ASUS Vivobook Go 15.6" E1504FA-DS52-CA Mixed Black 2024

The ASUS Vivobook Go E1504FA-DS52-CA is a budget 15.6-inch laptop with a generous 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM for around CAD 815. It's fine for everyday productivity and schoolwork, but the Ryzen 5 7520U CPU is weak and the 250-nit display is dim. Buy it for the storage and memory, not for performance.

The Ryzen 5 7520U is a 4-core, 8-thread chip with a 2.8GHz base clock and up to 4.3GHz boost. In our database, this CPU lands around the 20th percentile for laptops, which means it's near the bottom of the pack compared to newer Intel Core Ultra and AMD Ryzen 7000/8000 series chips. That doesn't mean it's unusable, just that heavy multitasking, video editing, or anything CPU-intensive will feel sluggish.

For everyday stuff like web browsing, email, and Office apps, the 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM helps smooth things over. The 1TB SSD is a real highlight, sitting around the 80th percentile for storage. You won't be juggling external drives or uninstalling games to free up space. The integrated AMD Radeon Graphics is fine for light photo editing and older games, but this is not a gaming laptop. Our gaming score of 53.4 out of 100 reflects that. You can play esports titles at low settings, but don't expect much beyond that.

Compared to the Apple MacBook Pro M4 Pro, the Vivobook Go is in a completely different universe. The MacBook Pro costs several times more and delivers dramatically better performance, display quality, and battery life. But that's not a fair fight. The Vivobook is for people who need a basic Windows laptop on a budget.

Against the Lenovo Legion 5i 83F00008US, the Vivobook loses badly on gaming and CPU performance. The Legion has a dedicated GPU and a much faster processor, but it's also heavier and more expensive. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition is a closer competitor in spirit, with better build quality and a sharper display, but you'll pay a premium for it. The MSI Vector and Alienware Aurora are gaming machines that make the Vivobook look like a Chromebook in terms of raw power, but again, they cost way more and aren't aimed at the same buyer.

At CAD 815, the Vivobook Go E1504FA is priced like a budget laptop but carries some mid-range specs. The 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM are the standout value plays here. Most laptops in this range give you 8GB of RAM and a 256GB or 512GB drive, so you're getting double the memory and storage for the same money. That said, the weak CPU and dim display mean you're trading performance for those specs. If you can find a laptop with a Ryzen 5 7530U or Intel Core i5-1335U for a similar price, that might be a smarter buy. But if storage and RAM matter more to you than raw processing power, this is a solid deal.

The ASUS Vivobook Go E1504FA-DS52-CA is a budget-friendly 15.6-inch laptop aimed at students and office workers who need a big screen and decent specs without spending a fortune. At around CAD 815, it packs a Ryzen 5 7520U, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. That's a surprisingly generous storage and memory combo for this price bracket, which is where a lot of the value here comes from.

People searching for a cheap 15-inch laptop for school or general productivity will find the spec sheet checks a lot of boxes. You get a full HD anti-glare display, a physical webcam privacy shutter, and a 180-degree lay-flat hinge for sharing your screen. It's not a gaming machine or a creator workstation, but for everyday tasks like writing papers, browsing, and streaming, it's built to handle the basics.

The main trade-offs are the display and the processor. The Ryzen 5 7520U is a lower-power chip that trails many modern laptop CPUs, and the screen's 250 nits brightness and 45% NTSC color coverage are on the dull side. But if you mostly work indoors and don't need color-accurate visuals, it's a fair compromise for the price.

Skip this laptop if you're a gamer, a video editor, or anyone who needs real CPU power. The Ryzen 5 7520U will choke on demanding tasks, and the integrated graphics won't run modern games well. If you need a bright, color-accurate display for photo or video work, the 250-nit, 45% NTSC screen will disappoint. Instead, look at something like the Lenovo Legion 5i for gaming or the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition for a better display and build quality. Also skip it if you need lots of ports, since the single USB-C and HDMI 1.4 are limiting for multi-monitor setups.

Should you buy the ASUS Vivobook Go E1504FA-DS52-CA? If you need a cheap 15.6-inch laptop for school, office work, or general browsing, and you want lots of storage and RAM without spending over CAD 900, this is a reasonable pick. The 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM are genuinely useful, and the privacy shutter and lay-flat hinge are thoughtful touches.

But if you plan to do any serious gaming, video editing, or heavy multitasking, look elsewhere. The Ryzen 5 7520U is a weak processor by today's standards, and the dim 250-nit display will frustrate you in bright rooms. This is a laptop for getting things done, not for pushing performance. For the price, it's a fair deal, but it's not a hidden gem.