Because companies like Asus are trying to compete on the positively stupid bullet point of thickness and that means sacrificing all sorts of capabilities like cooling, battery capacity, and key travel so that the current specs fad and the silly people that are duped into being believers of said fad can have a number to discuss with others and ponder over before making an order they would have made anyway.
I agree with all points except one. The bullet point of "thickness" has certainly become positively stupid for the end user, given the prevalence of devices that make far too many of the sacrifices you list. However, it is great competing point for Asus and other manufactures, as 1) Many customers seem to favor thin over other considerations for some inexplicable reason and 2) While it is somewhat harder to design (non-recurring cost), it also uses fewer materials (recurring costs) reducing the overall manufacturing cost.
Yes, reduction in material requirements are a good thing for a number of reasons. I get that and agree that from a few different perspectives, it is a good idea. I have no idea why customers are so bent on reducing thickness at the expense of functionality though.
I mean, technically you can totally stretch eight bits to any colour space you want. You will just get (way more) banding. But yes, most likely it is 8-bit FRC.
Im quite a fan of this 17" PowerUser Ultrabook idea. Im a consultant, i work all sorts of places and there is no such thing as too big of a screen, not like there is too big/heavy of a laptop. Funny that i used to use 12.5" laptops, then they got lighter and i moved to 13.3, 14 and now 15.4, weight never really changed. Seems they can fit hotter chips in them too and of course, amazing screens. I also think the LG Gram 17" is a nice machine, but ill take the extra weight for these specs. Give me more Thunderbolt ports though!!!!
Edit. As for people talking about battery, as someone who this is aimed at, i use powersupplies 90% of the time, all i require is reasonable battery life for the other times, 4-5 hours and i can get to a PSU, or as is available now, USBC-PD Powerbanks. Take my XPS 15 and give me this in black!
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stanleyipkiss - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
If they're going for 17" inch screen and Xeon + Quadro, why not make the battery a little larger? 54Whr seems petty. Why not 70 or 90 Whr?Meaker10 - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Weight, form factor and cost.brakdoo - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
cost? really?form factor of 17" laptop? really?
Meaker10 - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Especially important on a device you are going to be working on and carrying around yes, and cost, all manufacturers think about cost.This is not some thick DTR, it's a lower mid range quadro with a mobile xeon.
sonny73n - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
He worries about paying a few more bucks to an already $2000+ laptop.Death666Angel - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Not him. The manufacturer does.sonny73n - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Weight? How much does an AC power adapter weight? Why not add just 1 millimeter to the laptop thickness for a much higher capacity battery?Meaker10 - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Why not just add a bit of cooling, another couple of ram slots, a higher end quadro, a desktop cpu, why not add in etc etc.Asus do like making customised slim power adapters so I would expect this to be no different.
PeachNCream - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Because companies like Asus are trying to compete on the positively stupid bullet point of thickness and that means sacrificing all sorts of capabilities like cooling, battery capacity, and key travel so that the current specs fad and the silly people that are duped into being believers of said fad can have a number to discuss with others and ponder over before making an order they would have made anyway.BurntMyBacon - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link
I agree with all points except one. The bullet point of "thickness" has certainly become positively stupid for the end user, given the prevalence of devices that make far too many of the sacrifices you list. However, it is great competing point for Asus and other manufactures, as 1) Many customers seem to favor thin over other considerations for some inexplicable reason and 2) While it is somewhat harder to design (non-recurring cost), it also uses fewer materials (recurring costs) reducing the overall manufacturing cost.PeachNCream - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link
Yes, reduction in material requirements are a good thing for a number of reasons. I get that and agree that from a few different perspectives, it is a good idea. I have no idea why customers are so bent on reducing thickness at the expense of functionality though.wondim - Thursday, April 16, 2020 - link
https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/ProArt-StudioBook-...Freakie - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
"8-bit display panel"... "it can reproduce 97% of the DCI-P3 color space"Must be 8-bit with FRC? Either that or just straight 10-bit. Either way, always nice to see MBP replacements.
GreenReaper - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link
I mean, technically you can totally stretch eight bits to any colour space you want. You will just get (way more) banding. But yes, most likely it is 8-bit FRC.danielfranklin - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Im quite a fan of this 17" PowerUser Ultrabook idea.Im a consultant, i work all sorts of places and there is no such thing as too big of a screen, not like there is too big/heavy of a laptop.
Funny that i used to use 12.5" laptops, then they got lighter and i moved to 13.3, 14 and now 15.4, weight never really changed.
Seems they can fit hotter chips in them too and of course, amazing screens.
I also think the LG Gram 17" is a nice machine, but ill take the extra weight for these specs.
Give me more Thunderbolt ports though!!!!
danielfranklin - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Edit.As for people talking about battery, as someone who this is aimed at, i use powersupplies 90% of the time, all i require is reasonable battery life for the other times, 4-5 hours and i can get to a PSU, or as is available now, USBC-PD Powerbanks.
Take my XPS 15 and give me this in black!
jabber - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link
yeah just a shame I bet the battery is non-removable and will suffer as a result. Oh well.Darcey R. Epperly - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Love the keyboard, symmetric and no numpad to the right. Great!!!warisz00r - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link
Looking good, Asus. Next step: rid of the display's bottom bezel and fit a 3:2 panel in there.