Asus Announces 30th Anniversary Prime X299, ZenBook 13, ZenFone 6

Asus celebrated its 30^th anniversary of operation by announcing special “Edition 30” versions of its Prime X299 motherboard, ZenBook 13, and ZenFone 6 during Computex 2019.

The Prime X299 Edition 30 features enhanced voltage regulators claiming sustained 544W output to support extreme overclocking on Intel’s 18-core Core i9-9980XE. Other premium features include an Aquantia 5GbE controller for the second network port, an Intel 2.4Gb/s Wi-Fi 6 AX200 wireless adapter, Dual Thunderbolt 3 ports with dual DisplayPort inputs for passthrough from discrete graphics cards, and Asus LiveDash OLED display capable of showing system stats, custom images, and animated GIFs. Unfortunately, an availability date has not yet been set.

The ZenBook Edition 30 appears to be nothing more than a ZenBook 13 bound in Italian leather, but the ZenBook 13 isn’t a slouch when it comes to serving the ultra-mobility market.  An Intel Core i7-8565U crunches data from a 1TB NVMe SSD and sends it to an Nvidia GeForce MX250 to feed a 1080P 13.3-inch display, while a second display in the Screenpad features an even greater 2160 x 1080 resolution. All of this comes in a ZenBook 13 that weighs only 2.69 pounds and is only 0.7 inches (17.9mm) thick, with the leather of the Edition 30 version expanding those stats to 2.84 pounds and 0.73 inches (18.5mm) thick. The ZenBook 13 and Edition 30 will be available Q3 2019.

More than just a visual enhancement, the ZenFone 6 Edition 30 is upgraded to 12GB of DRAM and 512GB of internal storage, and even the warranty has been upgraded to 30 months. The ZenFone 6 on which it’s based was already famous for its motorized camera module that allowed its 48MP rear camera and 13MP ultrawide front camera to switch positions, and the original version might be your only choice, since the Edition 30 version is limited to a mere 3,000 units with a release data no more specific than Q3. By the time you realize it’s available, it might not be.