ASUS Updates Its Business Laptop Line with Newer Intel Chips and Flexible Designs

ASUS has announced a refreshed line of ExpertBook B5 G2 laptops built around Intel's latest Core Ultra 7 Series 3 processors. These machines come in three physical formats: traditional clamshell designs in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, and a new 360-degree convertible that can fold into tablet mode. All three qualify as "Copilot+ PCs," a Microsoft designation that signals built-in AI acceleration hardware.

What's Inside These Machines

The heart of each model is Intel's Core Ultra 7 Series 3 chip. To put it plainly: these are mainstream processors designed to handle everyday business tasks alongside some AI-powered features without needing external processing power.

The 16-inch model steps up to the Core Ultra 7 356H variant, which runs at a base speed of 1.9 GHz and can boost to 4.7 GHz when needed. It has 16 processor cores (the parallel lanes that handle different tasks), and you can pack it with up to 64GB of RAM — well above what most users will need, but useful for people running many applications at once or working with large datasets. Storage comes standard as a 1TB drive using PCIe 5.0 connectivity, the fastest current storage standard.

The 14-inch standard model and the convertible "Flip" variant use the same processor family but with slightly lower configurations. The Flip model is the interesting one: it weighs 2.9 pounds, is only about half an inch thick, and includes a stylus stored in the chassis for people who want to sketch or annotate directly on the screen.

All models meet military-grade durability standards, which in practice means they've been tested to survive drops, vibration, and temperature extremes that typical consumer laptops never encounter.

Screens and Display Options

The standard ExpertBook models use conventional LCD displays — perfectly fine for office work, though not particularly premium. The Flip convertible model, however, includes a 14-inch OLED screen with a 2,880 x 1,800 pixel resolution. OLED technology means each pixel generates its own light, which translates to deeper blacks and more accurate colors. This particular panel has a 0.2 millisecond response time (how fast pixels can change), supports 90Hz refresh rates, and covers the DCI-P3 color standard — basically the benchmark for professional photo and video work.

Security and Business Features

These machines are built with corporate IT departments in mind. They include a TPM security module (think of it as a dedicated chip for storing encryption keys), optional biometric login using infrared cameras that recognize your face, and encryption-ready storage. The 16-inch model adds a 5-megapixel infrared camera for Windows Hello facial recognition.

For companies buying dozens or hundreds of machines, these standardized security features mean IT can manage and update fleets more easily and confidently.

The Bigger Picture

The broader context here matters. ASUS is not betting everything on Intel. At the same time it announced the ExpertBook B5 line, it also unveiled several Zenbook 14 models powered by AMD's Ryzen processors and Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips. This is a deliberate hedging strategy — keeping multiple processor options available while the market sorts out which architectures offer the best value.

We have seen this pattern before. During the mid-2000s, when Intel transitioned from an older chip design to its Core architecture, computer makers kept AMD alternatives on hand as fallback options until the performance ladder became clear. The same dynamic is playing out now, albeit with more processor choices than existed then.

The 50 TOPS (trillion operations per second) figure attached to the NPU — the dedicated AI acceleration hardware in these chips — is a technical specification worth context. Real-world performance in AI applications will depend heavily on whether software developers actually optimize their tools to use that hardware efficiently, and whether the chips can dissipate the heat generated during sustained AI workloads. Intel's Series 3 represents an incremental improvement over its predecessors, not a generational leap.

The company is also maintaining clear separation between the business-focused ExpertBook line and the consumer-premium Zenbook line, even though they share many underlying technologies. This allows ASUS to price them differently and target different buyer priorities — businesses value proven reliability and manageability; enthusiasts chase cutting-edge specs and design.

Pricing and Where to Buy

ASUS has not yet announced pricing or delivery dates. The ExpertBook line will likely be sold through business resellers and corporate channels rather than directly to individual consumers. The multiple form factors suggest each variant targets a different type of business user: the standard 14-inch and 16-inch models for desk-based productivity, the Flip for creative professionals or field work where touch input is valuable, and the larger screen for tasks requiring lots of visible workspace.

The ExpertBook brand has always prioritized reliability, security, and corporate compatibility over raw performance benchmarks or aggressive pricing. That positioning continues here, reflecting how enterprises actually buy technology — they want hardware that integrates smoothly with existing systems and won't introduce unexpected compatibility headaches.