Not a gimmick! I got hands on with ASUS' surprisingly stunning new 'Ceraluminum' laptops – this is design for designers

I'm here at Milan Design Week, where ASUS has revealed its new Signature Edition range of Ceraluminum Zenbook laptops in four new colours. Cera-what? I hear you ask. It took a few goes for me to say it right, too. But honestly, it's a material I think we should be seeing a lot more of in laptop production. Feather-light, with a beautiful finish (and no fingerprint smudging at all – I'm looking at you Space Black MacBook), it's a new material on the block and a wonderful step forward for design. These four new signature designs are added temporarily to the existing Ceraluminum range, and come in colours inspired by nature – Obsidian Black, Pamukkale White, Terra Mocha, and Luminous Blue.

Made by fusing ceramic materials with aluminium (hence Ceraluminum, get it?), this high-tech material is as light and durable as aluminium but retains ceramic's anti-scratch properties. And in a big tick for sustainability, the material is 100% recyclable. Anyway that's the science stuff out of the way, onto why I actually think it's cool.

Full transparency: I entered the ASUS "Design You Can Feel" exhibit fully ready to feel a bit jaded. The vibe was 'serious conceptual design' and it was... a lot, with a massive art installation created to showcase the vibes of the Ceraluminum (it moved and swayed when participants walked over the bridge-like structure).

But beyond the dance performance, there was plenty to like, even love. ASUS is a tech company that's really trying to innovate in the right ways, especially for creative professionals. On the whole, there's nothing gimmicky here (excluding the laptop that sprays perfume – yes, really – but we'll get onto that another time), but well-made laptops with features that enhance a creative workflow. And they looked even more stunning thanks to the Ceraluminum casing. They really did.

The different benefits of the material, which took four years to develop, were showcased through tactile experiments set up around the space, showing how the surface repels water (above), and exactly how light it is (very light indeed – below). The full range of laptops was set up amongst them.

When ASUS originally released the Ceraluminum range at London Design Week, we caught up with ASUS' Chief Design Officer, Mitch Yang who explained the design philosophy to us: "We use three words: simplicity, method, and meaning," he said. "Everything from the colour to the texture has to be meaningful, not just something different for the sake of different."

The same can be said for the tech – the innovation feels meaningful in a way other variations from the standard laptop design don't. Lenovo's rollable second screen may have grabbed headlines, but wasn't beautifully designed – it looks clunky, whereas ASUS' Zenbook Duo is sleek, doesn't look like a novelty and fits into the range as a genuinely useable laptop.

So how do they feel? Really quite dreamy, actually. I can see why ASUS has gone so far with the sensory-based marketing, because the laptops really do feel different to others I've tried. They're silky smooth to touch, and the sleekness of the design is genuinely pleasing, even calming. And this is exactly how they're meant to feel as they’re inspired by nature and meant to feel organic.

Given ASUS is creating laptops for creatives, it's a clever move to be so 'design' about it. And this is clearly a deliberate choice because the company's gaming laptops are essentially the same tech inside but packaged up differently for a very different user base. Not only is the difference in in the external design and design philosophy but it's also in the branding. Sure, this feels obvious but ASUS is taking it to the next level - designing for designers and doing it well.

We've been championing ASUS for a long time on CB (the Studiobook has been at the top of our graphic design laptops guide for a couple of years now), and it feels like the company is hitting its stride in carving out a place for itself in a crowded market. Lucky for creatives, its sights are firmly set on them – and they're pushing boundaries in ways that are genuinely exciting, and useful (besides that perfumed laptop, of course).