IFA 2017: Asus announces 8 new laptops and a Mixed Reality headset

Asus is expanding its Flip series and ZenBook series of Windows 10 laptops.

| Published: Thursday, August 31, 2017, 13:28 [IST]

With IFA 2017 soon to kick off on September 1, many consumer electronic brands are now gearing up to launch as well as showcase a lot of products at the event.

IFA 2017: Asus announces 8 new laptops and a Mixed Reality headset

That being said, just before the main event, Asus has now announced a plethora of new laptop models for the consumers at a press conference. Well, the Taiwanese electronics company is expanding its Flip series and ZenBook series of Windows 10 laptops. The new models will include ZenBook Flip 14, ZenBook Flip 15, ZenBook VivoBook S14, ZenBook 3 Deluxe, ZenBook 13.

Apart from the normal consumer laptops, the company has also announced the ROG Strix gaming lineup of laptops for the gaming enthusiast. And that's not it the company has even announced a mixed reality headset. While we have details of the new laptops, the pricing or availability of the devices has not yet been revealed.

In any case, let's look at the new laptops and what they bring to the table.

ZenBook Flip 14, Flip 15, Flip S

Asus ZenBook Flip 14, which the company is claiming to be the "world's thinnest 2-in-1 laptop with high-performance discrete graphics," comes with a 14-inch "NanoEdge" full-HD (1080p) touchscreen display. This laptop as the name suggests can be flipped 360 degrees. While the device can be used as a tablet, Asus has said that the laptop will support Asus Pen as well.

The ZenBook Flip 14 is powered by 8th-generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processor, Nvidia GeForce MX150, offers 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB PCIe x4 SSD. The laptop further features Harman Kardon audio system, fingerprint scanner, support for Windows 10 Hello feature. As for the battery, the company has said that it will deliver 13-hour battery life on a single charge. The device comes in Icicle Gold and Slate Grey color variants. Lastly, the laptop weighs 1.4kg and is 13.9mm thick.

Coming to ZenBook Flip 15 it also comes with a 360-degree rotatable display. But this time the laptop comes with a 15.6-inch full-HD display. The device is powered by an eighth generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, "gaming-grade" Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics, and it offers up to a 2TB HDD and 512GB SSD storage.

The laptop houses USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 and Harman Kardon audio system as well. The ZenBook Flip 15 is available in Smoky Grey and Pure Silver color options.

The thinnest laptop in the series, ZenBook Flip S measures in at 10.9mm and weighs just 1.1kg. The company claims that it is the "world's thinnest and one of the lightest convertible laptops." And it also retains the 360-degree flippable display.

The laptop is powered by Windows 10 and comes with an eighth generation Intel Core i7-8550U processor along with 1TB PCIe SSD. The company is offering two types of displays with the laptop which will be a full-HD (1080p) and 4K one.

ZenBook 13

Another laptop in the product lineup ZenBook 13 boasts of a 13-inch slim-bezel 4K display. The display is not flappable though. The laptop is powered by Nvidia GeForce MX150 GPU, eighth generation Intel Core i7 processor and it offers 16GB RAM and 1TB PCIe SSD. It weighs 1.12kg and is 14mm in thickness.

ZenBook 3 Deluxe

ZenBook 3 Deluxe comes with a 14-inch NanoEdge 4K display, eighth generation Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16GB of 2133MHz LPDDR3 RAM, and 1TB PCIe SSD which the company claims is "blazingly-fast up and one of the largest-capacity SSDs available."

In addition, the laptop sports two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 support that allows 40Gbps data transfers, dual 4K UHD external displays. The 14-inch laptop is 12.9mm-thin and weighs 1.1kg-light.

VivoBook Flip 14, S14

Let's now talk about the VivoBook lineup. The VivoBook Flip 14 is again a convertible laptop featuring a 14-inch display. Users can put the laptop in stand, tent or tablet modes. The laptop weighs 1.5kg and is 15.4mm thick. VivoBook Flip 14 is powered by a seventh generation Intel Core i7 processor.

As for the VivoBook S14, the company says that this model has been designed for "people who are constantly on the go." The laptop is powered by 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8550U, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics. This laptop scales at 1.3 kg and measures 18.8mm thick with 7.8mm bezels.

ROG Strix

Designed for gamers, Asus is introducing two new ROG Strix series laptops. The laptops come with two different editions which include Scar and Hero variants.

The laptops offer Intel Core i7 processors, NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 10 and it runs on Windows 10 Pro. The laptops will either come with 15-inch or 17-inch screen, with a 5ms response time and smooth 120Hz refresh rates. The company says that the laptop will have no motion blur.

Hero Edition also features similar specifications as the Scar variant. But it does come with a wide-view display with 100 percent sRGB color gamut for improved contrast and color accuracy.

Mixed Reality headset

Apart from the laptops, Asus also announced its Windows Mixed Reality headset. As per the company, the headset comes with a polygonal 3D cover panel on the front, supports six degrees of "freedom tracking without sensors." The company plans to make it available later this year at the price of EUR 449 (approximately Rs.34,161).

The company has not yet revealed the price or availability for any of the devices mentioned above, but we are expecting the announcement to happen soon. We will keep you updated on the same.