ASUS Unveils ZenBook Pro UX550 With Kaby Lake Core i7 And GTX 1050 Ti Muscle
The first thing that you will notice on the ZenBook Pro UX550, other than its svelte chassis, is its 15.6-inch NanoEdge touch display, which has a Full HD (1920x1080) resolution and wide 178-degree viewing angles. At the heart of the machine is a seventh generation Kaby Lake processor; in this case, a Core i7-7700HQ that teams up with 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory. For those that like to game on the side or dabble in 3D rendering, there's an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti onboard with 4GB of GDDR5.
The potent processor and [relatively] fast GPU are joined by a 512GB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD. Given that this is a 15-inch class device, ASUS doesn't skimp on external ports. In addition to two USB 3.0 (Type-A) ports, there are also two Thunderbolt 3 (USB Type-C) ports to handle your next generation high-speed peripherals. There's also a microSD reader, audio combo jack and an HDMI 1.4 port for connecting with an external monitor or big-screen television.
Other features include 2x2 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, quad speakers with Harman Kardon-certified audio, a precision glass trackpad, built-in fingerprint reader, and support for the ASUS Pen (optional). There's also an onboard 73 Whr battery, which can provide up to 14 hours of battery life. ASUS also claims that the battery can be brought from empty to a 60 percent charge in just 49 minutes using fast-charge technology. That could come in handy during brief layovers between flights for mobile warriors.
As for the notebook itself, is measures just 18.9mm thick, features an aluminum unibody with diamond-cut edges and weighs in at just 3.97 pounds.
The ASUS ZenBook Pro UX550 is available now from the usual suspects including Newegg and Amazon, where it retails for $1,699.
