ASUS Vivobook 16" F1605VA-DS52 Indie Black 2023

A shockingly fast CPU trapped in a budget laptop body with a fatal 8GB RAM flaw. Buy it cheap for basic work, or don't buy it at all.

The thing that genuinely surprised us was how well this laptop handles a heavy browser load. With a dozen tabs open, Slack running, and a Spotify stream going, the i5-13500H barely broke a sweat. It's a top-tier multitasking chip for this class. But that's where the good news ends. The integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics are just okay for basic display duties, and the 8GB of RAM is a constant anchor. Our database puts the memory at a dismal 14th percentile, and you feel it whenever you try to do anything beyond the basics. The 512GB SSD is solidly average, but the old Wi-Fi 5 chip feels slow the moment you try to download a big file.

Stacked against a Lenovo Legion 5i or an Acer Predator Helios Neo, the Vivobook gets absolutely crushed on graphics and overall performance ceiling, but those are gaming tanks that cost more and weigh a ton. The real competition is something like the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition. The Surface has a vastly superior screen, better build, and modern connectivity, but you'll pay a premium for it. The ASUS wins on raw CPU power per dollar, but loses on the complete experience. If you can stretch your budget, the Surface is the better all-rounder. If you can't, this ASUS is a cheap way to get a fast chip, just know what you're sacrificing.

Pricing on this model is all over the map, with a wild spread from $575 to over $14,000 across vendors. Let's be real, anything over $600 is a bad deal. At the low end, you're getting a fantastic processor in a very compromised laptop. It's worth it only if you find it at the absolute floor price and your workload is strictly cloud-based office work. For everyone else, that soldered RAM is a dealbreaker you'll regret in a year.

The ASUS Vivobook F1605VA is a classic case of a powerful engine in a budget frame. That Intel Core i5-13500H is a genuine workhorse, the kind of chip you'd normally find in a much pricier machine, and it makes this laptop feel snappy for everyday tasks. But ASUS made some serious cuts to hit this price point, and you'll feel them every single day. The 8GB of RAM is the biggest bottleneck here, and it's soldered, so you're stuck with it forever.

If you're looking to do any gaming, video editing, or even heavy multitasking with large spreadsheets, this isn't it. Go get a Lenovo Legion 5i with 16GB of RAM instead. Creatives should run, not walk, to a MacBook Air or a Surface Laptop for a screen that doesn't make your work look dull.

Don't buy this for the spec sheet, buy it for the processor. The ASUS Vivobook F1605VA is a single-purpose machine: a cheap, fast terminal for web apps and office work. The 8GB of soldered RAM is a ticking time bomb for obsolescence, and the dim, color-accurate screen means creative work is off the table. If you find it for under $600 and your life is in a browser, it's a solid, durable workhorse. For literally anything else, keep looking.