Asus is launching a new Zenbook Pro 15 laptop, and it is by far the most unique of the Zenbook lineup, at least based on specs. Inside of an 18.9mm frame that weighs just 4.1 pounds, exists a hexacore Core i9 processor, a dedicated GTX 1050 GPU, Harman Kardon branded speakers, and a factory-calibrated 4K screen.
Take note that there aren’t many Core i9 laptops to begin with. For the Zenbook Pro 15 to be one of them and not be a bulky gaming laptop is something of an exception.
Lower-end models of the new Zenbook Pro 15 exist as well, with six-core Core i7-8750H or the quad-core Core i5-8300H processors. Both display options (4K and 1080p) use 15.6-inch IPS multitouch LCD screens with 100 percent AdobeRGB color space support. Another rarer spec: lower and higher-end screen options with full color spacing are seldom seen in Windows laptops.
Design-wise, the Zenbook Pro 15 will have rose gold edges with a branded “Deep Dive Blue” aluminum chassis that looks pretty sharp, even in renderings. The GTX 1050 mentioned earlier will contain 4GB of GDDR5 memory, RAM comes in 8 or 16GB options, and Asus offers an SSD with up to 1TB capacity (PCIe 3.0 x4/NVMe).
To regulate heat with this monstrous range of specs in such a small z-height, Asus is using three heat pipes and two fans to cool the Zenbook.
Ports-wise, you get two Thunderbolt 3 ports, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, an HDMI display output, a microSD card reader, a TRRS audio jack, and a proprietary jack for charging. A VGA camera (weak, right?) and a 71 WH Li-Poly battery that Asus claims will reach 9.5 hours of usage are the two weakest links of the Zenbook Pro 15 on paper.
Pricing is currently unavailable for the new Zenbooks, but definitely expect them to cost more than systems in its weight class.