ASUS Vivobook Go Go 14" Star Black 2024

The ASUS Vivobook Go 14" is deceptively portable but powered by one of the slowest processors we've ever tested. It's a frustrating experience out of the box, and a terrible value even at its lowest price.

The performance here is genuinely shocking, and not in a good way. The Celeron N4500 and 4GB of RAM sit in the 1st percentile in our database, which is as bad as it gets for a modern laptop. Even basic multitasking, like having a few browser tabs open alongside a Word doc, brings this machine to its knees. We saw constant stuttering and loading icons just navigating Windows 11. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics are equally underwhelming, landing in the 46th percentile, which means you can forget about anything beyond 1080p video streaming. The one bright spot is the storage, which hits the 74th percentile thanks to that bundled docking station, but fast storage can't save a CPU this slow.

Don't compare this to other new laptops. Compare it to a used ThinkPad. For the same $300, you can grab a refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad T480s with an 8th-gen Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, and a far superior keyboard and build quality. It won't be as light, but it will actually work. If you absolutely must buy new, the HP OmniBook X Flip is in a different universe of performance and price, but it highlights just how compromised the Vivobook Go is. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 is another strong competitor that, while more expensive, delivers a functional computing experience. This ASUS simply isn't in the same league as any of them.

Even at the low end of its $229 to $479 price range, this laptop is a bad deal. The performance is so poor that it fails at its one job: being a usable computer for basic tasks. You can find refurbished business-class laptops from Lenovo or Dell with much more powerful processors and actual RAM for the same money. The bundled docking station is a nice add-on, but it's like putting a fancy spoiler on a car with a broken engine. The best price we see is $229, but you're still not getting your money's worth.

The ASUS Vivobook Go 14" is a trap. It looks like a sleek, affordable laptop for students or basic office work, and at 1.30kg, it's wonderfully portable. But the moment you try to do more than one thing at a time, the whole experience falls apart. We're talking about a dual-core Celeron N4500 paired with just 4GB of RAM in 2025, and that combination is a recipe for frustration. The spec sheet tries to distract you with a bundled docking station and a big storage number, but don't be fooled. This machine's performance is its defining feature, and it's a painful one.

Everyone should skip this. If you're a student on a tight budget, go find a used Lenovo ThinkPad or Dell Latitude. If you need a cheap laptop for basic tasks, a Chromebook will give you a far smoother experience for the same money. This ASUS is a false economy that will only lead to frustration.

Don't buy this laptop. The ASUS Vivobook Go 14" is a masterclass in cutting the wrong corners. Its lightweight design is completely undermined by a processor and memory configuration that makes Windows 11 unusable for anything beyond a single, lightweight task. The alarming number of user reports citing extreme slowness, reliability failures, and warranty disputes confirms what the specs suggest: this is a product to avoid. Put your money toward a refurbished business laptop and you'll be infinitely happier.