Modern laptops tend to be very powerful. This is the case for all segments as we can do more with our laptops compared to about a decade ago. Some people may see this as a bad thing hinting that performance has peaked and we cannot get any improvements year over year.
However, Asus has been able to improve the performance of its Zenbook and Vivobook thin-and-light laptops. This is thanks to the 12th Generation Intel H-Series CPUs, with their thermal design power specifications (TDP) of up to 45 watts. The company says with this, even some of the affordable laptops such as the Vivobook 14X/15X OLED (X1403/1503) offer improved performance over previous models.
According to Asus, the latest laptops offer up to 2.5X performance improvements over previous generation models. With this, laptop users can expect enhanced productivity, creativity, gaming and entertainment, in laptops that are no larger than their predecessors.
The preference of users for thin and light laptops is increasing year by year, and solving the problem of how to improve performance levels without increasing size is a big engineering challenge. The 2022 ASUS consumer laptop portfolio uses innovative solutions to achieve these goals, including ultra-efficient and quiet cooling systems such as ASUS IceCool, AAS Ultra and 3D vapor chambers; AI-enhanced software; and precision craftsmanship. Moreover, the superb power efficiency of the 12th Gen Intel Core processors means that users can enjoy all these performance benefits while still enjoying an extended battery life that’s comparable to existing models.
Jeff Lo, ASUS East EMEA General Manager, had this to say, “The innovations that ASUS engineers have implemented in our latest laptops, working together with our partners from Intel, has enabled us to deliver these incredible products for 2022. Their work on cooling technologies and chassis craftsmanship is a very important but challenging task. Sometimes the improvements are invisible to customers, but they help us deliver amazing performance while keeping our laptops compact and light, which is exactly what customers are expecting from their next laptop.”
Performance
The latest 12th Gen Intel Core processors deliver more performance with better power savings than ever before, thanks to their hybrid design with its mix of high-performance cores and power-efficient cores. These cores share computing tasks intelligently to improve gaming, streaming and multitasking performance, and their power efficiency makes them ideal for delivering high performance in the thin-and-light form factor that users increasingly prefer.
A powerful laptop offers longer-term benefits to users, too. The typical lifespan of a consumer laptop can be anything up to seven years, and as operating systems and software evolves to become more demanding, users need a laptop that has plenty of power in reserve. With a TDP of up to 45 W — up to 3X more than older generation laptop CPUs — the H-Series CPUs offer plenty of future-proofed horsepower.
Cooling
To achieve maximum CPU performance in a thin-and-light laptop, it’s vital that the CPU is kept cool, and this is where slim designs can fail to deliver. The latest ASUS Zenbook and Vivobook laptops feature upgraded cooling technology, including new ASUS IceBlade fan designs, dual heat pipes, improved multi-vent airflow control, and — in the Zenbook Pro 16X OLED and Zenbook Duo 14X OLED models — a 3D vapor chamber and the innovative Active Aerodynamic System Ultra (AAS Ultra) mechanism.
The 3D vapor chamber is an ASUS innovation that curves the vapor chamber to achieve a better fit with the motherboard components than a standard flat vapor chamber. AAS Ultra raises the rear of either the keyboard or the secondary touchscreen to increase airflow out of the chassis by up to 30%.
Thanks to these cooling innovations, ASUS engineers can use top-of-the line components such as the Intel Core i9 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU into very slim laptops without having to worry about heat dissipation.