Asus' New Zenbook Packs 2560 x 1440 Touchscreen Display
Asus newest addition features an exterior reinforced with Gorilla Glass 3.
Asus first teased its Zenbook Infinity with Gorilla Glass at Computex this past summer and is this week giving the ultrabook a proper introduction at IFA. It's real name is the Asus Zenbook UX301 and it's a pretty sexy looking laptop.
Asus is calling it the most desirable ultrabook around, and it's certainly a contender as far as looks are concerned. The Zenbook UX301 features the same metallic 'spun' metal aesthetic from previous Zenbook models with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on top. Aside from lending a high-gloss finish, the Gorilla glass adds to the durability of the laptop.
Gorilla Glass aside, the Zenbook's touch sensitive IPS display measures 13.3 inches and boasts a resolution of 2560 x 1440. Under the hood you're looking at Intel's 4th generation Haswell CPUs, optional 512 GB SSD, optional Geforce GT 730M graphics, 802.11ac WiFi, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0, a backlit keyboard with automatic light level control, and multi-touch touchpads with support for Windows 8 gestures.
Pricing and availability aren't out just yet, but the laptop will apparently be available before the end of this year.
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Ultrabooks aren't made for playing games.
Now I wish this would come without all the touchscreen BS, without Windows 8, no multitouch on the touchpad and therefore at a much lower price... I'd spend my money on that.
They will have a starting cost $2,999.
Ultrabooks aren't made for playing games.
yeah, but then why bother having it? the iGPU on Haswell chips are already pretty good. adding an optional entry level graphics only subtracts space available for more useful things like battery cells, or possibly making the ultra book thicker than necessary. it's an odd design decision on ASUS's part
That's the beauty of these ultra-high resolution screens. You don't play the game at 2560x1440. You play at 1280x720. Because it's exactly half the resolution in both directions, there's no dithering/blurring needed to make the image fit the screen.
With 1920x1080, you had to drop down to 960x540 to accomplish the same thing. Way too low for decent gaming. 1280x720 is at least passable, especially on a 13" screen.
Ultrabooks aren't made for playing games.
yeah, but then why bother having it? the iGPU on Haswell chips are already pretty good. adding an optional entry level graphics only subtracts space available for more useful things like battery cells, or possibly making the ultra book thicker than necessary. it's an odd design decision on ASUS's part
Fyi GPU's aren't just for gaming.
So you can break it and pay them so fix it, obviously.
In my experience, the lid of the laptop is the part that most frequently gets scratched. A scratch-resistant glass lid would help prevent that.
I think the old Thinkpads had the best solution (not sure if they still use it). They coated the lid in some self-healing rubber-like material. If you got a scratch, you could just rub it out.
And one of the best features of the 1440p resolution for games is that you can combine 4 pixels into one, ending up with a 720p display free of any scaling artifacts, which the 730M GPU will drive brilliantly.
Any MMORPG will run great on this machine and look way better than on a quartered 1080p display, which would reduce it to 540p, which is too low to look good.
As for those dullards saying "Ultrabooks aren't made for gaming": wake up, we aren't living in a static universe, things keep developing...
And one of the best features of the 1440p resolution for games is that you can combine 4 pixels into one, ending up with a 720p display free of any scaling artifacts, which the 730M GPU will drive brilliantly.
Any MMORPG will run great on this machine and look way better than on a quartered 1080p display, which would reduce it to 540p, which is too low to look good.
As for those dullards saying "Ultrabooks aren't made for gaming": wake up, we aren't living in a static universe, things keep developing...