ASUS Adds Discrete Graphics to Ultra-Thin ZenBook
ASUS is making waves with their new line of ultra-thin ZenBooks, especially the ZenBook 13 which it announced at the CES this year. Just a month later, the company has improved the ultraportable device even further by adding a new variant with a separate, dedicated graphics card.
With the new UX331 line of ultra-thin laptops, ASUS is now laying claim to the title of "The world's thinnest laptop with discrete graphics," as they proudly announced on the product's official website.
It's a well-defensible claim too, with the notebook weighing just 1.12 kilograms and coming in at 13.9 millimeters thick. That translates to just 0.55 inches at its thickest edge, as Engadget points out, with its heft of 2.47 pounds already including the discrete graphics card on board.
This separate, dedicated video card is one of Nvidia's especially-designed components for ultrabooks, the NVidia GeForce MX150. This GPU, as it comes in the new ASUS ZenBook, packs 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, enough to run image processing tasks, as well as basic video editing and a bit of gaming on the side.
As for the rest of the machine, most components still remain the same as the earlier 13-inch ZenBook. It has a 13.3-inch Ultra High Definition touchscreen that's capable of 4K resolution, which ASUS claims is capable of reaching 100 percent of the sRGB color gamut.
The new ZenBook is powered by the latest 8th Generation Intel Core i7 line of mobile processors, which depending on the selected options, can run as fast as 3.7 GHz. Memory at 16 GB is also the highest option on the new model, paired with up to a 1 TB Solid State Drive for storage.
The new ASUS Zenbook UX331 is on sale now for about $1,000, depending on the configuration.
