iTWire TV: Asus’ APAC GM, Rex Lee, sees the RAM crisis as an opportunity for its ExpertBook Ultra to gain interest from business buyers
iTWire interviewed Asus’ APAC Commercial General Manager, Rex Lee, in Singapore at the company’s major introduction of its new flagship laptop, the Asus ExpertBook Ultra. Rex tells us why he thinks this impressive machine can break the stranglehold of Dell, Lenovo and HP thanks to its innovative features, performance, battery life, toughness and overall TCO (total cost of ownership). After you’ve watched the short interview, you can read the full review over at High Performance Laptops.
Transcript
00:00:08:02 – 00:00:11:17
Hi, I’m Nick Ross I’m in
00:00:11:17 – 00:00:15:20
Singapore at the launch of the Asus
Expertbook Ultra.
00:00:15:23 – 00:00:17:26
Who are you and what you do, please.
00:00:17:26 – 00:00:22:17
Yeah, I’m Rex Lee the APAC
commercial general manager for Asus.
00:00:22:20 – 00:00:25:07
And can you tell us about today’s
event, please?
00:00:25:07 – 00:00:25:16
Yeah.
00:00:25:16 – 00:00:28:29
Today, you know, we gather
all the media here and enterprise
00:00:28:29 – 00:00:32:28
customer to join the Asus ExpertBook
Ultra launch event,
00:00:33:01 – 00:00:36:01
and we have around
500 people in the event.
00:00:36:07 – 00:00:38:11
And this event is
not just a presentation.
00:00:38:11 – 00:00:40:14
You know,
we have a product experience zone.
00:00:40:14 – 00:00:44:02
There are 26 stations
for the product experience.
00:00:44:05 – 00:00:44:12
Yeah.
00:00:44:12 – 00:00:47:00
So I think is quite interesting event
for our customer.
00:00:47:00 – 00:00:47:15
Yeah.
00:00:47:15 – 00:00:50:13
We I’m going to be writing up
an awful lot about these
00:00:50:13 – 00:00:54:03
these stations
which are for those watching this
00:00:54:03 – 00:00:58:14
go into great detail about how
you can torture this laptop to bits
00:00:58:17 – 00:01:02:02
and it won’t break,
to quite an extensive degree.
00:01:02:05 – 00:01:04:23
Although don’t try that at home,
I’m sure.
00:01:04:23 – 00:01:08:07
And so just expanding on that,
can you tell us what is special
00:01:08:07 – 00:01:10:00
about this laptop?
00:01:10:00 – 00:01:12:13
This is laptop Asus ExpertBook Ultra.
00:01:12:13 – 00:01:15:28
We say, you know, it’s
not just the flagship of Asus.
00:01:16:01 – 00:01:19:19
We believe it can be the flagship
of the whole industry, you know,
00:01:19:19 – 00:01:23:16
and we have all the station,
you know, to let customers try it:
00:01:23:19 – 00:01:26:18
why we think we had
the best laptop screen in the world,
00:01:26:19 – 00:01:30:00
you know, and we compare our 3K,
1,000 nit, Tandem
00:01:30:03 – 00:01:33:03
OLED with all the other competitors
00:01:33:07 – 00:01:35:29
and customer
can experience it by themselves
00:01:35:29 – 00:01:38:18
and the CPU performance,
the battery life,
00:01:38:18 – 00:01:42:04
the keyboard, the touchpad,
the speaker, everything.
00:01:42:07 – 00:01:45:22
So I think after all, the product
experience zones..
00:01:45:24 – 00:01:47:13
But what about you?
Are you convinced?
00:01:47:13 – 00:01:49:17
Well I been I’ve been using this.
00:01:49:17 – 00:01:50:20
We’re talking to you.
00:01:50:20 – 00:01:52:07
We’re filming on it right now.
00:01:52:07 – 00:01:55:07
I’ve been using
for the last two weeks, so, I’ve
00:01:55:09 – 00:01:59:03
and I’ve not destroyed it
after Computex and then flying here.
00:01:59:03 – 00:02:02:02
Think it’s going very well, and,
00:02:02:02 – 00:02:06:09
Yeah, I mean, it’s one kilo
and the battery just.
00:02:06:09 – 00:02:10:00
I haven’t had to carry a charger
around…
00:02:10:03 – 00:02:11:22
I’m big fan of the screen.
00:02:11:22 – 00:02:14:11
More of that, please.
00:02:14:11 – 00:02:17:24
You,
I think, Asus is the only one doing,
00:02:17:24 – 00:02:21:25
matte OLED I don’t know.
00:02:22:01 – 00:02:24:25
Lots people don’t like, non glossy.
00:02:24:25 – 00:02:27:16
OLED, they’re wrong.
More of that, please.
00:02:27:16 – 00:02:31:19
Gaming laptops, monitors, the lot.
00:02:31:22 – 00:02:33:16
I’ve dialled that
00:02:33:19 – 00:02:36:27
in now but,
00:02:37:00 – 00:02:41:02
speaking on that, actually, I know
it’s like a flagship business laptop,
00:02:41:05 – 00:02:44:12
but we have noticed that
these Panther Lake-based
00:02:44:15 – 00:02:47:07
laptops,
I wouldn’t call them gaming laptops,
00:02:47:07 – 00:02:51:03
but I am saying they’re laptops
that can play games.
00:02:51:06 – 00:02:53:17
How much are you pushing that?
00:02:53:17 – 00:02:56:18
Or do you not want,
like, the boss to basically
00:02:56:18 – 00:03:01:01
say, here’s a gaming laptop for
we can say, you know,
00:03:01:04 – 00:03:05:17
many PC users after work,
they also play games, right?
00:03:05:20 – 00:03:08:17
So we believe
it can be a perfect combination
00:03:08:17 – 00:03:11:24
not only for the business user,
for content creator,
00:03:12:01 – 00:03:15:21
for the engineering
people is the perfect laptop right.
00:03:15:28 – 00:03:20:16
I think you know
the graphic format equal to RTX 4050.
00:03:20:19 – 00:03:23:21
In fact a screen and I would only 0.9
00:03:23:22 – 00:03:27:17
KG divice only 10.9 mm thickness.
00:03:27:20 – 00:03:30:20
And the performance
50-Watt CPU performance
00:03:30:22 – 00:03:34:18
graphic
almost level RTX 4050 amazing.
00:03:34:21 – 00:03:37:17
Before you never see
this kind of combination before.
00:03:37:17 – 00:03:38:08
So I think
00:03:38:08 – 00:03:41:28
it’s not only for business, even
for content creator, for engineer.
00:03:42:01 – 00:03:43:15
It’s a perfect laptop for me.
00:03:43:15 – 00:03:48:24
Yeah, I’ve been doing some,
video editing on it, and, it
00:03:48:27 – 00:03:51:04
for thin and light
laptops that I’ve used in the past.
00:03:51:04 – 00:03:55:05
It’s been quite nice
having something that is,
00:03:55:05 – 00:04:00:13
not taking ten minutes
and taking two minutes instead.
00:04:00:16 – 00:04:01:17
On the business front.
00:04:01:17 – 00:04:06:29
No, now, Asus has been making
really good business laptops
00:04:06:29 – 00:04:12:11
for a while, but the business laptop
market is basically the MSP market.
00:04:12:11 – 00:04:16:12
Buying bulk and servicing
SMEs, enterprise vertical market.
00:04:16:15 – 00:04:17:15
That is,
00:04:17:15 – 00:04:18:08
something
00:04:18:08 – 00:04:19:15
I think
a lot of people are interested
00:04:19:15 – 00:04:20:10
about how you’re going
00:04:20:10 – 00:04:24:12
to break into it, where you are now
and and what’s the strategy.
00:04:24:15 – 00:04:28:00
Yeah, I think in, the concept
we want to deliver to our customers
00:04:28:00 – 00:04:30:29
the total cost of ownership.
00:04:31:03 – 00:04:32:07
And we say now, today,
00:04:32:07 – 00:04:34:10
then, you know, we find the mentality
of a competitor.
00:04:34:10 – 00:04:38:01
Now they just focus on
how to make more profit
00:04:38:04 – 00:04:41:03
by lowering down
the cost of the device production.
00:04:41:06 – 00:04:45:09
So at this point in the launch event,
we show our laptop with people open
00:04:45:12 – 00:04:48:00
all the other competitors we did.
00:04:48:00 – 00:04:51:07
Customers see the difference
in kind of product design.
00:04:51:10 – 00:04:55:03
Why we think our product’s better,
more durable, more reliable.
00:04:55:06 – 00:04:56:26
I think you see all the tests.
00:04:56:26 – 00:04:57:23
Right. Outside.
00:04:57:23 – 00:05:01:27
How we handle the hinge,
how we handle the water resistant
00:05:01:27 – 00:05:06:01
keyboard, how we handle,
you know, the I/O ports, right.
00:05:06:03 – 00:05:11:00
And all the drop tested, you know,
we tested, they cut the no.
00:05:11:03 – 00:05:13:16
In terms of total cost of ownership,
00:05:13:16 – 00:05:16:11
we are lower
compared to our competitors.
00:05:16:11 – 00:05:20:17
So I think for MSP, once
they joined over, they experience it.
00:05:20:20 – 00:05:22:07
They get confident,
00:05:22:07 – 00:05:25:23
you know, this is a better product
for their customers.
00:05:25:26 – 00:05:28:03
Okay. And
00:05:28:06 – 00:05:29:00
what else is
00:05:29:00 – 00:05:32:04
Asus working on in the background
that you can tell us about.
00:05:32:04 – 00:05:35:15
There’s all kinds of skunkworks
secret projects that you can’t,
00:05:35:15 – 00:05:37:29
but there must be something
you can say, that you can. Yeah.
00:05:37:29 – 00:05:38:10
Okay.
00:05:38:10 – 00:05:40:26
First,
I want to emphasize in Computex
00:05:40:26 – 00:05:43:01
this year, we are launching,
you know, our agentic
00:05:43:01 – 00:05:44:27
AI software, Zenni Claw.
00:05:44:27 – 00:05:49:16
We believe in now,
you know, before is, generative AI.
00:05:49:19 – 00:05:52:18
The next big mega trend
is Agentic AI.
00:05:52:24 – 00:05:55:13
So I think we are ready for that
solution.
00:05:55:13 – 00:05:58:12
And, ExpertBook
Ultra is our flagship.
00:05:58:19 – 00:06:02:05
And we are also working on
amazing product for the mainstream.
00:06:02:08 – 00:06:04:01
It will come on in Q4 this year.
00:06:04:01 – 00:06:05:09
So stay tuned.
00:06:05:09 – 00:06:07:01
It will be big news coming soon.
00:06:07:01 – 00:06:10:19
And how do you see the laptop
industry in the next 12 months?
00:06:10:19 – 00:06:12:11
Because a lot is happening.
00:06:12:11 – 00:06:13:29
It’s changed a huge amount.
00:06:13:29 – 00:06:17:18
What’s the Asus perspective on that?
00:06:17:21 – 00:06:19:02
A lot of changes, right?
00:06:19:02 – 00:06:22:01
You see the memory SSD price
going sky high.
00:06:22:08 – 00:06:25:18
But we see the opportunity
in the street.
00:06:25:21 – 00:06:29:08
You know in the past 20-30 years
all the customer look at Dell,
00:06:29:08 – 00:06:30:23
Lenovo and HP.
00:06:30:23 – 00:06:34:04
If they don’t make a mistake
we don’t have opportunity now
00:06:34:04 – 00:06:38:10
because memory price going sky high
and shortage for every component.
00:06:38:13 – 00:06:41:12
A lot of tender
that our competitors cannot deliver.
00:06:41:15 – 00:06:44:23
So now we find the customer open
mind right.
00:06:44:25 – 00:06:48:26
So alternative solution
they are looking for alternative.
00:06:48:29 – 00:06:52:25
So I think this year it’s fantastic
timing for Asus’ commercial PC.
00:06:52:28 – 00:06:54:02
And is there anything else
00:06:54:02 – 00:06:58:03
you’d like to say
to the Australian B2B tech market.
00:06:58:06 – 00:07:03:08
Yes before people may see
Asus as a consumer PC is a gaming PC,
00:07:03:11 – 00:07:05:22
but please spend some time with us.
00:07:05:22 – 00:07:08:21
We’ll have a lot of material
coming out after this event.
00:07:08:21 – 00:07:10:20
Spend some time to study
those materials.
00:07:10:20 – 00:07:15:01
You’ll find Asus is fantastic
commercial PC solution for you,
00:07:15:04 – 00:07:17:20
right? Okay. Thank you very much.
00:07:17:20 – 00:07:18:03
Thank you.