Asus ExpertBook Extremely overview: Panther Lake makes it fly

Greatest Costs At the moment: Asus Expertbook Extremely

Intel’s Panther Lake, produced with the corporate’s lengthy heralded and incessantly delayed 18A fabrication course of, is lastly starting to tip-toe into the world. And the Asus ExpertBook Extremely is without doubt one of the first manufacturing laptops we’ve had the possibility to strive (Mark Hachman additionally not too long ago reviewed an Asus Zenbook Duo with the top-tier Intel Core Extremely X9 388H). 

Whereas the ExpertBook has a much less highly effective model of Panther Lake than what’s within the Zenbook Duo, I’ve to concur with Mark’s conclusion. You’re going to need this. 

Asus ExpertBook Extremely: Specs and options as-tested

The Asus ExpertBook Extremely I acquired has Intel’s Core Extremely X7 358H inside. It is a high-end model of Panther Lake. It supplies 16 cores in whole and has Intel Arc B390 graphics, similar to the Intel Core Extremely X9 388H. Nevertheless, the X7 358H guarantees a most Turbo clock pace of 4.8GHz, a bit decrease than the X9 388H’s most Turbo clock of 5.1GHz. 

• Mannequin quantity: B9406
• CPU: Intel Core Extremely X7 358H
• Reminiscence: 32GB LPDDR5x-8533
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc B390
• NPU: 50 TOPS
• Show: 14-inch 2880×1880 tandem OLED touchscreen with Corning Gorilla Glass
• Storage: 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 stable state drive
• Webcam and microphone: 1080p FHD IR digital camera
• Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 with DisplayPort and Energy Supply, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0
• Biometrics: Home windows Good day facial recognition, fingerprint reader
• Battery capability: 70 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.24 x 8.38 x 0.65 inches
• Weight: 2.42 kilos
• Working System: Home windows 11 Professional
• Further options: Haptic touchpad
• Worth: TBD

Whereas the brand new Intel Panther Lake {hardware} contained in the ExpertBook Extremely is actually thrilling, it’s not the one characteristic price mentioning. The ExpertBook additionally has a 14-inch OLED touchscreen with a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Matte end, a haptic touchpad, and a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports. 

One bit of knowledge that’s lacking from the equation, nevertheless, is the worth. The ExpertBook shouldn’t be due for launch till April. Due to that, pricing shouldn’t be but settled. Asus mentioned it expects a value much like opponents, nevertheless, and cited alternate options just like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and Dell Professional 14 Premium. These are sometimes round $2,500 when equally outfitted.

Asus ExpertBook Extremely: Design and construct high quality

Foundry / Matthew Smith

The Asus ExpertBook Extremely makes a stable first impression straight out of the field. It makes use of a light-weight, sturdy magnesium-aluminum alloy that retains the laptop computer’s weight down to simply 2.42 kilos (with tandem OLED show). 

Magnesium-aluminum alloy is a typical materials for light-weight laptops, and it often suffers from a plastic-y really feel that appears cheap. Nevertheless, the ExpertBook Extremely counteracts that with a “nano ceramic” end, very like Asus’ ceraluminum, which provides a delightful matte end and offers the laptop computer a grippy really feel. The laptop computer’s construct high quality is stable, too, with solely the slightest flex noticeable when dealing with the laptop computer from one nook or opening the show lid. 

I just like the laptop computer’s Morn Grey colorway. Grey—versus silver—shouldn’t be that widespread of a coloration choice for a contemporary laptop computer, and the actual tone used right here feels fashionable however skilled. The end is matte however has a metallic luster that sparkles when the sunshine catches the laptop computer good. It would even be obtainable in a darker Jet Fog colorway, however I didn’t have an opportunity to see it.

It’s additionally a compact laptop computer, measuring a hair over 12 inches huge, about 8.5 inches deep, and not more than 0.65 inches thick. Measurements like this aren’t unusual in 2026, however nonetheless ample to offer the laptop computer a slim, modern really feel much like what 13-inch ultralights supplied 5 or so years in the past—however with a barely bigger 14-inch show. 

Asus ExpertBook Extremely: Keyboard, touchpad

Foundry / Matthew Smith

I used to be additional impressed after I sat down to put in writing on the Asus ExpertBook Extremely. It has a spacious keyboard with implausible key really feel. Keys have good journey and activate with a crisp but not overly agency motion. Most fashionable enterprise laptops have a minimum of a satisfactory keyboard, however the ExpertBook Extremely has top-of-the-line in current reminiscence. 

Beneath the keyboard you’ll discover a spacious haptic touchpad. It measures about 5 inches huge and a little bit over three inches deep, which is a good dimension for a 14-inch laptop computer. The floor supplies sufficient room to execute Home windows multi-touch gestures together with the 5-finger swipe. 

I additionally just like the touchpad’s haptic suggestions. I discover haptic touchpads are virtually universally higher than these with a bodily click on motion. After all, that’s as a result of the bodily click on motion on fashionable laptops is usually horrible, however it’s what it’s. The haptic touchpad affords a convincing sense of tactile suggestions.

Asus ExpertBook Extremely: Show, audio

Foundry / Matthew Smith

A 14-inch OLED touchscreen with 2880×1880 decision and a 120Hz refresh charge is discovered on each Asus ExpertBook Extremely. The specs counsel it’s a quite widespread panel, however the ExpertBook has a secret weapon.

It’s a matte show. 

Particularly, the laptop computer makes use of a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus show with a matte end. That is doubly uncommon. Most laptops with an OLED panel don’t have a matte or anti-glare end, and most laptops don’t use Corning’s Gorilla Glass. 

The result’s a spectacular but sensible show. The 14-inch OLED panel delivers the unbelievable coloration vibrance, wealthy distinction, and excessive sharpness that’s typical of OLED show panels. But it additionally supplies a low-glare end that retains the show moderately simple to learn even outdoor. The high-gloss end utilized by most OLED screens can turn into an issue in that scenario.

The ExpertBook additionally comes by means of in audio efficiency. It has a six-speaker sound system that delivers good quantity and a few trace of bass, which permits it to ship kick in films and music with out turning into muddy and vague. It may nonetheless start to sound buzzy and harsh at most quantity, however that quantity is so loud you’ll probably not use it usually, and the sound is first rate at extra modest volumes.

Asus Expertbook Extremely: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

The Asus ExpertBook Extremely has so much to suggest it, but it surely’s not flawless, and the webcam is amongst its much less spectacular options.

That’s to not say it’s dangerous. It’s a 1080p webcam with a bodily privateness shutter. Picture high quality is aggressive with most Home windows laptops in good to average lighting, but it surely doesn’t defy the standard points webcams expertise in blended or low gentle. The webcam additionally has a particularly huge discipline of view, which I’m not an enormous fan of—although that is typical for a lot of webcams on fashionable Home windows laptops.

Audio is recorded with a dual-microphone array. Just like the webcam, it’s not dangerous but additionally doesn’t stand out. The audio is recorded at good quantity and might reject most background noise, however audio seize nonetheless has the hole, distant sound widespread to laptop computer microphones. 

Nevertheless, the ExpertBook Extremely delivers on biometrics. It has a fingerprint sensor constructed into the facility button, which is situated on the keyboard beside the Delete key, and it helps facial recognition by way of an IR webcam. Each had been easy in my testing. 

Asus ExpertBook Extremely: Connectivity

Foundry / Matthew Smith

A pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports are the star of the Asus ExpertBook Extremely’s connectivity. Every helps Energy Supply to cost the laptop computer in addition to DisplayPort for video-out connections. Asus additionally properly locations one port on both sides of the laptop computer, as an alternative of each on the identical facet, and each ports are about as far again on the flanks of the laptop computer as potential. That helps with cable administration. 

The laptop computer additionally has a pair of USB-A ports. These, too, are cut up throughout each flanks of the laptop computer. An HDMI 2.1 port and a 3.5mm combo audio jack, each on the laptop computer’s left flank, spherical out the choices. 

Wi-fi connectivity is stable, as properly, because the laptop computer helps each Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0. I used to be impressed by the laptop computer’s Wi-Fi speeds. Most laptops that I overview ship tremendous efficiency, however the ExpertBook was noticeably faster than the common after I used it in my indifferent residence workplace, which is a number of partitions and about 40 toes from my router. 

Asus ExpertBook Extremely: Efficiency

The Asus ExpertBook Extremely is without doubt one of the first laptops PC World has acquired with Intel’s new Panther Lake structure inside. 

Particularly, the laptop computer has the Intel Core Extremely X7 358H. This chip supplies a complete of 16 CPU cores (4 efficiency, eight environment friendly, and 4 low-power environment friendly) with a most Turbo clock of 4.8GHz. The ExpertBook pairs the Intel chip with 32GB of LPDDR5x-8533 reminiscence and a 2TB PCIe 4.0 stable state drive. 

So, how does Intel’s new {hardware} stack up?

Foundry / Matthew Smith

We begin off with PCMark 10, a holistic system benchmark that speaks favorably of the Intel Core Extremely X7 358H. It leaps forward right here with a rating of 9,892, which is properly forward of the AMD Ryzen AI and Intel Core Extremely Collection 2 chips in earlier premium enterprise laptops. 

I discovered this consequence shocking, and tried it a number of instances, solely to find the scores improved (barely). Having carried out that, I can solely conclude that the laptop computer is a performer, and a performer throughout many elements as an alternative of 1 or two. It is a stellar begin for Panther Lake.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Subsequent up is Cinebench R24, a closely multi-threaded benchmark that’s usually fairly harsh on Intel structure or, a minimum of, was harsh to Lunar Lake chips that often discovered their means into this class of laptop computer. The benchmark doesn’t appear to like Intel’s technique of utilizing many several types of cores. 

This will likely nonetheless be considerably true with the Intel Core Extremely X7 358H, as its stage of efficiency shouldn’t be what the core depend would possibly lead you to count on, but it surely’s nonetheless fast sufficient to ship a giant acquire over Intel Core Extremely 256/258V chips from the final technology, and it’s now aggressive with AMD Ryzen AI 9 and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. 

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Handbrake was an actual shock. Because the graph reveals, this benchmark has traditionally been quite down on Intel Core Extremely Collection 2, inserting them properly behind AMD Ryzen AI opponents. But Panther Lake makes up the distinction after which some, and squeezes out a slight victory. Because the graph reveals, this can be a big enchancment.

Intel’s Panther Lake appears to be largely spoken of as a graphics story, or a minimum of that was the impression I acquired at CES 2026, however don’t sleep on its CPU efficiency. It’s a giant leap over Lunar Lake. 

It ought to be talked about that Panther Lake at present has the benefit of going first. PC World has but to benchmark a manufacturing laptop computer with AMD’s new Gorgon Level structure (although its beneficial properties are anticipated to be modest) or Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon X2 (which is promised to publish massive beneficial properties). Nonetheless, because it stands proper now, Panther Lake appears stable.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

The Asus ExpertBook Extremely’s built-in graphics efficiency solely sweetens the deal.

Some new Intel Core Extremely Collection 3 chips, together with the Intel Core Extremely X7 358H within the Asus ExpertBook Extremely, have Intel’s Arc B390. It has 12 Xe graphics cores and, on this incarnation, a most clock of two.5GHz. And it’s fairly a beast.

Intel’s Arc B390 cleans up the competitors. In 3DMark Time Spy, probably the most graphically advanced of those exams, it’s about 75 p.c quicker than the HP EliteBook X G1a with AMD Radeon 890M built-in graphics, and over 45 p.c faster than Intel Arc 140V within the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s.

For comparability, I additionally tossed within the Acer Nitro V16 AI with Nvidia RTX 5050 graphics. The RTX 5050 remains to be a lot faster with a Time Spy rating of 9,571, so in case you had been pondering Intel Arc B390 would possibly change fashionable Nvidia discrete cellular graphics, it’s not fairly there.

Nevertheless, the Intel Arc B390’s Time Spy rating is in league with many entry-level RTX 3050 and RTX 4050 laptops from a couple of years in the past. Laptops with these GPUs usually rating between 5,000 and seven,000.

I additionally tried Intel Arc B390 in two video games we incessantly take a look at: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Cyberpunk 2077. Tomb Raider averaged 79 FPS at 1080p decision and the Highest element settings, whereas Cyberpunk 2077 averaged 46 FPS at 1080p and Extremely element. That is playable efficiency, and with none type of XeSS upscaling (which works properly) used to additional improve body charges.

Asus ExpertBook Extremely: Battery life

Asus stuffs a 70 watt-hour battery within the ExpertBook Extremely. That’s a typical battery capability for a Home windows laptop computer of this dimension, so the laptop computer’s longevity comes right down to the effectivity of Intel’s new chip. The outcomes are tremendous however, not like Panther Lake’s efficiency, don’t stand out.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

I recorded a little bit over 15 hours of battery life in PC World’s customary battery rundown take a look at, which loops a 4K file of the quick movie Tears of Metal with the show brightness set to roughly 200 nits. Because the graph reveals, this can be a tremendous however common consequence. Many fashionable Home windows laptops can obtain 15 hours of battery life, although some land far wanting that mark.

My real-world expertise was near the battery life take a look at. The battery drained at a charge that would depart me with about 12 hours of life. I used the laptop computer for my typical workflow, which included writing in LibreOffice, utilizing Google Docs, looking the online, and infrequently modifying pictures with GIMP. 

The ExpertBook ships with a 90-watt energy adapter that may cost the laptop computer by way of both of its two Thunderbolt 4 ports. The ability adapter is compact, measuring lower than three inches in depth and width, and virtually precisely an inch thick.

Whereas the laptop computer will complain if it receives lower than 90 watts of energy, a much less highly effective 45 to 65 watt USB-C energy adapter can cost the laptop computer in case you’re not utilizing it for demanding work—it would simply achieve this extra slowly and should influence efficiency.

Asus ExpertBook Extremely: Conclusion

The Asus ExpertBook Extremely is a stable premium enterprise laptop computer and a major escalation of Asus’ profile within the area.

It’s enticing and light-weight, it has a fantastic keyboard and touchpad, and it affords an easy-to-view matte OLED show. Intel’s Core Extremely X7 358H, in the meantime, delivers nice marks throughout the board with good multi-core CPU efficiency and excellent built-in graphics efficiency. 

I can discover a couple nitpicks. The battery life is simply mediocre and the webcam is merely sufficient. However in these areas the laptop computer is aggressive—it simply doesn’t stand out.

The one open query is the laptop computer’s MSRP, because the ExpertBook Extremely is not going to arrive till April. I do count on it is going to be costly (roughly round $2,500), as is typical for such a laptop computer. Nonetheless, the laptop computer’s high quality is excessive sufficient to be price a premium. It is a critical various to a Dell Professional 14 Premium, ThinkPad X1 Carbon, or HP EliteBook.