#audiowizard

Design

The entire build of the laptop is quite professional and sturdy however, the chassis makes it an ideal device to be carried on professional meets, business discussions, and boardroom meetings. Flaunting a brushed aluminum body and a gunmetal-gray lid nicely paired up with vertical striations, the device offers you optimal grip while holding it in your hands. You can sense the beautiful groves on the surface of the laptop by moving around your fingers or touching the device horizontally.

Weighing around 4.8 pounds, the V451LA is somewhat heavier than its immediate rivals such as the Lenovo and the Toshiba laptops, weighing 4-pound the 4.4-pound, respectively. The device measures around 13.7 x 9.5 x 1 inches, when titled diagonally. The competitors are also ahead here, as the Lenovo’s IdeaPad U430 Touch and the Toshiba’s Satellite E45T feature 13.1 x 9.1 x 0.82 inches and 13.4 x 9.2 x 0.8 inches, respectively.

Featuring a slim ridge on the top of the lid, the device has a glossy ASUS logo located in the center of the screen. The interiors are crafted using solid slab of silver aluminum, but the bottom of the V451L is made of black plastic, offering ample space for the keyboard deck. You can easily spot the shiny Power button located on the top left corner of the deck and the chrome-lined touchpad below the space bar.

Display

The 14-inch VivoBook by Asus has a Full HD 1080p display for offering optimal pictures while playing games, watching movies, and streaming online videos. Possessing a very good screen resolution of 1366x768 ppi, the device provides an unbeatable experience by displaying the minute details of the subject shown on the screen. The entire screen is marked by an-inch bezel (that gets broadened from the top and bottom) and is empowered with 16:9 aspect ratio for displaying crisp, sharp and vivid images.

Claiming excellent viewing angles and anti-glare features, the device is capable of producing crystal clear images, when turned to various angular positions. In addition to this, the color and contrast features, averaging a meager 148 lux, and off-axis viewing angles make this device an ideal choice of gamers and professionals.

The device comes with the ASUS Splendid Technology that allows the users to adjust the screen's color temperature according to the display's hue intensity. Having the capability to accommodate two users at a given time, the device’s touchscreen is quick to respond and understand all Windows 8 gestures.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The device comes with a full-sized, island-style keyboard that looks really good with the overall appeal of the device. Featuring generous spacing among the keys, the keyboard deck is filled with large and flat keys that have a springy feedback.

The keyboard doesn’t come with a separate NUM pad, however, the other important keys including the spacebar, ESC, and Enter hold significant positions. This keyboard is highly comfortable while typing for longer hours at work, home, or school. The bright backlight feature provides an exciting nighttime experience, when used for gaming, working, and typing in a dark room.

The 4.5 x 2.75-inch button-less trackpad is incorporated for performing various functions such as browsing, navigating, selecting, dragging, and supporting multiple movements. The trackpad easily understands the Windows 8 gestures and quickly responds to the user commands during crucial work hours. For added support, the company has also pre-installed the Smart Gesture control panel that is highly effective while configuring multi-touch movements.

Connectivity and Ports

Making ideal use of both sides of the device, the company has significantly placed the rear panel for ports and connectivity. The device features a USB 2.0 port, SD Card reader, and a combination headphone/microphone jack on the right side of the device along with the DVD player tray. The left side holds a pair of USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, Ethernet, Kensington lock slot and power jack ports. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth features are also provided for offering excellent connectivity to the device. The device also features a HD 1080p front camera for catering all your web chats requirements.

Audio

Embedded with a SonicMaster HD codec and Waves MaxxAudio 3, the device’s audio is worth relying on while hosting parties, and discussing presentations in a meet. The speakers are mounted on the front lip of the laptop and are supported by a software-based boost from AudioWizard, accessible via ASUS VivoBook Windows 8 tiles.

You can easily choose the AudioWizard’s presets to enhance the audio experience while playing music, watching movies, and operating games. Featuring an excellent combination of vocals, harmonies, bass, satisfactory depth and range, the audio speakers do not produce much distortion even during high motion scenes.

Performance

Empowered with a 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-4200U processor and a 6GB DDR3L MHz SDRAM, the device performs amazingly well while playing games, operating heavy apps and programs. Supported by a 500GB hard drive, the VivoBook has an ample storage capacity for storing your favorite games, movies and other apps.

The latest Intel HD Graphics 4400 GPU is incorporated within the device to ensure high-quality display and improved overall performance. Following a 64-bit architecture, the gadget is running on Windows 8.1 and it efficiently supports the multi-touch gestures recognized by the OS. Possessing the capability of launching multiple apps within just a few second, the laptop promises a battery life of around 7 hours during active video playback.

Technical specifications of ASUS VivoBook V451LA

FeatureDescriptionProcessor1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-4200U processorOperating SystemWindows 8.1 (64-bit)Battery4Cells 3220 mAh 46 WhrsGraphicsIntel HD Graphics 4400 GPUCamera720 p HD Web camMemory6 GBStorage500 GBDisplay14-inch Full HD 1080pBluetoothBluetooth Version 4.0