ASUS has confirmed that a number of its upcoming laptops will support Amazon Alexa. Amazon recently confirmed that its Alexa assistant would be coming to a number of devices such as earphones and wearables, and now it appears laptops are next in line. Among these laptops will be a number of Windows 10 PCs from ASUS, with both ZenBook and VivoBook models set to be on the list.
The Taiwanese brand has confirmed that the assistant will be included a number of yet-to-be-announced models. Laptops with support for the assistant will allow users to interact with their devices in much more efficient ways, with a number of voice commands being supported, as well as tens of thousands of Alexa Skills. In terms of the visual look, the Windows 10 app is expected to take some cues from the Echo Show app in the form of a taskbar pop up, though it’s important to note that the smart home control will be absent from the Windows 10 app at launch, as well as the calling and messaging features. Of course, Windows 10 laptops already come pre-installed with Microsoft’s own Cortana assistant, so it will be interesting to see how Microsoft reacts to such direct competition one the supported models are available on the market. ASUS is yet to announce which 2018 ZenBook and VivoBook models will ship with support for Alexa, but it did confirm that they will be announced sometime during the first six months of the year, with pricing likely to be confirmed shortly after the announcements. Considering the Alexa app is expected to arrive in spring, though, it’s likely any product announcements will take place nearer the release of the app.
ASUS isn’t the only brand to announced Alexa support for its future laptops. Acer has also announced that many of its laptops will support Alexa, those being the Aspire 5, Aspire 7, Spin 3, Spin 5, Switch 7 Black Edition, Swift 3, Swift 5, Swift 7, Aspire Z24, Aspire U27 and Aspire S24. Not only this, but the company also announced plans to include the assistant in some all-in-one PCs. Aside from the two Taiwan-based brands, HP and China’s Lenovo also confirmed that they would be including support in future models also.