ASUS' super thin UX305 laptop will be a relative bargain in the US
We've already seen what Intel's Core M chips can do to a laptop -- all of the specimens we've seen have been impossibly skinny and lightweight. The problem is, that brand of thin-and-lightness doesn't come cheap: Samsung's new ATIV Book 9 starts at $1,200, for instance, while the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro is currently going for $1,299 and up. Leave it to a slightly lesser known brand, then, to shake things up. ASUS is about to start selling that skinny, 0.48-inch-thick Zenbook UX305 we saw last fall, and the price is actually quite reasonable, especially considering its specs more or less match the competition.
All told, the base model will sell for $699 with a Core M-Y510 processor 10-hour battery and a matte, anti-glare 1080p screen. That's available now, but come April, there will also be a higher-end edition that steps up to a 3,200 x 1,800 touchscreen. At that point, it basically match machines like the Yoga 3 Pro, which come standard with a QHD+ display, except in this case, you can expect to pay $999, not $1,300. Kind of nice, isn't it, when a mere touchscreen isn't a $500 add-on?
