Although not obvious at first glance, almost the entire chassis of the Vivobook 16X is made of aluminum. The base unit has been painted anthracite, while a dark gray coating covers the lid. The latter is matte, very sturdy and does not attract grease. Asus markets it as a textured coating. Depending on the angle at which light hits the surface, it can appear very smooth or very rough. On the back of the lid is the characteristic Asus logo in a separate area. Otherwise, the design of the multimedia laptop is relatively simple.
The rigidity of the 16-inch system benefits greatly from the generous use of metal. We were unable to significantly twist the laptop’s base unit from the corners. The same is not true of the display, but at least we did not notice any creaking. Although the lid can be opened with one hand to a maximum angle of about 130 degrees, there are no major deviations. Unfortunately, the clearances are not perfectly even in several places. In the lower left corner of the clickpad, there is a gap that exposes the case’s internal components. Similarly, there are several points with uneven distances on the bottom. Our image gallery shows some examples of the gaps we found. One wonders if the wider gaps were created to compensate for greater thermal expansion or if the manufacturing tolerances are simply too wide.
However, the VivoBook’s minimalist design presents its exquisite 16:10 panel exceptionally well, which appears wide and tall when you turn the lid. It is framed by 4.8 mm side bezels on the left and right that create a screen-to-body ratio of 86 percent. There is also more vertical space than on 16-inch laptops with 16:9 displays, and getting used to all this extra space takes some time. Once I got used to it, I never wanted to go back to using the 16:9 panel on my smaller laptop.
So far so good? There is just one caveat: the VivoBook Pro 16X OLED has a somewhat industrial look and feel. When you close the top, the black/grey anodized aluminum chassis looks rectangular and boxy. At the outer corners of the laptop, where one would normally expect to see elegant curves and trim, the VivoBook has only ordinary edges. Arguably, the lack of style is a positive aspect. It means that the laptop is comfortable anywhere. Moreover, this laptop lets its functionality prove its worth.