Asus has added two new 15-inch Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabooks to its VivoBook line up.
The new VivoBook S500 and S550 adopt a relatively thin .85-inch profile, but still weigh 4.6-pounds each. However, each builds on its ultrabook looks by incorporating hybrid storage options with combinations including a 24GB flash memory for quick booting and a 500GB spinning hard drive for expanded storage.
The two models differ fundamentally with the inclusion of an optical drive on the S550 (from $750), while it also comes with the choice of Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 CPUs. The S500 (from $650) comes without an optical drive and the one CPU configuration of a Core i5 clocked at 1.7GHz matched with 6GB of RAM. Both, however, center on the same 15.6-inch 1366×768 multi-touch capable display.
Connectivity on both notebooks includes Wi-Fi 802.11n, 1 USB 3.0 port, 2 USB ports, an HDMI port as well as an SD card reader. Also included are an Ethernet port as well as a LAN RJ-45 port, with Sonic Master stereo speakers for an optimized sound experience.
The Asus VivoBook S500 and S550 are both available now in the US and Canada.
