ASUS ExpertBook Ultra review: this could be the "end game" ultrabook you're looking for

The business laptop segment always requires a strict balance between portability, durability, performance and security features. With a price of 68 million VND, ASUS ExpertBook Ultra enters the highest-end device group, aimed directly at managers and professional users. If I remember correctly, this is also the first time ASUS has brought the name Ultra to a laptop and will it bring an "Ultra experience" different from the rest?

Before going into the detailed review, I paused a bit to look at the price of ExpertBook Ultra, is there something wrong with it when the Intel Core Ultra I thought this configuration and equipment would cost from 80 million, but it cost 68 million.

Don't get me wrong, the old ultra-high-end ultrabook segment for businesses already has this price, just look at the old ExpertBook B9, compared to the current Ultra version that I consider the successor, the price has not been pushed up too high (unless you buy the 64GB RAM and 2TB SSD version) like other ASUS laptops like Zenbook DUO, Zephyrus G14 or TUF Gaming A14.

First Ultra experience: Extremely light machine, can withstand 100kg of pressure

The chassis of ExpertBook Ultra is an alloy frame and has a nano-ceramic coating. In my opinion, aluminum and magnesium make the device light and nano-ceramic makes it more durable. In fact, I don't dare throw anything with this very beautiful laptop, I just put it in my backpack and in it I put a few more things like my phone, wallet and if it collides with the A side of the device, I can rest assured that it won't leave scratches, just wipe the screen clean with a cloth.

In fact, if you choose the P-OLED version, it only weighs 0.99kg, because it is a Tandem OLED panel that requires multiple OLED panels to be assembled to increase longevity and brightness, thus contributing to increasing the weight of the device. However, the figure of 1.1kg is still extremely light, probably only heavier than the Zenbook A14 I am using.

It looks fragile, but the device scores 9H on the hardness scale. You can stand on this laptop or accidentally sit on it. If you let many other objects press on the laptop when you put it in your backpack, you won't be too worried about this laptop being damaged, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't cherish it. ExpertBook Ultra is a very beautiful laptop and worth cherishing.

Holding and using this device for the past week has been an extremely happy feeling for me, the feeling of touching the case, opening the device, unlocking with face or fingerprint, looking at the beautiful screen, moving my hand on the haptic feedback trackpad, this is the high-end Windows ultrabook we are looking for.

The device has a full range of connection ports for work from USB-C Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, 3.5mm jack, HDMI, there is nothing lacking for connecting peripheral devices. Regarding speakers, this laptop has 6 speakers but at first I didn't know, I thought it only had 4 speakers. Regarding the feeling when listening, it is not as good as the Zephyrus G14 or Zenbook DUO, but it is only on par with the Zenbook S14.

Talking about the keyboard a bit, the typing feeling of the ExpertBook Ultra is quite similar to the ExpertBook B9, not like the P5 I used last year because its bounce is not the same as the P5, it has something softer, the layout is still standard, nothing to discuss. Well, the device has a backlight but I find it a bit difficult to see because both the device and the backlight are white :D.

The touchpad is a bit opposite to the keyboard, it has an extremely great experience and if in the future, when Microsoft adds new gestures to the Precesion driver, I believe it will be even better. I think the haptic feedback mechanism should become the standard for high-end ultrabooks, by 2026, I hope ASUS and other brands hear this. In the second part, I will tell you more about the Tandem OLED screen.

The screen of ExpertBook Ultra is beautiful, very nice, touch sensitive, and very bright

The panel that ASUS uses for ExpertBook Ultra, according to my inspection, is provided by Samsung, which is understandable because its quality is at a very high level. I need to emphasize first, that anti-glare coating will give you a slightly thorny feeling when looking directly at the screen, it will not be as perfect as glossy. In terms of resolution, we have a resolution of 2.8K on a 14-inch size, a refresh rate of 120Hz and the coverage of common color bands is very good (nearly 100% in all three bands sRGB, AdobeRGB and DCI-P3).

There's nothing to complain about when working with this screen. Playing Esport is also somewhat satisfactory because the response latency of OLED screens is usually lower than IPS LCD, plus the "no joke" performance of the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H. To make professional graphics, it also needs many more factors. The color standard and color deviation must be the lowest and most realistic. IPS LCD is still the priority of the group of professional graphics users. Even if you are the boss and need to approve designs on ExpertBook Ultra, it's still okay.

Well, the ExpertBook Ultra's screen has a touch screen, which will be suitable for those who like to use touch screens, but I hardly touch the screen. I also want to talk a little bit about the hinge. Actually, the hinge is something I don't like about the overall design of the device because it is too soft and difficult to hold the screen steady when I hold the device and move it. I often have the habit of carrying my laptop around the office so I don't have to open it anymore, and ExpertBook Ultra is probably the laptop with the softest and smoothest hinges I've used since the beginning of the year until now.

Performance: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H can now help businessmen shoot CS2 and play 3A games

This is completely true and with what I have had with Zenbook S14 (Core Ultra 9 386H) and Zenbook DUO (Core Ultra X9 388H), I am confident that Core Ultra X7 358H will also do well and that is true. In terms of specifications, Intel Core Ultra X7 358H has 16 cores. High-performance models such as Core Ultra X7 368H, X7 358H, Ultra 7 366H and 7 356H retain the same 16-core design as the Ultra 9 series, with clock speeds ranging from 4.7 GHz to 5.0 GHz. In particular, Core Ultra X7 358H has 4 P cores, 8 E cores and 4 LP-E cores, TDP from 28 to 80W. In my testing, the Intel Core Ultra The temperature at full CPU load is about 80 degrees Celsius, the highest is 89 degrees Celsius, which is also a temperature that surprised me quite a bit on a thin ultrabook like the ExpertBook Ultra. Regarding CPU, the performance of Intel Core Ultra X7 and Core Ultra The most notable highlight in the configuration is the appearance of the Intel Arc B390 iGPU integrated graphics core. This integrated graphics core represents an incredible technological leap when it brings performance close to popular discrete graphics cards like the RTX 4050. Core Ultra X9 or X7 both have 12 Xe3 cores and therefore the gaming ability of ExpertBook Ultra is very good, compared to the company's previous ultrabooks. Esport is probably too simple now, but I can also play AAA games like Wukong or Cyberpunk 2077 at about 60 FPS depending on the settings I set. Don't expect it to play games as smoothly as NVIDIA's discrete graphics processor, but if you want to entertain during your lunch break, and want to have a few games to refresh your spirit, you don't need to find a gaming laptop to do that.

I think that the performance of the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chips, especially the Twitter series, is completely strong enough to put on handheld PCs, which are handheld game consoles that mainly play games in FHD. Intel's XeSS now also supports many games and the latest games I see almost all have this technology, including frame gen.

Most importantly, you can play games without needing to plug in a charger, which is something you wouldn't have been able to do with Windows ultrabooks from 3-4 years ago. On older generation Intel processors, the device often throttles performance very deeply, causing slight lag to prolong battery life. With the Core Ultra

In addition, with a powerful dedicated NPU neural processor, the machine can easily operate local artificial intelligence features in the ASUS MyExpert toolkit such as AI Chat for quick document lookup, AI Writer for text editing, AI ExpertMeet for automatically summarizing meeting minutes, helping to intelligently optimize workflow, turning the machine into a true digital assistant. In short, the performance of the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H and this year's Intel Core Ultra Series 3 generation is: delicious, cool... and strong battery.

The battery on ExpertBook Ultra is enough for a long day of fairly high-intensity work

I use ExpertBook Ultra from playing games, working, editing videos, editing photos via Lightroom and of course the device cannot last a day with such intense demands :D. But if I only do office work such as text editing, high-intensity web use and open about 20 Comet tabs, with brightness around 80%, listen to music via YouTube Music and some general tasks related to typing, then it easily fills a full working day, about 8 to maximum 10 hours. When playing games without needing to charge, the performance is maintained quite well but the battery is not. The device will say low battery (20%) when I play for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I usually play CS2 more than AAA. You can weigh your usage time against your needs and work nature. The device has a battery capacity of 70Whr. Those interested in the product can see more here. Thank you ASUS for sponsoring me to do this article.