ASUS CES 2023 Preview Hands On: Latest Hardware, Updated Designs & 3D Displays
ASUS CES 2023 Preview Hands On: Latest Hardware, Updated Designs & 3D Displays
ASUS gave us a sneak peek on what’s to come this year – includes the redesigned ROG STRIX line, new System-on-Module and ProArt Studiobook that utilizes 3D displays.
This week, ASUS invited us to take a look at their newly-updated models and various innovations that go along with it. Starting with ROG STRIX lineup – the most obvious difference is the use of 16:10 panels extending to 18 inches and a new tri-fan cooling system to manage the heat, with its heatsink fins extending to the entire length of the rear necessitating a relocation of rear I/O ports back to the side. (You can read on the detailed updates, specs and pricing here.)
Zenbook Pro 16X OLED. Image: ASUS
Among the laptops presented here includes some fairly standard models that gets a minor refresh featuring updated CPU and GPUs, but there’s a few standouts too. The new Zenbook Pro 16X OLED uses the keyboard lift system similar to the company’s AAS+ seen in Zephyrus models (S17 in particular).
The transplant seems to have carried some of that gamer-centric features as well, and by that, we mean the RGB: ASUS confirms that you can indeed customize keyboard RGB here, though you won’t be doing it through Armoury Crate app in this case (the MyASUS app will take that role instead).
Supernova SoM chip. Image: ASUS
Another trick up its sleeve is the new Supernova System-on-Module (SoM) based chip – jointly developed with Intel, this combines both the laptop CPU and LPDDR5X RAM into a single chip. This takes similar approach to Apple’s M-series SoCs, but due to the limitation of x86 designs, this is as close as it can get, for now.
Still, this design has enabled ASUS to crank the RAM speed up to 7500MT/s without losing signal quality, significantly higher than even the highest end desktop PCs can offer. This in turn has netted performance gains in various memory-dependent workloads, cutting down 3D render times by nearly 9x over previous generation Zenbook.
ProArt Studiobook 16 3D OLED. Image: ASUS
Another star of the show is the ProArt Studiobook 16 3D OLED, and as the name implies, this is a 3D panel that you can view using the naked eye. Unlike the 3D TVs of the last decade, this uses mostly the same method to generate 3D vision; the exception here is the addition of eye-tracking which enables 3D effect to be constructed without the need of a dedicated pair of 3D goggles.
Other laptops that gets minor hardware refreshes however will get an important upgrade to their chassis: a new antimicrobial layer has been applied to the new models which the company says is capable of killing viruses, comparing to the previous generation coating that only penetrates into bacteria cells. ASUS says they are rolling out this feature to models in the coming time to cover all laptops under its brand.
These laptops will arrive in the coming months, while ASUS hasn’t given us specific timeframe on Zenbook models just yet, the ROG laptops is currently now available for preorder until 21 Feb 2023. Click here to preorder!
Pokdepinion: The SoM module does reminds me of a GPU VRAM layout – perhaps ASUS may head into this direction moving forward.
