What does Taiwanese PC maker ASUS and the final frontier have in common? The company launched its first notebook, the P6300, 25 years years ago in 1997, and two of them made their space debut a little later, spending 600 days at the Space Station Mir. To commemorate the quarter of a century since ASUS sent their machines up, the tech brand is celebrating it with a special Space Edition Zenbook 14X.
It’s quite a rare milestone, and ASUS is sparing no effort in marking the achievement with Space Edition Zenbook 14X, starting with an exclusive space-inspired design that is out of this world.
It’s not just the device that will send you to the moon, as the laptop comes in unique holographic packaging that includes a space package containing a uniquely designed welcome card, user guide as well as stickers. Open it up and you’ll find the titanium coloured device that mirrors the titanium hull of the space vehicles that go up into space.
One special design element are the morse codes etched on the lid of this Space Edition – simple dots and dashes that spell out the Latin phrase, AD ASTRA PER ASPERA. This line is often used by supporters of the space program, which mean, To the stars, through hardships. Accompanying this is ASUS’ ZenVision, a 3.5-inch OLED display that animates and shows the time, notifications, date and even battery status of the device.
It’s an added bonus if the work is being done on Microsoft Edge. The browser comes with a handful of features to ease workflow and leisure arrangements, including a Windows-exclusive start-up boost that allows it to launch faster. Where Collections lets users collect, organise and share content across the web, vertical tabs make it easy to quickly scan and switch between multiple windows. Tabs can now also be put to sleep when not in use, thus optimising performance. Safety measures have been upgraded as well, with SmartScreen fending off phishing and malware attacks, tracking prevention offering control over privacy settings and website tracking1, there’s also a password generator to create secure passwords, and a Password Monitor that sends out alerts if they are compromised1.
Of course, the option to customise the animated display is there, with different space themes such as the solar system design, one of an astronaut peeking through a window design, as well as a customised text that flies across the screen accompanied by a spaceship. The mix of modern aesthetics with a rich legacy of space travel is a nice touch, providing a beautiful exterior with a deeper meaning buried in Morse Code.
Space means plenty of uncertainty and ASUS has taken it further by designing the laptop to withstand the punishing demands of space travel. It complies with the ultra-tough US Space Systems Command Standard testing protocols which include resistance to extreme vibration and high/low temperatures. Given how the ASUS Zenbook 14X Space Edition meets the US Department of Defense’s durability standards, it can meet the needs of us everyday users and space enthusiasts for the years to come, regardless if you’re using the laptop for school, work or play.
The laptop features a 14-inch 4K OLED HDR NanoEdge touchscreen with 16:10 aspect ratio, with a display that has cinema-grade 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, Pantone validated colour accuracy and DisplayHDR True Black. This simply means you get to see more of the screen, and that the colours are ultra-vivid and accurate. Images are likely to look more realistic, so watching anything from your favourite anime series to live-action content, including Peacemaker will be an enjoyable visual experience.
Speaking of all the things you can see on screen, the ASUS Zenbook 14X Space Edition lets you control who can see you. The model comes with an electric webcam shield that lets you enjoy instant privacy at the touch of a button. All you have to do to keep prying eyes at bay is go into the zenbook’s settings and remove access to camera and you’re done! This means you don’t have to buy a physical shield or use a sticker or tape over your webcam and ruin the quality of your camera and your screen in the long run.
The ASUS Zenbook 14X Space Edition is more than just play too. With an ErgoSense Keyboard and Touchpad, one can expect to work in comfort. The model comes with a full-sized edge to edge keyboard and a 0.2 mm key-cap dish that is designed to match the shape of a user’s fingertips. To further maximise comfort when typing, the laptop also comes with a precision-engineered 180° ErgoLift hinge that automatically lifts the rear of the laptop slightly when it’s opened, tilting the keyboard to the optimum typing angle.
The combination of the ErgoSense edge to edge keyboard with curved key-cap dish as well as the ErgoLift hinge design means that you have a satisfying and comfortable experience typing on the laptop, with optimum bounce and fine-tuned precision. Soon you’ll find yourself cruising effortlessly through your work be it a quarterly report or a brief email.
Speaking of writing a quarterly report, crunching numbers is so much more efficient on the ASUS Zenbook 14X Space Edition. Equipped with the NumberPad 2.0, one can easily and conveniently type out numbers like they’re using a calculator, except that with the ultra-smooth and anti-fingerprint touchprint, you’ll just be gliding your fingers over the touchpad instead of pressing into buttons.
Last but not least, the ASUS Zenbook 14X Space Edition continues ASUS’ tradition of offering portability and connectivity. The ASUS Zenbook 14X Space Edition offers two ultrafast Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports which also support fast charging. It also features 4K UHD external displays and up to 40 Gbps data transfer rates. There’s also a HDMI port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port and a microSD card reader. All of which aids with multitasking when you’re on the go – yes even when in space.
The ASUS Zenbook 14X Space Edition is powered by the Intel 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H 2.3GHz CPU and comes with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. It retails for S$2,698 and is available now exclusively on the ASUS Store.
1Available on the latest version of Microsoft Edge. Must be signed in to a Microsoft Account.
This article is brought to you together with ASUS Singapore.
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