Asus has announced a pair of new ZenBook laptops it claims are the thinnest ever to feature discrete graphics chips. The ZenBook UX430 features a 14-inch display in a 13-inch class chassis, and the ZenBook UX530 is a compact 15.6-inch model with slim bezels. Whichever model you choose you can specify up to a 7th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16GB of RAM and up to a 512GB SSD.
Asus ZenBook UX430
Asus manages to squeeze this 14-inch screen into a 13-inch class chassis thanks to the ultra-narrow 7.18mm screen bezels. This laptop has an 80 per cent screen-to-body ratio, measures just 15.9mm thick and weighs 1.25Kg. The anti-glare screen offers wide viewing angles and 100 per cent sRGB colour gamut. Asus Splendid technology includes preset modes for your viewing pleasure, including a low blue light mode.
Inside you will be able to specify up to a 7th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, with up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM, up to 512GB of fast SSD storage, and Nvidia GeForce 940MX discrete graphics. The UX430's 50Wh lithium-polymer battery provides up to 9 hours of wall-wart freedom.
The following ports are available; a reversible USB Type-C port which also supports display output, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port, 1x USB 2.0, a Micro HDMI port, an SD Card slot, and audio I/O. Built-in audio is enhanced with 'Asus Golden Ear' with a smart amplifier designed with experts at Harman Kardon.
On the outside users will appreciate the iconic Zen spun-metal finish, with selected colours additionally introducing a brand-new crystal-like coating created using an advanced nano-imprinting lithography (NIL) process. Four colours are available; Quartz Grey and Shimmer Gold, and the Royal Blue and Rose Gold models with the aforementioned crystal-like coating.
A full sized backlit keyboard features sturdy single-piece support for rigidity and provides a 1.4mm key travel. The laptop's large glass-covered touchpad includes a built-in fingerprint reader and supports the Windows Precision Touchpad (PTP) standard, plus palm-rejection, gestures, and handwriting input. There's an HD webcam in the screen bezel and the built-in array microphone supports Cortana.
Asus ZenBook UX530
This larger Zenbook features many of the UX430 qualities but thanks to its greater size can fit a full sized HDMI port and can be equipped with the more powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 GPU. This larger machine has a 15.6-inch anti-glare slim-bezel display, is just 16.9mm thick, and weighs 1.63Kg. Asus is selling the ZenBook UX530 in Royal Blue with the crystal-like NIL coating, or in Quartz Grey with the classic sandblasted spun-metal finish.
Both the Asus ZenBook UX430 and UX 530 will become available from Q2 in the UK. Pricing will be revealed nearer that time.
