Modern laptops can take a beating

‘The war is on. There are skirmishes taking place all over the place. Short pitched battles cannot be escaped’, said the man about to leave for his urgent business meeting.

His son nodded in agreement and added, ‘This is the real world scenario that every young and old laptop user faces today. Even gamers that enjoy playing game apps that pay you real money.’ Well, the truth is that travelers, fashionistas, foodies, writers, poets, journalists, photographers, artists, youngsters seeking fun moments, politicians, administrators, and even retired elders and the aam aadmi are all constantly moving around in conditions that resemble a battle-field. Heat and dust, sweaty palms, unsolicited vibrations come together as one strong opponent forever challenging the performance-readiness of even laptops. And yet no one wants to be seen with a machine that doesn’t make everyone else pause, turn, and look twice.

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You know this is true. And this is probably why you have been waiting patiently for laptops to transform into commandos who not only protect your work but also regale you with a song and dance routine that only they are capable of serving.

Are laptops strong enough to take a beating?

Only a week back my Surface Pro 4 had a fall and now I am working with a screen that has crack marks all over and the top right corner is shattered. The device, fortunately, is working fine… yes, even the touch function is live and kicking. Specky, my wife, who works on her expensive machine from Dell is regularly complaining of a frozen screen. Friends with laptops from Apple, Lenovo, HP, LG, Samsung, and even the Chinese manufacturers are unhappy with either the screen-to-body ratio or the camera function or the audio and sometimes even the sheer ugliness in looks. Most treat their machines like Barbie dolls needing super-protection from everything and everyone. This is what triggered my search for laptops that could challenge my reality with both beauty and power.

The obvious step to take was to know what people really need today. My short but incisive survey told me that almost everyone was looking for a laptop that wasn’t difficult to carry anywhere, must be able to withstand temperature variations, be thin and good to look at, must not heat up fast even while doing some intense computing, must be strong enough to take a beating, and… and this is the most interesting because they were all looking for some innovative inclusion that would make their machine stand apart!

‘Innovations aren’t easy to come by,’ I said with a smile.

This is what I found

Sooner than expected I was luckily introduced to the ASUS ZenBook 13, ZenBook 14 and ZenBook 15 laptops that were first introduced at IFA 2018 conference in Berlin last year.

Mesmerizingly charming and gloriously sturdy is what the specifications of these laptops tell us. Most people in my survey wanted a certain grade of strength in laptops and the strongest aerospace-grade aluminum body does make it strong and durable. Moreover, as mentioned in an earlier review, it is getting rather trendy to have MIL-STD-810G military standard for reliability and durability be an intrinsic part of the device. Well, someone from the ASUS team took hold of one of the laptops and let it drop on the floor and we discovered that there was no damage at all which is fair even though the fall was partially cushioned by the carpet on the floor. I wouldn’t obviously advice buyers to start throwing laptops at each other but the point is that these military standards aren’t just about falls… they have all passed test standards that include environmental extremes of altitude, temperature and humidity, in addition to extensive drop, shock and vibration testing. Asus, by the way, is the same company who had their notebook in space in Mir space station for 600 days. So yes, modern laptops can now take a beating and still smile.

These laptops aren’t mere unbeatable beasts because even a cursory glance at the machines is enough to make anyone fall in love with them. These mean machines come with ultra-narrow frame bezels called NanoEdge. These narrow display frame bezels allow displays to be fitted into a smaller laptop body and this is why the new Asus laptops are compact. No wonder then that the company claims them to be the number one in the thin and light segment. These beauties have up to 4K UHD resolution and the slim display frame bezels ensure that visual distraction is minimal. Despite minimally distracting bezels, these laptops have a webcam also fitted into the top edge. This webcam features 3D IR capability making face recognition possible through Windows’ Hello login system, even in low-light environments.

If the strength and beauty isn’t enough, these laptops come with an ErgoLift hinge to automatically tilts the keyboard up at the rear when the laptops are open, to create a comfortable typing angle. This obviously also ensures enough under-space for heat dissipation… and improves audio by acting as an echo chamber. I believe my search for the incredible literally stopped here as we all know that perfection is not when there is nothing left to add but when there is nothing left to take away. The 95% screen to body ratio is great… but these machines pack in great performance, great thermal performance, great webcam positioning, are extra durable, and also have a number pad right there on the trackpad!

What? A numpad on the trackpad? Is that really possible? Won’t it create unprecedented functionality problems?

Well, this is one feature that makes the laptops irresistibly unforgettable… and probably one reason where the keypad is comfortable despite the compact size of the machine.

This isn’t all. These laptops run on the latest 8th Generation Intel Core i7 quad-core CPU, have NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q graphics card, 16GB RAM, ultrafast PCIe SSDs, and the fastest available gigabit-class Wi-Fi. A friend of mine claims that he even opened twenty tabs and the machine did not protest! A reasonable expectation then is that professionals will find these ZenBooks ideal for creating complex documents, mining data, retouching photos, editing videos just like Tracy AlChayeb, or simply taking a gaming break… possibly without closing any program. I have not worked on any of these machines but this premise is based on hearsay and the press-release from the company. These machines come with the latest Bluetooth® 5.0 lets users access all the benefits of the latest low-power peripherals and accessories, have Harman Kardon-certified speakers deliver audio that’s loud and clear, weigh from 1.09 kg onwards, and have a battery that lasts long and charges fast. These laptops remind me of the minimalist mindset and the benefits that come tagged with the concept. However, I am never happy with what is offered and was still left yearning for a touch-screen (though not everyone may have a fascination for it). My reason is that I draw my sketches and illustrations for my posts and switching from one device to another nearly always bothers me. Though I must admit that the dazzling beauty of this threesome and the fact that they are compact but robust, has left me breathless.

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Arvind Passey
01 February 2019