The Asus Zenbook Pro 17 is a professional powerhouse of a laptop
Uncompromising notebook is the first 17-incher to wear the ZenBook Pro badge
For getting work done on the move, nothing beats a big-screen laptop – and not all of ’em are aimed at gamers. The Asus Zenbook Pro 17 is a creative pro’s dream machine, with oodles of power and a huge display, but no distracting RGB light effects.
The first 17in Zenbook weighs in at a luggable 2.2kg, and packs the kind of performance on tap you’d expect from a desktop machine. There’s room for up to an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU, as much as 32GB of RAM, and even an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 dedicated GPU. Data hoaders will also appreciate the 1TB SSD, which runs at zippy PCIe 4.0 speeds.
Colour expert Pantone has given the display its seal of approval, with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage making it an on-the-go editing booth for film makers. The 2560×1440 resolution panel has a 165Hz refresh rate and there’s also a version with a touchscreen. The built-in speakers are certified by Harman Kardon and support Dolby Atmos.
Even the connectivity is lightning-fast, with twin USB4 ports good for 40Gbps data transfers or running 4K external displays, and WiFi 6E for zippy wireless speeds. There’s also an HDMI out, pair of regular USB ports, SD card reader and an audio combo port. A fingerprint sensor built into the power button plays nicely with Windows Hello.
Design-wise, it’s an oversized evolution of the familiar Zenbook look, with a new monogram logo on the lid and Asus’ signature spun-metal finish on the lid. You can have it in any colour you like, as long as it’s Tech Black.
The Asus Zenbook Pro 17 is set to land in June. Prices have yet to be confirmed, but you can bet it’ll set you back a hefty amount for a fully-loaded model.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
