Asus Loads Kaby Lake Onto New Transformer 3? Updates Zenbook, Too

Asus updated its line of Transformer 3 products with more compact and lighter-weight devices, including one that make run Intel's forthcoming Kaby Lake chip.. The company also announced its new Zenbook 3 line, as well as the new ROG XG Station 2 docking station.

Next Gen Transformer Series

The Asus Transformer 3 Pro is designed to be the company’s fastest Transformer to date. It uses an Intel Core i7 and up to a 1 TB M.2 PCIe x4 SSD. The system also contains 16 GB of DDR4 clocked at 2,133 MHz. The system primarily uses Intel HD graphics, but it can connect to the ROG XG Station 2 to play games.

The display on the Transformer 3 Pro has a resolution of 2880x1920 and is capable of reproducing 121 percent of the sRGB color gamut. Asus included its Tru2Life video technology to improve the display of image colors.

It is also the thinnest Transformer book Asus has ever produced at 8.33 mm thin, while also being the widest device with a 12.6-inch display.

Asus includes a Thunderbolt 3 port on the Transformer 3 Pro that's capable of delivering up to 40 Gbps of bandwidth. This port uses the USB Type-C connector and doubles as a USB 3.1 Gen 2 slot.

The Transformer 3 Pro will be available with a few different configurations. Asus didn’t say what the high-end model mentioned above would cost, but a lesser offering with a 512 GB M.2 SSD carries an MSRP of $999.

Asus created a smaller transformer, Asus Transformer 3, without the “Pro” suffix, and it's even smaller at 6.9 mm and 695g. This system shares many features with the Transformer 3 Pro including the 12.6-inch display, but it has less storage (256 GB M.2 SSD) and memory for $799. This system will apparently use Intel's 7^th Gen (Kaby Lake) Core processor. The press materials indicated a "7th gen" Intel CPU; it could be a typo, or it could actually mean Kaby Lake.

The last new Transformer device is the Transformer Mini, which is considerably smaller than the other two devices with a 10.1-inch display. It's slightly thicker than the Asus Transformer Pro at 8.2 mm, but it's lighter at 530g (without the keyboard).

Zenbook 3

The new Zenbook 3 is larger than the Transformer Books, with its 11.9 mm thick frame and a weight of 910g. This PC will be available in several configurations ranging up to an Intel Core i7, 16 GB of 2,133 MHz DDR4, and up to a 1 TB PCIe SSD. The system has a 12.5-inch display that is capable of reproducing 72 percent of the NTSC color gamut. Asus also said that this PC has the world’s thinnest fan, which measures just 3 mm.

Asus said that a Zenbook 3 with a Core i7, 16 GB of Ram and a 512 GB SSD would cost $2,099. If you drop that down to a Core i5 with a 256 GB SSD, it costs only $999.

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