Manufacturers are returning to 8 GB RAM. This ASUS has 32 GB, an OLED display, and costs under 17 thousand

Memory prices are rising this year, and it’s noticeable in laptop price lists – manufacturers are returning to eight gigabytes and half-terabyte drives for cheaper models. You can now buy the ASUS Vivobook S 14 with code ALZADNY25 for 16 790 Kč and get 32 GB DDR5 and a 1TB SSD. You practically won’t find this configuration in this price range today.

👍 Get it if you want a laptop with an OLED display and enough memory to last you years without slowing down.
🤔 Hesitate if you need performance for gaming or demanding editing – the quad-core Ryzen AI 5 330 is an energy-efficient chip for office work, not a workhorse.
💰 Price: 16 790 Kč for 32 GB DDR5, 1TB SSD, and OLED with 95% DCI-P3 is an exceptional value in the current market situation.

Thirty-two gigabytes at a time when others are cutting back to eight

Memory is the main argument here. With 8 GB RAM today, you’ll hit a wall practically immediately – twenty tabs in Chrome, Excel, and Teams open side-by-side, and the laptop will start swapping data to disk. 32 GB DDR5 means you won’t be dealing with this problem even in five years, and a 1TB SSD on a PCIe 4.0 interface means you won’t be deleting photos just to download an update. Last year, this was a given; this year, it’s a rarity at this price.

The second advantage is the display: a 14″ OLED with a resolution of 1920 × 1200, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and 95% DCI-P3 coverage. Blacks are truly black, and colors are accurate, so it’s suitable for photo editing. The body, made of metal and plastic, weighs 1.4 kg, measures only 18.6 mm, and has MIL-STD-810H military certification. A 70 Wh battery with USB-C charging, a backlit keyboard with Czech layout, Windows Hello, Wi-Fi 6, two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, and HDMI. The adapter is included in the package, and upon registration, ASUS provides one year of accidental damage protection for free.

Where compromises are needed

The Ryzen AI 5 330 chip has only four cores with a 4.5 GHz boost. For office work, browsing, video calls, and everyday tasks, it’s perfectly sufficient, and thanks to the NPU with 56 TOPS, the laptop meets the requirements for Copilot+ AI features. However, for demanding video editing or gaming, you’ll hit a wall – the integrated Radeon 820M is a graphics card for office use, not for gaming.

Although the display has an OLED panel, it only runs at 60 Hz and is glossy, so expect reflections in a sunny room; the 300 nits brightness is average. That’s why this laptop is more interesting for someone who wants a lot of memory and a nice display for a reasonable price, rather than for someone looking for performance.

How much memory does your laptop have, and is it still enough for you, or are you already considering an upgrade?