Computers

Asus outs Zenbook NX500 with 4K display

With dedicated graphics and a 4K display, the new NX500 Ultrabook from Asus has a lot going for it
With dedicated graphics and a 4K display, the new NX500 Ultrabook from Asus has a lot going for it

Asus has announced the latest iteration of its respected Zenbook line of high-end Ultrabooks. Know as the NX500, the new machine features a range of top shelf specs including dedicated graphics, advanced storage configurations and an impressive 4K display.

From the machine’s aluminum unibody construction to its powerhouse internals, it’s instantly clear that Asus has its eye on Apple’s MacBook Pro with the Zenbook NX500. The new system’s 15.6-inch 3840 x 2160 IPS panel offers an impressive 282 pixels per inch, significantly higher than the 220 ppi of Apple’s 15-inch Retina display. The Zenbook’s display also promises some lifelike color reproductions, with a wide color gamut (100 percent NTSC/108 percent Adobe RGB), a well as factory-calibrated color temperature.

The company has stated that the system will run on Intel Core processors "up to" the i7 quad core offerings. There’s no word yet on RAM configurations, leading us to believe there may be several spec levels for the system. We do know that the laptop will pack an Nvidia GeForce GTX 850M GPU with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory and offer a choice of SATA 3 RAID 0 or PCIe SSD storage options.

Asus is also making an effort with the laptop’s audio offering, with the NX500 featuring titanium-film speakers with SonicMaster, ICEpower and Bang & Olufsen technology. The system will also have Broadcom 3-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi tech on board.

There’s currently no word on when we’ll see the new Ultrabook, or how much it will cost. That said, with its high-end components, expect the Zenbook NX500 to give your wallet a serious kicking.

Source: Asus

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4 comments
Nairda
Been hanging out for something like an ultra book with a heart. Just wish they would work on smarter heat dissipation. If you are going to machine this new piece out of a solid block of conductive material, why not extend the heat spreader accordingly. My old toughbook did this, and while the whole thing got awfully hot in the middle of summer, at least the core remained stable and did not throttle. To elaborate, the toughbook is a fanless rugged lump that uses a large heat pipe array and the whole chassis as a dissipator of heat. Now I'm not advocating a dual 880 gtx in an ultra book that leaves burn marks on your desk, but I'm certainly not happy with something that is going to cost the earth being limited to a lowly i7 and 850. Ie give it a hexacore and a quadro in the same profile.
quax
Still looking for an alternative to my 17'' unibody MacBook. What's the point of squeezing 4K into 15''? I want a truly mobile desktop replacement.
ClubDoug
Been using a Zenbook Ux31 for over 2 years now. Love it. Have it hooked up to a Toshiba Dynadock so I'm running 3 screens on my desk all up, with 5.1 sound through my Logitech speakers, all through one USB plug. The ultrabook is fantastic. Not so happy with the Dynadock. But I haven't turned on my 8-core desktop PC with sick GPU since I bought this thing! It goes everywhere with me. Been looking to upgrade since I can salary-package a new laptop every year if I want, but haven't yet been able to find anything worth 'upgrading' to, since this thing is so great. Might have to look into this new one when it is released...
Omen
OS?