Slim and sexy is still a deciding factor for many laptop buyers, and that’s the feeling Asus is going for in its latest ZenBook model.
There’s always been a bit of a vibe with the Asus ZenBook that it channels PC folk who want a Windows variation of the Apple MacBook Air. It might be the metal body or the sharp angular edges, but we’ve always seen that feeling, and it’s one that continues to this day.
And it still continues, with Asus recently launching the latest update to the model, now called the ZenBook 3 Deluxe, a variation on the theme that manages to not only keep things slim, svelte, and a level of sex appeal, but also updates the tech and finds a way to get the screen size to be bigger in a body that wouldn’t normally accommodate that sort of thing.
You can consider the ZenBook 3 Deluxe a 13 inch laptop when you see it, but the screen is actually a 14 inch Full HD (1920×1080) display, something Asus has achieved thanks to slimmer than normal bezels, giving you a little more real estate to work with.
The whole body is build from one block of aerospace-grade aluminium keeping the system durable, with everything measuring 12.9mm thin and weighing 1.1 kilograms, while Asus has been driving the sex appeal with gold diamond-cut edges and a colouring that offers a little difference in deep blue or a stylish silvery grey.
Inside, Asus plans to keep the refresh more like what you’d expect for today, with an Intel Core i7 processor from the seventh-generation of chips, also known as “Kaby Lake”, working alongside 16GB RAM, up to 512GB NMe M.2 solid-state storage, all of which help to keep Windows 10 fast.
There’s WiFi and Bluetooth, of course, because notebooks need both of those, and you’ll also find three USB Type-C ports here, two of which include Thunderbolt 3 and all of which handle power, meaning that’s how you’ll be charging the Asus ZenBook 3: the same charger most flagship phones not made by Apple get their charge.
Asus is hoping for up to ten hours of battery life in the ZenBook 3 while recharging should be made easier if you already rely on as USB Type C charger nearby, and the company is even tapping similar technologies to what you might be used to in a phone, including that of Gorilla Glass screen protection, more vivid colours from the display, and even a fingerprint sensor which Asus has put in the top right corner to log in using Windows Hello.
Pricing for the Asus ZenBook 3 — also called the UX490 — starts at $2599 in Australia, and you’ll find it in select stockists including at the Asus online shop and Bing Lee shortly.
