ASUS introduces new series of laptops at CES 2021

ASUS today announced the latest laptops in the premium ZenBook series featuring The Laptop of Tomorrow, headlined by the 15.6-inch ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED (UX582) and the 14-inch ASUS ZenBook Duo 14(UX482), which are both recipients of the prestigious 2021 CES Innovation Awards. These new two-screen models introduce the tilting ASUS ScreenPad Plus, a full-width secondary touchscreen with a new auto-tilt mechanism that improves readability, aids cooling, and works seamlessly with the main display for effortless multitasking and creativity.

In addition to the new dual-screen models, ASUS also introduced the latest from the ZenBook and VivoBook series featuring the 4K OLED Screen and the latest from the AMD Ryzen 5000 U-Series Mobile Processors.

Flagship performance: ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED

ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED is powered by up to a high-performance Intel Core i9 processor, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 laptop GPU, and up to 32 GB RAM to make light work of demanding cross-screen workflows using the 14-inch 4K UHD ScreenPad Plus — which now has an improved brightness of 400 nits — and the main display.

Ultrafast storage with up to a 1 TB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD helps accelerate any creative workflow and optimize productivity. ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED is one of the first NVIDIA Studio laptops with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series laptop GPUs — NVIDIA’s second-generation RTX architecture that offers GPU acceleration for ray tracing, artificial intelligence, and video encoding that allows artists to create in record time.

Ultimate mobile productivity: ASUS ZenBook Duo 14

ASUS ZenBook Duo 14 is an Intel Evo-verified laptop powered by up to an 11th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, up to 4.7 GHz for incredible performance with multiple cores and paired with up to 16 GB RAM to make light work of cross-screen workflows using the 12.6-inch ScreenPad Plus and the main display. Ultrafast storage with up to a 1 TB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD helps accelerate any workflow and optimize productivity.

ZenBook Duo 14 also features ASUS Intelligent Performance Technology, which works with the 11th Gen Intel processors to intelligently boost performance. Using Performance mode, users can enjoy a performance boost of up to 40% compared to a similar standard laptop. ZenBook Duo 14 also incorporates the AAS Plus thermal system that optimizes cooling performance and allows a 3 mm-slimmer chassis due to the reduced need for empty internal cooling space.

With integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics and a choice of discrete NVIDIA GeForce MX450 graphics, ZenBook Duo 14 delivers silky-smooth visuals for multitasking users, supercharging photo- and video-editing tasks. Casual content creators will love the effortless on-the-go visual power that ZenBook Duo 14 provides.

Tilting ScreenPad Plus

ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED and ZenBook Duo 14 introduce a new tilting ScreenPad Plus design that adds a new dimension to on-the-go computing. This full-width secondary touchscreen — which has a resolution of 3840 x 1100 and a higher brightness of 400 nits — automatically tilts upwards by up to 9.5° (7° in ZenBook Duo 14), reducing glare and reflections for improved readability.

It makes working with the main four-sided frameless NanoEdge display even more seamless, with endless ways to optimize and personalize workflows. When the laptops are placed on the supplied Duo Stand, the tilted display sits at a stylus-friendly angle, and both displays support the latest 4096-pressure-level devices including the bundled ASUS Pen.

ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED/14 (UX325 OLED/UX425)

ZenBook 13 OLED has an amazing FHD OLED HDR NanoEdge display that renders true-to-life colors at any brightness level, with deep blacks for enhanced realism. It’s PANTONE Validated for superb color accuracy and has a cinema-grade 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. The ultrafast response time ensures blur-free movies and games, and its low blue-light levels are TÜV Rheinland-certified for better eye care.

The four-sided NanoEdge design features slim bezels that create an 88% screen-to-body ratio for a more immersive viewing experience. ZenBook 13 OLED is designed for effortless portability, weighing just 1.14 kg with a compact and elegant all-metal chassis that’s a mere 13.9 mm thin.

It’s also incredibly power efficient, with up to an amazing 13 hours of battery life on a single charge, making ZenBook 13 OLED a perfect match for today’s on-the-go lifestyles.

The ZenBook 14 on the other hand is one of the world’s thinnest 14-inch laptops that feature a QHD Display, with an ultra-slim 14.3 mm profile and up to 16-hour battery life that makes it the ideal traveling companion.

ZenBook 14 delivers ultrafast responsiveness even for demanding tasks, combined with an ergonomic design that includes the durable ErgoLift hinge and an edge-to-edge keyboard for typing comfort. It also offers versatile features including ASUS AI Noise-Canceling Audio technology and hands-free face login.

ASUS AMD laptops powered by the latest AMD RYZEN 5000 U-Series

ASUS Philippines is set to announce the arrival of its AMD laptops to its various segment. The premium and elegant ASUS ZenBook Series and the Mainstream yet stylish ASUS VivoBook Series. These laptops are powered by AMD Ryzen 5000 U-Series Mobile Processors for superb performance. Designed to enable effortless creativity with its up to AMD Ryzen 7 5800H Mobile Processors and up to NVIDIA GeForce MX450 graphics.

ASUS ExpertBook series: Brand-new features for elevated conferencing, connectivity, and security

ASUS ExpertBook laptops are designed to offer unrivaled mobility for business users – the lightest in their class, US military-grade durability, and all-day-long battery. They also offer ergonomic designs and robust security features, helping professionals work comfortably and securely, anytime and anywhere. The full array of innovations available in ExpertBook laptops and being revealed CES 2021 include:

ASUS ExpertBook B9: The world’s lightest 14” business laptop1, now powered by Intel vPro

ASUS ExpertBook B9 aims to lead the commercial PC industry. Now, we’re introducing brand-new ExpertBook B9 with Intel vPro platform to help business users build a reassured infrastructure and advanced ASUS two-way AI noise-canceling technology to receive more clarity on video conferencing.

For working anywhere, remotely, the Intel vPro platform delivers business-class performance, hardware-enhanced security features with Intel Hardware Shield, as well as Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) for remote management.

ASUS ExpertBook B1: Primed to perform. Configured for business.

ASUS ExpertBook B1 is designed to offer a wide range of configuration and heavy-duty performance, making it a powerful and tailored choice for ambitious startups, established education organizations and growing firms of all sizes.

To drive productivity for businesses, ExpertBook not only employs an 11th Gen Intel Core processor with Intel Iris Xe graphics, but also implements ASUS Intelligent Performance technology, driven by ASUS-exclusive algorithms and an ultra-efficient thermal design to allow users to smartly switch between Performance Mode to boost power for heavy workloads, Balanced Mode for everyday tasks, and Whisper Mode for quiet and power-saving operation.

ASUS Chromebook CX9: Secure, tough, and powerful

To empower remote workers with cloud-first operating systems and collaborative tools, ASUS is proud to unveil our brand-new premium Chromebook – ASUS Chromebook CX9, which is ultra-durable, yet lightweight with magnesium-alloy chassis processed with high-precision CNC-milling, so it is only 16 mm thin and weighs around 1 kg to easily take it to anywhere.

It also meets next-level and industry-leading MIL-STD 810H US military tests to ensure it’s tough enough to withstand business rigors on the road. Additionally, the four-sided frameless 14-inch NanoEdge display provides an immersive, near edge-to-edge viewing experience with an impressive 91% screen-to-body ratio.

ASUS says this all-new roster of laptops will be expected to come into the Philippine market very soon.

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realme 6 vs realme 6 Pro: Which phone should you buy?

06/15/2020

realme’s latest smartphones in the Philippines come from the 6 series. Starting from the realme 6i which is a budget gaming phone equipped with USB-C, we were later on introduced to the realme 6 and 6 Pro. 

You probably already know the key features of both phones so let’s just quickly do a rundown of both their offerings. 

They both have the same 90Hz refresh rate, 4300mAh battery with 30W Flash Charge, Android 10 OS with realme UI, 4G connectivity, dual-SIM capabilities, splash resistance, placement of fingerprint sensor, USB port, speakers, and headphone jack, and screen resolution.

Design

So where do they differ? Well, the most noticeable would be the back panels’ designs. realme 6 has what the company calls a ‘Striking Comet’ look, while the 6 Pro has this ‘Lightning-inspired’ pattern.

They both have their own appeal but I find the lightning design more eye-catching more so when you use it for shooting and the flashy pattern is just displayed for everyone to see. Meanwhile, my wife prefers the more subtle but elegant vibe the realme 6 has. And adding to the design, both have splash resistance for protection against liquids. 

Another difference between the two is the display size. The realme 6 Pro is just a bit larger at 6.6 inches (vs 6’s 6.5-inch screen) but they do have the same Full HD+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate for more fluid movements and transitions. 

There’s Corning Gorilla Glass protection on these two devices but the 6 Pro has better reinforcement with the most recent offering (Gorilla Glass 3 vs Gorilla Glass 5). 

Cameras

Though they both have the same quad-camera setup, only the 6 Pro comes with a 12-megapixel telephoto lens while the realme 6 goes for a 2-megapixel portrait camera for adding extra depth. The rest carry similar 64-megapixel main, 8-megapixel ultra-wide, and 2-megapixel macro shooters. 

In general, the realme 6 takes decent shots with its main camera but compare it with the 6 Pro and you can see that its camera configuration produces better-looking shots than the standard realme 6. Additionally, when it comes to zooming in on subjects, there is a loss of quality for the realme 6 unlike the shots taken with a dedicated telephoto lens. 

For Portrait mode, the realme 6’s dedicated depth sensor makes it possible for cleaner cutouts as compared to the 6 Pro with random jagged edges. These are just some things you notice when you really look at them side by side. 

Shooting in Night Mode, the realme 6 Pro still takes the cake as it can produce clean shots of subjects using its Nightscape 3.0. The realme 6 also has a night mode, but not as effective as the 6 Pro’s. 

As for selfies, you both get a 16-megapixel wide camera but the 6 Pro has an extra 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor to fit more people and other subjects in. It does come in handy but the main sensor alone also does a good job for your regular selfies. 

Apart from those, both phones have Pro Mode, Time Lapse, and Slow Mo that can shoot up to 240fps — one of The Modern Creatures’ favorite camera features!

Performance

Heading over to its internals, these two phones run on different platforms. The realme 6 sports a MediaTek Helio G90T processor while the 6 Pro carries a Snapdragon 720G CPU. 

The 720G on the 6 Pro is made to further improve mobile gaming experience. So in addition to having better optics for photography and videography, the 6 Pro is also built to handle heavy games — and we’ve proven that during our review.

But that doesn’t mean the realme 6 underperforms while gaming. No, its Helio G90T is actually a tried and tested processor and also delivers impressive capabilities as an everyday phone. 

We’ve played popular titles on it and it unsurprisingly handled Mobile Legends, Asphalt 9, and PUBG Mobile with ease. 

For battery life, we previously mentioned the 6 Pro lasting up to eight hours of continuous gaming before we needed to charge it up. For the realme 6 and its same battery capacity, it fell short from the performance of its bigger sibling at just six hours and 22 minutes of play time. 

But, with the promise of one hour charging time, the realme 6 took about five minutes faster to charge than the 6 Pro from 0-100%. 

Conclusion

So what can we take away from this? Well, it’s evident that they’re alike in many ways but the Pro variant has certain specialties.

But if you’re just looking for a reliable phone that you can use as a daily driver, the realme 6 is more than enough. It has a fast charging time like the 6 Pro, almost the same quad-camera setup, and a processor powerful enough to handle gaming. 

Although if you’re more particular with the shots you capture using a smartphone, definitely go for the 6 Pro. As we’ve mentioned in our review, it does go beyond the usual capabilities of a camera phone and offers more features to help achieve better footage.

Its battery life is also longer plus, only the 6 Pro has Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio. So those are some things to keep in mind. 

The decision-making process doesn’t simply end on what these phones can do. Pricing is, of course, a huge aspect when buying a new phone. So for the realme 6 Pro and all its extra features, you’d have to shell out PhP 16,990. While the realme 6 starts only at PhP 11,990 — that’s a PhP 5,000 difference and you still get a really capable phone.

There’s also a more expensive realme 6 with double the RAM at PhP 13,990 but still PhP 3,000 cheaper than the 6 Pro.

So all things considered, the realme 6 offers more bang for your buck. But, if you need those impressive low light images and that telephoto lens — and believe me, they do come in handy — then, by all means, go for the 6 Pro as it’s still a really good buy. 

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