Asus is best known for making affordable electronics that deliver more-than-decent quality. While most of the Taiwanese manufacturer's products have not always been best in their own class, they are more than enough for plenty of average and even power users who like to consider the price of whatever new gadget they are spending their money on.
In recent months, Asus has outed several new laptops meant for a variety of users, from the regular user to the worker on the go, to the hardcore gamer. Asus has always been clear about providing a wide range of products for different markets. Let's take a look at some of the company's most promising laptops and see which one is best for you.
For the Hardcore Gamer
The Asus ROG G751JY-DH72X is a beast of a machine with a beast of a name. At $2,749, this laptop is certainly not cheap, at least when compared to other Asus devices, but it is definitely more affordable than other high-end gaming laptops with similar specs.
For such a price, the newest ROG laptop packs in a powerful 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7-4860HQ and Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M graphics card, paired with a massive 32GB of memory, 1TB of hard drive storage, and another 500GB of solid state drive. Even when compared with other gaming laptops, this one is a powerhouse that can deliver buttery-smooth, lag-free graphics in full high-definition. The only thing better in this regard is the Origin EON17-SLX (2014), but keep in mind that laptop has two 780M GeForce GTX graphic cards and costs more than $3,600.
As for design, the ROG G751JY-DH72X has a large 17.3-inch matte screen with In-Plane Switching and a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080. It's not 4K, but 4K laptops are more expensive because they need more resources to power up so many pixels. It has a large, comfortable, tilted, backlit keyboard with Chiclet keys and a responsive touchpad with two physical mouse buttons. Above the keyboard are five keys, three of which are programmable macro keys.
The only beef you'll most likely have with this laptop is the mediocre battery life. On a single charge, it can only last up to a little more than three hours, but that's impressive compared to the single hour on the Origin EON17-SLX. Gaming laptops, with all the power they pack in them, are natural juice guzzlers, so three hours is as good as you can get on a $3,000 computer. However, if you truly want to up the ante on battery life, consider getting the Asus ROG G750JZ-XS72.
For the Mobile Worker
Few trends have ever survived the personal computing market as strongly as the convertible laptop. Microsoft was the first to popularize the laptop-slash-tablet hybrid, and has only perfected its form in the Surface Pro 3. Lenovo upped the ante with the Yoga 3 Pro, but Asus is not far behind with its Transformer Book T300 Chi.
However, the T300 is not available in the U.S., although Amazon sales of cases for the Asus hybrid indicate the laptop is coming soon. At $699, this device is much cheaper, and also slimmer, than its competition. The Surface Pro 3 is $999 without the keyboard cover you can get for another $129 and the Yoga 3 Pro is $1,299. However, a cheaper price and a smaller profile shouldn't deter you from getting the T300.
Powered by a 1.2 GHz Intel Core M 5Y71 processor, the same from Intel's line of Core M processors powering today's high-end laptop hybrids, the 12.5-inch T300 boasts a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution that makes it a great device for people who work with a lot of graphics, or just people who like watching videos on their laptops, although you might want to bring along a pair of good-quality headphones in place of the tinny side speakers. It's surprising since Asus sound systems are made by Bang & Olufsen, but it shouldn't be that surprising considering the size of this laptop.
As for battery life, it's also worth noting not to leave your charger at home. Although Asus promises that the T300 will deliver up to eight hours of battery life, which should be enough for the normal working day, heavy usage could drain the device faster than you would expect. Still, a normal work day consisting of MS Office documents and web browsing should be able to extend battery life by up to six hours.
Overall, the Transformer Book T300 Chi is a beautifully designed laptop-tablet hybrid that is slim and light but powerful for everyday use. Like plenty of convertible laptops on the market, the T300 can be used in a variety of forms, but what separates it from other devices is the use of magnetic locks to secure the screen and keyboard in place, yet make it easy for you to separate them when you need to.
For the Regular User
The Asus Zenbook UX305 is not a revolutionary machine. When it comes to Ultrabooks that changed the industry, there's the impressive Dell XPS 13 for PC and Apple's new 12-inch MacBook. The Zenbook UX305, however, is a solidly built, no-nonsense device designed with a touch of elegance and premium features.
At first glance, you might say this is a Macbook copycat through and through, and while the Zenbook UX305 does borrow off Apple's minimalist design, it has its own identifying design features, including the chamfered edges for a more comfortable look and the radial, slightly purple pattern that highlights the Asus logo on the back of the screen.
Moreover, this laptop is 12.7 millimeters thick, beating out the 13.1 millimeters thick 12-inch Macbook, while still having enough space to add two full-sized USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI port. The Macbook, meanwhile, got rid of all its ports, save for a lone USB-C port.
Another thing you'll notice is the 800 MHz dual-core Intel Core M 5Y10. On paper, a chipset below 1 GHz is definitely not impressive at all, but real-life testing by reviewers show the Zenbook UX305 can actually do a lot of the things you throw at it, including streaming a full-HD video with Chrome open with multiple tabs and several Excel files open in the background. In benchmark tests, it even scored higher than Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro, despite the fact that it runs on a 1.1 GHz Intel Core M-5Y70.
Battery life is also exceptional on this Ultrabook, with a single charge powering more than 9.5 hours of continuous use. The new Macbook can last up to 12 hours, but it doesn't have the full HD display of the Zenbook UX305. The XPS 13 can last nearly 12 hours as well, but Asus nearly making good on its promise of 10 hours is good enough.
