The ZenBook Pro 14 and ZenBook Pro 15 that both feature a ScreenPad equipped with artificial intelligence features.
ZenBook Pro 15 offers discerning professional users the ultimate combination of serious performance and supremely elegant design, now harnessing the amazing power of up to an 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 processor, up to gaming-grade NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti graphics, the fastest PCI Express® (PCIe®) 3.0 x4 SSDs, high-speed 2400MHz DDR4 RAM, 802.11ac gigabit-class Wi-Fi and Thunderbolt™ 3 USB Type-C (USB-C) ports.
It comes with a 4K UHD, Pantone-validated display that, the company claims, will offer true and accurate color reproduction. The screen itself is surrounded by a bezel that's just 7.3mm thick, and has a maximum brightness of 400 nits with a 1200:1 contrast ratio.
The ScreenPad also offers desktop support for some apps, echoing the contextual touch menus available on the new MacBook Pro. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint all have adaptive editing controls for the machine, which change depending on what you're doing. YouTube's player for Chrome, meanwhile, moves the transport controls on to the pad to avoid cluttering up the screen while you're watching. And ASUS promises support for more apps in the future, thanks to an SDK that it is making available at some point in Q3 of this year.
ZenBook Pro 15 delivers amazing audio performance through its Harman Kardon-certified ASUS SonicMaster sound system, which features high-quality speakers powered by a smart amplifier for sound that's 1.4X louder than the previous generation of ZenBook Pro. It also delivers a 1.6X-wider frequency response, ensuring rich, crystal-clear full-range sound even at high volume levels.
The ZenBook Pro isn't a gaming laptop, however, and, combined with the ASUS Pen, it's intended to be used by creative professionals: video editors, programmers and designers. The company hopes illustrators and other imaginative types will think about its tech over some of its rivals. Not to mention that both laptops in this range (the 15.6-inch edition, and its smaller, 14-inch sibling) support Amazon Alexa for voice control.
Asus is putting the ZenBook Pro 15 on sale in mid-July for a starting price of $2,299.