At CES 2020, Asus has unveiled a host of laptops, monitors, and new Zen WiFi routers. Starting with laptops, the company has introduced a new more compact ZenBook Duo, the new Asus ExpertBook B9450 laptop, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15, and the Asus Chromebook Flip C436. The Vivobook S series laptops have been refreshed with 10th gen Intel processors as well. The company introduced three new routers in its ZenWiFi series and two displays in its ProArt series. Asus even introduced three new wireless mouses, a new gaming keyboard, and a new wireless headset in the Republic of Gamers (ROG) range. Asus hasn't unveiled the pricing or availability of any of its products, and claims that they will vary depending upon region.
The company has expanded its ExpertBook series and has introduced the new ExpertBook B9450 laptop. It is touted to be the world's lightest 14-inch laptop weighing at 870 grams and is aimed at business professionals. The laptop complies with the MIL-STD-810G military standard, and is powered by the 10th gen Intel processors paired with up to 16GB RAM. The Asus ExpertBook B9450 laptop has a 14.8mm thick chassis, and comes with an optional 66Whr battery that is claimed to deliver up to 20 hours of battery life. Connectivity options include Ethernet, USB 3.2 Gen 2, and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. It supports Wi-Fi 6, has an IR camera, webcam shield, and fingerprint sensor.
Asus has also updated its ZenBook Duo, and the 2020 model comes with a compact screen and 10th gen Intel processors. The laptop has two screens – one main 14-inch full-HD display and a secondary 12.6-inch panel above the keyboard. It comes with up to 16GB RAM, and has an optional GeForce MX250 GPU. The new portable ZenBook Duo should be available in Q1 2020.
The Chromebook Flip C436 was also introduced at CES 2020, and the Chrome OS-running laptop has a 360-degree hinge that allows it to be used as a tablet as well. The Chromebook is listed to be light, weighing just 1.1kg, and is also listed to be only 13.7mm thick. It features a 14-inch full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) display with slim bezels, and is powered by 10th gen Intel Core processors. It packs either 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR3 memory, and has a 42Whr battery that is touted to last for up to 12 hours of runtime.
The Chromebook Flip C436 comes with M.2 SSDs of up to 512GB. Connectivity options include dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.0, and a pair of USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C ports.
The new Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 comes with a 15.6-inch full-HD display with up to 240Hz refresh rate, AMD's all-new Ryzen 7 4800HS CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and up to 1TB of SSD storage. It supports Wi-Fi 6, has a backlit keyboard, and supports Bluetooth v5 as well.
The laptop packs a 76Whr battery, runs on Windows 10 Pro, and weighs about 2.1 kg. Onboard connectivity include one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C , three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type‑A, one HDMI 2.0b, and one 3.5mm audio combo jack. Just like all the other products announced at CES, the Zephyrus G15's pricing and availability is also not known.
Coming to the Vivobook series, Asus has updated the Vivobook S13, Vivobook S14, and Vivobook S15 laptops with new 10th gen Intel CPUs. The new laptops offer Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, and support up to 16GB RAM. The Vivobook S14 and Vivobook S15 laptops will come in four bold new colours: Resolute Red, Gaia Green, Dreamy White, and Indie Black. For the 13-inch models, Asus will offer options of Indie Black, or Dreamy White. They are expected to be made available in early 2020.
The ZenScreen MB16ACE portable monitor was also unveiled at CES, and the monitor is aimed at those who like to attach their laptops to a monitor and use it as a secondary display. It has a 15.6-inch full-HD ultra-slim IPS display, and weighs just about 707.64 grams. It comes with a single USB Type-C port, and has a Smart Case Lite to protect the screen, and an adjustable stand to suit your viewing needs.
Asus introduced two new monitors in its ProArt series as well - the ProArt Display PA248QV and ProArt Display PA278QV. Both monitors have come with notable color accuracy with an average Delta E < 2 rating and 100 percent sRGB. The ProArt Display PA278QV features a 27-inch (2560x1440 pixels) display with a wide aspect ratio, and comes with DisplayPort 1.2, a Mini DisplayPort, a HDMI 1.4 and Dual-link DVI-D ports. Meanwhile, the ProArt Display PA248QV sports a 24.1-inch (1920x1200 pixels) display with 16:10 aspect ratio. It comes with DisplayPort 1.2, a HDMI 1.4, and legacy D-Sub ports.
The company has introduced three new ZenWiFi devices at CES, and the first one to be unveiled was the ZenWiFi AX Wi-Fi system. The router is capable of 6,600Mbps speeds in aggregate across one 2.4GHz band and two 5GHz bands when it's communicating with Wi-Fi 6 devices. The company claims that this is a performance increase of up to 2.2x over the previous generation. The ZenWiFi AX uses the AiMesh mesh networking technology and includes two Wi-Fi 6 mesh nodes. The routers communicate with each other over a dedicated 4×4 Wi-Fi 6 backhaul. It also integrates AiProtection Pro suite of security features.
Asus also introduced the ZenWiFi AC Tri-Band Whole-Home Mesh WiFi System that includes two AC300 routers. Each supports the 802.11ac Wave 2 standard and 802.11n's 5GHz and 2.4GHz spectral bands, letting the system achieve an aggregate speed of 3000Mbps. The routers integrate AiMesh technology, and come with a lifetime subscription of security updates from Trend Micro. The AiProtection Pro security suite is also included. Lastly, the ZenWiFi Voice standalone wireless router has been launched as well. It comes with Amazon Alexa support, Wi-Fi 5 router connectivity with MU-MIMO support, and the AiMesh functionality.
In the ROG range, Asus also unveiled the new ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe gaming-first keyboard that comes with per-key RGB LED lighting, backlight ROG logo, and customizable front-edge light bar. The company also unveiled a range of new wireless mouses – the ROG Chakram, ROG Strix Impact II Wireless, and the ROG Pugio II. The new ROG Chakram wireless mouse comes with a dual-mode thumbstick that opens up new, convenient control opportunities. Under the hood, the mouse has a 16,000 DPI competition-class optical sensor.
The ROG Strix Impact II Wireless mouse also comes with a 16,000 DPI unit, and uses a 2.4GHz radio frequency link. Finally, the ROG Pugio II wireless mouse also has a 16,000 DPI optical sensor, and comes with fully customisable side buttons for left-handed gamers. Since they're held in place by magnets, it's easy to switch the placement of the side buttons, or remove them entirely and replace them with bundled covers.
Lastly, Asus unveiled the Strix Go 2.4 wireless headset at CES 2020 as well. It offers a lag-free 2.4GHz RF link, a pair of 40mm ASUS Essence drivers that produce clean audio with deep bass, and a USB-C wireless transceiver for easy connectivity.
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Will OnePlus Concept One be the most exciting announcement from CES 2020? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
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