Asus unveiled a strong lineup of laptops across different categories at CES 2020. Some outlets in Asia-Pacific have had the exclusive opportunity to dive into some of its best and most popular laptops. Asus also let us in on their design story for all the products that were revealed. The product line included the new VivoBook S and Classic series, ExpertBook, ProArt StudioBook, and new ROG gaming laptops and PCs. Though we don't know which models will arrive in India and when, but we expect some of them to arrive at the end of QXNUMX or early QXNUMX. Asus introduced several flagship products and a new ProArt series aimed at professional designers. Since we had the opportunity to test these products up close and understand the design philosophy behind them.
ExpertBook B9
While we've seen plenty of exciting laptops, the one that really impressed us was the ExpertBook B9. It is the world's lightest 14-inch laptop at just 870 grams for professional users. Although it is 14.8mm thick and so light, its durability is not affected by these factors. Asus claims that it is made of a magnesium-lithium alloy, which is as strong as aluminum and even lighter. To put a label on its ruggedness, the B9 comes with MIL-STD 810G certification. The company has also worked on color and texture as it comes in a wet black shade with a sandy texture. The ExpertBook B9 also promises 24-hour backup on a single charge with Intel Core i7-10510U, 16GB RAM, FHD display, 3.0TB PCIe 4 x2 SSD, 66W battery configuration. Battery varies by the different configurations. Some other big additions include a one-touch number pad, a physical camera lock for security, support for Alexa and Cortana, SmartAmp for better audio for your Harman Kardon certified speakers, and a FHD Elegant display with auto-update technology for a a higher battery time.
Asus VivoBook series
Next, we looked at the popular and inexpensive VivoBook series. VivoBook laptops, as always, have found a balance between power and fresh design that appeals to young people. The new models have upgraded hardware, offering 250th-generation Intel processors with Nvidia MX16 GPUs, 1GB of RAM, 6TB of PCIe SSD storage, and Wi-Fi 333 connectivity, which offers better performance and longer range when connected to Wi-Fi networks. -Fi. The S433 and S9 also feature the one-touch keyboard we saw on the ExpertBook B15. They also come with Nvidia GeForce graphics and new colors: Resolute Red, Gaia Green, Dreamy White, and Indie Black. The updated VivoBook S15 has a 13-inch screen, while the VivoBook S13 is a more compact version with a 14,9-inch screen, 1,2mm thick and weighing just 14kg. . Meanwhile, the VivoBook S14 falls in the middle, with a 1,4-inch display and a weight of 1.4kg. Asus says the keyboards are now improved with 18.7mm travel, XNUMXmm key pitch where the enter key is highlighted with a neon strip. The keyboard is also available in two shades: dark and light, for those who like to have contrast when typing. The VivoBook S is built with an all-metal body and is available in silver, black, green, and red, while the VivoBook Classic has two variants: plastic and metal. The metal variants are available in silver, gold, and black, while the plastic variants are black, silver, and blue. The new VivoBook S laptops come with a set of labels and decals for those who demand extra PC appeal.
ProArt StudioBook One and ProArt StudioBook Pro X
The ProArt series is designed for creators and professionals such as designers, architects, animators or programmers. It packs tons of power and is designed with previous users in mind. It is equipped with the Nvidia Quadro RTX5000 graphics card, associated with a 7th generation Intel Xeon / Intel Core i8 Hexa core processor. Due to the increased number of CUDA, RT, and Tensor cores, the Quadro RTX GPU essentially allows users to visualize ambient shading and lighting effects in real time, render animations smoothly, and do 1.4K video editing. It is also compatible with DisplayPort 8 which allows output to compatible 17K displays. The 3-inch screen is not only wide and immersive, but offers a wide 97% DCI-P1.5 color gamut and a Delta-E color accuracy of less than 3. From what we could see on the floor, this is a wonderful screen to have in a laptop, but it depends on how much you have to pay for it. Asus has also added the latest version of its ScreenPad for a small smartphone-like interface on the trackpad. To make it more relevant for creators, Asus has provided two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 6 and WiFi 6 ports, as well as fast storage performance of up to 2.0 GB/s. You can add up to three external displays via HDMI 3.1 and two USB Type-C. That's not all, it also has three USB 6000 Gen 9 Type-A ports. We were very impressed with the Pro X, but the flagship ProArt StudioBook One carries things to the next level. Asus calls it "its most powerful laptop in the world." The ProArt StudioBook One is the only laptop to offer NVIDIA Quadro RTX 24 graphics and the Intel Core i4 processor, and it can also be specified with up to 15GB of VRAM. It looks quite different from the Pro X; It has a 1.0-inch 120K UHD display with a Delta E color accuracy value of less than 3. The screen offers a 4.57Hz refresh rate, a gift for product designers, XNUMXD animators and the like. With this power, we cannot do without powerful thermals. To solve this problem, Asus has put all the heat-generating components like the CPU and GPU in the cover, which also resides in the thermals. The cover is designed to open XNUMX degrees when open and close when closed. We don't know if this will happen in India, but we can certainly say that it will be one of the most expensive laptops from Asus.
ROG Zephyrus G14
Our favorite and coolest product is the ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop. Asus claims that it is the most compact 14-inch gaming PC in the world. The first thing that everyone would notice about the G14 is its revamped design that comes with a customizable LED matrix panel on the cover. The Asus Zephyrus G14 packs a decent amount of power into a fairly slim chassis at 17.9mm thick, and the device weighs 1.6kg. The G14 is powered by one of AMD's new mobile chips, and it's powered by a Ryzen 7 4800HS with 8 cores and 16 threads. It is partnered with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card (with 6 GB of video RAM). It packs up to 16GB of 4MHz DDR3200 RAM and storage comes in the form of an M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD with a capacity of up to 1TB. There are a few options for the 14-inch screen, the top of which has FHD resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate, plus AMD adaptive sync, 100% sRGB coverage, and is Pantone certified like ProArt laptops. Asus claims the G14 offers 10 hours of battery life and offers to charge via one of the USB Type-C ports (although the other Type-C connector doesn't support power). The laptop also benefits from Wi-Fi 6 support and a backlit keyboard with an ErgoLift hinge that tilts the keyboard to a more comfortable angle. Asus also points out that the G14 has an innovative cooling system and an "AniMe Matrix" screen on the laptop cover of some models. The latter uses a matrix of 1.215 mini-LEDs that can be used to display graphics such as animated GIFs or messages. DJs can potentially use the AniMe matrix to display visualizations that react to music being played, for example, and eventually Asus plans to add other practicalities, such as the ability to display current battery level or new email notifications. We're certainly looking forward to seeing the 7-core Ryzen 4800 8HS power this deceptively sleek 14-inch gaming laptop, and it looks incredibly compact for the power levels offered, with some cool extras.