ASUS VivoBook 15 M513 review

Five years old, $399, and still clearing recommended bars

The VivoBook 15 M513 of 2021 is the quiet bargain of this shelf: a Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon Vega 7 graphics and 16 GB of RAM asking $399. The peer data puts its graphics at 43.85 against a general-class median of 27.24 — 61 percent above, mainstream tier — and its mobility at 64 against a 50 median, top quartile. The flagged weakness is memory: the 16 GB ceiling sits at half the class median. Five years of age have not yet retired a single receipt.

Vega 7 receipts at a floor price

The capability sheet is the story: Overwatch, Grand Theft Auto V, and Rainbow Six Siege all clear recommended — not minimum, recommended — with Adobe Photoshop and Visual Studio Code clearing minimum. That is the integrated-graphics trifecta passing at the higher bar, on a $399 machine, in 2026. The Vega 7 was the best mainstream iGPU of its year, and the flags show the silicon still earning its keep for esports and light creative work.

Carries well, capped at 16 GB

Mobility at 64 — 28 percent above class median, top quartile — makes this an easy daily carry for a 15-inch machine. The honest cost is memory: 16 GB is the ceiling, flagged at half the class median. For the gaming and office loads this machine is built for, 16 GB remains adequate; for heavy multitasking or memory-hungry creative tools, it is the binding constraint, and the data says so plainly.

Gentle decay for its tier

The measured rate is 11.13 percent per year with no launch anchor for this unit — among the gentler slopes in this batch. At $399 the absolute stakes are small either way: two more years at that rate leave roughly four-fifths of the ticket, and the capability bars, not the price, are what to watch.

Positioning on the shelf

No analog peers are returned. Within the batch, the ZenBook 13 UM325 shares the 5500U-and-Vega-7 platform on the premium shelf at $739 — the same silicon, a nicer body, $340 apart — which frames the M513 as the rational seat for the platform. The OLED Vivobook Go at $246 trades compute for panel below it.

Bottom line

For a buyer who wants verified recommended-bar gaming and honest office compute at the lowest sensible ticket, this is the machine: top-quartile mobility, the strongest iGPU receipts at this price, and a memory ceiling that is fully disclosed and mostly livable. Five years old, and the flags still fly.