The ExpertBook Ultra is the latest flagship from Asus‘ business-focused series and borrows a few features from the company’s other laptops that could make this the business laptop to beat in 2026.
We’ll only know that for sure after we’ve spent more time putting it through its paces, but judging from the specs unveiled at yesterday’s local launch, things are looking good.
Small, light, durable, expensive
At the heart of the ExpertBook Ultra is Intel’s new Panther Lake chipset. Asus is only bringing a single configuration to SA for now, sporting the Core Ultra 7 356H. This chip boasts 16 cores with 16 threads, clock speeds ‘up to’ 4.7GHz, and an NPU. 32GB of LPDDR5X memory and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD will also be present.
All your wonderful spreadsheets and slide decks will be rendered onto a touch-supported 14in tandem OLED display with a ‘3K’ resolution (2,880 x 1,800px) and a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz. This display also boasts 1,400 nits of peak HDR brightness, and if you’re worried about reflections, the matte screen coating should help with those.
The internal specs might not jump out at you on paper, but Asus has packaged them well. The ExpertBook Ultra tips the scales at just 990g, much lighter than most laptops of this size. Asus has also gone to great lengths to ensure your ExpertBook Ultra won’t crumble after the first accidental drop. It reckons the MIL-STD-810H certification and further 157 durability tests should be enough to ensure its longevity.
The ExpertBook Ultra, coming soon
There’s a decent selection of ports for a laptop of this size. One of the two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, and an audio combo jack live down the left side, while extra Thunderbolt 4 and USB-A ports are found on the right.
Then, there’s also the company’s proprietary Magnesium-Alloy-Ceramic coating for a laptop that feels soft. Also, keeping with the durability theme, the display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus. We can’t say we’ve seen that on many laptops.
“The launch of ExpertBook Ultra in South Africa marks an important step in expanding ASUS’ commercial offering in the region. Businesses today need devices that can handle AI workloads, advanced productivity tools, and demanding applications while remaining lightweight and dependable. The ExpertBook Ultra was created to meet that need,” says Werner Joubert, Commercial BDM and Country Head ASUS South Africa and SADC.
The Asus ExpertBook Ultra should be available in South Africa at some point next month (an exact date wasn’t mentioned) from Incredible, Takealot, Evetech, and Computer Mania for the tidy sum of R60,000.
