Asus NovaGo Review: Portable and Slow Laptop

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Recently, Asus introduced its newAsus NovaGo 2-in-1 transformer notebook equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. I was reviewed by a version with 6 GB of operational and 128 GB of eMMC internal memory, a 13.3-inch IPS Full HD display with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 and density pixels 166PPI, worth $ 700 (47,635 p.).

But, does the Qualcomm processor work well enough to keep pace with its Intel-based competitors? Let's find out.

Design by Asus NovaGo

Keyboard and touchpad

1080P display

Performance

The device is not for gaming

Autonomy

Alternatives

Should I buy?

Design by Asus NovaGo

The fact that you pay $ 700 (47 600 p.) does not mean that you are buying an ugly gadget. Asus has long been known for releasing even low-end devices with a stylish design and NovaGo is a good example, with an attractive, silver-gray color scheme and chrome accents. Of course, it’s not as stylish as the Asus ZenBook UX330UA, but it looks good.

The NovaGo aluminum housing is very durable and underpressure does not bend. The lid rotates 360 degrees thanks to a rigid hinge that can hold the display in different positions. You can easily switch between laptop and tablet mode.

The thickness of the body NovaGo - 14.9 mm, and weight - 1.4 kg. Thanks to the ARM processor with ultra low power consumption, the laptop does not heat up at all, which is an advantage over Intel-based machines. As for the connectors, ASUS installed on the NovaGo two USB-A 3.1 ports, an HDMI port, a 3.5mm combo audio jack and a charging port. Wireless connectivity is provided by 2 × 2 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

One of the best features of Asus NovaGo isslot for LTE SIM, which allows you to stay connected. The ability to use a laptop, not tied to Wi-Fi, a huge advantage in travel. You can access the Internet in any place where there is a mobile connection.

Keyboard and touchpad

Unfortunately, the keys on the Asus NovaGo keyboardmediocre and with a soft touch, so they are not very convenient for long typing. Alas, the keyboard does not have a backlight, which is a significant drawback. Even budget 2-in-1 laptops usually offer this feature.

On the other hand, the touchpad in NovaGo is large andsleek, and the Microsoft Precision touchpad provides accurate and reliable support for Windows 10 gestures. The touchpad buttons are not too loud. The touch screen here also responds well to touch and works fine in any of the four modes.

NovaGo is equipped with a fingerprint scanner built into the touchpad. The scanner works quickly, there are no problems with the reader.

1080P display

Asus NovaGo is equipped with 13.3-inch FullHD display with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 and a pixel density of 166PPI. Unfortunately, I couldn’t connect a colorimeter, probably because its drivers are incompatible with Windows on ARM devices.

NovaGo is a portable device and manyhave to use the laptop in bright rooms and even on the street. The contrast and color accuracy of the screen is quite acceptable. Nevertheless, visually the display seems dull, which can be a problem, although its performance is enough for everyday tasks.

The sound quality here is not bad, with a decent volume and even with a hint of bass at a low volume. To improve quality, you can use headphones or portable speakers.

Sluggish performance

Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 installed in NovaGo,Well proven in phones and tablets, however, Windows 10 is a super heavyweight operating system designed for fast and powerful processors. Asus claims that S mode on NovaGo with Windows 10 improves performance and makes it easy to switch to Windows 10 Pro.

I used the gadget in both modes. In S mode, I was able to run only applications from the Windows Store. This seriously limited the testing capabilities of the notebook, since normal applications are not available in S Mode. The performance of the Asus NovaGo at best can be called lethargic.

No matter, I was browsing the webpage inMicrosoft Edge, used mobile or trimmed versions of Office, and also ran Windows 10 applications, like an RSS reader, email, and OneNote, the laptop worked very slowly. Windows 10 Pro slows down even more. Outdated applications, that is, not written specifically for Windows 10, started and worked very slowly on NovaGo, compared to its counterparts on Intel. Google Chomre is one such software.

NovaGo I tested was able to run onlyOne of all the tests is Geekbench 4, and according to the results, it lags significantly behind similar notebooks on Intel. In the single-core mode, the device scored 893 points, and in the multi-core mode, 3123, which is about half the performance of Snapdragon 835 on smartphones. I tried to run the 32-bit version of Handbrake, which is usually used to evaluate laptop performance in more complex tasks, but it refused to work, constantly interrupted during the video encoding process.

Another disadvantage of NovaGo from Asus isuniversal flash drive (UFS). In the CrystalDisk Mark test, when reading data, it achieved about the same performance as SSD SSDs, but was two times slower when writing data.

The device is not for gaming

Asus NovaGo uses a graphics processorAdreno 540, which provides good gaming performance on Android smartphones, but not on Windows. I was not at all surprised when the laptop scored only 499 points in the synthetic test 3DMark Fire Strike. This is about half of the low figure that notebooks with integrated graphics reach.

Less complex games like the Rocket League are being launched here, but it would be better if they did not. Download time can be measured in a few minutes, and performance after launch is worse than ever.

Autonomy and battery

Laptop Asus NovaGo is equipped with a battery 52W / h, which charge is enough for the whole day. In the looped video playback test, the gadget lasted 15 hours and 30 minutes. When browsing web pages, the battery lasted for 11 hours, which is four less than in Windows S.

In the most aggressive test - Basemark, NovaGoreached the result of 10 hours. This is a new record and twice as much as the ZenBook UX330UA. The length of battery life contributes to the standby mode, which is similar to the sleeper on the smartphone.

Alternatives to Asus NovaGo

There are several other cars that are worthconsider, including the HP Envy x2 and Lenovo Miix 630. These options are perfect for those who need a removable tablet, and not turning a 360-degree transformer 2-in-1. However, NovaGo is the cheapest of the three, and with more attractive performance.

You can also choose a budget 2-in-1 Dell Inspiron13 5000. Costing $ 750 (51 000 rub.), It offers Core i5-8250U, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB on SSD, similar build quality, better performance, but less battery life.

Total

In general, Asus NovaGo turned out quite good. However, Windows 10 on ARM is not yet ready for prime time, and the Qualcomm processor is to blame for this. The battery life is excellent, but it does not matter if the performance is low.

Should I buy?

Not. Although the NovaGo is a well-designed notebook, its performance is sufficient only for the most undemanding user.