The Asus Vivobook Slate 13 Artist editions are two very colourful convertibles
Colourful cartoons and a lobster/fried egg combo brighten up Asus' limited-run 2-in-1 laptop
Two-in-one laptops aren’t usually served sunny side up, but that’s exactly what you’re getting with the new Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED Artists Edition. The detachable Windows laptop has been given two colourful makeovers: one by a lobster-loving pop artist, the other by a born-and-bred LA patternista.
Each of the two special edition machines comes with its own bespoke hardware design, packaging and accessories. Philip Colbert’s Vivobook is Lobster Land-themed, blending fried eggs with the creator’s signature character. Patterns cover the kickstand, and a colour-matched cargo net on the back can hold paperwork or knick-knacks.
There’s a set of stickers to continue the visual assault on the removable keyboard, and a sculpted lobster figure that doubles as a holder for the bundled ASUS Pen stylus. A protective sleeve completes the set, with its own patterns (and even more lobster).
For an even bigger hit of colourful characters, you’ll want the version customised by Steven Harrington. The Cali-inspired creations cover the entire back of the device, with the artist’s signature palm tree logo on the kickstand. It too gets a set of stickers to customise the keyboard further, along with a protective sleeve finished with a similar pattern. The packaging is made from recycled materials and inks, in line with the artist’s eco-friendly ethos.
Underneath those eye-catching designs, the Vivobook 13 Slate OLED remains the world’s first 13.3-inch detachable Windows laptop. Power comes from a quad-core Intel Pentium Silver N6000, paired with either 4 or 8GB of memory and 128 or 256GB of storage. There’s a 13MP rear camera and 5MP front webcam, plus two USB 3.2 Type-C ports, a microSD card reader and 3.5mm combo port at the sides.
The highlight is the OLED display, a 1080p panel with 550 nits peak brightness and 100% DCI-P3 colour coverage. It’s protected by Gorilla Glass, supports Dolby Vision HDR playback, and naturally works as a touchscreen for when it isn’t attached to the keyboard.
Both models will be launching later this month, but Asus isn’t talking prices just yet. If you’re sold on the looks, you’d better get in line: each one will be made in strictly limited numbers.
Asus is also revamping the rest of its Vivobook laptop line-up this month, spearheaded by the Vivobook Pro 16X OLED. The firm reckons it’s the world’s first 16in laptop with a 3200×2000, 120Hz OLED panel, and it hasn’t skimped on the rest of the spec sheet either. 12th Gen Intel CPUs up to a 14-core, 5GHz i9, as much as 32GB of RAM, 2TB of PCIe SSD storage and a dedicated GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics chip promise impeccable performance.
It too will arrive later in May, with UK pricing yet to be revealed.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
