ASUS ProArt P16 Ultimate Review: The Creator Laptop Apple and Razer Should Fear

Forget everything you think you know about creator laptops, because ASUS just redefined the game. These aren’t your grandma’s notebooks; they’re stealth powerhouses disguised in professional attire, packing the heart of a gaming rig into a sleek, sophisticated chassis. And leading the charge? The ASUS ProArt P16. With an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 at its core, it’s not just competing for the title of best creator laptop, it’s obliterating the competition.

I’m a small laptop devotee, always prioritizing portability. That’s why it’s a shock to admit the ProArt P16 has completely won me over. I didn’t expect to be saying this, but it’s now one of my favorite laptops, period.

Paris, pastries, and a powerful laptop: My ASUS ProArt P16 survived (and thrived) during my recent trip. Buckle up for a deep dive into its performance – this isn’t your typical review.

ASUS ProArt P16 Specs

View Device Specs

ASUS ProArt P16 Ultimate Review: Hardware

ASUS hardware? Predictably phenomenal. At this point, praising their build quality feels repetitive, but it’s impossible to ignore. From laptops to phones, ASUS consistently delivers a premium feel and rock-solid construction. If a laptop that exudes quality and feels luxurious is what you’re after, look no further.

Forget plastic. The ProArt P16 boasts a stunning, all-aluminum chassis that’s as pleasing to the eye as it is to the touch. Carrying it feels less like lugging around a laptop and more like wielding a precision instrument. The minimalist back, punctuated only by the subtle ASUS ProArt logo, speaks volumes. But the real magic lies in the 360-degree hinge: flip it, twist it, contort it – transform your powerhouse laptop into a responsive tablet at a moment’s notice. Unleash your creativity.

ASUS cloaks this laptop in a mysterious nano-black finish, a choice that sparks curiosity about its long-term allure. After just a couple of weeks, the keyboard already hints at a life well-lived. However, ASUS employs an anodized process, crafting a nano-microporous structure that acts like a black hole for reflections. This is the secret to the laptop’s consistently dark appearance, regardless of the surrounding light. Fingerprints? They vanish on contact with the lid and chassis, save for the aforementioned keyboard, which seems to attract them like a magnet.

ASUS P16 Review AH 8

ASUS P16 Review AH 7

ASUS P16 Review AH 3

ASUS P16 Review AH 4

The P16 prioritizes performance over sleekness, explaining its slightly thicker profile just under an inch. While it sacrifices the ultra-thin design, the robust cooling system is a clear benefit. However, the fan activity was surprisingly noticeable. Even a simple Chrome speed test triggered the fans. Despite the frequent activation, the P16 remained impressively cool, confirming the cooling system’s effectiveness.

ASUS delivers a connectivity arsenal on the P16. Blazing-fast file transfers are guaranteed with dual USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports pushing data at a staggering 40Gbps. Complementing these are a standard HDMI port, audio jack, USB-A, and a full-sized SD card slot. A dedicated port for the proprietary charger rounds out the selection. The power button sits discreetly on the right side. This setup mirrors the PX13, but with a pivotal upgrade: the micro SD card slot has been wisely swapped for a full-sized SD card slot. This is a creator-focused decision. Professionals need the robust SD card format far more than its smaller counterpart. The PX13’s micro SD card choice likely stemmed from space constraints.

Forget grappling with stubborn latches. This laptop aced the one-finger open test with flying colors. I’m talking effortless, gravity-defying ease. A gentle nudge is all it takes to raise the screen, while the base remains steadfastly planted. It’s a small detail, but that smooth, fluid motion speaks volumes about the build quality. A refreshing change from laptops that feel like you’re trying to pry open a treasure chest.

The Keyboard is the perfect size

The ProArt P16’s keyboard is a dream. Instead of cramping things with a number pad, ASUS made a bold choice: spacious keys flanked by booming speakers. It’s the old MacBook Pro layout done right. Typing? Effortless. Finally, a laptop prioritizing the core experience.

The trackpad? A runway. A glorious, expansive surface practically begging for multi-finger gestures. No blame on ASUS here – whodoesn’tcrave that desktop real estate under their fingertips? I’m a MacBook devotee, so I’m spoiled. The adjustment wasn’t thesizeitself, but the click – specifically differentiating right from left. For a couple of days, it was a clumsy ballet of mis-clicks, but muscle memory eventually kicked in. Now? Smooth sailing.

The ASUS DialPad hides in plain sight on the trackpad, waiting to unleash a surprising level of control. Think of it as a secret weapon for boosting your workflow. With a simple swipe from the trackpad’s top-right corner, this virtual dial springs to life. An LED gleams, confirming its activation, and suddenly you’re in command. Forget fumbling through menus; quickly adjust volume, tweak brush sizes, or access other custom settings with a satisfyingly tactile feel. And the best part? You can personalize the DialPad’s function in the "ASUS Dial & Control Panel" app, making it a truly customized tool. It’s a feature that begs to be explored, potentially transforming the way you interact with your laptop.

ASUS aims the DialPad squarely at creators. Imagine effortlessly tweaking brush sizes in Photoshop with a physical dial – that’s the core idea. It’s a focused feature, and brilliantly, if it doesn’t spark joy, it fades into the background. No clutter, just potential.

Beautiful OLED

The ProArt P16 boasts a stunning 16-inch OLED touchscreen with a crisp 3840×2400 resolution. The 16:10 aspect ratio makes it a joy to consume visual content. However, the 60Hz refresh rate and 500 nits peak brightness feel like a slight compromise on an otherwise premium display. Ideally, a future iteration would prioritize boosting brightness – crucial for on-the-go creators battling sunlit coffee shops and outdoor environments.

"My shaded patio became an impromptu testing ground, and surprisingly, the display held its own. Glare wasn’t a deal-breaker, though a brighter panel and a matte finish would be a game-changer for outdoor visibility. Ultimately, craving perfect outdoor viewing feels like a first-world quibble, considering most laptops live indoors. Still, it’s a detail worth noting."

The display’s 60Hz refresh rate is a tough pill to swallow, considering the eye-watering $2,899 price tag. You’d expect a silky smooth 120Hz experience for that kind of cash. Yet, confession time: a few weeks in, and even as a daily driver of a 120Hz MacBook Pro, the ProArt PX13’s 60Hz panel faded into the background. It wasn’t a glaring issue… until I tried gaming. Then, the compromise became crystal clear.

The ASUS P16 doesn’t just boast Harman Kardon speakers; it unleashes them. Prepare for sound that fills the room, crystal clear even at max volume. Distortion? Not a chance.

ASUS ProArt P16 Ultimate Review: Performance

Let’s cut to the chase: performance. Under the hood, this beast boasts an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, backed by a hefty 32GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. And with a lightning-fast 2TB SSD, you won’t be strapped for storage. The result? Prepare for face-melting speeds. Top-notch doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Beyond Lightroom and Photoshop, my laptop life lives in a web browser. The P16 chewed through everything I threw at it, no sweat. Gaming? This machine’s a beast, delivering smooth, immersive experiences – all thanks to its hard-working fans.

The P16’s WiFi is a breath of fresh air compared to the PX13’s struggles. Where the PX13 constantly battled dropped connections and a fleeting, weak signal, the P16 has been rock solid. It actually makes me wonder if the PX13’s WiFi woes were a unique problem with my specific unit.

Benchmarks

Time to put the ASUS ProArt P16 through its paces! We’re not just admiring the sleek design; we’re pushing its limits with a gauntlet of benchmarks, just like we do with the latest smartphones. First up: Geekbench 6. Let’s see what this powerhouse can do.

| Laptop | Geekbench Single | Geekbench Multi | Geekbench GPU | | — | — | — | — | | ASUS ProArt P16 | 2,764 | 12,015 | 99,165 | | Lenovo Legion Pro 7i | 2,962 | 15,262 | 117,636 | | ASUS ProArt PX13 | 2,852 | 13,878 | 88,995 | | Apple MacBook Pro (M3 Pro) | 3,017 | 13,614 | 43,556 |

Let’s pit the ASUS ProArt P16 against formidable rivals in a Geekbench 6 showdown! We’re throwing it into the ring with the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, a gaming laptop heavyweight, the ProArt PX13 – the P16’s pocket-rocket sibling, and the Apple MacBook Pro 14". The MacBook Pro, armed with the M3 Pro chip, might be a generation (or nearly two!) behind, but don’t count it out just yet! This is a battle of titans!

The Windows laptops lined up neck-and-neck in CPU performance, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i narrowly edging out the ASUS contenders. But let’s be real, the Legion Pro 7i, a gaming beast packing a next-gen GeForce RTX 5080, obliterated the GPU benchmark. The MacBook? Let’s just say its integrated graphics didn’t stand a chance against those dedicated powerhouses. It was a GPU massacre.

| Laptop | Cinebench Single | Cinebench Multi | | — | — | — | | ASUS ProArt P16 | 116 | 1,142 | | Lenovo Legion Pro 7i | 135 | 1,879 | | ASUS ProArt PX13 | 112 | 1,1421,089 | | Apple MacBook Pro (M3 Pro) | 145 | 976 |

Cinebench throws another punch at the CPU, delivering a familiar verdict. The ProArt siblings, PX13 and P16, spar closely, but get KO’d by the heavyweight Legion Pro 7i with its next-gen silicon. The real plot twist? Apple’s M3 Pro MacBook Pro, shockingly dominating single-core performance and holding its own in the multi-core brawl.

Let’s talk battery life. My "highly unscientific" test goes like this: I yank the power cord at 8 AM, marking the start of my workday. Then, I put the laptop through its paces – emails, documents, the usual grind – until quitting time at 5 PM. The goal? To see how much power is left in the tank after a full day’s battle. While conditions vary, this "real world" simulation offers a good approximation of typical workday performance.

The ProArt P16’s battery life? Let’s just say I wasn’t expecting miracles. Snapdragon and Apple laptops typically cruise through a day, often boasting 30-40% battery by evening. But x86 architecture and dedicated graphics? They tend to be battery vampires. The P16 proved the rule. I squeezed a solid 6 hours out of it before scrambling for the charger. That six hours was a heavy mix of Chrome tabs, a Lightroom photo editing blitz, and a Photoshop sprinkle. Given its power-packed internals, I wasn’t shocked, but honestly, it hit my (admittedly low) expectations.

ASUS ProArt P16 Ultimate Review: Software

Forget a product in 2025; the ProArt P16isAI. Naturally, CoPilot+ makes an appearance, complete with its own dedicated keyboard shortcut – because, of course. But the real head-turner is MuseTree. Imagine whipping up stunning AI images on the fly. While I’m not exactly churning out digital masterpieces daily, the potential is undeniable. This isn’t just slapping AI on a product; it’s weaving it into the very fabric of the experience.

Windows Hello is supported with the webcam, which makes logging into the P16 everyday pretty easy.

Unleash your inner artist with the ProArt Creator Hub, a command center built for creative power. Think of it as your personal mission control, ditching the gamer aesthetic for a sleek interface tuned to Adobe Creative Cloud and other essential creator tools. The dashboard gives you vital stats like PC temperature, processor load, and memory usage at a glance. But the real magic lies in its color control panel. Fine-tune your display with pinpoint accuracy, ensuring your edits are true-to-life. Color-grading videos or perfecting photos? The Creator Hub is your secret weapon for achieving professional-grade results.

"I’m itching for an excuse to unleash this app’s full potential. It’s seriously slick. Right now, my editing workflow in Lightroom and Photoshop is pretty light, so it feels like bringing a bazooka to a water pistol fight. The power is there, just waiting for the right project to detonate."

ASUS ProArt P16 Ultimate Review: Battery Life and Charging

The ProArt P16’s battery life lands in a familiar, if somewhat disappointing, middle ground. It outlasts the power-hungry beast that is the average gaming laptop, but it’s a far cry from the all-day stamina of ARM-based rivals flaunting Snapdragon X Elite chips. Think of it as a solid six-hour workday companion, perfect for conquering your to-do list at Starbucks or powering through lectures – just keep that charger handy for extended marathons.

ASUS throws in a 200W charging brick for rapid power-ups. It’s a proprietary plug, not USB-C, for that speed. Youcanuse USB-C to charge, but prepare for a slower experience. The 200W brick refills the battery blazingly fast, but be warned: it adds significant weight to your travel bag. On my recent Paris trip, I ditched the brick and relied solely on USB-C charging. It worked flawlessly, especially since I only needed to top up the battery occasionally throughout the day.

Should you buy the ASUS ProArt P16?

The verdict is in. The ASUS ProArt P16: Worth it? Absolutely, if you crave a head-turning, portable workstation with a display that’ll make your jaw drop. But if globetrotting with a featherweight champion is your priority, the ProArt PX13 might be your perfect travel companion.

Ditch the clunky gaming rig. The ASUS ProArt P16 is a sleek powerhouse, purpose-built for creators. It devours demanding tasks while maintaining a professional aesthetic, proving that serious performance doesn’t have to scream "gamer."

You should buy the ASUS ProArt P16 if:

You want a powerful laptop that is around four pounds.
You want a big beautiful OLED display in your backpack.
You want a stunning laptop that can still get the job done.

You should not buy the ASUS ProArt P16 if:

You want the best graphics money can buy.
You want a quiet laptop.
You want more than a 60Hz display.

Thanks for reading ASUS ProArt P16 Ultimate Review: The Creator Laptop Apple and Razer Should Fear