ASUS Vivobook 15.6" F512FA-AB34 2020, Core i3-8145U, 8GB, 128GB SSD, Gray

The Core i3-8145U ranks in the 3rd percentile for laptop CPUs, making this one of the slowest machines in our database. The 128GB SSD is also tiny at 7th percentile. At USD 429 it's a passable budget pick, but European prices of EUR 601 to EUR 662 are hard to justify.

The Core i3-8145U is the bottleneck here, and it's not close. With a 3rd percentile CPU ranking, this chip gets smoked by even budget processors from the last few years. The 2 cores and 4 threads handle web browsing and Office apps okay, but open more than a handful of Chrome tabs and you'll feel it. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 sits in the 14th percentile, so gaming is essentially off the table. Our gaming score of 7.4 out of 100 says it all.

The 8GB of DDR4 RAM ranks in the 13th percentile, which is low but workable for basic multitasking. The 128GB SSD is the real pain point at 7th percentile. Windows 10 S takes up a chunk of that, and you'll be juggling files before long. At least it's an M.2 SSD rather than a spinning drive, so boot times and app launches are decent.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Air M4, this Vivobook looks like it's from another decade. The M4 chip absolutely demolishes the i3-8145U in every metric, and the MacBook's storage and display are in a different league. The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 7 offers better build quality and a more modern processor for not much more money. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition and HP OmniBook X Flip both bring newer ARM chips with far better efficiency. The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro has a superior OLED display. The Vivobook's only real advantage is price, and even that only holds in the US market.

Pricing is all over the map depending on where you shop. In the US, you can grab this for USD 429, which is about what this hardware is worth. But in Europe, the spread is EUR 601 to EUR 662 across three listings, and that's a much harder sell. At EUR 601 you're paying a premium for aging components. The CAD 899 and GBP 489 listings also feel steep for a laptop with a 3rd percentile CPU. If you're in the US, the USD 429 price makes this a reasonable budget pick. Everywhere else, you're better off waiting for a sale or looking at newer options.

The ASUS Vivobook F512FA-AB34 lands with a 3rd percentile CPU score, and that's the number you need to know. The Intel Core i3-8145U is a 2-core chip from 2018, and in our database it sits near the very bottom of laptop processors. But here's the thing: for basic tasks, it still works. The 8GB of RAM helps, and the 128GB SSD keeps Windows 10 S feeling snappy enough for web browsing and document work.

The screen is a 15.6 inch 1080p IPS panel with an 88% screen-to-body ratio, which sounds impressive until you see it ranks in the 41st percentile for displays. It's fine, not stunning. The backlit keyboard and fingerprint sensor are nice touches at this price, and the 1.72kg weight makes it reasonably portable. Just don't expect this thing to do anything beyond the basics.

Skip this if you do anything beyond basic web browsing and document editing. The 3rd percentile CPU will frustrate you with multitasking, and the 7th percentile storage means constant file management. If you edit photos or videos, run demanding software, or want to play games, this laptop will disappoint. The gaming score of 7.4 out of 100 is a clear signal to look elsewhere. And if you're shopping in Europe at EUR 601 or more, you're paying too much for hardware this old.

The ASUS Vivobook F512FA-AB34 is a budget laptop that feels its age. The 3rd percentile CPU and 7th percentile storage are hard to overlook, even at USD 429. If you need a basic machine for web browsing, email, and light document work, and you're shopping in the US, it'll get the job done. The backlit keyboard and fingerprint sensor are genuinely nice touches. But with 128GB of storage and a processor that's near the bottom of our database, this is a laptop you'll outgrow quickly. For most people, spending a bit more on something with a modern CPU and more storage is the smarter move.