Hmm, this will go nicely with that Ultra wide LG monitor with thunderbolt reviewed here a while back (since no other windows laptops I'm looking into has thunderbolt).
I hope you'll get one in to review. I'm really interested in what the thermals and sustained clock speeds on that are going to be. A 47W CPU and a GPU that's probably in the 45-60W range is a lot of heat to be trying to dissipate in such a thin package, even if it uses the entire chassis as a heatsink.
just like the Macbook Pro 15", this thing is one giant heatsink thanks to the all aluminum enclosure.. it'll do fine and i bet it has bigger heatsinks than the MBP
Razer does it with a 47W CPU and an 82W GPU, albeit very loud and hot at full load. I don't think a 960m will be much of a problem in this form factor. Depending on the implementation it can have ~50-60W TDP.
On the one hand, Asus is pretty shameless about mimicking Apple. On the other hand I'm generally glad they do, because Apple puts out some really good designs and it's nice to have something similar in usability and quality from a PC vendor.
This is one case where a lot of people would appreciate it of they copied Apple a little less, however...
Everything about this machine says 15 inch MacBook Pro knockoff for people without MacBook Pro budgets. But they couldn't have made it with a 13 inch screen?!?
It's been years since Apple put a decent discrete GPU in the little MBP. It sure would have been nice to see a GTX640M in the 13 inch Asus...
You mean like the Asus Zenbook UX303LN? Or the many models that Asus made before that? They are among the *very* few manufacturers who have actually offered exactly what you are asking for, which is why it is so ironic to see you call them out on this.
True, we are not talking about a tremendously powerful GPU, but there are limitations in terms of heat dissipation in such a small form factor.
to be honest, i wouldn't be opposed to them taking a couple more design cues from apple.
for one, the spun lid finish starts to get old after 4 years or so and the lid also overlaps the base a little bit when it's closed. of course that is to help you open the lid more easily, but still, i prefer the look of apple's solution with the small cutout on the base. the machine just looks beautifully monolithic that way.
also, i'm not a big fan of silver keyboards, especially if backlit. it's not great for readability, black keycaps would be better imho.
I really hope they don't screw this model up somehow for next year's release, because if they just do sensible, logical updates and don't functionally change anything that will be my next business laptop!
Has anyone actually seen this device in person with Thunderbolt. I ordered one that arriv3ed today, but it didn't have the port. Still trying to figure out what model and where to get one with the port.
Why wouldn't they offer the larger battery on the 1080P model? I'm not really looking to replace my N56VJ, but I might be next year when a Skylake refresh comes out. I'd much rather trade the UHD screen for FHD and longer battery life.
Other than that, this is the laptop I've been waiting for from ASUS. I love my N-series notebooks, but I've always wanted a 15.6" full-power version of the Zenbooks.
x2 it seems odd to force people into the lower spec battery with the 1080p screen. Personally I would probably opt for the 1080p with bigger battery option if I was going to buy this.
Honestly what I want is a laptop with a 35-45w quad core CPU, and NO DGPU! Iris Pro would be a plus, too. 4 ram slots, and space for an m.2 + at least 1x 2.5" would be great, 2 would be better. I want a system with a lot of cpu horsepower, lots of ram, but I don't really care about games on it. I have other systems for that. Oh, and I want it to be in a durable case like the Dell/HP/Lenovo business lines, not an all plastic laptop like my Clevo. Why doesnt someone make this!! I essentially want a workstation but no GPU -- don't need it as I'd rather not spend the money on it and would like to have more battery time/capacity.
Yeah, Skylake with GT4e would be perfect for me. The 635m in my laptop is a complete waste; the only games I have installed are Minesweeper and the like. I don't want to swap out the ODD for a hard drive caddy, so I do miss not having an m.2 slot. I could probably live with just an m.2 actually, as long as it's a full length one that I can fit a 512MB SSD in the machine.
Looks much better than current rMPB at least on paper. I wonder why they put that stupid touchscreen and glossy glass though... getting rid of it will shave 2-300gr of weight and make it as light as rMBP 15.
If it uses Gorilla glass 4, then it's 2.42g/cm^3. So, doing some rough maths, a 15.6" has 671cm^2 surface area, adding in some extra space for the lips, let's just say 750cm^2... I think it's 310g?, if the thickness is 1mm.
I don't think it absolutely needs to be a touchscreen, but having used a surface pro for a while now, there's really no downside to having glossy glass in front of the display. In fact, I can see the screen better than an ultrasharp type anti-glare coating, because the screen doesn't get washed out when there's a lot of sunlight in the room.
Surprisingly decent price for the specs and form factor. Happy to see a company FINALLY using the 860/960m in a thin performance notebook. Given its performance and TDP I find it hard to believe more companies aren't using it in their notebooks. If I were going for a notebook right now this would probably be at the top of the list.
Probably the short answer is that most people don't need more or want more. You don't use it for taking pictures, and 720p is fine for Skype and whatnot. I'm surprised they don't go 1080p just for the bullet point, but for most people the extra cost adder is probably better spent on something else.
Looks very nice. I don't think it is what I am looking for though. Seems to much like a DTR for me. Who is this targeted at? That is just an honest question. It seems to me like there have been too many tradeoffs in weight and battery life to really be a business laptop. But maybe that is just me.
Somewhat separately, I would really like a 13in thin and light ultrabook with loads of battery life and thunderbolt. I may have to go with an Apple to get that. Has anyone seen something like that? What would be even better would be if there was a tablet with thunderbolt.
Has anyone actually seen this device in person with Thunderbolt. I ordered one that arriv3ed today, but it didn't have the port. Still trying to figure out what model and where to get one with the port.
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invinciblegod - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Hmm, this will go nicely with that Ultra wide LG monitor with thunderbolt reviewed here a while back (since no other windows laptops I'm looking into has thunderbolt).DanNeely - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
I hope you'll get one in to review. I'm really interested in what the thermals and sustained clock speeds on that are going to be. A 47W CPU and a GPU that's probably in the 45-60W range is a lot of heat to be trying to dissipate in such a thin package, even if it uses the entire chassis as a heatsink.Morawka - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
just like the Macbook Pro 15", this thing is one giant heatsink thanks to the all aluminum enclosure.. it'll do fine and i bet it has bigger heatsinks than the MBPdragonsqrrl - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Razer does it with a 47W CPU and an 82W GPU, albeit very loud and hot at full load. I don't think a 960m will be much of a problem in this form factor. Depending on the implementation it can have ~50-60W TDP.ViRGE - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
On the one hand, Asus is pretty shameless about mimicking Apple. On the other hand I'm generally glad they do, because Apple puts out some really good designs and it's nice to have something similar in usability and quality from a PC vendor.V900 - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
This is one case where a lot of people would appreciate it of they copied Apple a little less, however...Everything about this machine says 15 inch MacBook Pro knockoff for people without MacBook Pro budgets. But they couldn't have made it with a 13 inch screen?!?
It's been years since Apple put a decent discrete GPU in the little MBP. It sure would have been nice to see a GTX640M in the 13 inch Asus...
TrackSmart - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
You mean like the Asus Zenbook UX303LN? Or the many models that Asus made before that? They are among the *very* few manufacturers who have actually offered exactly what you are asking for, which is why it is so ironic to see you call them out on this.True, we are not talking about a tremendously powerful GPU, but there are limitations in terms of heat dissipation in such a small form factor.
Impulses - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Worth noting that ASUS has had an UX3xx Air equivalent with an IPS display for years, usually with more storage or RAM for the $ too.fokka - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
to be honest, i wouldn't be opposed to them taking a couple more design cues from apple.for one, the spun lid finish starts to get old after 4 years or so and the lid also overlaps the base a little bit when it's closed. of course that is to help you open the lid more easily, but still, i prefer the look of apple's solution with the small cutout on the base. the machine just looks beautifully monolithic that way.
also, i'm not a big fan of silver keyboards, especially if backlit. it's not great for readability, black keycaps would be better imho.
WorldWithoutMadness - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
+1 as you but what I hate from Asus is they don't really bother to perfect their product as well so in result felt like skimped product.Goty - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Only six hours of battery life for almost $2000? That's a big ol' nope from me.dragonsqrrl - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Right, cause battery life scales with price...meacupla - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
battery life is low because of a quad core + discreet GPU + high res display + compact size.I think 6hrs is acceptable for this size and feature set.
If all you want is battery life for cheap, then, by all means, go for one of them baytrail or cherrytrail atom devices.
Stochastic - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Knock off a couple Benjamin's from the price and swap the Haswell part for it's Skylake equivalent and this could be interesting.Stochastic - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Apparently I can't use apostrophes today. Should be "Benjamins" and "its."descendency - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Skylake quads won't be out until likely late 2016 or early 2017. Broadwell Quads are not even out, yet.Hrel - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
I really hope they don't screw this model up somehow for next year's release, because if they just do sensible, logical updates and don't functionally change anything that will be my next business laptop!I'm excited and it's at least a year away! haha
Daniel Egger - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Ooh, that is one smexy device. Let's see what Apple will show at WWDC, though.Morawka - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Wow thunderbolt on a windows machine. This thing can probably do gaming pretty decently.Morawka - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Also, WOW that's a lot of battery.whitingjon - Thursday, May 21, 2015 - link
Has anyone actually seen this device in person with Thunderbolt. I ordered one that arriv3ed today, but it didn't have the port. Still trying to figure out what model and where to get one with the port.MrTeal - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Why wouldn't they offer the larger battery on the 1080P model? I'm not really looking to replace my N56VJ, but I might be next year when a Skylake refresh comes out. I'd much rather trade the UHD screen for FHD and longer battery life.Other than that, this is the laptop I've been waiting for from ASUS. I love my N-series notebooks, but I've always wanted a 15.6" full-power version of the Zenbooks.
extide - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
x2 it seems odd to force people into the lower spec battery with the 1080p screen. Personally I would probably opt for the 1080p with bigger battery option if I was going to buy this.Honestly what I want is a laptop with a 35-45w quad core CPU, and NO DGPU! Iris Pro would be a plus, too. 4 ram slots, and space for an m.2 + at least 1x 2.5" would be great, 2 would be better. I want a system with a lot of cpu horsepower, lots of ram, but I don't really care about games on it. I have other systems for that. Oh, and I want it to be in a durable case like the Dell/HP/Lenovo business lines, not an all plastic laptop like my Clevo. Why doesnt someone make this!! I essentially want a workstation but no GPU -- don't need it as I'd rather not spend the money on it and would like to have more battery time/capacity.
MrTeal - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Yeah, Skylake with GT4e would be perfect for me. The 635m in my laptop is a complete waste; the only games I have installed are Minesweeper and the like. I don't want to swap out the ODD for a hard drive caddy, so I do miss not having an m.2 slot. I could probably live with just an m.2 actually, as long as it's a full length one that I can fit a 512MB SSD in the machine.nerd1 - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Looks much better than current rMPB at least on paper. I wonder why they put that stupid touchscreen and glossy glass though... getting rid of it will shave 2-300gr of weight and make it as light as rMBP 15.meacupla - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
If it uses Gorilla glass 4, then it's 2.42g/cm^3.So, doing some rough maths, a 15.6" has 671cm^2 surface area, adding in some extra space for the lips, let's just say 750cm^2...
I think it's 310g?, if the thickness is 1mm.
I don't think it absolutely needs to be a touchscreen, but having used a surface pro for a while now, there's really no downside to having glossy glass in front of the display. In fact, I can see the screen better than an ultrasharp type anti-glare coating, because the screen doesn't get washed out when there's a lot of sunlight in the room.
dragonsqrrl - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Surprisingly decent price for the specs and form factor. Happy to see a company FINALLY using the 860/960m in a thin performance notebook. Given its performance and TDP I find it hard to believe more companies aren't using it in their notebooks. If I were going for a notebook right now this would probably be at the top of the list.randomlinh - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Am I the only one floored by the pricing? The NX500 is quite a bit more for seemingly similar specs?Impulses - Monday, April 27, 2015 - link
Sounding the thunderbolt death knell even as it makes it unto a semi mainstream laptop ehh... Ciao TB, bring on Type C.der - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
sht im fokin late againToTTenTranz - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
What's with the 720p front cameras nowadays?MrTeal - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Probably the short answer is that most people don't need more or want more. You don't use it for taking pictures, and 720p is fine for Skype and whatnot. I'm surprised they don't go 1080p just for the bullet point, but for most people the extra cost adder is probably better spent on something else.ntn2008 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
ASUS ZenBook UX501 video on youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ7Pqaef75Y
MrSpadge - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
If they already have the chassis I'd like them to make a distinctly different version:- drop the discrete GPU (for non-gamers)
- drop Thunderbolt, add USB 3.1
- offer the Spinpoint M9T (up to 2 TB) along with small form-factor SSDs
ingwe - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Looks very nice. I don't think it is what I am looking for though. Seems to much like a DTR for me. Who is this targeted at? That is just an honest question. It seems to me like there have been too many tradeoffs in weight and battery life to really be a business laptop. But maybe that is just me.Somewhat separately, I would really like a 13in thin and light ultrabook with loads of battery life and thunderbolt. I may have to go with an Apple to get that. Has anyone seen something like that? What would be even better would be if there was a tablet with thunderbolt.
whitingjon - Thursday, May 21, 2015 - link
Has anyone actually seen this device in person with Thunderbolt. I ordered one that arriv3ed today, but it didn't have the port. Still trying to figure out what model and where to get one with the port.