This week is the week of IFA, one of the very few - if not the only - major tech events that"s still taking place despite the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, a number of announcements are coming through, and ASUS has a couple of their own, as reported by The Verge. The company today introduced the ZenBook S laptop and the ZenBook Flip 13 convertible, both powered by Intel"s Ice Lake processors.
Aside from shipping with up to an Intel Core i7-1065G7, the ZenBook S comes with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of PCIe-based storage. The biggest improvement over the previous generation seems to be the display, though, ditching the 16:9 aspect ratio in favor of a 3:2 screen with a resolution of 3300x2200. The Verge"s report doesn"t mention the screen size, and the laptop hasn"t shown up on ASUS" website, but assuming the form factor is similar, it might be close to 14 inches. The previous model had a 13.3-inch 16:9 display. That display also covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color space, and is Pantone-validated, so color accuracy shouldn"t be an issue.
In terms of connectivity, there"s two Thunderbolt 3 ports that can be used for charging, a USB Type-A, a microSD card slot, and HDMI out. There"s no headphone jack, though the laptop ships with a USB Type-C to 3.5mm adapter, and that has an ESS digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Also in the box is a 65W charger that promises to charge the 67Wh battery to 60 percent in 49 minutes. With a fully charged battery, the ZenBook S should last 14 hours on battery power.
ASUS also introduced the ZenBook Flip 13, a convertible that also comes with Intel"s Ice Lake processors, and up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. It has a less exciting 13.3-inch Full HD display, and as far as ports go, it"s pretty much the same setup as the ZenBook S.
The ASUS ZenBook S will only be available at Costco and the Microsoft Store, and the price has yet to be revealed. The ZenBook Flip 13, however, is already available for preorder. The base model, with a Core i5-1035G1 (meaning there"s no Iris Plus graphics) and 8GB of RAM costs $899.99 on Amazon and B&H Photo. The top-tier model with a Core i7-1065G7, 16GB of RAM, and an upgrade to Windows 10 Pro, is $1,199.99, and it"s also on Amazon and B&H Photo, though Amazon doesn"t seem to be letting you make preorders for this variant yet.
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