ASUS ExpertBook B6 Flip: Big and Powerful Business Laptop for Architects

Today we received a review unit of ASUS’ latest business laptop, the ASUS ExpertBook B6 Flip. We were told that this is specifically designed for those individuals under the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry.
This review will tackle different aspects including its design, input, performance and lastly what’s our take on this portable workstation.

Design & Specification

Similar to the earlier reviewed ExpertBook B7, the B6 Flip features a minimalist yet solid design that has been a recurring theme for all of ASUS’ business notebooks. It is their first 16 inch in this segment and it feels bigger as I’ve been used to handling 13” and 14”-inch laptops. While it’s great to have a bigger screen, I do feel that the laptop itself is a bit heavy to lug around together with its hefty 240W power brick, especially if you plan to visit multiple sites daily. On the topic of carrying this around, the B6 Flip passes US MIL-STD 810H durability ensuring that this device will work flawlessly regardless where you are – be it in an office or on a construction site.

Internally, the ASUS Expertbook B6 Flip can handle most tasks smoothly with its powerful components including up to an Intel® Core™ i9-12950HX vPro, NVIDIA® Quadro® RTX A2000, 4 SODIMM slots with a max memory support of 128GB of DDR5 memory with ECC support, and finally dual PCIe® 4.0 M.2 drives (My review unit came with 64GB of memory and 2TB of NVMe drive). ASUS also boasts its ISV certification for thus ensuring its compatibility with specific software products.

Keyboard & Trackpad

One of the perks of having a bigger laptop is the inclusion of a numpad. Perfect for those working on a corporate setup or just individuals who tend to work with numbers, spreadsheets and even various calculations. Personally though I am not that used to typing with a numpad but entire experience was surprisingly enjoyable on this laptop despite having a standard chiclet style keyboard. It is also backlit and spill resistant so typing even those late night coffee work sessions shouldn’t be a problem.
While I had positive overall experience with the keyboard, the trackpad on the other hand is a bit of a miss on my end. First, I am quite perplexed why it is so small for a 16-inch device and there is a slight wobbling feeling which is unacceptable on a more premium laptop.

Camera & Speakers

Webcam on this device is on an acceptable level given that this is a business-oriented laptop, (unfortunately, I forgot to save a photo for reference). It also comes with a sliding cover when you are not using it. Bottom firing speakers are also decent and are something you’ll just use for casual calls and entertainment.

Display

Out of the box, the display of this is noticeably better than other business-oriented laptops if you ignore the awfully thick bezels; We are not living in 2015 anymore ASUS. The display features a massive 16:10 WQXGA IPS display that is at the same time touch enabled so you can use this even for presentations with its 360° flippable feature. I wished though that they have included a stylus here as it is also one of their highlights over at their product page.
Color accuracy is also great, covering 100% sRGB, 87% Adobe RGB, and 99% DCI-P3, covering wider color space when doing 3D mock ups for clients. Something I got disappointed though was at its peak brightness. My calibration tool was able to detect only 391 nits of brightness which is far from the claimed 500 nits in their product website. This might be a consideration for some, especially if you plan to work outside in broad daylight.

Connectivity & Upgradeability

Individuals who are always on site will want a hefty amount of ports to accommodate all external devices that they might be bringing. And surprisingly, the Expertbook B6 Flip has enough ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, a gigabit ethernet, two display inputs and an audio combo jack, to handle multiple devices even including a smart card reader for an extra added layer of security. I would have wished for a full sized SD card reader as it is still equally important to those who are on the field instead of placing a dedicated volume key on the side.
Unfortunately, Since this is a review unit, tearing it down is not possible but I was informed that this can support up to 128GB of DDR5 storage given it has 4 SODIMM slots, suited for those complex virtualization and 2 M.2 drives with RAID functionality for those massive 3D data sets. Kudos to ASUS for actually supporting multiple memory slots with ECC support as cherry on top!

Benchmarks

I’ve been out of the reviewing scene for quite some time, so I don't have much comparison data to use versus the ExpertBook B6 Flip, but I’ll be posting all my numbers below for reference as a basis for my future reviews. Rest assured that this 16-core workstation handled most of my benchmarks with ease even rivaling my desktop CPU. I’ve also included a few gaming benchmarks as well for those individuals who actually play with their laptop during their free time and to gauge the performance of the RTX A2000 as well.

Temps, Noise & Battery Life

As part of my temperature testing, I’ve been running Cinebench R23 for 30 minutes and the results are pretty good. Recorded idle is at 42°C on a 30°C ambient room temp and it initially spiked to 91°C to maintain its boost freq but the actual average recorded temps is at 82°C while only increasing to 85°C, and 74°C for GPU, once we fire up Furmark as well for a combined CPU and GPU load. Noise level on the other hand reached to a 46.1 dBA for combined load on a 40 dBA ambient noise level. Really surprised that the cooling and noise level for this device are actually manageable given that my review sample packs a Core i9 CPU.
ASUS claimed that the Expertbook B6 Flip can reach up to 10 hours of battery life but then again, it might be on a very conservative setup. Right now a 1080p Youtube video playback at 50% brightness and volume garnered me just over 5 hours of play time which is a bit short but understandable given the powerful hardware this device packs.

Intel vPro® & ExpertBook Security

One might ask, would an i7 vPro outperform a regular i7? Short answer would be no but there are exclusive features that sets vPro processors apart that could prove useful for enterprises. I wouldn't delve too much on this one but basically Intel vPro® offers an extra layer of hardware based security and modern remote manageability gear towards businesses and enterprises. At the same time, ASUS doesn’t take security lightly as the ExpertBook B6 Flip also has security features like TCG Opal support, TPM 2.0, fingerprint/proximity sensors and physical security like kensington lock and webcam privacy shield.

Models & Prices

Locally right now, the ASUS Expertbook B6 Flip starts at a price of 134,995.00 for the Intel® Core™ i7-12850HX vPro® model, while this review unit that I am using doesn’t have a price yet as they plan to offer this one exclusively to those business and establishments.

Conclusion

The ExpertBook family including the ExpertBook B6 Flip are clearly targeted to a certain demographic, and I do appreciate ASUS doing this as well, especially how they’re not afraid to target even those niche segments. This is a powerful device sporting an Intel® Core™ vPro CPU and NVIDIA® Quadro® GPU while including nifty features like four SODIMM slots, 360° flip design, spill resistant keyboard, and robust security among the few.
But I do have to mention some improvements like the flimsy touchpad, thick screen bezels and missing SD card reader. I personally think that these are important aspects that need to be looked upon in order for the B6 Flip to compete at the top spot in terms of the best portable workstation out there.