Asus ZenBook Pro UX550: Desktop-level power for mobile pros

The up-to-date ZenBook pro from Asus might also no longer have the bells and whistles of excessive-end opponents equivalent to Apple’s recently up to date MacBook seasoned, nevertheless it can fit its Apple rival for expert-degree performance and portability, whereas additionally coming in at a far more competitive price.

The ZenBook pro UX550’s design is fairly nondescript, quite simply sporting a shiny blue or black casing, complete with a somewhat historic-usual black plastic border running across the edges of the 15.6-inch monitor. It feels relatively sturdy, though, and the giant screen ability that there’s quite a lot of room for a spacious, comfortable keyboard and trackpad.

despite the measurement of the reveal, the ZenBook pro is still very moveable. or not it’s a little thicker than the 15-inch MacBook seasoned (19mm compared to 15.5mm), however the two laptops are the equal weight at 1.8kg, so the ZenBook professional may be a superb alternative if you need an impressive computer it truly is nonetheless gentle enough to take on the road.

The 15.6-inch ZenBook seasoned runs on seventh-technology Intel Core processors and benefits from discrete Nvidia (GeForce GTX 1050) portraits. It weighs simply 1.8kg.

photos: Asus

cost & alternatives

expenses for the new UX550 latitude beginning at £1,199 (inc. VAT, or £999.17 ex. VAT) for a model with a Core i5 processor, however we established a mid-latitude mannequin costing £1,399 (inc. VAT, or £1,a hundred sixty five.83 ex. VAT) with a quad-core Core i7-7700HQ processor operating at 2.8GHz (three.8GHz with rapid enhance). This model additionally includes 8GB of RAM, a 512GB strong-state pressure, and a discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU with 4GB of video RAM. in the US, the Asus web page presently best lists a single configuration for the UX550 latitude: it be an analogous specification to our assessment unit but with 16GB of RAM, and charges $ 2,100.

The only disappointment right here is that the existing fashions simplest give full HD (1,920×1,080) displays. To be fair, the display on our overview unit was shiny and colourful, and will be greater than enough for presentations, video streaming, and simple photograph- or video-modifying. although, the pics performance offered via the ZenBook professional seems rather wasted on a mere HD monitor, when you consider that it be naturally in a position to working skilled video and pictures application that might advantage from a stronger-resolution screen.

The keyboard is a good sized, backlit unit with 1.5mm key commute. note position of the vigour button, subsequent to Delete within the exact appropriate-hand nook. The glass touchpad facets an optional built-in fingerprint reader.

image: Asus

Asus tells us that a 4k mannequin is due soon, youngsters no pricing or unlock date were introduced so it can be worth ready a bit longer to see the total lineup for the brand new latitude. (You may see ZenBook pro fashions advertised online with 4k displays, however those are from final 12 months’s UX501 range, and have older CPU and GPU configurations.)

excellent ZDNET stories

We can’t fault the ZenBook seasoned’s uncooked performance, notwithstanding. Its 2.8GHz processor produces Geekbench four ratings of four,410 and 13,376 for single- and multi-core performance respectively, which can be only fractionally behind the 2.9GHz Core i7 processor within the extra costly mid-range MacBook professional. despite the fact, the ZenBook pulls correct forward in pics efficiency, hitting ninety five.8fps with the Cinebench R15 OpenGL check, in comparison to 85fps for the MacBook professional. It runs cool and quiet too, with two interior cooling fanatics producing just a barely important hum during the intensive Cinebench exams.

The ZenBook professional’s competitive expense does contain some compromises, notwithstanding – most principally in its solid-state power, which most effective supplies quite modest write and browse speeds of 411MB/s and 523MB/s. it truly is nonetheless about 3 times faster than a standard hard drive, but we’ve verified a few laptops lately that deliver improved SSD efficiency.

And, as we saw with the fresh ZenBook Flip S, Asus tends to get a little carried away with its claims for battery lifestyles. The company quotes up to 10 hours for (non-streaming) video playback, and 14 hours for working well-known productivity utility such as Microsoft workplace. however, in our battery checks, the ZenBook pro most effective simply managed to attain 6.5 hours when streaming video over wi-fi — even with the reveal brightness turned down to 50 % and the usage of the Core i7’s integrated GPU in preference to the greater annoying discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050. however, to be reasonable, this is well-nigh appropriate for a excessive-end computing device corresponding to this, and also you should still nevertheless be capable of squeeze a full day’s figure out of the ZenBook professional when you are cautious with wi-fi usage.

Conclusions

photograph: Asus

the brand new ZenBook seasoned is definitely reasonable for funds, featuring knowledgeable-stage efficiency at a competitive mid-range cost. And while the laptop is rarely especially classy, Asus has finished smartly to squeeze high-conclusion performance into a slimline, 15.6-inch design that weighs just 1.8kg. Asus is, perhaps, lacking an opportunity through not presently presenting an improved-decision reveal for the ZenBook pro, since there are many designers and photographers who might flinch at Apple’s high costs and swap loyalties if most effective this desktop had a more robust monitor.

there’s room for development with battery existence too, but the ZenBook professional should still nonetheless enchantment to many company users who comfortably desire a quick, powerful laptop that can act as a laptop-substitute device each within the office and on the road.

study extra stories