Asus has unveiled an absolute powerhouse of a notebook in hopes of taking on the Apple MacBook Pro.
Dubbed the Asus ZenBook Pro UX501, the company’s newest high-end laptop is crammed full of pricy components.
For a start, it’s got a 2.6GHz quad-core Intel i7-4720HQ processor inside, which will chew through most computing tasks with ease.
That’s backed up by a 512GB PCle SSD – that’s super-fast flash memory that will keep loading times to a minimum.
There’s also 16GB of RAM inside, which will offer impressive multi-tasking capabilities.
The most exciting feature, however, is the inclusion of an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics card paired with 2GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory.
Most thin-and-light laptops tend to use integrated graphics, which means your machine will likely shudder and die at the first sign of a graphically intensive game.
Nvidia’s dedicated Notebook-edition GPU will handle recent games with relative ease however, and you’ll also be able to use it for big video rendering tasks too.
But what’s the point of a good GPU if there’s not a decent screen to run it on? Asus covers this, offering up a 15.6-inch IPS 4K display with a 178-degree viewing angle.
That means the UX501 offers a 282-pixels-per-inch pixel density, which is exceptional for a notebook.
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Other notable features include 802.11ac Wi-Fi, a Thunderbolt 2.0 connection, three USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI port, an audio jack combo port, and an SD/SDXC card reader. It’s also got a fully backlit keyboard, in true MacBook Pro style.
The ZenBook Pro UX501 isn’t exactly a bulky affair either, measuring just 0.81-inches thick, a mere 0.10-inches chunkier than the MacBook Pro.
All this will set you back around $1,799, which is roughly £1,180. It’s available to buy right now in the US, but a ZenBook Pro UX501 UK release date has not been confirmed.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.