ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 Review

ASUS needs no introduction. Known for its Dolby sound laced laptops, finally, it has launched ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 with a twist of Screenpad. Generally, people don’t like using touchpad so much, instead, they like using the old traditional way of using the keypad. ASUS newly launched laptop comes with a touchscreen IPS LCD which make the work more efficient and productive. Well, ASUS claims that it is specially designed for creative professionals who want features like MacBook Pro.
Before making a purchase, let’s go in details some details of ASUS Zenbook Pro:
Packed with 8th generation Intel Core i9 hexa-core processor, Harman Kardon-certified audio system and gaming grade NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics, this laptop is said to give competition to MacBook Pro.

Design

Today, almost every laptop brand is focusing on designing a slim and powerful laptop which entices customers at the very first they look at it. ASUS has done the same. It has crafted laptop which possesses a timeless style and lasting classiness. Its refined profile and minimalist luxury will definitely catch anyone attention. Made with the solid-aluminum body and Zen-inspired spun-metal finish, Zenbook Pro also features rose gold diamond edges which add more beauty to its deep dive blue color scheme. Measuring 18.9mm with 1.86kg of weight, it is a portable laptop which you can carry easily without feeling any burden. Personally, I like its design.

ScreenPad

ASUS is not only the only one laptop with two screen pads. What makes its Screenpad unique is that it is seamless with 15.6 panel at the laptop’s top with 4.8 x 2.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 LCD Screenpad which make you work faster and make multitasking much easier. Its Screenpad comes in four modes: Screenpad, Disable Touchpad, Extension Display, and Traditional Touchpad. Other features include a toolbar (Calendar, Num Pad, Spotify, Music Player, Calculator, and settings) through which you can get access to a number of apps. However, I have to download Spotify which really annoyed me but once I downloaded it, it was just a tap away. What I like the most about Zenbook Pro is that it allows you to add upto 24 apps to the Launcher through the Edit screen. Moreover, you can change the type, color, or format of the Font as well as save open and print documents.

Performance

Zenbook Pro can give competition to other competing systems with it's with the power to match and great looks along with its 2.9-GHz Intel Core i9-8950HK processor with 16GB of RAM. It features 1TBPCle x4 SSD storage which provides 3000MB/s read speed. Making the multitasking easy, the user can easily watch the episode on Netflix while running the system scan with multiple tabs open in the browser. Even on the synthetic test, it gives the 13,944 premium-laptop average. However, it cannot match with MacBook Pro who has achieved 23,138 averages.

Graphics

ZenBook Pro has Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU with 4GB of VRAM. Depending upon the settings, it can deliver frame rates on many AAA games. You will get all the horsepower you need to play games. It also provides graphics-intensive tasks such as flawless gaming visuals and 3D or 4K UHD video playback. On the Grand Theft Auto V test, it jagged 31 fps which beats the XPS 15's 27 fps, however, it falls short of the 43-fps average. Overall, it provides the best possible performance.

Battery Life

Zenbook Pro battery life is what really made me angry. Seriously the life of its battery took a serious hit. When tested, it only lasts for 4 hours and 23 minutes which continue the web surfing at 150 nits of brightness over Wi-Fi. I disabled the Screenpad and it lasted for 5:14. When a windows is updated, it lasts for 6:01 but still, it does not work the full day.

Portability

ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 is equipped with 71 watt-hours which are not enough for high-resolution display and demanding CPU. Other laptop brands like DELL model XPS 15 which is equipped with 97 watt-hours of battery capacity which makes worth the investment. This model of Dell has outlasted the ZenBook PRO 15. The full HD version of XPS 15 stays for a long time while testing on the intensive Basemark Web Benchmark Test. Even it provides 3X times fastest browsing of the internet and videos. The only similar thing between ZenBook PRO 15 and XPS 15 is that both have a solid 15.6 size which surely takes extra space in your bag. However, ZenBook PRO 15 dissipates the whole charge in 1 hour and 10 minutes. In short, ASUS ZenBook PRO 15 lags behind Dell XPS 15 in terms of battery usage.

Price Comparison

Compared to MacBook PRO, ASUS ZenBook PRO is a bit cheaper. Apart from buying i9 configuration, you can buy it with i5 or i7 processor with 1TB PCIe SSD and 8 GB RAM. Moreover, you can save money by getting ZenBook PRO 15 with a normal touchpad with same specifications.
With the launch of ASUS ZenBook PRO 15, it has a little chance to impress die hard fans of Apple. Its innovation and performance combination is probably enough to entice users of Dell XPS. However, Dell XPS perform much better in terms of the battery than ZenBook PRO 15.

Conclusion

ASUS ZenBook Pro is good for beginners who are in the designing field. It works decently. There is nothing much more impressive except a Screenpad. It is like another laptop of ASUS which is launched in 2018. Its Screenpad shows some potential which make it a little bit unique and better from its counterparts.
It depends on ASUS to decide whether its ZenBook PRO has something new to offer or it is just like a normal laptop which is remembered as an interest in the near future.
I hope, ASUS will come up with more extraordinary laptops with some unique features that really outstand it from other brands.