineers have successfully enhanced the display capabilities of ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505), making it suitable for various use cases such as Web design, pre-press design, video editing, etc. The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light. (HDR Off) The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions. Response time (Gaming capabilities) We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa. We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 2.8 ms. The score is much better compared to the majority of the LCD panel results. After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude. Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering) Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the display is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM. ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505)'s display uses PWM up until only 100 nits. Above that, we see weak pulsations (the “Flicker-Free Dimming” function in the MyASUS app eliminates the issue). This makes the panel relatively comfortable to use in this aspect. Health Impact: Blue light emissions Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light. Health Impact: Gloss-level measurement Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 156 GU). Sound ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505)'s speakers produce a sound of very good quality. Furthermore, the low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations. Buy our profiles Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505) configurations with 15.6" Samsung ATNA56YX03-0 (SDC4161) (1920 х 1080) OLED. *Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at bg.laptopmedia@gmail.com. Read more about the profiles HERE. Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests All benchmarks and tests were conducted with the “Best performance” preset activated in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu. Also, the Fan profile is set to “Performance mode” in "MyASUS" software. CPU options The CPU options are the following - AMD Ryzen 5 7430U, Ryzen 5 7530U, and Ryzen 7 7730U. GPU options All machines of the series are iGPU-only devices since there are no dGPU options. Gaming tests CS:GO HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) Average FPS 138 fps 87 fps 59 fps DOTA 2 HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) HD 1080p, High (Check settings) Average FPS 120 fps 70 fps 41 fps [eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT your Laptop Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life Max CPU load In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp. AMD Ryzen 7 7730U (15W TDP) 0:02 - 0:10 sec 0:15 - 0:30 sec 10:00 - 15:00 min ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505) 2.80 GHz @ 60°C @ 33W 2.73 GHz @ 71°C @ 30W 2.66 GHz @ 67°C @ 28W Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (15″, Gen 8) 2.86 GHz @ 64°C @ 30W 2.68 GHz @ 69°C @ 25W 2.41 GHz @ 92°C @ 20W HP Pavilion 15 (15-eh3000) 2.78 GHz @ 55°C @ 30W 2.60 GHz @ 60°C @ 25W 2.33 GHz @ 70°C @ 20W Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 6 (AMD) 3.13 GHz @ 79°C @ 45W 3.03 GHz @ 96°C @ 43W 2.89 GHz @ 91°C @ 38W Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1 (AMD) 2.71 GHz @ 47°C @ 30W 2.71 GHz @ 58°C @ 30W 2.75 GHz @ 78°C @ 30W Dell Vostro 15 3535 2.70 GHz @ 71°C @ 29W 2.47 GHz @ 75°C @ 25W 2.39 GHz @ 84°C @ 23W Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) 2.75 GHz @ 80°C @ 29W 2.56 GHz @ 87°C @ 25W 2.37 GHz @ 85°C @ 20W Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 (14" AMD, Gen 8) 2.56 GHz @ 56°C @ 28W 2.55 GHz @ 63°C @ 27W 2.49 GHz @ 67°C @ 24W Acer Aspire 5 (A515-48M) 3.17 GHz @ 63°C @ 44W 2.97 GHz @ 71°C @ 37W 3.02 GHz @ 82°C @ 37W The Ryzen 7 7730U inside this ASUS laptop can maintain high clocks and good temperatures no matter the load. Comfort during full load The single fan is audible during 100% CPU load. It's not noisy but you can definitely hear it. In short tasks or in idle, the fan is quiet. When the processor is doing the heavy lifting, the central and the right side of the keyboard feel warm but not too hot for normal work. Still, for usual daily tasks, the "Standard" or "Whisper" fan modes are the right choice since they lead to lower noise levels. Battery Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. The 50Wh battery pack lasts for 12 hours and 30 minutes of either Web browsing or video playback. To achieve that, you have to apply the “Balanced” preset in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu and select the "Standard" fan mode in the MyASUS app. You also have to turn off the "AI Noise Canceling for the speaker and microphone. Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance To gain access to the internals, you have to undo 10 Phillips-head screws. After that, raise the bottom plate close to one of the top two corners to create a gap. Then, you can begin popping the panel with a thin plastic tool. Here's how the bottom plate looks on the inside. Here, we have a 50Wh battery. To take it out, detach the connector from the mainboard and undo the 5 Phillips-head screws that fix the unit to the chassis. The capacity is enough for 12 hours and 30 minutes of either Web browsing or video playback. Unfortunately, 8 gigabytes of system memory are soldered. Luckily, there is one SODIMM for dual-channel mode. The max amount of RAM is 16GB of DDR4-3200MHz memory. Storage-wise, you can rely on a single M.2 slot compatible with 2280 Gen 3 SSDs. The cooling looks okay for an iGPU-only laptop. It comprises a single fan, one long heat pipe, two heat sinks, and a heat spreader. Storage performance Our notebook has a 512 Micron 2400 MTFDKBA512QFM. This is a Gen 4 NVMe that has QLC memory. Below you can see some benchmarks of this SSD. Its temperatures during benchmarking are pleasantly low - just 50°C. Verdict The ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505) can turn some heads thanks to its OLED panel. Our laptop has the default 1080p display option (Samsung ATNA56YX03-0 (SDC4161)) that is color-accurate and boasts full sRGB and DCI-P3 coverage. Also, the pixel response times are snappy and the viewing angles are wide. This screen is a great choice for watching movies and you'll see much more details in dark scenes thanks to the infinite contrast ratio. The typical OLED PWM usage isn't a problem because there is an "OLED Flicker-Free Dimming" mode that can be found in the MyASUS app. Alright, the display is the main event here but what about the performance? It's good because the cooling is a bit beefier with its two heat sinks and one extra long heat pipe. The optional Ryzen 7 7730U (which is the top CPU variant for the series) can maintain high clocks even during max processor load. At the same time, the chip temperatures are within reasonable limits and the keyboard doesn't feel scorching hot to the touch. The fan isn't noisy but it's not quiet either. For normal work, the "Whisper" mode is the way to go because, in this scenario, the noise is kept as low as possible. The main drawback of the notebook is the overall chassis rigidity. Even the keyboard deck is a bit spongy during typing. The upgradability can be described as "meh" - part of the memory is soldered and thanks to the SODIMM you can expand the RAM up to 16GB of DDR4 memory. This amount can be too low for some users. Sadly, there is just one M.2 slot compatible with Gen 3 SSDs and in our case, we found a QLC model under the bonnet. Its write speeds are unimpressive but at least the NVMe stays cool even when it's stressed at max. The port selection is kind of old-school because of the 5 Gbps connectors. On the other hand, the battery life of this device is long - 12 hours and 30 minutes of either Web browsing or videos! The ASUS Vivobook 15 OLED (M1505) is a laptop with a color-accurate OLED display, a comfortable keyboard, a long battery life, and a capable cooling solution. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-vivobook-15-oled-m1505/