Asus has created a rival to the Microsoft Surface Pro with a new 2-in-1 Windows laptop set to arrive next month.
The Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED runs Windows 11 and features a 13.3-inch tablet that can attach to a keyboard and cover stand, transforming it into a laptop.
According to Asus, the big selling point is the 1,920-by-1,080, touch-screen OLED panel, which should offer more vibrant colors and deeper blacks over the IPS displays found in Microsoft’s latest Surface Pros. It’s capable of up to 550 nits in brightness.
As a pure tablet, the Vivobook 13 weighs 1.73 pounds. However, Asus also created a special cover for the product that contains a kickstand that folds out up to 170 degrees. It also comes bundled with an attachable keyboard that features full-size keys with a 1.4mm key travel.
“There’s also a high-precision Asus Pen 2.0 stylus, neatly stored in a handy magnetic pen holder so it’s always to hand,” the company adds. “The four interchangeable pen tips have different textures that mimic 2H, H, HB and HB pencils, providing a truly natural feel for sketching and drawing.”
The other draw is the product’s relatively affordable starting price of $599.99. However, the base configuration only comes with a lower-powered Pentium Silver N6000 quad-core processor. Other specs include up to 256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM, Wi-Fi 6, a microSD card reader, and two USB-C ports.
Still, the $599.99 price is significantly lower than the recently launched Surface Pro 8, which also has a 13-inch screen, but starts at $1,099 on the Microsoft Store. However, Microsoft is currently offering a discount to the smaller 12-inch Surface Pro 7, which currently starts at $599.99 and offers an Intel Core i3 processor.
Asus says the Vivobook 13 Slate can run for up to 9 hours on a single battery charge. The fast-charging feature on board can also restore the battery life from zero to 60% in 39 minutes.
You’re also getting a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls, along with a 13MP camera in the rear. On the security side, there’s a fingerprint sensor on the power button.
Stay tuned for our review of the Vivobook 13 Slate OLED.
