ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 Ditches The Touchpad For A 5.5-inch Display
ASUS' ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 laptop has debuted and it is packing what it calls the ScreenPad. This feature takes the spot that would normally be reserved for a standard touchpad and turns it into a secondary screen that can display its own data. The ScreenPad is a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display with custom controls for apps like Office and YouTube.
While it can act as a secondary screen for control of some programs, it still retains full support for Microsoft Precision Touchpad and gestures supporting up to four fingers. A configurable toolbar at the top of the ScreenPad can be dragged down to access the app launcher, which is configurable for any installed app. Support for professional apps is integrated out of the box including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint along with a calendar app that syncs with a Windows calendar account. ASUS plans to launch a ScreenPad SDK by the end of 2018 to encourage developers to support the new feature. ScreenPad also supports the ASUS Pen.
The notebook has up to an 8th generation Intel Core i9 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti discrete graphics with 4GB of GDDR5 memory, PCIe-based storage, and DDR4-2400 RAM. Wireless networking is 802.11ac Wave 2 gigabit and the laptop has Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C ports. Buyers can opt for up to a 4K display with 100% Adobe RGB color space coverage and 132% of sRGB. NanoEdge bezels on the screen give an 83% screen-to-body ratio. The audio system features Harmon Kardon-certified ASUS SonicMaster tech promising a frequency range 1.4 times louder and 1.6 times wider than the previous generation ZenBook Pro.
ASUS plans to ship the ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 in mid-July at $2,299 via the ASUS store and other retailers.
