Users looking for a premium 2-in-1 with an incredibly svelte chassis will soon have a new and compelling option in the Asus ZenBook Flip S UX370. Taking its design cues from the groundbreakingly-svelte ZenBook 3 clamshell, the $1,099 Flip is made from premium aluminum materials and sports a colorful 4K screen and powerful Core i7 processor. Best of all, its 0.42-inch thick chassis makes this 13-inch notebook the thinnest 2-in-1 ever made.
Editor's Note: Earlier, we reported that this laptop was called the ZenBook 3 Flip, based on the information card we saw next to a demo unit at the Computex opening press conference. It is in fact called the ZenBook Flip S.
Asus's new 2-in-1 looks very similar to the ZenBook 3, using premium aluminum with a ring around the diamond-cut sides of the lid. The 2.4-pound laptop will be available in the same eye-popping royal blue and gold color scheme that we loved on the ZenBook 3. However, the ZenBook Flip S will also come in a bland gunmetal gray. Whichever color you choose, the keys on the keyboard will perfectly match the rest of the chassis, a stylish touch we rarely find on other laptops.
The ZenBook Flip S will be available with up to a 2.7-GHz Intel Core i7-7500U CPU, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. As with the ZenBook 3, Asus's use of an Intel U series processor gives the laptop a performance edge. Some super-slim competitors, like the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 employ Intel’s Y-series Kaby Lake processors, which offer far inferior performance, but don't require an active cooling system.
Asu's 2-in-1 will be available with either a 4K or 1080p display panel. It will also come with an active stylus which supports 1,024 levels of pressure so you can draw or scribble text on the screen with great precision.
The laptop has two USB Type-C ports for data and charging, so bring your dongles for legacy accessories. There’s a very small fingerprint reader on the right side, so we’re curious to see how that feels to use. Some configurations are rumored to include an adapter in the box with USB 3.0, HDMI and an extra USB-C port.
MORE: Best 2-in-1s (Laptop/Tablet Hybrids)
Asus claims that the ZenBook Flip S will last up to 11.5 hours on a charge with its 39.5 Whr battery. The company also claims that its laptop can charge from 0 to 60 percent capacity in just 49 minutes. We'll have to see how it performs on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous surfing over Wi-Fi) where the ZenBook 3 lasted only 7 hours.
During a brief hands-on experience, the ZenBook Flip S felt surprisingly small and light in my hands, like the type of laptop I might forget was in a bag at all. The keyboard is shallow, but I feel like I could get used to typing on it.
Asus did not immediately announce a release date for ZenBook Flip S. We look forward to putting this record-setting system through its paces when we get one in for laboratory testing.
Photos: Craig Ferguson/Laptop Mag
