ASUS ProArt P16 Review: Finally, a Proper MacBook Pro Contender that Does Too Good

For years, finding a really good Windows laptop that offers high-end performance with good scalability alongside endurance has been an absolute challenge. But that changed with things like MUX Switch and now with the whole “NPU” centric processors, things are evolving for the better. We used the ASUS ProArt P16 and read on to find out why we call this a proper MacBook Pro Contender.

ASUS ProArt P16 Review

Design and Build

1/5

For a pretty huge laptop, the ASUS ProArt P16 is such a sleek and slender laptop with just 2cm thick and the entire laptop weighs under 2kg (1.85kg, to be specific). Makes you realize how much tech has evolved since the Max-Q days and we get a lot thinner laptops with feisty performance in them. Back to the finish, the P16 has the sexiest finish I have ever seen on any laptop before because the Slate Black Matte finish is something I appreciate a lot. They did claim the laptop to have a smudge-free coating, but there are times you will see some if you do leave any on the laptop while holding it if your hands are greasy or sweaty.

But yes, that’s not all, ASUS went above and beyond in making this laptop extremely beautiful – the stealth hinge that conceals the entire hinge, the ASUS Proart Logo that sits on the bottom left corner and the subtle ridges at the edges give this “Architectural” look will entice users who appreciate little details on their laptops.

The moment you open the lid, it gets better with this Macbook-like layout which we know works best – and seeing the speaker grails on the side, a centred keyboard with a humongous trackpad which holds some of the creator tools – this laptop is an absolute smokeshow. If you are worried about the thickness and the weight, worry not, when you do hold it for the first time, you will realize how solid and rugged it feels – because it is one as it does have the MIL-STD810H certification. The only thing I would change with the laptop are the indicators which sit on the hinge which can be overlooked and it has happened to me many times.

Display

ASUS went and put in the best display you can find in this laptop because the upgraded ASUS Lumina OLED Display is a whole lot more beautiful. Not to forget, it comes in this 16” dimension which makes you go, whoa. The 4K 16:10 Display checks off any creator checklist by offering a 100% DCI-P3 colour Gamut with Delta E<1 and doubles as a touch display and you can interact with the ASUS Pen 2.0 to take advantage of the 4096 pressure level support (sold separately) – though personally, it’s very awkward for me to use the pen on a traditional form laptop. Oh, and the laptop has a Corning Gorilla Glass protection, making it even better to write or sketch on and far more durable.

Your woes of burn-ins and such with the laptop can be a thing of the past as they have put in some extra software measures to make sure you don’t get any burn-ins, thanks to PixelShift and the simplest and most effective solution: Screensaver. But back to the display, man, it was so nice to work on this display. But watching content and editing on this laptop made a dream come true – that you can have a good colour-accurate display on the move after all.

But if you are not a huge display type of person, then the PX13 which we have reviewed is a better alternative. As for those who use the laptop mostly in a studio set up with Capture One or similar applications – the 16” display makes total sense. We still don’t have an OLED display with Matte coating because it dulls the colour, therefore affecting the final results but I do hope to see a similar coating to what LG uses on their display to reduce reflection.

Creator-Centric Features Worth Addressing

These are some of the features we have used and experienced to tell you that it makes a world of difference in a creator laptop and gives you the ability to work on things hastily when the time comes.

ASUS DialPad for Quick Control

1/3

I’ve been a fan of the ASUS Dial since the StudioBook era as the physical dial was just so satisfying to use but ASUS has toned down the dial by a lot with their ProArt P16 with a touch-based Dial which we have used before. The experience is the same where you can customize it however you want through the Dialpad App.

The experience remains to be the same and since now it uses the trackpad’s touchpad to interact – it is surprisingly accurate. Though there were times were it wouldn’t work because of driver issues – but after resolving it, it worked all right. Just make sure to update it from time to time.

A Proper SD Card Slot (Thank god!)

What’s a creator laptop without a proper SD card reader. We highlight this because we have seen laptops before that claim to be creator laptops and lack one. So, here, we are getting SD Express 7.0 capable of hitting 985MB/s speeds which is just great for most users. As for the rest of the ports, the laptop houses super fast solutions which will make any user happy such as HDMI 2.1 FRL, USB4 Type-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 2X USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and an Audio Combo Jack.

Specification and Performance

The ASUS ProArt P16 is the flagship laptop and focuses on users who need this specific hardware as well. Here in Malaysia, we only get one specific variant and it powers the following:

• AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (12 cores, 24 threads) with 81 TOPs
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
• 32GB LPDDR5X RAM with 2TB PCIe NVMe 4.0 SSD
• Bluetooth 5.4 with Wi-Fi 7 Triple Band 2×2

With the specifications you see above, you know this laptop means business and it does. We did benchmarks to see the scores and how it fares – and starting with the Cinebench R24, the figures are looking great with GPU scoring 9615 points, CPU Multicore hitting 739 points and single core points of 49 with an MP ratio of 15.14x. The 12-core, 24-thread processor from Ryzen is shining bright.

In PCMARK 10 Extended, we see a score of 6232 which is pretty good as well. When you look closer at the breakdowns, you can see how well it has scored in the Digital Content Creation and Gaming aspect, despite just rocking a 60Hz display. Finally, we did our battery test to see how well it handles situations like Modern Office and Gaming – the battery life is what you’d expect: 5 hours 32 minutes for Modern Office and 2 hours 12 minutes for Gaming.

But this is a number I am happy to see because the ability to scale up and down depending on your needs on Windows these days, all possible because of the MUX Switch and Advanced Optimus is a welcoming change.

Now on a day-to-day use case, my experience didn’t stray further away from the numbers we obtained from our benchmark tools. In a mixed-use case scenario, which is what I go through – like say when I am doing fieldwork which involves writing, browsing, listening to Spotify and using Lightroom – I use about 30 per cent of the battery at most over 2-3 hours of use case, leaving me with 80-70% battery left for me to use the laptop later at a café, which is just fantastic. Makes me want to ditch my current laptop with 3080 and Ryzen 9 for this because it doesn’t have Advanced Optimus.

You will notice a performance cap while you are on battery as the GPU and CPU require a higher power draw, and the moment you connect the 200W adapter, you get the full power out of it. This is okay in my books. The 90WHrs battery can be charged with the same 200W adapters and after roughly about an hour of charging –, the laptop went from 8% to 85% which is great. Expect it to be a lot longer to charge if you opt for the 65W USB-C adapters.

By the way, if your display flickers and have issues – it’s the AMD drivers specifically causing the trouble – so, make sure to download the Adrenaline from the official website, install and troubleshoot it.

Other Features Worth Mentioning

The speakers on this ProArt P16 are pretty good with nice loud sound and do offer some level of clarity. If you do forget your headphones and just want to watch a show or two with the built-in speaker, it’s more than good. The USB-C port doubles as a charging port as well, so, if you happen to use monitors with USB-C PD, it would work just fine. However do take note that this laptop requires proper power to utilize the entire performance, so the 200W adapter is really important.

I am a bit surprised that ASUS did not opt-in for a 200W USB-C charger but they have opted in for this “Mini DP”-like looking port for DC and it happens to be their new standard port which will see the light of the day in more laptops across all the lineups.

Conclusion

At RM 12,999, you are looking at one of the finest creator laptop experiences you can get in the Windows space that could potentially rival the likes of the Apple MacBook Pro. Trust us when we say that because we know and we aren’t throwing random statements. Windows laptops in general have been playing a catchup game but with the new generation hardware we see and how well it manages power and performance – it’s getting there.

For those who prefer to be on Mac, sure by all means, but if you have been a long-time Windows user and you need a Windows laptop plus the creator-centric feature which amps up the entire experience and that powerful one laptop for everything – boy, oh boy – the ASUS ProArt P16 is going to outshine and comes up as a great laptop for creators like myself and others out there. ASUS keeps everything the way it is we see here with the laptop but of course, makes improvements for the next-generation hardware with improved thermals and all that. If the PX13 didn’t exist, I know I would get the P16 for sure.

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