I mince no words when I say this. Asus shouldn’t have turned it up a notch on the business side of things. By doing so, they made the best consumer laptop they’ve ever made, except that it is primarily targeted at businesses. The ExpertBook Ultra is a laptop that has surprised me in a pleasant way, and thank god Asus has made it easily available to the wider population.
It’s a laptop without limitations, and that’s the beauty of it. Yes, it costs a lot, and I wouldn’t recommend most consumers buy them, but I will say that all businesses should buy it in bulk, with a nice discount, and thank me later.
The Asus ExpertBook line has been tailored for the professional. Something that blends in to daily life in the office, and for those ‘on the road’ moments. B2B’s loved it, embraced it, and alongside Lenovo ThinkPads (another darling in the industry), dominated the market share.
1 June 2026
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In 2026, Asus decided to change that narrative in a big way. For 2026, Asus introduced a new model to the line-up. The ExpertBook Ultra is a workhorse, it’s a statement piece, and one that competes, and even surpasses, some of the best in the business (here’s looking at you MacBook Air).
For all that I’m waxing eloquently, there is a downside. With a starting price of ₹2,39,990, and going all the way up to ₹3,49,990 for the 64GB RAM & 2TB SSD variant, the ExpertBook Ultra is far from cheap. I wouldn’t dare recommend you purchase a ₹3,49,990 clamshell (something that isn’t a gaming laptop), but that’s just me. Asus does try and justify the specifications by packing the ExpertBook Ultra to the brim with the latest hardware.
For those buying the ExpertBook Ultra, or getting one from their offices, it is a statement piece.
While business laptops have all been about durable performance for daily office tasks, the ExpertBook Ultra changes that narrative by also making it about aesthetics. With a refined aluminium finish, and coming in at just 1.1 kgs, the laptop is premium through and through. It’s so light that, at most times, I forgot it was a business laptop. It’s built like a tank, as was shown to us during a demo (with gym weights and more), and borders on ultrabook territory.
It also gets the Asus consumer notebook treatment with Ceraluminum. It’s neat and clean, and is fingerprint and smudge resistant. You truly feel like royalty, while using this laptop, something ThinkPad users have been feeling for years.
Port Selection: Robust
Since it’s a business laptop, the port selection is truly robust. There’s a Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, an HDMI 2.1 output and even a 3.5mm combo audio jack on the left-hand side. On the right-side is another Thunderbolt 4 port and another USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port.
Yes, before you ask, both Thunderbolt 4 ports support DisplayPort and Power Delivery. This means, one can charge their devices, connect to external displays, and transfer data from either side simultaneously. Sadly though, there is one big omission: an ethernet port. Asus does include an RJ45 dongle in the port, but it would have been nice if it was just a port.
Display: Genuinely the Star of the Show
With a flagship Tandem OLED panel, along with Corning Gorilla Matte coating, the display on the ExpertBook Ultra does all the talking. It’s a 14-inch Tandem OLED display with a WQXGA+ resolution (2880x1800), a 16:10 aspect ratio, and the best bit of all, an anti-glare touchscreen.
It can reach a peak brightness of 1400 nits in HDR. It’s got 100% DCI-P3 coverage, and is both Pantone Validated and VESA Certified DisplayHDR True Black 1000. With a variable refresh rate between 30Hz and 120Hz, this is one seriously impressive display.
It’s by far one of the best displays on any laptop I’ve tested over the last couple of years. It’s great for professional work, and even better for kicking back at home and watching a movie. Glares are reduced.
Top-Notch Performance
Before we get into the performance, let me just touch upon the audio for a minute. With a six-speaker setup with dual magnetic woofers and two dedicated tweeters, and with Dolby Atmos support, the ExpertBook Ultra’s audio performance is impressive. You can get to high volumes without much distortion.
The only thing lacking is bass, but that’s understandable in such a thin-and-light laptop. And to boot, there's great separation between the right and left speakers.
Okay, time to get back to the performance. The ExpertBook Ultra is powered by Panther Lake processors, Intel’s latest and most impressive chips in a long time. The review unit I got shipped with an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor, and integrated Intel Arc B390 GPU. Paring that with 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, the performance is seriously impressive.
With Intel’s AI Boost NPU, the laptop can deliver up to 50 TOPS for all your AI workloads. Whether you’re rendering 3D files, doing some video editing, handling AI workloads, or even gaming, the laptop can handle it all, The ExpertBook Ultra doesn’t throttle when unplugged and that is a genuine revelation.
Yes, before you ask me, you can very much game on the ExpertBook Ultra.
With Asus’ ExpertCool Pro solution, which features dual 97-blade fans, dual heat pipes, and triple rear exhaust vents, the fans are nearly inaudible, even under heavy loads. The laptop rarely gets warm, and never gets too hot to handle. Some of the best thermal solutions ever in a laptop are in the ExpertBook Ultra.
Keyboard and Touchpad
It felt very comfortable typing on the ExpertBook Ultra. The keyboard has 1.5mm of key travel, with Asus’ Comfort Coating on the keycaps for resisting smudges. The keys are backlit, evenly, and there is even a customisable hotkey. The keys have good feedback, and it does feel like a luxurious typing experience.
On most Asus’ laptops that I’ve tested I’ve had one complaint: the touchpad. The ExpertBook Ultra gets a haptic trackpad, for the first time in the line-ups history, and the feedback is very precise. The trackpad is large enough, with a glass top that feels smooth. For the most part, it had accurate tracking and gestures worked well. It’s one of the best trackpads out there, rivaling the MacBook and some other laptops out there.
Battery Life Any Good?
With all this performance, you’d think the battery life takes a hit. But even in this department, Asus has managed to exceed expectations. There’s a 70WHr cell, which is remarkable for such a thin chassis.
For the first time in what feels like forever, I managed to get through one full work day and then until lunch on the next day without even thinking about needing to reach for the charger. I managed to get about 12 hours of usage on a single charge. There may be laptops with even better battery performance, but for such a powerful laptop, I came away quite impressed.
The battery charges quickly, with a full charge taking just ninety minutes. The laptop can also be charged via a power bank, which is genuinely useful.
Verdict: A Business Laptop Disguised as a Consumer Ultrabook?
It’s a statement, through and through. That’s the best way of putting it. I’m not happy with respect to the pricing, but that’s genuinely the only area I can complain about. Asus has reached for the gauntlet and genuinely delivered a business laptop that I, as a consumer, wants to go out and purchase. The game changer is no doubt the Tandem OLED matte display.
It’s Asus’ no compromise Windows laptop. With one of the thinnest and lightest chassis out there, the ExpertBook Ultra holds back nothing. For businesses, there is nothing like this. With a bulk purchase, from an office, the price should be more palatable. The consumer, on the other hand, really has to think twice before spending this kind of money. It is worth it, for sure, but I don’t think I can fully recommend a maxed out ExpertBook Ultra at ₹3,49,990!
For now though, I’ll just say one thing. The ExpertBook Ultra is the laptop to beat for 2026. Here’s looking at you Nvidia RTX Spark, and various laptop manufacturers on board.
