Background#
My roommate wanted to reinstall the system because his Windows 10 Home Edition was acting strange, so he asked me to check which data needed to be migrated. Although I know that it's possible to have one partition per disk, the consequence of not distinguishing between the system disk and the data disk is that reinstalling the system will result in the loss of data. Therefore, I decided to partition the disk, unlock Bitlocker, and migrate the data.
His laptop only has one M.2 interface, so if he wants to upgrade, he can only replace it, not add another one.
Reduction Points#
Reduction of Hard Disk#
During the data migration process, I found that the write speed of the hard disk was unusually slow, not meeting the normal level of an NVMe protocol SSD, only around 80 Mb/s. So, I checked the hard disk model in the Device Manager. The first thing that caught my eye was Intel. The Intel disk that left the deepest impression on me was the 660P. Although I wasn't familiar with that model, I looked it up and found that it was indeed the 660P. Both the read and write curves and the benchmark scores matched those of the 660P mentioned by the users on the Tieba forum. So, I communicated with him and asked him to change the hard disk. Since he was already going to change it, I suggested getting a 1 TiB one directly. It cost 510 yuan, and he purchased the TiPlus 5000 1 TiB from Zhitai.
Reduction of USB-A Ports on the Motherboard#
After replacing the hard disk for him, I borrowed a hard disk enclosure and migrated the old data to the new one. The enclosure had a USB-A interface, but when connected, it could only achieve a speed of 20 Mb/s. I suspected that it was connected to a USB 2.0 port, so I tried different positions, but I couldn't find a USB 3.0 port. This was really frustrating. Moreover, one of the USB ports looked like USB 3.0, but its actual speed was USB 2.0 (it had nothing to do with how I plugged it in and out). There was nothing I could do but transfer the data slowly.
Reduction of M.2 Interface Speed on the Motherboard#
Finally, the data migration was completed. Then, I downloaded a tool from the Graphics Bar and ran a benchmark on the hard disk. The read speed could not exceed 1600 Mb/s. I thought about it and used Diskinfo to check which channel it was using. I was stunned to see that it was using "PCIE 3.0 x 2"??? They really didn't leave any spare bandwidth. The 660P could only utilize the bandwidth of PCIE 3.0 x 2, so the interface was directly limited to PCIE 3.0 x 2. They didn't even consider the possibility of users upgrading?
Reduction of Network Card#
This laptop uses an Intel AC 9462. Oh my, I really didn't want to settle for an AX 201. How much more expensive is it? So, I upgraded it to an AX 201.
Easy Disassembly#
The entire machine has a plastic body and does not require any disassembly tools. When you unscrew the screws on the D shell, it's basically done. Although there are some clips, it's extremely easy to open with a little force. To borrow a phrase from a Bilibili video about disassembling this laptop, it's as easy as flipping through a book. It's true, as I tested it myself.
Strange Design of the Air Intake#
The air intake of the cooling module of this machine is on the left side of the module, while the opening on the D shell is on the right side, which means it's not facing the fan. In other words, the fan doesn't have an air intake. Although it can still work, I don't understand why the opening is designed this way, and the cooling performance is not good either. It's probably because of the plastic body, so the experience is not very accurate.
Conclusion#
This is an Asus Vivobook 15 ultrabook priced at 4499 yuan (as of July 2021). I have to say, they really took the "reduction" spirit to the extreme. The entire machine has reductions in places that are not visible, and I haven't tested the visible parts, so I can't make any definitive statements. In terms of overall quality, it was not as good as adding 100 yuan to purchase the Xiaoxin Air 14 Plus at that time. So, it's really frustrating. It's hard to imagine that when you search for this laptop on a search engine, it occupies the top positions in review articles, and they are all positive reviews. I really don't understand why it received such high praise. Did they just pay for positive reviews? And the review articles themselves are awkward to read! Is supporting IPv6 something to boast about? This is just my personal opinion, but it's electronic junk.