ASUS wants to change how we think about high-end business laptops. To that end, the Taiwanese company unveiled the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra in the Philippines.

You’re looking at a Copilot+ PC that challenges the old assumption that an executive notebook must sacrifice performance for portability. At just under a kilo, it skips the usual ultra-portable compromises, while featuring a featherlight footprint that uses a rigid magnesium-aluminum alloy frame, backed by 24 MIL-STD-810H tests. It also gets a 9H Nano Ceramic scratch-resistant finish paired with a shatter-resistant Gorilla Glass Victus display.

Instead of a low-wattage chip meant for light office work, the brand squeezed an Intel Core Ultra processor and a 14-inch 3K Tandem OLED touchscreen into a frame that’s thinner than an AA battery.

Predictably, packaging a lot of performance into a sub-kilogram laptop commands a high premium. The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra is now available in the Philippines with a ₱129,995 (around $2,115) starting price through authorized retail stores and official ASUS storefronts on Lazada and Shopee. To sweeten the launch, early buyers who grab the device before July 31 get an early-bird bundle worth over ₱13,000 ($212), including a free 100-watt GaN charger and ₱10,000 ($163) in SSI gift vouchers.

We got to see the ExpertBook Ultra up close during a local pre-launch briefing, and the physical footprint is quite jarring when you consider what’s inside — plus the cooling that complements it. While the laptop tops out with an Intel Core Ultra X9 Series 3 processor, ASUS claims its specialized cooling layout, which relies on a redesigned dual-fan system packed with ultra-thin blades, allows that high-end silicon to run at a sustained 50-watt thermal design power without throttling.

Typically, notebooks this light have to strictly limit performance to prevent overheating. But with this much thermal headroom, the Intel Arc B390 graphics and a PCIe Gen 5 SSD hitting data speeds past 14,000 MB/s are freed up to handle complex workflows and customized AI agents entirely on-device.

Oh, and we have to talk about the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra’s display. The company opted for a Gorilla Glass Matte finish on that Tandem OLED panel. Matte screens are always a bit divisive — some users love the glare reduction, others miss the glossy, high-contrast visuals — but we’ll admit it makes shooting hands-on photos infinitely easier when you aren’t fighting light reflections.

Then there’s the input experience. ASUS went with a 110cm² edge-to-edge glass haptic touchpad here, and it’s a departure from the stiff, mechanical “diving board” hinges found in most flagship Windows machines. Driven by an AAC haptic motor and six independent force sensors, the click mechanism feels instantly familiar if you’ve ever used a modern Apple MacBook Pro. The feedback is uniform and silent no matter where your finger presses on the glass surface. It really feels dialed in, outclassing the mushy or overly clicky vibration feedback we usually get from the competition.

ASUS ExpertBook Ultra (B9406CAA) specs

• 14-inch 3K (2880 x 1800) Tandem OLED display, 120Hz variable refresh rate, 1,400 nits HDR peak brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus with Gorilla Glass Matte
• Up to Intel Core Ultra X9-388H processor
• Integrated Intel Arc B390 GPU
• Up to 64GB LPDDR5x RAM
• Up to 2TB PCIe Gen 5.0 NVMe storage
• IR facial recognition camera with physical webcam shield
• Windows 11 Pro / Home / Pro Education
• 70Wh battery with 100W USB-C GaN charging
• ASUS ExpertCool Pro Technology, 110 cm² glass haptic touchpad
• MIL-STD-810H rating, NIST SP 800-193 compliance
• Color option: Magnesium-Aluminum with Nano Ceramic Technology finish

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