Asus intros ExpertBook B3 G2 laptop with up to 16-core Intel Panther Lake CPU and 96 GB of DDR5 memory

Alongside the AMD-powered variant, Asus has also unveiled a version of the ExpertBook B3 G2 to appease the Blue camp. Powered by up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 366H CPU, the latest entrant to the ExpertBook lineup comes in 16-inch and 14-inch flavors with an attractive set of features, including high-refresh rate displays.

Intel's Panther Lake CPUs promise latest-gen performance

The Intel Core Ultra 7 366H "Panther Lake" packs 16 cores consisting of 4 P-cores, 8 E-cores, and 4 low-power E-cores. Multicore performance, as per Geekbench listings, should be in the same range as the Ryzen 9 7940HX and AMD's latest Ryzen AI 9 HX 470. In other words, the CPU performance of this high-end spec should not leave any room for complaints.  

Apart from the Core Ultra 7 366H, the ExpertBook B3 G2 will ship with the following CPU options:

• Intel Core Ultra 7 356H: 16C/16T
• Intel Core Ultra 7 355: 8C/8T
• Intel Core Ultra 5 335: 8C/8T
• Intel Core Ultra 5 325: 8C/8T

Both 16-inch and 14-inch variants feature two display options - a 1080p 60 Hz panel with a claimed peak brightness of 300 nits, and a 1600p 144 Hz panel with a claimed 100% coverage of the sRGB color gamut and peak brightness of 400 nits. The 14-inch variant, however, will also sport a touch-enabled option for the 1080p panel.

Memory requirements will be handled by up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM. Storage requirements, on the other hand, will be taken care of by an M.2 2280 PCIe 5.0 slot, as well as an M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 slot (1 TB Crucial P310 currently $165 on Amazon). There is no option for a dGPU in either of the variants, making customers rely on the 4-core Xe3 iGPU. The I/O on offer is as follows:

• Dual Thunderbolt 4
• Dual USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
• HDMI 2.1 TMDS
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Ethernet
• MicroSD, optional smart card reader

Other features of the Asus ExpertBook B3 G2 lineup include dual speakers, spill-resistant keyboard, WiFi 6E/7, 5 MP IR camera (optional), and TPM 2.0 support. Pricing and availability details are unclear as of this writing.