Pocket-lint got to have a brief play-around with Asus' new Zenbook, the NX500, today at Computex and it left a very pleasing impression on most of our senses.

Asus seemed pretty proud of the new Zenbook NX500's display, and rightly so. At 100 per cent NTSC it's incredibly bright and the colours really pop - the Asus team compared it to bringing TV standard to a notebook and that seems fair enough to us. In the photo below you can see a usual 73 per cent NTSC display alongside. The difference is marked.

With 4K/UHD, Asus was bearing future 4K video in mind when they went for this display and we think you'd be hard put to be disappointed in it.

asus zenbook nx500 pictures and hands on image 3

Asus appear to have put a lot of love into the design which is sleek and good looking. The body boasts Asus' trademark brushed aluminium finish, which is pleasant to the touch. A nice embellishment is the "Diamond Cut" trim around the edge of the keyboard which gives an almost futuristic (and not in a tacky way) finish to the whole unit and is very pleasing to the eye.

However the goodies don't stop there. Asus' continued partnership with Bang & Olufsen with ICEpower and titanium film speakers makes for pretty decent sound for a notebook. Again, the speakers are beautifully incorporated into the design on the keyboard area which allows the sound to travel well to the user.

There wasn't much loaded up on it in the way of music but we managed to find a demo video with audio and we have to say that while we can't say how it would handle heavy bass, for example, we were pretty impressed.

asus zenbook nx500 pictures and hands on image 4

The operation - powered by Intel Core i7 quad-core processor, with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 850M graphics card - is slick and prompt, and Asus suggests that it has a battery life of around 7 to 8 hours. 

There are all the right ports - with 3x USB 3.0, HDMI, MDI, Audio Jack and an SD card slot. As you'd expect all are unobtrusively flush to the edge.

With a 15.6-inch display this is definitely a workstation which doubles up as a convincing entertainment system and is gaming capable.  While you might not be able to carry it around the house one-handed - the screen size means it is a little too large for such antics - it weighs a respectable 2.2kg and is slimline at just 19mm. You'd certainly draw a few admiring glances if you pulled it out in a meeting.

The Asus team were able to confirm that the NX500 will arrive in Europe at the end of August, but are unable as yet to give a price range.