Why I recommend this Asus laptop over the MacBook Pro to creators and professionals

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Asus ProArt P16 is out there now, beginning at $1,900.
• It pairs highly effective {hardware} with a set of customizable choices designed for creatives.
• The deep personalization requires engagement from the consumer, the massive trackpad will not be everybody’s cup of tea, and the ultra-glossy show tends to glare.

Over at Finest Purchase, the Asus ProArt P16 is on sale for $1,700.

Asus’ ProArt collection consists of modern laptops with high-end {hardware} for creatives. On the prime of the road is the brand new AMD-powered ProArt P16, which exudes energy and efficiency with a modern, all-black type issue, large trackpad with Asus’ proprietary DialPad, and a superb show. 

I had an opportunity to go hands-on with the ProArt P16 just a few months in the past and located it to be a extremely succesful machine with quite a lot of uncooked energy. Nonetheless, it additionally requires some customization and optimization to get probably the most out of it. Earlier than I contact on that, let’s check out the {hardware}.

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The ProArt P16 has 32GB of reminiscence, an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, and a 12-core, 24-thread chip with a 50 TOP NPU. This sturdy core powers the gadget’s inventive endeavors, whether or not video modifying, utilizing superior animation or graphic design packages, or just multitasking with a handful of various apps and dozens of browser tabs.

Probably the greatest components of this laptop computer, nevertheless, is its show. The five hundred-nit, 3840 x 2400 decision AMOLED touchscreen show delivers a crisp, brilliant image with a shiny, premium coating. Powered by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, it options DLSS 3 (Deep Studying Tremendous Sampling) and help for ray tracing.

Though it might ship a superb gaming expertise, it is held again a bit by the 60Hz refresh price, which is a part of the give-and-take of the gadget’s general characteristic set. Asus’ determination to restrict the refresh price is disappointing, however it retains the worth level low and solidifies its supposed use case as a creator-first machine. 

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In that vein, it comes with a stylus that feels exact and responsive, particularly on the sleek, shiny show, which appears like a clean canvas beckoning you to sketch on. The pen on this laptop computer is nice sufficient for artists and designers to make use of severely, as all too typically, they’re both too laggy or too barebones to justify utilizing. Right here, nevertheless, it is snappy and responsive and comes with numerous capabilities that work in tandem with the DialPad to energy customizable, single-click actions. 

I additionally respect that this laptop computer is not a 2-in-1. Convertible laptops are sometimes pressured to change to pill mode if you wish to use them with a stylus, as urgent on the show in laptop computer mode pushes it down until you help it together with your hand. 

The ProArt P16 was designed with this in thoughts, because the show locks into place at its furthest angle. As a substitute of folding again from the stress of the pen, it stays upright with a beneficiant diploma of bend. Simply needless to say pushing again too onerous will end result within the entrance of the gadget lifting off the desk. 

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The Asus DialPad is one other distinctive characteristic that creatives will like to tinker with. If you have not seen it earlier than, it is a small, raised wheel on the trackpad that may be personalized to activate completely different settings, like altering brush sizes in Photoshop or chopping, pausing, or rewinding in CapCut or Premiere. The DialPad’s small bodily measurement makes activating and scrolling by way of the “wheel” quick and straightforward, particularly for frequent options.

My solely gripe concerning the DialPad was that it took a minute to arrange. It got here disabled on the laptop computer out of the field, requiring me to activate it with a selected gesture on the trackpad that is not apparent until you look it up (you press the icon within the prime proper nook of the trackpad, then shortly slide diagonally down towards the center of the trackpad). As one among this laptop computer’s premier options, would not it make sense to a) have it work out of the field and/or b) characteristic a simple setup tutorial?

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As soon as it was activated, nevertheless, I shortly turned a fan. I like how granular you can also make the customizations, and it is helpful even past inventive use circumstances. The truth is, I discovered that a number of the most useful circumstances had been in productiveness apps and within the browser, enabling fast capabilities through the workday for frequent actions. 

The opposite Asus packages that include the laptop computer are helpful to various levels, to not point out that they had been relatively gradual to fireside up. Asus’ “Muse Tree,” for instance, took an unexpectedly very long time to put in and get going. I had an opportunity to go hands-on with this app beforehand, and though it is a very cool concept, I am nonetheless on the fence relating to its usefulness. 

The high-end and satisfying keyboard has completely silent keys. Equally, the trackpad is very large, extending from the keyboard to the sting of the gadget, and has a velvety matte texture. One draw back is that I had some bother getting it to operate at a excessive capability in a very chilly workplace. In case your palms are on the chilly facet, you would possibly expertise some gradual responses. 

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This might doubtlessly be adjusted with optimization, which is the opposite huge factor I might like to say about this laptop computer. In my expertise, Asus laptops reply significantly nicely to optimization settings throughout the board. The ProArt P16 is an ideal instance of this; completely different profiles or settings parameters can drastically have an effect on efficiency, starting from battery life to hurry and responsiveness.

This additionally applies to Home windows updates, significantly relating to demanding workloads. Once I first fired up this laptop computer, for instance, its efficiency was noticeably worse till I went by way of the collection of Home windows updates for the OS, up to date drivers, and adopted up with the listing of updates within the MyAsus app. 

The P16’s efficiency improved after I up to date it, and it was then optimized additional as soon as I bought used to the DialPad and configured the trackpad and energy profiles. 

All of that is to say that the ProArt P16, for me, was not a laptop computer that got here able to exit of the field however relatively requires some personalization and a spotlight to get probably the most out of it. This is applicable to its wealthy characteristic set, however it takes a second to include it into inventive workflows. Finally, it is a good factor, because it encourages innovation on the consumer’s half to interrupt out of cloned UIs and workflows that each one look the identical. 

Placing a extra concrete quantity to its efficiency, in our benchmarking checks, the ProArt P16 positioned someplace in between the M3 MacBook Professional and the M4, though it must be famous that it is extra on par with the M3 than Apple’s newest M4 product.  

Lastly, let’s briefly point out the battery. This can be a laptop computer with a robust suite of {hardware} and a 16-inch AMOLED show, so I wasn’t anticipating a lot going into my testing. Nonetheless, I used to be pleasantly shocked at how sturdy the battery is, particularly when listening to power-saving settings. 

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I simply bought over 10 hours of battery life with regular use and intermittent high-demand duties. Nonetheless, with intensive inventive duties and heavy multitasking, you possibly can anticipate round seven hours earlier than connecting to an outlet. 

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

For those who’re searching for a robust laptop computer with strong {hardware} and a wealthy, dynamic characteristic set, I like to recommend the Asus ProArt P16 as a strong selection for superior creators who need to problem the established order and luxuriate in tinkering with customization settings to maximise inventive output. 

Nonetheless, in case you’re searching for an out-of-the-box inventive powerhouse, I like to recommend the Apple M3 or M4 MacBook Professional. It has all of the highly effective {hardware} able to sort out inventive duties and could not probably be simpler to arrange. For those who just like the ProArt P16 however need one thing a bit extra accessible, Asus’ ProArt PZ13 is a extra compact model at nearly half the worth. 

This text was initially printed on December 6, 2024, and was up to date on July 23, 2025.