A couple days back we covered that ASUS was going to launch a new series of laptop in China under the “Adol” branding and so they did it today, at the starting price of 3499 Yuan, around $500.
The ASUS Adol laptops are available in three versions: with an Intel i3-8130U CPU, an Intel i5-8250U and the top variant with an Intel i7-8550U; all of them coupled with 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM, that is not expandable, and 256GB of SSD storage (M.2). The most surprising part is on the GPU side though. In fact, of the three models, only one of them comes with an Nvidia MX150 discrete GPU, the Intel i5-8250U powered version – yes, you read that correctly. Both the i3-8130U CPU and i7-8550U variants instead come with Intel’s integrated UHD Graphics 620.
As we mentioned the other day, this new series comes with 13.3-inch screens sporting Full HD resolution and ultra-thin 4.3mm bezels around it, allowing the display to make up for 90% of the front panel. That comes with a drawback though because, as far as we can tell, laptops do not feature any webcam at all, either below the display or down on the keyboard; definitely a weird choice.
Other specs in the ASUS Adol series include full metal body for a total weight of 1.25kg and a thickness of 17.99mm. There’s an “ErgoLift” system that lets the laptop rise up by 2.47 degrees when the lid is open, this will both provide a better typing experience as well as help dissipating more heat. We then find a backlit keyboard with 1.4mm key travel, a fingerprint scanner, SonicMaster speakers, two USB 2.0/3.0 ports, TYPE-C, HDMI, a 3.5mm audio jack and a Micro SD card reader.
Finally, battery life is expected to be around 12 hours, at least for the Intel i3-8130U, while they can charge to up to 60% in just 49 minutes.
So, we know that the i3 version is around $500, but what about the others? Well, the Intel i5-8250U + Nvidia MX150 variant is priced 4999 Yuan ($730), while the i7-8550U option (without discrete graphics) costs just a little more at 5299 Yuan, which is about $770.
All things considered, pricing isn’t too bad as the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro with Intel i5-8250U + Nvidia MX150 currently sells for around $800 (at least for non China residents). What do you guys think?
