ASUS Vivobook 16 (X1605) review – affordability comes at 16 inches

Design and construction

ASUS has made this notebook entirely out of plastic. It weighs 1.88 kg and has a profile of 19.9mm. This is pretty good for a 16-inch device. Not only that, but it also has a small footprint.

We have to mention that the structure of the machine is not very rigid. There is flex in both the lid and the base when you twist it. Another thing we noticed is that the laptop is very back-heavy. As soon as you open the lid past the 90° angle, it becomes really easy to flip the laptop by lifting the front part of the base.

Speaking of the lid, it can’t be opened with one hand. However, the bezels around the display are the reason for the laptop’s small form factor. They are incredibly thin. Despite that, ASUS has put a 720p Web camera with a privacy shutter up top.

Looking at the base, we find a backlit keyboard, that has a full-sized NumberPad, yet small Arrow keys. On the bright side, the key travel is decent, while the feedback is clicky. This results in a comfortable typing experience.

Perhaps here is the place to tell you about the ASUS Antibacterial Guard. It is a treatment of the surfaces of the notebook, which prevents bacteria and viruses from attaching and growing on the device. This is a useful feature in the post-Covid era.

Do you know what else is useful? The humongous touchpad. It is one of the largest ones we’ve seen on the market and works pretty well. It has no dedicated buttons. Instead, it relies on a click pad mechanism, which is a bit tough to press in the top part of the touchpad. Otherwise, it is all good.

The bottom panel is home to the two speaker cutouts and a huge ventilation grill. The single fan inside pushes the hot air through two vents – one on the back, and one on the left side of the laptop.

Ports

Besides the vent, the left side is home to a single USB Type-A 2.0 port. Then, on the right, you get the charging plug, an HDMI 1.4 connector, two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports, a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port for data transfer only, and an Audio jack.

Author: Alex Iliev

Author: eng. Kroum NikolovHead of Engineering at LaptopMedia.com, inventor and innovator with 40+ years of experience in electronics and high technology.

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j.p.

2 years ago

Thank you for the article.

I’m waiting for delivery on the laptop linked below, and it comes with a m.2 port.
Does this mean that I cannot install a second m.2 ssd internally?

Thanks.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-vivobook-16-wuxga-laptop-intel-13-gen-core-i5-with-8gb-memory-intel-uhd-graphics-512gb-ssd-indie-black/6545930.p?skuId=6545930

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