The ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501 is ready to make its U.S. debut, coming at the high-end segment of the market and gunning for the MacBook Pro.

With a light design and a 15.6-inch display, the ASUS ZenBook Pro UX 501 Windows PC offers an ultra-high resolution display, a speedy processor, plenty of RAM, a blazing-fast SSD, dedicated graphics, and a long battery life, among the highlights.

"Featuring a slim and stylish chassis, the ZenBook Pro UX501 is a compact powerhouse that delights the eyes with a superb 15.6-inch VisualMaster IPS display that provides a stunningly-detailed 4K/UHD resolution and an amazing pixel density of 282 pixels per inch (PPI)," ASUS touted in a news release on Monday, April 27.

"The ZenBook Pro UX501 blends uncompromised performance with a timeless and classic design, incorporating the elegance and style that is the hallmark of the ZenBook family. Its slim and compact chassis is just 0.81-inches thin for easy portability and is sculpted from lightweight aluminum featuring the iconic spun-metal finish. Brushed metal surfaces and diamond-cut chamfers on the edges add brilliant highlights while the keyboard surround is enhanced with a stylish laser-engraved ripple-effect pattern."

When it comes to specifications, the ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501 features a 15.6-inch IPS display with a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, 100% sRGB color coverage, and 178-degree viewing angles. Under the hood, the device packs a powerful quad-core Intel Core i7-4720HQ processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M graphics with 2GB of dedicated memory. The SSD, meanwhile, can read and write at speeds of up to 1,400 MB/s, which is quite impressive.

Other specifications of the ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501 include a backlit keyboard with a numeric keypad, a 720p front camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 4.0, a Thunderbolt port, three USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and an SD card reader.

The ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501 is now available for purchase in the U.S. from the ASUS Store and select resellers, sporting a starting price of $1,799. That's quite a lot for many laptop shoppers, but it's still considerably less than the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display it's gunning for. On the other hand, the higher-end ZenBook Pro model with dedicated graphics starts at $2,499.

For more information about the sleek ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501, head over to the product page on the ASUS website at this link.