There have been several details leaked about the Zenbook Prime, but now ASUS has made it official that its new Ultrabooks are headed to the United States. As previous details indicated, the new Ultrabooks will run on Intel's new Ivy Bridge Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors, and the displays will feature the standard 1366 x 768, with a 1080p option available for all models.

Design

Just as its predecessors, the Zenbook Prime comes with a stylish look and competitive price. The laptop has a solid aluminum body and is ultra thin and lightweight, with a wedge-shaped design. Prices range between $799 and $1599, depending on the model. The UX31A model weighs just 2.86 pounds and measures 0.35-inch at its thickest. It looks similar to Apple's MacBook Air, though ASUS incorporated its own unique design tweaks.

Features

The industrial design remained generally unchanged, but the new Zenbook Prime does sport some notable upgrades compared to its predecessor, such as Intel's latest Ivy Bridge platform and Intel HD Graphics 4000. It includes a backlit keyboard with ASUS' ambient light sensor incorporated, which serves to adjust keyboard brightness according to lighting conditions. This feature will be particularly useful to users who work at night or in darker environments.

One of the most notable feature on the Zenbook Prime, however, is the Full HD IPS matte display, sporting a 1920 x 1080 resolution. According to ASUS, the display has a 72 percent color gamut, 350 nits of brightness, a 172-degree viewing angle, and 800:1 contrast ratio.

Other features include solid-state drives up to 256GB, 4GB of RAM, Bluetooth 4.0, dual Wi-Fi, two USB 3.0 ports, mini VGA, Micro HDMI, audio jack, and an SD card reader. Moreover, one of the USB ports acts as a USB device charger as well, allowing users to charge a device through the ultrabook even if it's turned off.

Software, Battery Performance

When it comes to software, ASUS has included a few add-ons to the standard Windows 7, such as Vibe Fun Center, Instant Connect Installer, and Tutor. The Zenbook Prime also sports ASUS' Super Hybrid Engine II Technology found on the Zenbook. According to the company, the new Zenbook Prime will have a two-second resume time from sleep mode, while the battery will last up to two weeks in standby and up to 150 days in Hibernate Mode. ASUS also noted that the new Ultrabook is up to seven degrees cooler than competitors, though this comes at the price of a rather loud fan.

ASUS offers three versions: the 11.6-inch UX21A, the 13.3-inch UX31A and the UX32A, also 13.3-inch. Prices for the 13.3-inch models start at roughly $999, though that price will climb when you add upgrades. The full-aluminum Zenbook Prime will be released next week.