RedShark's in-house Content Manager, Chris Wells, puts the ASUS ProArt P16 laptop and ZenScreen MB229CF through their paces at his local coworking space.
ASUS ProArt P16 (H7606WI)CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 $2799 |
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ASUS ZenScreen MB229CFScreen Size: 22-inch (21.5 viewable) $299 |
We have two ways for you to access this review of the ASUS ProArt P16 & ZenScreen MB229CF; via the original video review below and via a lightly edited transcript of the same below that. Either way, you'll find a laptop and external screen combination that exceeded my expectations, delivering everything I needed in a surprisingly compact, robust form factor.
As someone who has been making videos for years but isn't the biggest fan of Apple, I've always accepted compromises when it comes to portable hardware to get my heavy creative work done, all the while wistfully staring enviously at all the Apple heads, getting their edits together on airplanes and in cafés.
ASUS may have just sent me the answer to this conundrum. The ProArt P16 is a beast of a laptop whose name states its primary audience: pro creatives. And as I am a pro creative now...ASUS has also upped the productivity ante and sent us this ASUS ZenScreen M2 to talk about today.
First, the laptop. It's very true that the ProArt P16 sits on the higher end of that pricing spectrum. But after trying it out for a few months now, I can personally say you or your employer get whatever you pay for.
I got the 861061 model with an AMD Ryzen 9 98370 processor, 64GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU with 8GB of VRAM, making this one of the most powerful Windows laptops you can get right now. Total cost, $2799.
As with all ASUS hardware, the build quality feels great, and it being ProArt means it looks just like a laptop and not a fairground ride with all that RGB. It's also got this neat covering that makes it smudge-resistant and not very reflective, which is great for being on the go, though it being black needs a regular wipe to avoid pesky dust, which, to be honest, you should be doing anyway.
It's also got MIL-STD-810 certified durability, so it can reportedly withstand extreme temperatures, shock, vibration, sand, dust, and humidity. And I can't wait to see other people test that out.
This is my first laptop of this calibre, and I can truly say that it feels very thin and lightweight when you consider the sheer power underneath. While it looks like a MacBook, unlike a MacBook, it actually has a decent amount of ports.
It's got:
On the right, you have:
The touchpad is a fantastic size and works great, as does the unique ASUS ProArt Dial, which has a surprising amount of helpful uses, like adjusting the zoom level on clips in Premiere or scrub a timeline on YouTube. It's super easy to switch functions with a simple tap on the center and a quick spin to navigate. Its built-in software is intuitive and highly customizable, making it effortless to tailor to your needs.
The real star of the show, though, is this 4K OLED screen, which looks just stunning and has a wide range of color profiles, allowing you to choose things, making it as vivid or as color-accurate as you need. Truly one of the best screens I've seen on a laptop. While it can be quite reflective, its reported peak brightness of 550 nits will offset that pretty fast. Plus, it's a touchscreen, which is always neat.
As someone who primarily edits video and is always plugged in, battery is never a concern for me, but I did use it at IBC this year, editing and video nowhere near a power point, and it served me really well.
Speaking of my eyes and the things they look at, I also brought the ASUS ZenScreen MB229CF monitor because it's about as compact as a monitor this size can get. With a built-in adjustable kickstand, you can set it to whatever height or angle you need it to be.
It also can be projected and powered via a single USB cable, which is awesome. It is priced around $299 and features a 100Hz Full HD IPS screen, which despite the resolution, looks really sharp. And it's perfect for content creators, with its 100% accurate sRGB color display mode.
When it comes to working with these things, I was truly taken aback at how quickly I got set up and just how capable it all is. With just two cables, I had a premium workstation and was able to edit like I was at home on a turbocharged PC.
I've never had a laptop before that can just do everything I need it to, such as editing 4K video with no proxies or juddering or freezes. Those tiny moments of time you get back made me realize quite how much it all adds up to—not to mention the cognitive load of switching tasks or checking your phone while things are rendering.
Both the ASUS ProArt P16 and ZenScreen MB229CF exceeded my expectations, delivering everything I needed in a surprisingly compact, robust form factor that I can take and just get everything I need done anywhere. They're the ideal tools for creatives who can afford to invest in the luxury of time their performance brings.