The Asus ZenBook 3 makes its appearance since its release at the beginning of the year and promises to be a MacBook killer – by fighting Apples with Apples in this case – actually functioning like a MacBook but with Windows software.
Apart from the similarities it shares with the new MacBook, latest Asus – the ZenBook 3 offers a lot more. With the IFA happening in Berlin right now, people are now getting a chance to see what ticks inside the new ZenBook 3. And they won’t be disappointed one bit.
The ZenBook 3 is said to be thinner and lighter than Apple’s new MacBook
On the outside, it looks just like a MacBook, with a single USB Type-C port and headphone jack visible. No other ports are to be found on the ZenBook. Typing on the ZenBook 3 should feel the same as typing on the MacBook, but Asus swears that its key travel is better than the Mac’s. And we’ll take their word for it. Internally, while the MacBook ran on a custom Intel Core m7 chip, the ZenBook will be running Intel’s latest and greatest i7 7th generation computing chip.
Display-wise, the ZenBook is keeping it simple with just an FHD screen while the MacBook had a quad-HD screen. The ZenBook will get RAM configurations up to 16 GB and it’s expected to come with an SSD – 256 GB maybe? Only the official release will tell us.
Something new on the ZenBook that one would notice at first glance will be the new trackpad which has an integrated fingerprint scanner on it at the top-right corner. This fingerprint scanner will integrate with Windows Hello and enable the user to sign in to their Windows account by simply placing their finger on the scanner. The feature will also be deeply integrated into websites, apps and possibly for payments as well, since Apple is rumoured to be running Apple Pay on its newest systems.
The reason why there’s so much mention of the MacBook in this article is because during Asus’s showcase at the IFA, they did a lot of comparisons with the MacBook to show exactly how far the ZenBook has come since its previous iterations. More and more laptops are rivalling the MacBook which has been known to be the ideal laptop. And they are surpassing the MacBook by… well, imitating a lot of how the MacBook looks and functions.
So right now, all eyes are on the newest that Apple has to offer in its event. And OEMs will be there ready to take notes so they probably can start developing those new features on their next year’s models.