ASUS ProArt P16 review: like a MacBook Pro, but better

ASUS has hit a home run with its expanded ProArt laptop lineup, and the P16 is a proud creative flagbearer.

A black ASUS ProArt P16 laptop sitting on stone paving
(Image: © Future)

Our Verdict

The ASUS ProArt P16 is the flagship of ASUS' new ProArt range for creative professionals, and proudly succeeds last year's mighty Studiobook as a powerful, feature-rich, studio-ready leader to rule the varied laptop tribes beneath it. The gorgeous OLED touchscreen complements fearsome internals, which include a 40-series graphics card, an AMD-made NPU and up to 64GB of high-bandwidth RAM. It squares up to even the mightiest among laptops, the MacBook Pro, and if you ask me, comes out victorious.

For

  • Very power
  • Such screen
  • Much creative

Against

  • Smudge City
  • Not the prettiest design

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This may anger my many Apple-loving friends on Creative Bloq but the ASUS ProArt P16, which I've had in for review over the last three weeks, takes direct aim at the MacBook Pro, head-on, and beats it. It's as simple as that.

"Well, that's just like, your opinion, man," you might say, and yes, that's true. That's all I can offer. I can't, nor can anyone else for that matter, be a supreme, definitive, objective authority on what the best laptop, especially for graphic design and other creative ventures is. What I can do, however, is explain my reasons for my subjective opinion.

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CPU:AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
NPU:AMD XDNA 50 TOPS
Graphics:NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU
Memory:32/64GB LPDDR5X RAM (64 as tested)
Screen size:16in OLED
Resolution:3840x2400
Refresh rate:60Hz
Colour gamut (stated):100% P3
Storage:2TB SSD
Connectivity:1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x USB 4.0 Gen 3 Type-C, 1x HDMI 2.1 FRL, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, 1x DC-in, 1x SD Express 7.0 card reader
Dimensions:35.49 x 24.69 x 1.49 ~ 1.73 cm
Weight:1.85kg
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ASUS ProArt P16 (H7606) benchmark scores
Geekbench 6Row 0 - Cell 1
CPU single-core: 2,859
CPU multi-core:14,931
GPU OpenCL:101,004
Cinebench 2024Row 4 - Cell 1
CPU single-core:115
CPU multi-core:1,103
GPU:10,182
PCMark 10Row 8 - Cell 1
Total: 7,496
Essentials:9,737
Productivity:9,701
Digital Content Creation:12,103
3DMarkRow 13 - Cell 1
Time Spy:10,422 @ 67.5fps
Fire Strike:24,322 @ 138.2fps
Night Raid:39,460 @ 259.1 fps
Handbrake:3m18s @ 96.2 fps
PugetBenchRow 18 - Cell 1
Photoshop 25.11.08,810
Premiere Pro 24.5.07,952
ASUS ProArt PX13

ASUS ProArt PX13

Slightly smaller and cheaper than the flagship model, this compact ProArt model still has powerful internals, the full Creator Hub, and it's a 2-in-1.

Acer Predator Helios 18

Acer Predator Helios 18

Slightly pricier, but perfect if you want the ideal gaming monster (and don't mind the ear-splitting fan noise).

Apple MacBook Pro M3 Max

Apple MacBook Pro M3 Max

If you want a Mac that outperforms the P16, you'll have to step up to the considerably more expensive M3 Max-powered MacBook Pro. It is extremely great, though.

The Verdict
9

out of 10

ASUS ProArt P16

The ASUS ProArt P16 is the flagship of ASUS' new ProArt range for creative professionals, and proudly succeeds last year's mighty Studiobook as a powerful, feature-rich, studio-ready leader to rule the varied laptop tribes beneath it. The gorgeous OLED touchscreen complements fearsome internals, which include a 40-series graphics card, an AMD-made NPU and up to 64GB of high-bandwidth RAM. It squares up to even the mightiest among laptops, the MacBook Pro, and if you ask me, comes out victorious.

Erlingur Einarsson
Tech Reviews Editor

Erlingur is the Tech Reviews Editor on Creative Bloq. Having worked on magazines devoted to Photoshop, films, history, and science for over 15 years, as well as working on Digital Camera World and Top Ten Reviews in more recent times, Erlingur has developed a passion for finding tech that helps people do their job, whatever it may be. He loves putting things to the test and seeing if they're all hyped up to be, to make sure people are getting what they're promised. Still can't get his wifi-only printer to connect to his computer.