ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 Will Rock Intel Coffee Lake Core i9 And NVIDIA GTX 1050 Firepower

ASUS is set to roll out a new thin and light laptop computer that packs the sort of hardware you often only find in thicker and heavier machines. ASUS has given up almost all the details on the ZenBook Pro 15 UX550GD, leaving the only outstanding tidbits being pricing and availability.

ASUS will fit the rig with an Intel Core i9-8950HK hexa-core CPU and NVIDIA GeForce GTX1050 graphics. ASUS says that that CPU has 29% better performance versus the previous generation of Intel chips and will operate at up to 4.5GHz. The GeForce GTX 1050 graphics packed inside the machine is equipped with 4GB of GDDR5 RAM. We expect multiple storage capacities with ASUS noting that the machine can be specified with up to a 1TB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD that offers up to 3Gbps read speeds and up to 1.7Gbps write speeds. That is a lot of hardware to pack inside a laptop and to keep it cool, so ASUS fits the ZenBook Pro 15 with dual fans and three heat pipes. 

The screen is a 15.6-inch unit that has NanoEdge multi-touch tech supporting ten points of touch and gestures, it also supports the ASUS Pen. That NanoEdge tech means that the bezel on each side of the screen is very slim giving the machine a screen-to-body ratio of 83%.

Native resolution for the screen is 3840x2160 with 100% Adobe RGB support and 95% NTSC coverage. Harman Kardon onboard sound promises a 1.6x wider frequency response and 1.4x louder volume than other audio systems and uses ASUS SonicMaster software. Connectivity options include a microSD card slot, two USB-C ports, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, and an HDMI port. ASUS also fits the notebook with dual-band 802.11ac gigabit Wi-Fi.

Power for the machine is from a 71 Whr lithium-polymer battery that promises up to 9 hours of use for power slurping productivity tasks and up to 14 hours of battery life for less demanding tasks. It has fast charging support capable of taking the machine from 0% to 60% charge in only 49 minutes. 

A backlit keyboard makes working in the dark easier and the keys have smooth 1.5mm key travel. ASUS uses a glass covered multi-touch trackpad supporting gestures and palm-rejection. Windows Hello offers one-touch access thanks to an integrated fingerprint sensor. All that fancy hardware is packed into an 18.9mm thick chassis that weighs in at a bit over 4.1 pounds. Details on pricing, configurations, and availability are expected at Computex 2018.