Asus is broadening its ultrabook lineup with the introduction of a new 15 inch model. It’s called the Asus Zenbook U500VZ, and it features a 1920 x 1080 pixel full HD IPS display.
The Asus Zenbook U500 measures 0.78 inches thick, which lets it fit comfortably into Intel’s guidelines for ultrabooks. But the laptop is a bit larger than most ultrabooks thanks to that 15 inch display, and Asus took advantage of the extra space to offer a numeric keypad.
The keyboard is also backlit, with the brightness set automatically depending on ambient lighting conditions.
Asus will offer the Zenbook U500 with up to an Intel Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor. An NVIDIA GT650M graphics option is available for those that want discrete graphics.
There are two storage bays in the ultrabook, and Asus will offer models with up to 512GB of solid state storage, or a model with a 128GB SSD and 500GB hard drive.