Asus launches Intel HX business laptop, and it's a beast

Asus launches an Intel HX business laptop — and it looks like a beast

Asus has announced three new devices in its ExpertBook line of business laptops during the IFA tech conference, including a non-gaming laptop that uses Intel’s 12th-gen HX processors.

The laptop in question is the ExpertBook B6 Flip, which the brand describes as a mobile workstation, intended for power users and professionals including architects, engineers, and product designers.

The ExpertBook B6 on a mixing board. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The laptop features a 16-inch flippable touchscreen display, with up to an Intel Core i9-12950HX vPro processor, Nvidia Quadro A2000 8GB graphics chip, 128GB of RAM, and two M.2 SSD slots for to up 4TB storage. The device supports a Performance mode that allows its system to run at 135 watts total TDP, 55 watts for CPU, and 80 watts for GPU — and according to Asus, with no throttling.

Intel’s HX processors can run at higher wattages, and have shown up most commonly in gaming laptops like the MSI GT77 Titan or the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE. Other mobile workstations have supported these HX chips, though, such as the ThinkPad P16 or the Dell Elite Precision 7770 Workstation.

To maximize performance, the laptop includes Nvidia Dynamic Boost 2.0, which helps juggle power limits the CPU and GPU. The ExpertBook B6 Flip is powered by a 90-watt-hour battery and supported by a 240-watt-hour adapter. All that power comes with a significant toll on portability, though, as the ExpertBook B6 Flip is over an inch thick and nearly six pounds. That’s smaller than the ThinkPad P16 or Precision 7770, but it’s still got quite a lot of heft.

Lastly, the ExpertBook B6 Flip has an option for a mini-LED screen with up to 1,000 nits of brightness in HDR.

The other two new laptops from Asus are a bit more conventional — the ExpertBook B5 and the ExpertBook B5 Flip. Specs for the laptops include processors up to Intel vPro with 12th-gen Intel Core i7-1270P, Intel Arc A350M discrete graphics, 40GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage. They also include RAID support for security, WiFi 6E for connectivity, and MIL-STD 810H US military standard certification for durability.

The ExpertBook B5 is announced at IFA on Wednesday. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Additionally, ExpertBook B5 models offer a 50-watt-hour three-cell battery option, an 84-watt-hour four-cell battery option, and a 90-watt-hour AC adapter.

The ExpertBook B5 features a 16-inch OLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, for color realism.

The ExpertBook B5 Flip features a 16-inch 360-degree rotatable display that can be set to tablet, tent, stand, and traditional laptop modes. It also includes a ported stylus that provides 45 minutes of use with just a 15-second charge inside the chassis.

All three Asus ExpertBook models will be available in the fourth quarter of 2022.

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