Taiwanese tech company Asus, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), today launched a set of AMD-powered laptops, the ZenBook 14 and ZenBook Flip 14 at an event in New Delhi. The ZenBook is Asus’ premium laptop series in the ultra-thin category.

Asus also showcased the AMD-powered, ultra-slim gaming laptop, the ROG Zephyrus G, and a gaming desktop ROG Strix GL10DH.

Asus is aiming for an 18 per cent share of the consumer notebook market in India by the end of 2020 and has been pro-actively launching new notebooks in the country, recently introducing the dual touch-screen line-up of laptops, and is now following that up with a range of AMD-powered machines, specifically based on the second generation Ryzen processor, which brings in a set of learnings and adapting features that enables AI to be used for customisation.

The ZenBook Flip 14 UM462DA, powered by the second generation Ryzen 7 3700U Mobile Processor, with AMD Radeon Vega 10 graphics, is meant to deliver a high-end visual experience on the go. It comes with an IR camera for fast and secure facial log-in, FHD IPS touch-screen and a stylus pen provided in the box. It has two configurations and costs Rs 64,990 and Rs 74,990.

The ZenBook 14 UM431DA is also powered by a Ryzen 5 3500U Mobile Processor, with Radeon Vega 8 graphics. The ergo lift design at 1.39 kg, is packed in a 15.9 mm case. It promises a battery life of 12 hours and comes with a fingerprint sensor. This model costs Rs 59,990.

The ZenBook and ZenBook Flip models come with MS Office pre-installed. They include a quad-speaker set-up and thin bezels design.

Arnold Su, Business Head, PC, Gaming & Commercial Products, Asus India, said, “The latest launch of AMD-powered ZenBook 14 and ZenBook Flip 14 takes the thin and light, power-packed offering a notch higher. The two laptops champion the cause of present-day creative individuals and multi-tasking professionals, by offering the perfect blend of mobility with design, weight with specs, and powerful computing performance, to execute a multitude of tasks. It doesn’t end here. We also have a stupendous AMD-powered gaming laptop, GA502, performing brilliantly, along with the first AMD CPU-powered gaming desktop ROG Strix GL10DH. We are hopeful that India’s new-age clan of creative mavericks and multitasking individuals will appreciate the latest offering.”

According to Asus, the ultra-thin category of laptops is in demand by the Indian consumer. Vinay Sinha, Managing Director, Sales, AMD India Pvt Ltd, said the ultra-thin form factor was witnessing significant growth in India, especially among millennials. “The on-the-move generation is looking for a device that can cater to their personal and professional digital needs, 24*7,” he said, “They want enhanced security, productivity, entertainment on-the-go, multi-tasking and a long battery life at a good price point. AMD-powered ASUS ZenBooks and ROG gaming systems meet these aspirations.”

Zenbook Flip 14: first impressions

The name of this laptop, and indeed the entire Flip series from Asus, gives you a strong hint as to one of the best things about this product. The screen flips over all the way back until it meets the back of the keyboard and in a way, becomes a tablet. It also then becomes too chunky to hold in the hand for very long, but that’s how all similar convertible laptops behave. The flipping back of the screen allows you to use it in tent mode, which is wonderful for watching a movie or making a presentation. The hinge is very obviously sturdy and strong, a fact that’s easy to see right off. Pushing the screen back and making that hinge work will confirm that it’s not about to give way. In fact, it’s so strong that when you use the keyboard, the screen doesn’t bounce or wobble as is often the case with this category of devices. The Flip 14, according to Asus, has been torture-tested to military-grade (MIL-STD- 810G) reliability standards, with demanding tests that include environmental extremes of altitude, temperature, humidity and drop testing.

Should you want to continue in that tablet mode, there’s a nice accessory included in the box to increase the functionality of this laptop: a digital pen. With that, your options suddenly increase to being able to draw, sketch, use your own handwriting, and design or mark-up documents. The inclusion of the pen makes it a nice complete package.

Because the screen flips back, you can also take it for granted that the device has a touchscreen, which we found worked very well. It has nice slim bezels all around and isn’t more reflective than usual and has adequate brightness, and good or even soothing colours. The screen-to-body ratio, because of the thin edges, which Asus calls ‘4-sided NanoEdge’, is 90 per cent. Despite the extra thin bezels, the webcam is still positioned at the top edge of the display, and now has 3D IR capability for fast face-login, as well as a new four-element lens for sharper images. Slimming down the screen bezels is never an easy task. You can see how smartphones have struggled with the process, putting in punch holes, notches, and pop-up cameras, as well shifting important components elsewhere, and even banishing the 3.5 mm headphone jack. The bezel on an LCD display, Asus points out, normally hides many important components such as the camera module and some of the display circuitry. The company’s engineers and designers used a unique patent-pending method to bend and re-arrange the display's circuit board in order to make the bezels thinner. They redesigned the camera module to become the thinnest ever, and engineered a new cable placement that allowed us to reduce the width of the top bezel without sacrificing the camera. Putting the camera on the thicker bottom bezel has tended to distort the image and creates terrible angles for video chats.

ZenBook Flip 14 is powered by the new high-performance AMD Ryzen 7 3700U processor, with up to 8GB of DDR4 RAM running at 2400MHz. It includes 512GB PCIe SSD storage and boots up fast. There are two CPU options: AMD Ryzen R5 3500U and AMD Ryzen R7 3700U;and two graphics engines, AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 Graphics and AMD Radeon RX Vega 10 Graphics. The battery is rated at 9 hours.

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Published on November 12, 2019