Asus bets on OLED laptops

Asus announced the ProArt StudioBook 16 OLED and the ProArt StudioBook 16 Pro OLED, two of the first 16-inch laptops to include 4K OLED HDR displays. According to Asus, the displays will cover 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and offer a 1,000,000: 1 contrast ratio (which is not uncommon among 4K OLED panels). Laptops target creative professionals who work in “color critical” applications.

Both devices come with an interesting new peripheral called Asus Dial, a physical dial located on the left side of the keyboard. Users can map this controller to adjust various settings in Adobe applications, which Asus says include After Effects, Photoshop, Photoshop Lightroom Classic, and Premiere Pro.

The StudioBook 16 and StudioBook 16 Pro will be available in North America in the fourth quarter, starting at $ 1,999.99 and $ 2,499.99, respectively. Much of the difference between the two models lies in the chips. The Pro can come with an AMD Ryzen 5000 H-Series mobile processor or an Intel Xeon processor as well as an Nvidia RTX A2000 or A5000 GPU; the standard StudioBook may come with a Ryzen 5000 H-series or Intel Core i7 chip, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 or RTX 3060 GPU.

Image: Asus

Asus’ budget-oriented VivoBook line has also been equipped with OLED displays, and some will have a digital version of the Asus dial integrated into the touchpad. The 14-inch, 15-inch, and 16-inch models will start from $ 749.99.

A new creator-oriented ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED also arrives in Q4 ($ 2,799.99), with Asus’ signature secondary touchscreen on the keyboard; a non-Duo version with a single screen will also be available starting at $ 1,469.99. The Duo includes Intel processors up to a Core i9 and an RTX 3070 GPU; the standard model has Ryzen 5000 processors and an Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti GPU.

Even Asus’ ExpertBook business laptops, known to be incredibly light, get OLED panels. The new ExpertBook B5 OLED and the B5 Flip OLED convertible are both powered by 11th generation Intel processors, with models starting at $ 1,299.99.

Asus caused a stir in the ultraportable market last year with its ZenBook 13 OLED, offering display technology that was once a luxury deal for as little as $ 800. After Samsung announced plans to mass-produce laptop-sized OLED panels this year, it was only a matter of time before we started to see them implemented at scale on larger models. smaller and more affordable.