New Asus Zenbook ultrabooks announced

[pgiguere1]

- Ivy Bridge processors
- Up to 1920x1080 IPS display both for the 13" and 11" models (glossy or matte)
- Up to 512 GB SATA III (6 Gbps) SSD
- Intel WiDi built-in (Wireless display support)
- Backlit keyboard, two USB 3.0 ports, micro-HDMI and SDXC card slot
- 11" starting at $1,050, 13" starting at 1,100$

link

They will also release a model with the same screen that's 1mm thicker and includes discrete graphics (1GB Nvidia GeForce GT620M) and hybrid 500GB hard drive + 24GB SSD.

This should give the MBA a little competition, which is a good thing. Hopefully Apple will consider upgrading the MBA's screen.

What do you think?

 

[mac26]

Image

- Ivy Bridge processors
- Up to 1920x1080 IPS display both for the 13" and 11" models (glossy or matte)
- Up to 512 GB SSD
- Intel WiDi built-in (Wireless display support)
- Backlit keyboard, two USB 3.0 ports, micro-HDMI and SDXC card slot
- 11" starting at $1,050, 13" starting at 1,100$

This should give the MBA a little competition, which is a good thing. Hopefully Apple will consider upgrading the MBA's screen.

What do you think?

That is one high res display! I hope we see that on the MBA so we have close to a "retina" mac

 

[AdrianK]

That resolution is insane! 169 PPI and 200 PPI for the 13" and 11" respectively.

 

[mkrishnan]

That is one high res display! I hope we see that on the MBA so we have close to a "retina" mac

What is Windows' support for High DPI like at this point? 11" at 1920x1080 sounds really nice, but how usable would it be? (With a High DPI / resolution independent UI, it would be great, though.)

 

[Peace]

That's also the "highest spec". I'm quit sure the "lower spec" will be different.

 

[pgiguere1]

What is Windows' support for High DPI like at this point? 11" at 1920x1080 sounds really nice, but how usable would it be? (With a High DPI / resolution independent UI, it would be great, though.)

I'm not sure if some applications have high-res bitmaps yet, but Windows 7 supports custom DPI settings so at least UI elements are bigger. Text and vector graphics should render just fine.

 

[KPOM]

That screen sounds nice. It's about time we moved from 1366x768 and 1440x900. Hopefully Apple has something nice in store for the next MacBook Air update.

 

[Buildbright]

I see the words "Starts At" and "Up To" used alot. Not interested in a $2,700 Ultrabook. But I will wait and see before passing judgement.

2012 Air Hopefuls are 1980 x 1080 11" 1980 x 1200" 13" S-IPS.

 

[Jobsian]

Wow, they've raised the bar here. I didn't think 512GB SSD was feasible at this stage. Great resolution too.

Bodes well for the next MBA!

 

[mkrishnan]

I'm not sure if some applications have high-res bitmaps yet, but Windows 7 supports custom DPI settings so at least UI elements are bigger. Text and vector graphics should render just fine.

This works pretty terribly... even many core UI elements like some buttons in Windows dialogues fail to scale up, even the cursor doesn't have a high-res version, and many things render poorly. Here's an example at 200%....

I've been wanting high DPI for a long time, and I've bought and liked products from Asus (three now), but at least Apple is doing the implementation correctly (on the iPad and iPhone, at least, so far). I don't feel like the Windows implementation is ready, although I don't know what's coming with Windows 8.

 

[pgiguere1]

I see the words "Starts At" and "Up To" used alot.

True, they don't specify the specs of the base models. For all we know they could have a Core i3 and 2GB RAM.

----------

This works pretty terribly... even many core UI elements like some buttons in Windows dialogues fail to scale up, even the cursor doesn't have a high-res version, and many things render poorly. Here's an example at 200%....

That's pretty ugly. All I notice is disproportionally large text and misaligned favicons. Worthless if that's all Windows can offer.

At least Apple makes both hardware and software so they can coordinate features that depend on both. Otherwise there's no point in having new, high-end hardware if your software doesn't support it.

 

[halledise]

they still can't run OSX

 

[Nebrie]

Well, someone pointed out a few weeks ago that the 11" MacBook Air in the Mountain Lion promo vid had a native resolution setting for 1920x1080. If other vendors are using it then it's a good bet that the 2012 Air will use it too.

 

[bossxii]

First off. I am an fan of Apple design, quality and customer service. I am however not a raving Fanboy that buys solely because of a brand or what my peers own.

That being said, for the same money the MBA provides me with the ease to use OSX (my prefered OS) and Windows 7 if I need it, these machines would take way to much work (if even possible) to run a hacked version of OSX. I don't game, so don't care about the GPU pushing xxx FPS. I need a solid machine for work and home that is portable, powerful enough for my needs and is reliable.

I've used the Asus Transformer and it's a solid pc of hardware and I trust Asus builds decent devices. I'd consider these if I could out of the box run OSX, but at the same price as an MBA, i see no reason to buy elsewhere. USB 3.0 is great but I'll take Thunderbolt as within a few months plenty of accessories will have it built in.

The attractive benefits Asus brings to the market are the 512gig SSD and Ivy Bridge, of which Ivy Bridge MBA is most likely coming in 2012. Hopefully the larger SSD's will too, but not a deal breaker over the OS for me.

 

[KylePowers]

I've always liked Asus and their OEM parts for custom builds, and this ultrabook is no exception. Nicely spec'd. Unfortunately, I moved to Apple for the OS, and obviously an Asus won't be running that.

But! Competition is certainly good for Apple, though often I feel as if they don't really care. Consider their iPhone and iPad line as an example. Their specs are often subpar when compared to competitors, but the overall experience is what we pay for, and Apple is excellent at focusing on just that.

The MBA fits this trend too. Will we see Ivy Bridge? Yes. Will we see USB 3.0? Maybe, but it wouldn't surprise me if Apple held out until next year. Will we see 1080p on a 13in MBA? No way. Matte display? Nope, I don't see it coming either (granted, the current screen isn't too glossy, but it's not matte either). The 13in MBA has an SDXC slot, so that's not a big deal. But 512GB SSD? I'm not too sure on that either. You'd think Apple would allow this, but I can't even begin to imagine how much they'd charge for this ($500+?).

Frankly, give me an MBA with Ivy Bridge, better battery life, larger screen with equal footprint (i.e. go into that bezel some), and an HD camera, I'm sold! I doubt I'd spring for the 512GB upgrade, but I know a lot of people would. I survive off of 128GB, but I keep a lot of things on my iMac to supplement that. USB 3.0 is a moot addition for me, as I don't have any devices to take advantage of it (but that's probably circular).

Anywho, Apple is typically stingy with specs, so you can't really compare. The Asus will still run Windows and that's enough to pass no matter what the specs are (for a lot of Apple fans at least). Just wait for it to get Windows 8 *barf*

 

[gentlefury]

Where have I seen that design before??

Everything is Starts at pricing! I'm sure to get whats listed in the article is going to be CRAZY expensive!!

 

[coldmack]

I have no problems with Asus, but I do have a problem with x86 cpu and windows, and if this was running say those nice new Qualcomm S4 cpu with their next gen cpu in the 11in model with the 1080p IPS display, and I could deal with Android as that could be replaced with some Linux variant running IOS or OSX theme.

 

[2IS]

For the clowns that keep posting "it doesn't run osx" every time an Ultrabook gets posted here, thanks, but everyone here already knows that.

 

[bossxii]

For the clowns that keep posting "it doesn't run osx" every time an Ultrabook gets posted here, thanks, but everyone here already knows that.

If that fact is so obvious then why does anyone bother posting these machines on a Apple rumor site. No one here running Apple gear would buy these wanna be machines without the option. It rather pointless to compare hardware when they don't run the same OS. Apples and Oranges... Literally. (pun intended, because we're clowns ya know!)

When these people still posted non OSX hardware still ask the same redundant question of "what do you think" or "which one should I buy" I am going to keep stating the freakin obvious. WITHOUT OSX IT'S NOT WORTH A DIME TO ME AND THE MJORITY OF MAC USERS. Period. End of discussion.


But more threads show up daily.

 

[2IS]

If that fact is so obvious then why does anyone bother posting these machines on a Apple rumor site. No one here running Apple gear would buy these wanna be machines without the option. It rather pointless to compare hardware when they don't run the same OS. Apples and Oranges... Literally. (pun intended, because we're clowns ya know!)

When these people still posted non OSX hardware still ask the same redundant question of "what do you think" or "which one should I buy" I am going to keep stating the freakin obvious. WITHOUT OSX IT'S NOT WORTH A DIME TO ME AND THE MJORITY OF MAC USERS. Period. End of discussion.


But more threads show up daily.

You have the option of not reading the thread if you're not interested. Those that are interested don't have the option of not reading retarded replies because we don't realize they're retarded until after we've already read them. Clearly you have more interest that you're leading on or you wouldn't be in this thread.

There are also those of us who simply like seeing new technology and where it's going. If ASUS managed to get a discrete GPU in this form factor, that's pretty impressive no matter what your OS preference is and highlights what may be possible for future MBAs. It's very ironic that a company as innovative as Apple has a significant fanbase that can't think outside the box.

There are plenty of members on this site who are cross-platform users, myself included, so there goes your theory. How many members do you know that weren't aware this wasn't an OSX machine?

That's what I thought too, thanks for playing.

 

[Xikum]

If that fact is so obvious then why does anyone bother posting these machines on a Apple rumor site. No one here running Apple gear would buy these wanna be machines without the option. It rather pointless to compare hardware when they don't run the same OS. Apples and Oranges... Literally. (pun intended, because we're clowns ya know!)

When these people still posted non OSX hardware still ask the same redundant question of "what do you think" or "which one should I buy" I am going to keep stating the freakin obvious. WITHOUT OSX IT'S NOT WORTH A DIME TO ME AND THE MJORITY OF MAC USERS. Period. End of discussion.


But more threads show up daily.

Just because they dont run OS X doesnt mean that we cant look and talk about them. Why? Because they are the major competition to Apple, and competition is NEVER a bad thing for the customer. You should never have blind loyalty to a brand.

The new Asus looks amazing. With a dedicated GPU, high-res screen, huge SSD potential and USB-3, it will really take something special from Apple to top it. This stronger competition will keep Apple on their toes, as they will NEED to bring out something special to beat this.

This is why the customer benefits from competition.

 

[mkrishnan]

The new Asus looks amazing. With a dedicated GPU, high-res screen, huge SSD potential and USB-3, it will really take something special from Apple to top it. This stronger competition will keep Apple on their toes, as they will NEED to bring out something special to beat this.

I think it looks pretty nice, also, as long as something is done about the high DPI issues I mentioned above. The current MBA 11/13" models were not yet on the market the last time I bought a portable. I might seriously consider this, but I'd also seriously consider the current MBA 11". Since Apple is ahead on high DPI (although they haven't pulled the trigger on the OS X side yet), if they could match the graphics horsepower of this and some of the other specs, the next MBA would be really awesome.

 

[KohPhiPhi]

Oh WOW, the specs on the Asus are insanely good... I'm sure the new 2012 MBAs will be able to match that, but it sure it's going to stir quite some competition.

And yes, they dont run OSX (thus I won't buy them), but we gotta be honest here guys: the Asus Zenbook is a wonderful machine and it kinda gives the MBA a run for its money!

 

[XX55XX]

Apple needs to get an IPS panel on their Airs. Their TNs aren't too bad, but an IPS? To die for!

As for these computers "not running OS X", you can get them running OS X if you are resourceful enough. It's possible. It's all nearly the same hardware, anyways.

 

[KohPhiPhi]

As for these computers "not running OS X", you can get them running OS X if you are resourceful enough. It's possible. It's all nearly the same hardware, anyways.

It's not as easy as it sounds. The main components might be the same (CPU, GPU, etc), but the small little things might not (wifi card, built-in mic, webcam, etc).

Before buying my MBA, I played the Hackintosh game for WEEKS trying to get a few PC laptops to run OSX... I never made it to work flawlessly. Sure, the computer would operate OSX, but it would either not wake up from hybernation, or the webcam would not record sound, or the screen dimming controls wouldnt work, etc.

Trust me, it was a very frustrating game and eventually I simply bought a MBA.