The ultrabook market has always been a fertile ground for innovation in computer products. In the past, manufacturers focused on cramming performance into slim and lightweight designs, but this year, the development focus of PCs has shifted to the AI field. In the author's view, ultrabooks have the potential to become the best AI carriers for comprehensive experiences. Apart from excellent portability, connectivity, and input/output capabilities, the new generation of ultrabooks is equipped with AI computing power and storage capabilities for deploying and running large local models.
As a leading PC manufacturer, ASUS is at the forefront of the industry. Its latest release, the ASUS Unleashed Pro15 2024, seeks a new balance among various demands. It innovates not only in terms of exterior design and cooling performance but also offers a combination of a large screen, portability, and powerful AI computing capabilities.
If you're looking for a sleek and powerful AI ultrabook within a budget of 7000 RMB, then the ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 2024 might be the perfect choice for you. It comes with an Intel Core Ultra processor, a stunning 15.6-inch 2.8K OLED display, and is marketed as a "high-performance AI ultrabook."
Here are the specs of the test model:
It's a complete evolution! With its sleek and premium design, this ultrabook seamlessly blends into your everyday style, adding a touch of sophistication and personality. For those who are constantly on the move between meeting rooms and waiting areas, pairing a neat appearance with a stylish ultrabook like this one can effortlessly exude a professional and confident aura, elevating your presence as a workplace elite.
Thin, sleek, and with a touch of personality in its design details, the ASUS Unleash Pro15 2024 strikes a fine balance between simplicity, style, and individual expression.
The new night sky blue color scheme is just right in terms of depth and tone. The soft blue is versatile without being too dull, making it quite appealing. The subtle laser-engraved logo (ASUS VIVOBOOK) on the front adds a touch of style to the ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 2024.
The all-metal body doesn't hinder the portability of the ASUS Unleashed Pro15 2024. With its lightweight design, the whole device measures a mere 13.9mm thin, akin to a stylish magazine. Whether it's slipped into a briefcase or a backpack, it's effortlessly portable. Despite sporting a 15.6-inch display, it's been meticulously engineered to weigh just 1.5kg, reducing the burden during everyday use.
The refined chassis manufacturing process has further elevated the tactile experience of the ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 2024: post-sandblasting treatment renders the body smoother to the touch, reducing the coldness associated with metal while adding a warm, velvety feel. Additionally, it's less prone to fingerprint smudges, exuding a premium aesthetic.
The finer details have been meticulously refined: the edges and corners of the body have been rounded off for a smoother grip; the recessed hinge has moderate damping, allowing for easy one-handed opening and closing while saving space, and the screen can lie flat at 180°; a concave design beneath the screen ensures that airflow vents at the back remain unobstructed even when the screen is opened at a 90° angle...
The raised bottom footpad provides anti-skid capability and elevates the notebook by about 0.5cm when placed on a desktop, facilitating better heat dissipation and ventilation circulation.
The Asus Unleashed Pro15 2024 delivers a top-notch input experience, essential for notebook productivity and creativity, all within the sub-10,000 RMB price range.
The 2024 ASUS Fearless Pro15 comes equipped with a full-sized RGB backlit ergonomic keyboard, offering both the extended key travel (1.7mm) and spacious key spacing (19.05mm) characteristic of professional keyboards, while also incorporating stylish multicolor backlighting effects. Whether working in dimly lit environments or at night, users can enjoy clear visual feedback.
↑ Comes with a numeric keypad!
With its quiet structure design, this keyboard provides a delicate and stable touch, offering a responsive experience without noisy keystrokes, making it perfect for use in quiet office environments.
Complementing the keyboard is the 7.1-inch oversized touchpad on the Asus Unleashed Pro15 2024, which is larger than the screen of an iPhone 15 Pro Max or even a Steamdeck. It enables convenient operations such as pinch-to-zoom, two-finger scrolling, and three-finger switching.
This touchpad not only boasts an exceptional area but also supports a remarkable 240Hz ultra-high sampling rate, fundamentally resolving issues like stuttering and latency. Whether browsing the web, dragging windows, or editing images, finger movements on the touchpad deliver incredibly smooth and fluid feedback, with a highly responsive touch sensation.It's worth praising that the design of the touchpad also incorporates a silent structure, eliminating the audible "click-clack" noise during use, providing a premium user experience.
In my view, the features and details that are difficult to express in data on the e-commerce page truly embody the craftsmanship spirit of Asus engineers. I believe that when people get their hands on it, they will truly experience how "crazy" Asus is about polishing every detail - whether it's about looks or usability, it's both pleasing to the eyes and handy.
The display performance has always been a strong point of Asus laptops. As a leader in OLED screen laptops, the "Asus Good Screen" program has indeed left a deep impression on me. While experiencing the stunning visual effects brought by OLED screens such as high brightness, high contrast, and wide color gamut, it also avoids the problem of screen burn-in.
In today's market, there are numerous brands offering OLED screen products. Among products at similar price points, ASUS GoodScreen products generally provide users with a better experience.
Specifically, at the hardware level, the ASUS ROG Unleashed Pro15 2024 features a 2.8K OLED screen utilizing the Samsung ATNA56AC01-0 (SDC416E) panel, known for its maturity and reliability. It boasts a resolution of 2880x1620 (16:9 aspect ratio), a high refresh rate of 120Hz, covering 100% of the P3 color gamut, and offering a 10-bit color depth.
The panel boasts exceptional quality, delivering crisp visuals, while the 120Hz high refresh rate and 0.2ms response time make content playback incredibly smooth, whether for work or gaming, providing an outstanding viewing experience.
In SDR mode, actual testing reveals a peak brightness of around 379 nits; when HDR mode is activated, peak brightness can exceed 600 nits, handling bright environments with ease and offering superb playback of HDR content.
Furthermore, the ASUS Unite Pro 15 2024 incorporates multiple system-level optimizations specifically for this OLED screen, including support for switching between common color spaces, with each color space equipped with factory calibration to ensure accurate color reproduction.
We conducted screen color testing using i1, and found that this OLED screen performs admirably across commonly used sRGB, DisplayP3, and DCI-P3 color gamut modes, with an average ΔE value of less than 1, rivaling that of professional-grade screens. Whether you're watching movies, creating graphics, or editing videos, the ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 2024 delivers highly accurate visuals.
The DisplayP3 color gamut has a ΔE of 0.83.
↑ The sRGB color gamut has a ΔE of 0.71.
Tips: The sRGB color gamut is suitable for browsing the web and daily office tasks; DCI-P3 is ideal for watching movies; DisplayP3 caters to both web browsing and movie watching. If you're unsure about which color gamut to choose, I recommend using the DisplayP3 color gamut, as it offers better color accuracy than sRGB and is currently a more popular color gamut standard.
It's worth mentioning that this OLED screen also holds TÜV low blue light and SGS eye protection certifications, and supports full-brightness DC dimming as well as low-brightness flicker-free functionality (the official recommendation is to keep the system brightness above 60% and use this feature to adjust screen brightness in daily use), providing multi-angle protection for user vision.
As for users concerned about OLED panel aging, ASUS has thought of a comprehensive solution. It comes with default settings utilizing pixel shift technology and dark mode, paired with advanced algorithms from Samsung, effectively preventing issues like burn-in and aging. Additionally, ASUS promises to replace the screen for free if a bright spot appears within one month of purchase or if screen retention occurs during the standard warranty period. This shows ASUS's full confidence in the durability of its own products.
The ASUS Cool Core Ultra Makes Ultrabooks More Versatile
Under its sleek and light body, it features Intel's latest generation Cool Core Ultra processor. Thanks to Intel's advanced 4nm process, it integrates a new generation of Sharp Flash Arc core graphics with doubled performance, along with a dedicated AI acceleration module. This three-in-one new architecture makes the ASUS Unyielding Pro15 2024 a high-performance benchmark for daily office work, content creation, and light gaming entertainment.
The test model is equipped with the Intel Cool Core Ultra 5 125H processor, featuring a design of 4 performance cores, 8 efficiency cores, and 2 low-power efficient cores, totaling 14 cores and 18 threads, with a maximum frequency of up to 4.5GHz.
We conducted 10 rounds of Cinebench R23 CPU multi-core/single-core sequential testing, and the results show that the Cool Core Ultra 5 125H in this machine can reach a maximum multi-core score of 14088 points and an average of 13921 points, with a maximum single-core score of 1706 points and an average of 1701 points. With no significant fluctuations in the 10-round results, this indicates that the machine's heat dissipation performance is good, and its performance remains stable. Even during heavy-duty tasks like video editing, the computer can maintain a smooth state for extended periods.
The Arc integrated graphics in the Ultra 5 125H achieved a score of 3542 in the 3DMark Timespy (DX12) test, while scoring an impressive 9345 in 3DMark FireStrike (DX11). With performance nearly double that of previous flagship integrated graphics, the ASUS Unleashed Pro15 2024 can deliver smooth gaming experiences even in some moderate AAA titles.
The new generation Ice Blade dual heat pipe cooling system
To harness the "high-octane" hardware output, an outstanding cooling system is indispensable. The ASUS Unyielding Pro15 2024 is equipped with ASUS's latest generation Ice Blade dual heat pipe cooling module, setting a new benchmark for cooling in thin and light laptops.
This cooling system comprises dual fans, dual heat pipes, and dual exhaust vents. The large 97-blade fan can reach a high speed of 6200 RPM, delivering a continuous blast of cool air to the CPU and GPU. Meanwhile, two independent heat pipes efficiently transfer heat from these sources to be expelled from the rear of the chassis.
We conducted a stress test on the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 2024, and the results show that under the most aggressive "Turbo" cooling mode, the processor power consumption can reach around 54W, with temperatures reaching approximately 95°C. This indicates that even under full load conditions, it can maintain stable operation, achieving a balance between high performance and effective cooling.
16-Hour Extended Battery Life
The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 2024 not only excels in cooling but also demonstrates outstanding battery life. It features a large capacity, long-lasting battery of up to 75Wh, combined with the superior energy efficiency brought by the Intel Core Ultra processor, resulting in astonishing battery life. It can easily meet our office and daily usage needs for an entire day.
According to the standard PCMark10 battery test, the ASUS Unbounded Pro15 2024 achieves a battery life of 16 hours at 50% screen brightness and in balanced mode settings.
Additionally, it supports fast charging, replenishing 50% of the battery in just 30 minutes, significantly reducing charging wait times and enhancing mobile office convenience.
Notably, ASUS has not only invested heavily in battery capacity but also optimized the battery lifespan. The new battery's cycle count is increased by over 20% compared to ordinary batteries, meaning the ASUS Unbounded Pro15 2024 can provide users with a longer-lasting and more efficient battery experience. Furthermore, users can activate battery maintenance mode, which limits charging to no more than 80%, preventing overcharging and suitable for situations where the laptop is frequently connected to power for extended periods.
In summary, the ASUS Unbounded Pro15 2024 is more than just an efficient mobile platform for office work. Its outstanding chassis design, consistently excellent human-machine interaction experience, high-quality screen, and powerful performance make it the top choice for a high-energy AI ultrabook that combines office productivity, entertainment, and creativity. For those with high demands on gaming performance, there's also the option to choose the ASUS Unbounded Pro15 2024 with the RTX 4060 discrete graphics card.
