Review Summary
Expert Rating
The ASUS Vivobook 16 X1607QA is a significant device in 2025. It is one of the first truly affordable Windows laptops based on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X series platform. Priced aggressively for an ARM-based machine, the Vivobook 16 is designed to offer a lightweight, battery-efficient experience without breaking the bank.
Priced at Rs 65,990, does it hold up under real-world usage? We spent extensive time testing it across office work, web browsing, video streaming, and mixed productivity scenarios to find out. Here’s everything you need to know before considering it as your next daily driver.
Design and Build
The Vivobook 16 sticks to ASUS’ familiar minimalistic design language. As per usual, the exterior sports a clean, matte-finish texture that does a good job resisting fingerprints and minor smudges. Weighing about 1.8kg and measuring around 19.9mm in thickness, it feels portable enough for daily commutes, even though it’s not in the “ultrabook” territory per se.
Despite the primarily polycarbonate (plastic) build, the Vivobook feels reassuringly sturdy in hand. There’s a little bit of flex if you deliberately apply pressure to the keyboard deck, but under normal typing or carrying conditions, it’s solid.
The hinge is well-tuned, offering smooth movement without feeling loose or creaky. ASUS’ ErgoLift design — where the keyboard is slightly tilted upwards when the lid is open — improves ergonomics, enhances typing comfort, and even promotes better airflow underneath the laptop for passive cooling.
The bottom-firing speakers are subtly integrated and maintain the clean lines of the design. Overall, while the Vivobook 16 doesn’t break new ground in terms of looks, it nails functionality and durability, which matters more at this price point.
I/O Ports
Given how thin and budget-conscious this laptop is, ASUS deserves praise for offering a well-rounded port selection:
- 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C (supports DisplayPort and Power Delivery!)
- 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
- 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A
- 1 x HDMI 1.4
- 1 x 3.5mm combo audio jack
- 1 x microSD card reader
In real-world use, this means you can:
- Charge via USB-C or the included charger
- Extend your workspace with an external monitor easily
- Connect a mouse, keyboard, or hard drives without a dongle
- Quickly transfer media files using a microSD card reader
This is a major step up compared to competitors like the Dell Inspiron 3530, where the USB-C functionality was limited.
Display
You get a 16-inch Full HD+ (1920×1200) WUXGA panel in a productivity-friendly 16:10 aspect ratio. The extra vertical space immediately improves document editing, coding, and web browsing.
In our tests, brightness reached a peak of about 300 nits, making it perfectly usable indoors. However, when I stepped outside to work in a park or near large windows, the brightness was sometimes insufficient against harsh sunlight.
Colour reproduction is decent but not vibrant. It covers roughly 60-65% of the sRGB color space, so while it’s great for watching YouTube videos, office work, and casual Netflix bingeing, it’s not suited for color-accurate tasks like professional photo editing.
The panel refreshes at 60Hz — expected for this price segment. Animations and scrolling feel smooth enough unless you’re coming from a 120Hz or 144Hz panel, in which case the difference is noticeable.
Keyboard and Trackpad
ASUS nails the basics here. The Vivobook 16 features a full-sized keyboard with a dedicated numpad, which is a bonus for anyone dealing with spreadsheets or numeric data entry.
Typing is a comfortable experience thanks to the 1.4mm key travel and reasonably tactile feedback. The keys are slightly concave, helping your fingers stay centered during longer typing sessions. I wrote this review on the Vivobook itself without feeling any significant typing fatigue.
Importantly, the keyboard is backlit. This small but crucial addition makes a world of difference for working late nights or in dim conference rooms.
The touchpad is generously sized. While it uses a plastic surface, I found it to be smooth enough for casual use. It handles multi-finger Windows Precision gestures like three-finger swipe, pinch-to-zoom, and tap-to-click reasonably well, though there’s a slight roughness compared to glass trackpads on premium devices. Overall, I would still suggest an external mouse for an navigation experience.
Performance
At the heart of the ASUS Vivobook 16 X1607QA is the Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100 — a fully custom Oryon-core chip, not an Arm Cortex derivative like previous generations. It’s paired with 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD. This combination makes the Vivobook feel modern and fast in everyday use, even as it treads new territory for Windows laptops.
We tested the laptop using everyday tasks and synthetic benchmarks to see how well it performs.
Real-World Usage Scenarios:
- Office work (Word, Excel, PowerPoint):
Flawlessly smooth. Files open almost instantly, and working on large spreadsheets or lengthy presentations doesn’t cause lag. - Web browsing (Edge and Chrome):
Up to 20 tabs with some YouTube streaming and Slack in the background — handled comfortably, especially in the ARM-optimized Edge browser. - Zoom/Teams Calls:
HD video calls were stable and crisp. The laptop stays cool and silent even during long meetings. - Multitasking:
Switching between Office apps, browser tabs, Spotify, and Microsoft Teams is quick, responsive, and consistent. - Application Compatibility:
Most everyday apps (Office, Zoom, Spotify, Netflix, OneNote) are now ARM-native. However, some x86/x64 apps still rely on emulation, which works but slightly hits battery life and responsiveness.
Backing up this experience, synthetic benchmarks reveal strong numbers too. Geekbench 6 shows a single-core score of 2090 and a multi-core score of 10739, indicating that Qualcomm’s Oryon cores deliver performance closer to mid-range x86 CPUs than older Snapdragon PC chips ever could.
It’s a night-and-day upgrade compared to previous Windows-on-ARM experiments. Even intensive multitasking, like running Teams calls while editing a PowerPoint and researching with dozens of browser tabs, never bogs down the system.
Handling light creative workloads is possible too. In Cinebench R23, the Vivobook scores 964 points in single-core and an impressive 7472 points in multi-core, putting it roughly on par with older desktop-class Intel Core i7 processors. Real-world translation? You can absolutely edit and work with Photoshop templates, and even dabble in some video editing — though of course, this isn’t a full creative workstation.
Speaking of media work, we tested DaVinci Resolve using PugetBench, where the Vivobook managed a score of 1115 (basic version). That number confirms what we felt — the laptop can handle basic video edits and colour adjustments on 1080p footage, but heavier 4K editing or complex timelines will quickly expose its limits.
One of the most surprising aspects was storage speed. CrystalDiskMark revealed sequential read speeds of 6696MB/s and sequential write speeds of 3685MB/s from the onboard PCIe 4.0 SSD. These are flagship-level numbers and directly translate into faster boot times, app launches, and file transfers.
Gaming and Graphics
Graphics performance is decent for an integrated setup. In Geekbench 6’s OpenCL GPU test, the Adreno X1-45 GPU scores 9741 points, while Vulkan testing returns an even stronger 13958 points.
Moving into heavier testing, synthetic benchmarks reflect the capabilities quite clearly. In 3DMark’s popular Night Raid test, which focuses on entry-level gaming, the Vivobook scored an impressive 16802 points, with individual graphics scores crossing 16976 points. This places it comfortably ahead of previous-gen Intel Iris Xe graphics solutions. Fire Strike, which targets mainstream gaming loads, produced a respectable 3607 points, while Fire Strike Extreme and Fire Strike Ultra returned 1748 and 913 points, respectively.
To put things into real-world perspective, we tested Grand Theft Auto V, still one of the most widely played and moderately demanding open-world games today. Playing at 1080p resolution with settings dialed down to Normal/Low presets, the Vivobook X1607QA managed to hold steady frame rates between 43 to 51 FPS, depending on the scene complexity.
Of course, it’s important to set realistic expectations. Modern AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077 or Red Dead Redemption 2 are out of reach for this hardware. And while older esports titles such as Valorant or CS:GO would easily hit playable frame rates with tweaks to graphics settings, anything graphically intensive beyond 1080p low-medium presets is going to be a stretch.
Thermal performance remains one of this laptop’s highlights. Even after repeated Cinebench loops and long Zoom calls, surface temperatures stayed reasonable, never climbing beyond 38–39°C around the keyboard deck. The fans spun up quietly during heavy loads but were never distracting, and crucially, the Snapdragon chip didn’t exhibit aggressive thermal throttling, unlike many thin Intel laptops that noticeably slow down during sustained workloads.
Webcam and Audio
The ASUS Vivobook 16 X1607QA handles basic communication needs comfortably. The built-in HD webcam delivers clear video in good lighting, making it fine for Zoom and Teams calls. However, like many budget webcams, low-light performance is grainy and soft, but there is a physical privacy shutter for added security.
Audio from the bottom-firing speakers is clear and loud enough for movies and meetings, though it lacks punch in the bass department. High volumes introduce a bit of sharpness, but dialogue remains crisp. For better audio, especially in meetings or music, plugging in a good headset through the 3.5mm jack is recommended.
Battery Life and Charging
Battery life is where the Snapdragon X processor truly shines. Thanks to its ARM architecture, the Vivobook 16 gently sips power from its 50Whr 3-cell battery even under load. The laptop boasts a 50Wh 3-cell Li-ion battery.
In PCMark 10’s video playback test, it ran for an impressive 12 hours and 41 minutes on a full charge. In daily mixed use — documents, browsing, streaming, and video calls — the laptop easily lasts 10–12 hours, with minimal heating or throttling.
Charging isn’t ultra-fast, but the included 65W adapter fills the battery in under two hours. With this kind of stamina, you can genuinely leave the charger at home for a full day’s work.
Verdict
The ASUS Vivobook 16 X1607QA isn’t just another budget laptop — it represents a real shift in what users can expect from affordable Windows machines. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X platform, previously confined to expensive flagships and tablets, now powers a laptop that costs less than many entry-level Intel and AMD-based systems.
What ASUS has pulled off is genuinely impressive. They’ve taken the promise of ARM — exceptional efficiency, low heat, instant responsiveness — and made it accessible at a mass-market price point. For everyday users who live in browsers, documents, video calls, and light creative tools, this machine delivers an experience that feels premium, without the premium price tag.
Performance is snappy, battery life is class-leading, and the thermals are so quiet and cool. While it’s not made for hardcore gaming or 4K video editing, the fact that you can run GTA V at 45-50 FPS on integrated graphics is nothing short of surprising.
The few drawbacks, like the average webcam, lack of backlit keyboard, and limitations with x86-only apps, are all things most users can work around. What you’re really buying here is a vision of what everyday laptops could look like in the ARM-powered Windows era: lighter, longer-lasting, and faster at the things that matter most average users.
Editor’s Rating: 8.5/10
Pros
Excellent all-day battery life
Smooth everyday performance
Fast storage and app load
Cool, fanless, silent operation
Great value for an Arm-laptop
Cons
Audio lacks depth and bass
Webcam struggles in dim light
Not ideal for AAA gaming