Asus is going after Microsoft's Surface devices with a $599 laptop-tablet hybrid that runs on an Arm processor.
Asus today launched the ExpertBook B3 Detachable for consumers looking for a portable and flexible device suited for today’s hybrid work environment.
The product operates as a 10.5-inch tablet built with a kickstand that can also connect to an attachable keyboard. As a result, the ExpertBook B3 can function as a traditional laptop, or be used as a touch-screen tablet, which can be propped up on a table.
“Whether in the classroom, on the manufacturing line, or at the front of a small business, users can rely on the ExpertBook B3 Detachable as a laptop ready for anything,” the company says.
However, the ExpertBook B3 doesn’t feature a traditional x86 chip from Intel or AMD. Instead, Asus opted to use an Arm-based processor in an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 chip that has an up to 2.55GHz clock speed. This also means the product comes with the Arm-based Windows 11, which needs to rely on software emulation to run x86 64-bit apps.
But on the positive side, Asus’s product promises to offer up to 21 hours in battery life on a single charge. The ExpertBook B3 also weighs in at mere 1.3 pounds. Other perks include a stylus that can be “garaged” inside the tablet, and a fabric-woven covering on back of the tablet.
Asus adds: “The laptop is also optimized for video conferencing and collaboration, featuring a dual-camera design with a 5-megapixel user-viewing camera and a 13-megapixel world-facing camera, and innovative 3D noise-reduction (3DNR) technology which eliminates up to 94% of the random noise that naturally affects any camera.”
Interested consumers can check out the full specs on Asus’s website. The ExpertBook B3 Detachable is already on sale via Best Buy. The model available has 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The company also plans on introducing a version with 8GB of RAM.