The Apple MacBook Pro is a premium choice with a higher price, offering a strong balance of performance for general use, engineering tasks, and color-accurate display work, plus a high build quality, battery life, and speaker quality. It's less portable due to its weight, but features like the touch bar, mini-LED display, and additional USB-C ports might be appealing if those aspects suit your needs. The ASUS Vivobook is more affordable and offers a larger OLED screen, favored for vibrant colors and contrast, better suited for general use and entertainment. However, it falls short in battery life and may not be as well-suited for demanding engineering tasks or color-critical work as the MacBook Pro. Both have the same amount of RAM and are recent releases, but the choice boils down to budget, portability, and specific use case priorities. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
Very good for general use
Good for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Excellent overall display quality
Best in class overall build quality
Very good portability
Excellent battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED
The ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED has no clear advantages over the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023).
Key differences
General Use
8.5/10
7.9/10
3024 x 1964
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1620
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
489.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
600.0 nits
13.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
7.0 Hours
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
6.7/10
8.5/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.8/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) is very good for general use, while the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) excels in general use primarily due to its high-quality Mini LED screen, exceptional build quality, and efficient heat management but is less portable compared to some competitors. In contrast, the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED provides double the storage and a vibrant OLED screen, at the cost of a shorter battery life and slightly lower build quality, though it remains a good candidate for general use.
Software Development
8.4/10
7.9/10
7.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3024 x 1964
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1620
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
6.7/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) is very good for software development, while the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
9.2/10
8.9/10
14.2in
SIZE
15.6in
3024 x 1964
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1620
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
489.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
600.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 has a better screen than the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED for general use, AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 boasts a high-resolution display with exceptional brightness, making it ideal for general use and ensuring clear and vivid visuals. Due to a wide color gamut coverage, this laptop also excels in color accuracy, which is essential for engineering and design work. However, its typical refresh rate limits the experience for 3D applications, which benefit from higher refresh rates for smoother visuals.
Battery
13.5 Hours
7.0 Hours
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 has 13.5 hours of battery life. The ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED has 7 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Very Good
Good
14.2in
SIZE
15.6in
3.5 lbs
WEIGHT
3.7 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
0.7in
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) has very good portability, while the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED has good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.2/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) has best in class build quality, while the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,700
$990
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) has a price of $1,700 and the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED costs $990.
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) to be good for gaming and AI, while the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED is only fair.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) is equipped with a powerful integrated GPU, suitable for 3D work, and offers a high refresh rate display, which is beneficial for smooth visuals in 3D applications. However, the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED has a capable integrated GPU that can handle gaming and 3D tasks as well, and it runs Windows which supports a wider range of popular games that are not compatible with macOS, despite both having equivalent screen refresh rates.
Engineering and Design
8.4/10
8.2/10
7.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
5.2/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
3.8/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) and ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED are both very good for engineering and design.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) stands out in engineering and design use with its more powerful integrated Apple M2 Pro graphics and high-resolution Mini LED screen, offering exceptional color accuracy and contrast that benefits detailed design work, while being highly portable. On the other hand, despite its capable Intel processor and vibrant OLED screen, the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED may fall slightly short in graphical tasks, yet it offers a larger screen and is equipped with a number pad that might be useful for engineering applications, all packed in a design that's also easy to carry around.
Content Creation
8.5/10
8.2/10
7.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.5/10
3024 x 1964
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1620
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) and ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED are both very good for content creation.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
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How the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) and the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED compare to other laptops
"In the Apple MacBook Pro 14 2023, the M2 Pro is slowed down. From the improved 5nm process, the new M2 Pro is a very solid upgrade. Graphics performance has increased by about 25% in tandem with a clear improvement in efficiency. The processor has also seen a performance leap of up to 20%, but this is accompanied by an increase in consumption of up to 25%. Fundamentally, Apple its maintaining its advantage over AMD and Intel, particularly in optimized applications where the results are very good in view of the comparatively low power consumption."
"The Asus Vivobook S 15 OLED excels as a capable work machine at an affordable price. It offers commendable performance, thanks to its 12th Gen Intel chip, delivers quality on-screen entertainment with its 15.6-inch OLED display, and can (kind of) get you through a full day of work. Oh, and its special Asus Antibacterial Guard is a nice touch for those who like a clean laptop."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) or the ASUS Vivobook S 15 OLED
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
About ASUS
ASUS, a Taiwanese electronics brand, is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. The majority of their laptops are targeted towards personal use or gaming. Their most popular product lines include the budget-friendly VivoBook, more premium ZenBook, and their TUF and ROG gaming laptops, the latter of which has a reputation for excellent gaming performance.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.