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Asus Goes Big On Slim Laptops at Computex (cnet.com) 53

Posted by msmash from the new-shiny-laptops dept.
At Computex, Asus announced a range of new laptops. From a report: The new ZenBook Pro takes center stage, featuring powerful hardware in a slim form factor -- an Intel Core i7-7700HQ as well as a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, while the world's thinnest convertible ZenBook Flip S lets you play around with its 4K display. But it's not all just flagship products, Asus also announced new VivoBooks meant for the mainstream market. The new VivoBook Pro packs Intel's seventh-generation processors and comes loaded with discrete graphics in the form of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1050. The VivoBook S15 features more modest specs but still packs Nvidia GeForce GTX 940 discrete graphics. You can real the full-specifications of aforementioned laptops here.
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Asus Goes Big On Slim Laptops at Computex More

Asus Goes Big On Slim Laptops at Computex

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  • Slim laptops (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Monday May 29, 2017 @11:08AM (#54505811)

    So... no removable batteries and soldered RAM with no RAM slots to upgrade?

    • Re:Slim laptops (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Ravaldy ( 2621787 ) on Monday May 29, 2017 @12:35PM (#54506243)

      Get used to it. It's all heading that way and it will make more and more sense as they continue to move in that direction.

      RAM slots are only needed if the device doesn't ship with enough in the first place. Better to solve the problem at the source and simply include more RAM. It's less expensive to manufacture the hardware without the removable RAM and it shrinks the footprint.

      • Get used to it. It's all heading that way and it will make more and more sense as they continue to move in that direction.

        Well, as it heads that way, I will keep choosing my computing hardware, both portable and not, based on computing power, connectivity, and display quality, while completely ignoring how "slim" the freaking thing is.

    • For them, they're probably on the relentless cost reduction crusade, which assumes that most customers would not be willing to pay for that added flexibility of expanding RAM or replacing batteries.

      And I daresay they'd be right. /. posters are hardly typical of the market at large

    • challenge you to find a person who doesn't regular Slashdot who knows that laptops have upgradable RAM.

      The battery is still an issue but people rarely if ever considered laptops to be upgradable and they didn't do exactly that. It's a wonder why these things were modular for as long as they were, and not at all surprising that it didn't last.

  • New competitor for the MS Surface Pro? (Score:3)

    by Eloking ( 877834 ) on Monday May 29, 2017 @11:23AM (#54505867)

    I like the new ZenBook Flip S and I would consider it to replace my old Surface Pro (the old one). I prefer a real (keyboard included) laptop over "cover keyboard" of the Surface Pro line. And one of the most important point for me : Two (not one) USB-C port.

    My problem though is that they only talk about the High-End specs (Intel Core i7-7500U) and the Low End Price ($1,099). So we have no idea how much the High-End will cost and we got now idea what are the specs of the 1100$ low-end one. Futhermore, I would personally prefer a "pro" version of the flip. A little thicker and some more power inside (in other word, dedictated graphic card).

  • So now laptops are just as bad as mobile phones. No removable battery for easy reset/replacement, no upgradable parts. We now use devices for a year so and toss them. This might sound like a "get off my lawn" comment, but please leave my hardware alone. Let me decide how much memory I need or what parts can be replaced or upgraded rather than buying a new device.

    • This is for Thin laptops which I'm personally ok with. And even if it was for all laptops, if there's a true demand for modular laptops to remain, someone can put out a product and hope to cash out on it. If they can't then that just means we are a minority and won't get our way.

  • Regular-sized laptop (15") (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CanEHdian ( 1098955 ) on Monday May 29, 2017 @11:59AM (#54506041)
    How about a regular-sized laptop with:
    - long life, exchangable battery with 12-16 hours of regular use
    - plenty of USB ports (6 minimum)
    - plenty of other useful ports
    - line-out (analog) and SPDIF (digital) audio ports
    - a VGA port to support old beamers.
    - a physical 'off' switch for the internal microphone
    - a large, very quiet chassis cooling fan
    - a firmware that supports emergency recovery flashing from USB stick
    - relatively easy to access and replace RAM and GPU board
    - an easy way to support an external WiFi antenna
    - etc.

    • - a large, very quiet chassis cooling fan

      While I agree with most of your points, I've had particular worries about cooling in laptops. My Thinkpad X220i doesn't have enough fan power to keep it cool during intense graphics demos (CPU + GPU), so it starts throttling down the clocks over time. It feels like a fundamental design error if you cannot actually use all the hardware -- I wouldn't mind something like extra noise at such times.

      For my last gig, I hauled around a Mini-ITX machine, though I also needed more GPU power anyway. I sometimes loo

      • For my last gig, I hauled around a Mini-ITX machine,

        Exactly. At some point the requirements out-scale the intent of the laptop. The majority of users do not require the specifications he requested. Some of his specifications are already handled in the more expensive work books and some of his requirements are a matter of setting up software to do what he wants.

      • Re: Regular-sized laptop (15") (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Try the DELL XPS 15
        thin understated 11h battery gtx 1050ti replaceable battery and RAM

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Just build a desktop already. You are not going to find a laptop with all that.

    • Sounds like you need a desktop.

      • Indeed.

        I bought a 17" MacBook Pro back in 2010 to replace my desktop and it worked out wonderfully. It was, as I called it, transportable. No, I wasn't going to use it flying in coach (I did use it once when I got bumped to business class and it worked okay). I wasn't going to whip it out in the chic little coffee shop. But it was a life-saver for getting real work done in hotel rooms and the like.

        The MacBook Pro has had mostly storage upgrades--from a 5400 RPM hard drive to a 7200 RPM drive to a Flash

    • Sounds nice but if they are building a laptop for just you instead of a wider audience it would get very expensive very quickly.

      A large portion of what you quoted (SPDIF out, WhatTF!, an upgradable GPU, WhyTF!) is of interest to virtually no-one.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hydrian ( 183536 )

      I think you need to your asking too much and forgot some important aspect. No one cares about SPDIF. Also GPU repleacement... really? "Plenty of useful ports." What the heck does that mean? This is a laptop, space is limited, 'unlimited space' is the realm of mid-towers.

      Here are some things I'd love to see in a laptop.
      - Long, exchangeable battery
      - At least 4 USB ports. One still being USB 2.0 for those damn non-forward compatible devices
      - 4-ring analog input/output (if you need more audio options, get a USB

  • I have to ask (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FudRucker ( 866063 ) on Monday May 29, 2017 @12:31PM (#54506231)
    Does it run Linux?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      See my comment above about the nVidia Linux driver support...
      Short answer - No, you will never get a working display under linux.
      (I bought and returned two ASUS laptop trying to run Fedora and
      could not get the nVidia driver to work under linux.)

      CAP === 'policing'

  • Hey look! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    An advertisement...

  • maybe they should ask the (worthless) TSA what the maximum allowable volume for carry-aboard electronic device is and then figure a way to distributing the functionality of a laptop into a few small devices that fit inside that limit.

    think "man with the golden laptop"

    • If I hadn't posted before I saw this, I'd mod up! Fully modular, portable computing devices are something in desperate need of a renaissance.
  • TLDR: companies should stop pumping unrepairable trash into the market; consumers should stop tolerating unrepairable trash. Also, don't assume that I'm calling the products in the story trash, but 'slim' has become a dirty word in my book, basically synonymous with the conditions of the previous statement.

    Two of the best (IBM) ThinkPads I've ever owned are the 770 and 600 series; the 770 series was a bit on the chunky side, ever for its day, but the 600 (600X in my case) seemed to be a very optimal trave

    • "consumers should stop tolerating unrepairable trash"

      Asking, not tolerating. That's why they are out there, the market wants them this way.

      • Here I was, trying to give consumers the benefit of the (my) doubt... but I guess, unfortunately, you're very correct.

  • Seriously, its 2017 and why are the touchpads on PCs not ever equivalent to the Macs? Maybe these new ones have the Precision touchpads, but standard Asus touchpads aren't great. Plus, Linux support for more than PS/2 emulation would be nice.

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