Asus Zenbook 3 Specs, Features And Price Revealed; Geared Up To Compete With Apple MacBook?

During the Zenvolution press event held at Computex 2016, Asus Chairman Jonney Shih took the stage to unwrap the company's first robot, Zenbo along with an array of other stunning third-generation mobile products and the much-awaited Zenbook 3.

Those who didn't expect much from Asus next ultraportable are clearly in for a big surprise as the next-generation Zenbook has received a radical overhaul.

Asus unveiled the uber-cool, extremely sleek and featherweight Zenbook 3 that boasts an exceptional aluminium design.

The Zebook 3 features an ultra-sleek 11.9mm chassis that hardly weighs anything (910g). Constructed from aerospace-grade aluminium alloy, a premium material that is comparatively stronger than the standard alloy used in crafting laptops, the Zenbook 3 strikes a perfect balance between lightness and strength, Asus reported.

In addition to being featherweight, and strong at the same time, this material is extremely elegant and sports the trademark Zenbook spun-metal texture.

Zenbook 3 comes in three chic color choices: 1) Royal Blue 2) Rose Gold 3) Quartz Grey.

To further adorn Zenbook 3, an exclusive 2-phase anodizing process is employed creating an awe-inspiring golden highlights on the diamond-cut edges.

What's worth noting is that the Zenbook 3 is not only thinner, but also lighter than Apple's MacBook.

Asus Zenbook 3 is geared with the super-speedy Core i5 and Core i7 processors, allowing users to leave behind their worry about their laptop being underpowered, which, by the way is the case with the MacBook's Core M CPU, reports Engadget.

As far as other differences between the aforementioned laptops are concerned, the Zenbook 3 although thinner, is comparatively wider than and not as deep as the MacBook due to its 16.9 screen ratio in contrast to Apple MacBook's 16.10 screen ratio.

Among other changes, Asus also inverted the placement of its ports, moving the headset jack to the left and charging/data USB-C Thunderbolt 3 port (similar to Retina MacBook) to the right.

The Zenbook 3 packs a robust quad-speaker audio by Harman Kardon in addition to 16 GB of 2133MHz RAM, up to a 1TB PCIe Gen 3 x4 SSD.

The Taiwanese tech firm includes a dongle with HDMI, USB-C, and USB 3.0 in the box, along with a universal dock which comes with additional connectivity options.

The Zenbook 3 sports a high-resolution, 12.5-inch display with a broad 72% NTSC color gamut and features an edge-to-edge covering of scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It flaunts a slim bezel design in style.

World thinnest fan design (3mm) cools the Zenbook 3 efficiently, thus enabling excellent performance in a super-thin form factor.

Laptop users that travel more are often worried if their laptop is charged enough - the Asus Zenbook 3 addresses this concern effectively by providing an impressive, up to 9 hours of battery life. Besides, when its time to charge up, a fast-charge technology charges Zenbook 3's battery up to 60 percent capacity is just 49 minutes.

The base model (256GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, and Intel Core i5 processor) will be priced at $999 in United States. Another edition featuring A 512GB SSD, 256GB SSD will sell for $1,499. The first-rate Intel Core i7 model will feature 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and will be available for $1,999.

The Zenbook 3 is slated to launch in the third quarter of 2016.