Meet Asus’ first true workstation. Here at CES 2019, we just got our first look at the StudioBook S, which packs super serious power into a 17-inch machine with minimal bezels. On paper, it has a lot more muscle than even the 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Available later this year, the StudioBook S will come with either an 8th-gen Intel Core i7 processor or a Intel Xeon processor, as well as Nvidia Quadro graphics.
All of this might is packed in a chassis that’s just 5.3 pounds with a 17-inch display. Asus says the dimensions of the StudioBook S would normally fit a 15-inch panel, and I believe it after looking at this machine up close.
The panel itself is full HD with a 16:10 ratio, which equates to a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. And it is a beautiful panel, as it covers 97 percent of the DCI-P color gamut.
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The keyboard has a couple of nifty shortcut keys, such as one for toggling the camera on and off and one for quickly taking screen shots. I like that the arrow keys are textured, which makes it easy to find them by feel.
Speaking of texture, the lid is made of aluminum with a lined pattern that makes this laptop easy to grip when it’s time to head to a meeting. Unfortunately, while the bottom of the deck has a similar look, it’s made of plastic.
Other specs include up to 4TB of SSD RAID storage, Wi-Fi 6 (which is the fastest standard) and a high-speed SD Card slot. Don’t expect a ton of battery life, as this workstation is rated for 6 hours of runtime, but that’s not too bad given the components.
The workstation market is pretty crowded these days with systems from Dell, HP, MSI and Apple’s MacBook Pro, but the StudioBook S could carve out a niche if the price is right and the performance lives up to Asus’ claims.
Stay tuned for our full review.
