Asus Announces ZenBook 3, a Retina MacBook Lookalike That is Thinner, Lighter, and Faster

[paysdoufs]

No retina/HiDPI screen. Lost interest. (No wonder it's cheaper.)

Which is a shame as otherwise it looks quite nice.

I honestly don't get what the appeal of these super-high res screens is supposed to be. Not that long ago I saw two recent HP Envy 13" ultrabooks sitting side by side - one full HD, the other one QHD.

Honestly? It may be my age and deteriorating eyesight, but I really don't see the point of spending a single extra euro on QHD - especially since it impacts battery life (as demonstrated on the Dell XPS).

This being an Asus, I'm curious to see what the real-world price is going to be. Which reminds me that MediaMarkt (EU's largest electronics vendor) recently sold the base-config 12" MB for a very aggressive price (899 CHF, IIIRC). Of course it sold out, but I was nevertheless wondering whether at its normal price it sold well, or whether a major upgrade was underway...

 

[runbuh]

This is actually one of the most annoying aspects of Windows 10: All the pre-installed crap. It's not just ads like "Candy Crush", "Get Office", "Get Skype" etc., but also useless apps such as "Phone Companion" and "Xbox" that I don't want on my desktop. To make matters worse, some (like Xbox) can only be removed via command line. And when you create a new user account, they get preinstalled again. Not to mention that you need to spend half an hour disabling things after installation if you value your privacy. Windows 10 could be a really good operating system ... if Microsoft wasn't so pushy and invasive.

Set up an iPhone lately and get all the prompts for downloading apps and spend a half-hour settings things up and disabling things?

 

[Dirtyharry50]

I found it interesting that there was no mention of what the GPU is. Maybe nobody cares about that in a notebook like this even when spending 2 grand?

 

[delegagtor]

According to Apple philosophy, this laptop is better than a macbook because it is thinner, right?

Maybe Apple will get off the ridiculous "you can never be too thin if it makes us rich" bandwagon and provide innovation in areas like performance and functionality.

 

[eco7777]

at least it doesn't do 5 to 10 kernel panics a day like my 2,200 dollars macbook pro that Apple never fixed for free even when they know it is a problem with one of the video cards and a known problem since it was a factory problem.

I have been using Apple since 1986, i currently think Apple is not doing their job. I don't want another iPhone, i want a computer.

 

[kildraik]

Remember the days when Apple computers that were two generations old were still faster than a Windows rig? I can't anymore. It's getting harder to justify the premium (at this point the premium is solely for the sake of having OS X).
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I found it interesting that there was no mention of what the GPU is. Maybe nobody cares about that in a notebook like this even when spending 2 grand?

It didn't say the speed, but did say, "...up to an Intel Core i7... 16GB ram..."

 

[Rigby]

Set up an iPhone lately

Yes.

and get all the prompts for downloading apps and spend a half-hour settings things up and disabling things?

Actually no, I don't remember any nags to download apps or advertising icons on the home screen, and configuring the privacy-related iOS settings takes maybe a minute. Did you read Microsoft's Technet article I linked? In Windows 10 you literally have to spend at least half an hour tinkering with the group policy editor (or registry, if you are unlucky enough not to have the "Professional" version), command line, and even use the firewall to block a Windows service (!) if you truly want to turn off the most invasive features. And even then you can't turn off telemetry completely unless you somehow manage to get the "Enterprise" version.

Not to mention that I have different expectations of control on a computer operating system than a mobile device.

 

[AFEPPL]

who gives a hoot how "Thin" stuff is

Apple clearly... its the only thing they seem to covet these days..
Its the ethos of their whole design language.

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

Well if your biggest worry is that someone will check your browser history or gain access to your bank account and steal the 45 Euros in there, then I see why you don't get it. Some people have corporate secrets on their devices, sensitive business or personal info that can be stolen and exploited, sensitive contacts, financial info, etc. It doesn't matter why you want to secure your data. With touch id, someone could lift a fingerprint from a surface you touch and make a fake "finger" that can unlock whatever you've secured with that print. If you use encryption with a passcode, then you either have to tell someone the passcode or they have to crack it by some means, i.e., brute force, dictionary, etc.

Someone's been watching too many Mission Impossible movies. But fine...make it scan your retina too. It you have to do multiple things, it can only be more secure, right?

 

[AppleScruff1]

who gives a hoot how "Thin" stuff is

Jony Ive.
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Looks great, but it runs Windows.

Windows 10, an excellent operating system.

 

[markieG84]

Yeah, also...
I see Jony's point of feeling insulted by the fact that him & his team put in long hours and miss moments with their family to give us a beautiful design; then jokers like this in a few weeks can go: "Oh, rose gold is the look that's premium? We'll copy that! Oh, nobody but you guys had realized the benefits of an aluminum unibody construction in three decades of building laptops? We'll copy that! Oh, the one tech that had changed least was the teeny notebook track pads when you guys introduced a much larger glass one? We'll copy that! Oh, just having the one USB-C port for everything allows for making the thinnest & lightest portable computers in the world? We'll copy that!" Etc, etc.
I just could NEVER reward that kind of disrespectful lame ass copycatting with a $2,000 purchase on my part.
Call me altruistic - but I'd far prefer, if I was buying a high-end Windows notebook, looking at something like AlienWare, that has a unique style & doesn't seem to resort to lazy theft of design.

Very true, and at the end of the day this will still run windows which will eat up the extra clock speed of the i7 anyways. Good thing it has a fan because it will need it.

 

[jerwin]

I found it interesting that there was no mention of what the GPU is. Maybe nobody cares about that in a notebook like this even when spending 2 grand?

Anandtech, unlike so many other media outlets, actually has details.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10373...competitor-with-core-i7-16gb-dram-and-1tb-ssd

The GPU is a Intel HD520. The Retina Macbook has a Intel HD515.

Might as well put this in too

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10260/apple-macbook-skylake-core-m-rose-gold-color

the macbook's display is is 2304x1440, the Zenbook's is 1920x1080.

 

[coolfactor]

I don't get it why notebooks like these is able to put Intel Core i7 in it while the MacBook gets a crippled Intel Core M?

I remember the original MBA launch where SJ showed why netbooks is horrible and one of the points was Intel Atom (or along low powered processor or something) Guess what Apple, Core M is the new Atom, and you're using it in your MacBooks!

I've got the Core i5 in my 2013 MacBook Air, and this machine keeps up with everything that I throw at it. It's not "slow" by any means, and the Core M is supposedly faster than this machine's processor. So I'm not sure where the complaints are originating from. The MacBook and MacBook Air are not "Pro"-targeted devices, yet many professionals use them every day to get the job done, without any compromises. The question becomes — what compromises would Apple have to make to cram a non-mobile processors into their thin laptops? I think and appreciate that they choose the processors that strike the best balance of performance and power consumption.

 

[markieG84]

So in short, the corrections are, base model has less RAM than MacBook, design is chintzy and cheap (tasteless spun metal lid pattern, base does not colour-match with lid: extrapolate build quality), display isn't Retina quality in gamut or resolution, but Apple is the one who does not innovate. Also, Asus have a history like other PC makers of lying about battery life whereas Apple is more conservative (I can get over 16 hours from my MBA in a push).

But why add any truth in there when clicks can be had. After all, it is thinner and metal-y.

Compared to the macbook this thing looks way overpriced!
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Looks pretty good, but I assume it only runs windows. So unless it also runs OS X, not interested.

Me either. OS X is great and Apple does make the best notebooks, but it would be nice if they allowed other manufacturers to license their os.

 

[nt5672]

I don't get it why notebooks like these is able to put Intel Core i7 in it while the MacBook gets a crippled Intel Core M? . . . .

Because Apple notebooks have to be paper thin and when paper thin the allowable battery size results in a battery life that is too short if powering a Core i7. There are few people using powerful laptops for work. So most of Apple's demographic are on government assistance/live with their parents and only need to be able to tweet, send email, and watch uTube videos. These are the only customers Apple cares about these days and who they design Apple products for.

 

[markieG84]

I've got the Core i5 in my 2013 MacBook Air, and this machine keeps up with everything that I throw at it. It's not "slow" by any means, and the Core M is supposedly faster than this machine's processor. So I'm not sure where the complaints are originating from. The MacBook and MacBook Air are not "Pro"-targeted devices, yet many professionals use them every day to get the job done, without any compromises. The question becomes — what compromises would Apple have to make to cram a non-mobile processors into their thin laptops? I think and appreciate that they choose the processors that strike the best balance of performance and power consumption.

Without a fan the performance throttles after sustained heavy usage. After a few minutes of processing without a break it will kick down to half speed while your air will start up its fan and make noise.

 

[Altis]

Very true, and at the end of the day this will still run windows which will eat up the extra clock speed of the i7 anyways. Good thing it has a fan because it will need it.

I'm not a fan of Windows 10, but it seems to run very efficiently (when it's not doing updates and scans in the background).

I just wish PC makers would adopt 16:10 or heck, even 3:2 screens, for people who do more than watch movies.

 

[markieG84]

I'm not a fan of Windows 10, but it seems to run very efficiently (when it's not doing updates and scans in the background).

I just wish PC makers would adopt 16:10 or heck, even 3:2 screens, for people who do more than watch movies.

Windows 10 may be more efficient than older versions, but I'm pretty sure that it still requires far more resources than OS X at idle. I believe the same system will use almost double the power and produce almost double the heat.

 

[srminton]

Why do these articles always gloss over the huge difference in the display? It's not a small thing. The retina display is a huge selling point for the Macbook. I'd go so far as to say that without the retina display, the Macbook would be pointless, nothing more than a thinner Macbook Air with a single USB-C port. It's having such a thin and light computer with good battery life which also has a superb retina display which makes the whole package worthwhile. Call me back when someone matches apples to Apples.

 

[Ursadorable]

These type of articles are just stupid on a Mac site.

Does the Zenbook run Mac OS X? No? Then shut the hell up, I don't give a crap.

Let's stop comparing Apples to.. Lemons.

 

[MartiNZ]

I found it interesting that there was no mention of what the GPU is. Maybe nobody cares about that in a notebook like this even when spending 2 grand?

Yeah that seems to be an afterthought, as these are fashion pieces now, little more. As they have a fan, they can probably do better than the MacBook. Maybe the 520 or even 540? The latter would make it quite impressive really.

As for the thick and thin of it, I did like that the piece describes the ASUS as "ultra-thin 11.9mm" and the MacBook as "13.1mm thick" .

 

[Tech198]

umm.. $1390.59 AUD is not a bad price..

 

[BeefCake 15]

Intel i7, take notice Apple.

The CPU is barely ever the bottleneck for most people, i7 is an overkill. I'll be happy with i5 but with 8GB RAM not the 4GB for introductory.

 

[Tech198]

I found it interesting that there was no mention of what the GPU is. Maybe nobody cares about that in a notebook like this even when spending 2 grand?

Maybie.... ...

Perhaps they wanna keep that part a secret.

These type of articles are just stupid on a Mac site.

Does the Zenbook run Mac OS X? No? Then shut the hell up, I don't give a crap.

Let's stop comparing Apples to.. Lemons.

It's still an ultra book.. by limiting yourself u'r moving over to Apple discussions forum. Now, they live inside a box... A closed one with sticky tap all around. and a smiley face on the front.

 

[markieG84]

umm.. $1390.59 AUD is not a bad price..

When is the last time you've used windows in a notebook? It can't compare. Then there is the far inferior screen. This thing is way overpriced compared to the macbook.