Dual-screen Asus Zenbook Pro 15 is the Apple Touch Bar alternative for $1700
The one-of-a-kind Zenbook Pro 15 integrates a secondary 1080p display right underneath the touchpad called a ScreenPad. For users who wish they could have two screens on a laptop, this is probably the closest you can get. The Core i7 will run you $1700 while the Core i9 version will cost $2300.
After making a splash at Computex 2018, the innovative ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 is now widely available online and in Best Buy stores for users to see firsthand for themselves. The laptop is notable for having a 5-inch 1080p IPS secondary display that doubles as a traditional trackpad.
Two SKUs are available with a very wide price difference between them. The less costly UX580GD SKU includes a Core i7-8750H CPU, GeForce GTX 1050 GPU, 512 GB SATA III SSD, and Windows 10 OS for $1700 USD. Meanwhile, the second costlier UX580GE SKU includes a Core i9-8950HK CPU, GTX 1050 Ti GPU, 512 GB NVMe SSD, and Windows 10 Pro for $2300 USD. The 4K UHD touchscreen, 16 GB DDR4 RAM, and 71 Wh battery are otherwise identical between the configurations.
We recommend checking out our full review on the dual-screen ZenBook Pro 15 for our take on its unique features. In short, we find it inherently more useful than Apple's Touch Bar for everyday tasks but with an involved learning curve. It's definitely worth checking out in person to see if the ScreenPad is worth the investment.
Users uninterested in the ScreenPad can still opt for the ScreenPad-less ZenBook Pro 15 UX550 as it shares the same chassis design as the UX580. A third UX580 SKU with a Core i5-8300H CPU will likely come at a later date as Asus is currently listing the model with Core i5, i7, and i9 options.
SPECIFICATIONS
ASUS ZenBook Pro 15
CPU
Intel® Core™ i9-8950HK, 2.9GHz 12MB Cache, Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz (UX580GE-XB74T) Intel® Core™ i7-8750H, 2.2GHz 9MB Cache, Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz (UX580GD-BI7T5)
Display
15.6” NanoEdge LED-backlit 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) capacitive multitouch with 100% Adobe RGB, color difference Delta-E <2 and 178°wide-view technology
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro (UX580GE-XB74T) Windows 10 (UX580GD-BI7T5)
512GB PCIe® 3.0 x4 SSD (UX580GE-XB74T) 512GB SATA III SSD (UX580GD- BI7T5)
Connectivity
2x2 802.11ac Gigabit Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5.0
Camera
VGA webcam
Interface
2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C™, with Thunderbolt™ 3 support 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A 1 x audio combo jack 1 x HDMI 1.4 1 x microSD card reader 1 x DC jack 1 x Fingerprint Reader
Audio
High-quality stereo speakers (with smart amplifier) Harman Kardon-certified ASUS SonicMaster Premium audio system
Fremont, CA (September 23, 2018) — ASUS today announced the availability of the ZenBook Pro 15, a professional-grade 15.6-inch laptop featuring the all-new ScreenPad, a Full HD touchscreen touchpad that revolutionizes the way users work and interact with their notebook. The ZenBook Pro now comes with its best even display, a PANTONE® Validated 4k (UHD) touchscreen that comes with guaranteed color accuracy out of the box and is framed with thin bezels. The ZenBook Pro with ScreenPad 15 comes with up to an Intel® Core™ i9 CPU, providing 6-cores and 12-threads of computational power, and up to a NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti to not only GPU-accelerate editing, modeling, and other workloads but also deliver high-quality Full HD gaming. The ZenBook Pro 15 has an incredible amount of innovation and power housed in an elegant all-aluminum build and is equipped with both Thunderbolt™ 3 ports and an integrated fingerprint sensor.
ScreenPad: An evolved touchpad
ScreenPad cleverly combines a touchpad with a high-resolution, full-color touchscreen to offer novel ways of interacting intelligently with both Windows apps and dedicated programs called ScreenPad Apps. ScreenPad features adaptive functions with context-sensitive tools to enhance workflow and productivity and is fully customizable to allow users to personalize their experience. Currently supported apps include Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Spotify, YouTube, and Adobe Sign. ScreenPad's handwriting recognition capabilities opens up a world of new productivity-enhancing possibilities, allowing Adobe Sign users to sign PDF documents without having to scan in a written signature.
The ScreenPad also features ASUS Sync, allowing users to mirror their smartphone screens onto the ScreenPad or onto the main display. In Extender Mode, ScreenPad works just like an external monitor, providing a secondary Windows display. This updated feature now has optimized Windows screen settings to make it even easier to use, and there's a new function that allows users to easily switch between the main screen and ScreenPad. Users can also now choose to interact with content on ScreenPad with a cursor, or use touchscreen controls. The ScreenPad supports Microsoft Precision Touchpad (PTP) and four-finger smart gestures.
Designed to entice, crafted to perform.
The ZenBook Pro 15 is built to deliver the ultimate on-the-go performance. At its heart is up to an incredibly powerful 8th Generation Intel Core i9 hexa-core processor backed with up to 16GB of high-performance 2400MHz DDR4 RAM and up to a blisteringly fast up to 512GB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD.
The ZenBook Pro 15 uses up to a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB of GDDR5 video memory to deliver the horsepower needed for GPU-intensive tasks such as transcoding, rendering, 4K video playback and machine learning, while also being capable of robust Full HD gaming performance. Creators, developers and gamers will enjoy the best possible performance with the new ZenBook Pro 15.
Immersive audiovisual performance
With an astonishing resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels — 4X more than Full HD — the 4K UHD NanoEdge display on the ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 is a sight to behold. The pixel density of 282ppi ensures that everything is pin-sharp, from the finest details in photos and videos to the tiniest text. The wide 100% Adobe RGB and 132% sRGB color gamut combined with a Delta-E color difference of less than 2.0 give the PANTONE Validated display incredibly accurate and natural-looking colors. Its 178° wide-view technology allows users to enjoy a perfect picture even at acute viewing angles.
The ZenBook Pro 15 also delivers an amazing audio performance through its Harman Kardon-certified ASUS SonicMaster sound system, which features high-quality speakers powered by a smart amplifier for sound that's 1.4X louder than the previous generation of ZenBook Pro. It also delivers a 1.6X-wider frequency response, ensuring rich, crystal-clear full-range sound even at high volume levels.
Enduring elegance, timeless style
The elegant finish and refined profile of the ZenBook Pro 15 belies the power inside. Its precision-crafted, solid-aluminum unibody features the iconic Zen-inspired spun-metal finish on the lid, and comes in a brand-new luxurious Deep Dive Blue color scheme with contrasting Rose Gold diamond-cut edges.
Featuring a 15.6-inch NanoEdge display with an ultrathin 7.3mm bezel that gives it an incredible 83% screen-to-body ratio, the ZenBook Pro 15 is remarkably compact for such a high-performance laptop, with dimensions comparable to some 14-inch laptops. And at just 18.9mm thin with a travel-friendly weight of only 4.2 lbs., the ZenBook Pro 15 is a gorgeous powerhouse that can be taken anywhere and everywhere.
Ultrafast connections
With faster-than-wired speeds of up to 1734Mbps1 — up to 12X faster than 802.11n — the dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi in the ZenBook Pro 15 has greater range and establishes more stable network connections for smooth streaming of 4K UHD online videos and more.The two USB-C ports on the ZenBook Pro 15 incorporate the latest Thunderbolt 3 technology for versatile, ultrafast connections. Along with up to 40Gbps data transfer speeds — up to 2X faster than Thunderbolt 2 and 8X faster than USB 3.1 Gen 1 — Thunderbolt 3 supports power delivery and dual 4K UHD external displays, making ZenBook Pro 15 a superb choice for graphics professionals. There are also two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports and an HDMI port for the ultimate, hassle-free connectivity. An integrated fingerprint sensor in the touchpad allows fast and secure password-free login with just a single touch via Windows Hello.
1Unless otherwise stated, data transfer speeds are based on theoretical performance. Actual performance may vary depending on applications, usage, environment and other factors.
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AVAILABILITY & PRICING
The ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX580GE-XB74T is immediately available at a MSRP of $2299 USD from the ASUS Store.
The ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX580GD-BI7T5 is immediately available at a MSRP of $1699 USD exclusively at Best Buy.
Allen Ngo - Lead Editor U.S. - 5185 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2011
After graduating with a B.S. in environmental hydrodynamics from the University of California, I studied reactor physics to become licensed by the U.S. NRC to operate nuclear reactors. There's a striking level of appreciation you gain for everyday consumer electronics after working with modern nuclear reactivity systems astonishingly powered by computers from the 80s. When I'm not managing day-to-day activities and US review articles on Notebookcheck, you can catch me following the eSports scene and the latest gaming news.