ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580VD-DB74T laptop Review

In our top 20 list of best laptops, more than 6 Asus laptops made the list. Equipped with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor and a dedicated GTX 1050 4GB discrete graphics card, the Asus VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T has all the power to handle heavy workloads like video and image editing while at the same time giving a premium gaming experience.

Asus continues to produce great consumer electronics in 2019, from monitors to tablets, desktops, and laptops. Whether you are a gamer, a student, business executive, developer, writer, artist or you are on a budget you will most likely find an ASUS laptop that fits your budget and needs perfectly. We like the overall quality and value for money you get from Asus devices here at FancyAppliance.

Pros

• Powerful components
• Thin and light design
• Future proof-has a GTX 1050 and USB C ports
• Quick charge
• Great HD(4K) display

Cons

• Battery life under heavy load is poor

Verdict

Much has been said about the ASUS VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T gaming laptop. This is one laptop that caught the eye of so many tech-heads in 2017. That’s because of its size and aesthetics versus the power it provides. The Nvidia GTX 1050 is one of the powerful budget laptop cards that can handle AAA titles today.

The presence of both USB type C and A ports is also a major selling point for the Asus n580vd. It makes it future proof as well as giving it an edge over major competitors especially the Apple MacBooks. We concur with the rest of the tech community that the Asus VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T is a great product at an unbeatable price and therefore recommend it.

ASUS VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T Specs

Processor	7th Generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ Quad Core | 2.8 – 3.8GHz
RAM	16GB DDR4 2400MHz UDIMM
Display	15.6″ Full HD 178° Wide view touch display 1920 x 1080 pixels
Graphics Card	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 4GB discrete graphics
Internal Storage	2TB 7200RPM SATA3
Ports	Single USB 3.1 Type-C (Gen1) USB 3.1 Type-A USB 2.0 HDMI Digital Media Card Reader -Secure Digital (SD) Card
Special features	Ergonomic backlit keyboard with a fingerprint sensor Hyper Cool, Dual-Copper and dual-fan cooling system Kensington lock
Audio	Harman Kardon audio
Connectivity	Wireless 1×1 802.11ac WLAN and Bluetooth 4.0, Ethernet
Battery	6-Cell 62WHr lithium polymer battery with fast charging
Operating System	Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Dimensions	10.1 x 15 x 0.8 in
Weight	5.1 lbs | 8.36 kg
Warranty	1 Year Parts and Labor Limited Warranty

DESIGN AND FEATURES

The Asus VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T comes in a premium brushed aluminum chassis. It’s a nicely built and very compact laptop with thin bezels around the HD display. Looking at it, one can’t help but appreciate the attention to detail. The manner in which various components are positioned adheres to a strict symmetrical pattern and spacing. The edges are well smoothed out and surfaces are totally averse to fingerprints as well.

The white typography on individual keys, the simple ASUS text logo and Harman/Kardon text next to the keyboard is aesthetically done giving the Asus VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T a very clean and premium look.

I can only compare the design aesthetics of the VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T to those on a MacBook or windows surface laptop. This laptop has some very nice sounding premium Harman Kardon speakers. The sound output is very clear and the bases are very well pronounced.

If you are into light gaming, music or YouTube streaming, these speakers are great, you may not need to buy headphones or dedicated external speakers.

However, hardcore gamers and audiophiles who may want positional audio may find using their own audio equipment or gaming headphones better suited for their needs.

Display

This particular model comes with a stunning 15.6″ Full HD 178° Wide view touch display. This coupled with the GTX 1050 (more on this later) gives amazing color-rich graphics and stellar contrast and brightness levels. Some users did not like that some of the less equipped models of this series came with sub-standard TN panels.

This particular model comes with an IPS panel with great viewing angles and support for 72% NTSC and 100% sRGB color gamut. This is a 1920 x 1080 touch display capable of full HD output without tearing or lagging. Colors look vivid and reflection is not all that bad despite it being an IPS panel. The touch input is also great, leveraging the extra touch interfaces introduced with Windows 10 is definitely a plus for the Asus n580vd.

Input devices

For input, the Pro N580VD-DB74T comes with a full-size backlit keyboard, a fingerprint sensor, and touchpad. We love the spacing and tactility of the keys on the keyboard. The 1.4mm key travel may be great for fast typing but does not really impress when it comes to serious gaming.

That said we do love the overall feel of the keyboard as it’s quite ergonomic and easy to live with for day to day use. The touchpad on the Pro N580VD-DB74T is hands down one of the best trackpads you could find on a windows laptop.

Powered by windows precision drivers, this trackpad is pretty snappy and responsive. It does not have any physical buttons but we did not experience any missed clicks, left and right clicks are accurately registered without a hitch. Integrated within the trackpad is a fingerprint sensor that you can use to unlock the Asus N580VD and other stuff in conjunction with windows hello.

A quick swipe across the trackpad activates the illumination on the VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T’s keyboard.

Ports

I/O ports on the ASUS VivoBook Pro N580VD are in abundance. As mentioned before, the presence of both modern USB Type-C and the now being phased out Type-A ports makes the Asus N580VD an absolute winner. Apple MacBook users stuck in dongle world will envy the Asus Vivobook Pro N580VD’s port selection.

On the left side, you get a single Type-C (Gen1-USB 3.1) port, one Type-A port(USB 3.1), HDMI, Ethernet, and a Power port.

On the right, there are 2 USB 2.0 ports, headphone/mic combo port, SD card slot, LED indicators and a Kensington lock. The available ports on the Asus Vivobook Pro N580VD-DB74T make it perfect for gamers, graphics, and video editors, casual users and pretty much everyone who wants a laptop that is set and ready to go (no dongles!).

Wireless

As expected the Asus n580vd-db74t offers both Gigabit Ethernet connectivity as well as 802.11ac Dual-Band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2.

Great Performance

The Pascal-based Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics card that comes with the Asus VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T is a very capable card that can handle modern gaming titles, heavy applications as well as 4k video editing! (yes you read that right 4k). That said graphics performance is primarily pegged on how efficient the cooling is on a laptop.

The Asus n580vd-db74t does not disappoint in this aspect as it is adequately equipped with Hyper Cool, dual-copper and dual-fan cooling system.

This significantly keeps thermal throttling to a bare minimum allowing the Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor and the GPU to perform optimally. The CPU on the ASUS VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T is a 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ with clock speeds of up to 2.8GHz (Turbo up to 3.8GHz) Quad-Core Processor.

Apart from handling heavy applications like Finalcut, Premiere or CAD this processor also has advanced media encoding and decoding technologies introduced to all the 7th Gen Kabylake processors in 2017. This particular model also comes with 16GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM and high-speed 512GB M.2 SSD. Read and write speeds on the SSD are amazing at around 1800 Mbps read and 1400 write speeds.

Gaming on the VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T is great thanks to the HD display and more importantly the NVidia GTX 1050 graphics card and dual cooling. Games like Ghost Recon, Dirt4, Resident evil7, Battlefield and Witcher 3 all play at over 85fps.Lighter titles like Rocket league play at over 100fps on high settings.

Our Take

As compared to similar laptops like the MSI GP Series GP62X Leopard Pro-1045, Eluktronics N857HK1 Pro-X and the GIGABYTE Sabre 17K-KB3 17.3 FHD Gaming Laptop, the Asus VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T is better equipped, more stylish and much lighter at only 5 lbs. The Asus VivoBook Pro N580VD-DB74T is a nice all-rounder at a great price.

Its sibling, the Asus VivoBook M580VD EB76 Gaming Laptop, on the other hand, has the same identical specs, only differing in storage. It has a 256GB solid-state drive coupled with a 1TB hard drive, compared to the 2 TB HDD that our review item has.