Asus ProArt StudioBook 16 H7600ZW Review: The definitive MacBook Pro alternative for content creators

[Redaktion]

Asus tries to woo the MacBook Pro audience with the ProArt StudioBook 16 featuring a Core i9-12900H and RTX 3070 Ti combination mated to a vivid 16-inch 4K OLED panel, good emission profiles, and a very handy Asus Dial. We pit the Asus ProArt StudioBook 16 against the competition and tell you if this laptop merits a place in your creative arsenal.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ProArt-StudioBook-16-H7600ZW-Review-The-definitive-MacBook-Pro-alternative-for-content-creators.695193.0.html

[NikoB]

While the Standard profile can be generally recommended for non-intensive use, you will not be getting maximum performance here — we observed a 24% performance drop in Cinebench R15 multi-core score in this mode.

It turns out Alder Lake drops in speed to 5900HX level 2 years ago with a sane noise level. And this is including the pulse mode, from which nothing remains either ...

Let's jump right into the screen...this laptop is from the "ProArt" series. What do we see in practice?
Hardware calibration gave dE>2, i.e. This matrix is NOT designed for professional use. Then why does anyone need this laptop at all? Moreover, I have already lost count, what a review, where AMOLED panels screw up in terms of hardware calibration within acceptable limits.

Go ahead. The author points out that this panel has a ppi of 283, but this is not true, just at the color resolution level, which is clearly visible from the subpixel structure, the resolution is much lower there.

Completes the gloomy picture of the "Pro" series - 60Hz PWM, which excludes professional long-term work behind such a screen without obvious harm to the eyes and nervous system and gloss, with rarely removable glare, in the workplace, as well as a much lower resource compared to IPS backlight, which will lead to a faster need for its replacement.

The keyboard is also not standard with a normal numpad, but these are trifles against the backdrop of a terrible screen...

[CCCP]

@NikoB:

I don't understand. If you dislike laptops so much, why are you on this site to begin with? Shouldn't you be commenting on a site that reviews desktop parts instead?

[RobertJasiek]

"The ProArt StudioBook 16 offers good serviceability."

No. The fans are hidden under lanes and adhesive tapes. Cleaning them will be a nightmare.

The keyboard lacks dedicated Home, Ende, PageUp, PageDown.

PWM flicker is bad, 60Hz flicker even much more so.

The Performance fan mode is interesting for the large difference between Load average 34.5 dB and Witcher 3 at 49.1 dB. This proves that one cannot trust NBC's Load average noise value for GPU-concentrated load noise.

The Performance fan mode Load maximum 49.2 dB is a total shame in comparison to

Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro 16 - Xeon A5000 90 + 90W     43 dB
Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro X W730G5T Q5000 45 + 110W    39 dB

One can only hope the the 2023 ProArt StudioBooks revert to reason.

"Asus unveiled the ProArt StudioBook 16 3D OLED at CES 2023 with Intel 13th gen and 3D OLED panels upgrades, which we hope to review in the coming weeks. "

Nice!

[Vaidyanathan]

"The ProArt StudioBook 16 offers good serviceability."

No. The fans are hidden under lanes and adhesive tapes. Cleaning them will be a nightmare.

The keyboard lacks dedicated Home, Ende, PageUp, PageDown.

PWM flicker is bad, 60Hz flicker even much more so.

The Performance fan mode is interesting for the large difference between Load average 34.5 dB and Witcher 3 at 49.1 dB. This proves that one cannot trust NBC's Load average noise value for GPU-concentrated load noise.

The Performance fan mode Load maximum 49.2 dB is a total shame in comparison to

Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro 16 - Xeon A5000 90 + 90W     43 dB
Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro X W730G5T Q5000 45 + 110W    39 dB

One can only hope the the 2023 ProArt StudioBooks revert to reason.

"Asus unveiled the ProArt StudioBook 16 3D OLED at CES 2023 with Intel 13th gen and 3D OLED panels upgrades, which we hope to review in the coming weeks. "

Nice!

-Didn't find much of a taping near the fans our unit.. they seemd quite straightforward to remove.
-Most laptops tend to accommodate the Home et.al keys either on the arrow keys or on the numpad.
-Asus has been using specific Samsung OLEDs for quite a while now. All of them have 60 Hz DC Dimming. Hope this changes in newer models.
-The load average is just a 3DMark 06 Return to Proxycon demo. It's a very light load for modern GPUs, so they don't tend to strain much unlike say with The Witcher 3 at 1080p Ultra with HBAO+ and Hairworks enabled. We continue to use 3DMark 06 for sake of historical comparison.

[Vaidyanathan]

Let's jump right into the screen...this laptop is from the "ProArt" series. What do we see in practice?
Hardware calibration gave dE>2, i.e. This matrix is NOT designed for professional use. Then why does anyone need this laptop at all? Moreover, I have already lost count, what a review, where AMOLED panels screw up in terms of hardware calibration within acceptable limits.

Go ahead. The author points out that this panel has a ppi of 283, but this is not true, just at the color resolution level, which is clearly visible from the subpixel structure, the resolution is much lower there.

Completes the gloomy picture of the "Pro" series - 60Hz PWM, which excludes professional long-term work behind such a screen without obvious harm to the eyes and nervous system and gloss, with rarely removable glare, in the workplace, as well as a much lower resource compared to IPS backlight, which will lead to a faster need for its replacement.

The keyboard is also not standard with a normal numpad, but these are trifles against the backdrop of a terrible screen...

The 283 PPI is calculated from the resolution and screen size. I don't see a reason why you think it cannot be so. IMO, the S-Stripe is much better than a Pentile. OLEDs generally come with glossy screens. The 60 Hz PWM is actually DC Dimming, but I understand why this should be higher. Hopefully, newer models will overcome this limitation.

[sn3p]

I have an Asus X16 Flow and it is crashing/restarting randomly. There are many reports about this problem, and no solution. I hope Intel based Asuses are more dependable, otherwise it just cannot be use for content creation, because one have no idea when the content they are working on may be lost.

[Ednumero]

Go ahead. The author points out that this panel has a ppi of 283, but this is not true, just at the color resolution level, which is clearly visible from the subpixel structure, the resolution is much lower there.

Niko, this is a full-RGB panel.

I hear what you're saying about incomplete matrices. I agree they're a raw deal for consumers, and need to occupy less marketshare than they do (especially in phones, where RG/BG is so common). However this display is genuine 3840(RGB)x2400, and we need to give credit where it's due.

Each square in the display, per its dimensions, has one red, one green, and two blue dots allocated to it. While there are slight shifts in the runs of blues surrounding the dead spots, they don't affect the chromatic resolution in the way the subpixel omissions in the displays you're (rightfully) against do.

I do wish Notebookcheck would post properly-oriented matrix photos, with no rotation aside from corrective. As it is, it's not clear whether the blues run up and down or left and right, or whether it's the reds or greens on top*. It's worse for RG/BG phones, where a 45-degree rotation can improperly portray such a panel as true RGB.

*The blues do in fact go up and down, in this panel, and the reds are on top.

[RobertJasiek]

-Didn't find much of a taping near the fans our unit.. they seemd quite straightforward to remove.

Then I wonder whether it will attach again after cleaning the fans. Imagine doing so every 3 months. Eventually, the tape must be replaced or omitted, but the user cannot know whether doing so is safe. It is just bad to create any such obstacles.

-Most laptops tend to accommodate the Home et.al keys either on the arrow keys or on the numpad.

This is not the right way to judge. We are not considering a majority of notebooks, of which many are lower end, but this notebook is supposed to belong to the higher end and good for (certain) work. Quite a few such notebooks do have 2 or 4 dedicated page navigation keys, regardless of dual key functions on arrow or numpad keys. From a work notebook (or "gaming" notebook used as work notebook), I expect preferably 4 dedicated page navigation keys because I frequently use them while also using the arrow and numpad digit keys. Without dedicated keys, such typing takes about thrice as much time, and it can happen that I work on mostly these keys for hours. The notebook is sold "for creators" but, due to the keyboard layout, I think "it is not built for creators". (Or maybe only for those creators hardly ever needing all three kinds of keys simultaneously.)

-The load average is just a 3DMark 06 Return to Proxycon demo. It's a very light load for modern GPUs, so they don't tend to strain much unlike say with The Witcher 3 at 1080p Ultra with HBAO+ and Hairworks enabled. We continue to use 3DMark 06 for sake of historical comparison.

Interesting, thank you for the information!

Of course, NBC can continue to also use the 3DMark06 noise tests.

The problem is that users like me sorely miss something like a Furmark-only noise test in the written reviews! Neither 3DMark06 nor Witcher 3 represent GPU-heavy, non-3D-gaming workload with limited CPU usage.

[Yngmar]

I'd rather have a trackpoint than some weird dial, but that isn't the problem.

The problem is, you can't seem to buy these things anywhere reasonable, at least in Europe. Last time I tried to buy a ProArt StudioBook, it was only available on Amazon, in all the wrong configurations (GPU) instead of the one I wanted, and at a ridiculous price that didn't match the review quotes even remotely. So I ended up with a Lenovo again, even though the Asus theoretically came out long before and appealed to me, it was never really available for actually buying in the right configuration.

[Neenyah]

Completes the gloomy picture of the "Pro" series - 60Hz PWM, which excludes professional long-term work behind such a screen without obvious harm to the eyes and nervous system and gloss, with rarely removable glare, in the workplace,...

You have a somewhat aggressive tone in your comments and I like that because you are not talking BS but spitting facts instead. I can't say for others but I really like to read your comment(s). And about this laptop yes, PWM is indeed a joke especially in a pro device at this price point. But then again we have a PWM in pretty much every single Macbook Pro laptop so... :/

[Neenyah]

The problem is, you can't seem to buy these things anywhere reasonable, at least in Europe. Last time I tried to buy a ProArt StudioBook, it was only available on Amazon,...

I don't know what's your desired config but you can find it at Computeruniverse.net starting at around 2700€ for an i7 12700H + 3060 (and 3840x2400 OLED screen) to 4000€+ i9 12900H + 3070 (and that same OLED screen). There are also two available combos with A3000 and A2000 GPUs.

[LL]

Well i am a content creator, and my 3060 is at same level 29.9 sec vs 30 s in my Lenovo while rendering in Blender Classroom scene. 300 nits, 98% sRGB from 2021. 
Which shows that manufacturers still do not understand that in the bulk "content creator" tag there are people that need all GPU performance like gamers while others instead  that work with for example image editing(Photoshop etc) don't need such a performance from a GPU.

There are conveniences here in this laptop, but it is confusing the lack of a full size keyboard when there are several applications that use the home, etc keys for commands.

Still it is very good that Asus makes products for contente creators albeit the price is not very friendly.



Side note to NBC: it would be good if some sort of Unreal Engine benchmark could be setup.

[RobertJasiek]

manufacturers still do not understand that in the bulk "content creator" tag there are people that need all GPU performance like gamers while others instead  that work with for example image editing(Photoshop etc) don't need such a performance from a GPU.

Manufacturers know but they abuse tags like "content creator" or "gamer" for marketing purposes. They offer 3050TI class devices for photo editing, and "workstation" and fast "gaming" notebooks for compute-intensive jobs. They distinguish them especially by chassis design. Like very similar mainboards mostly distinguished by their visual design.

Some manufacturers structure their webpages by such tags. When I want to browse all their notebooks, first I need to some arbitrary tag. In the end, I often have to browse the notebooks or mainboards of all tags to just find out what is being offered. I cannot know in advance where I might find devices interesting for me.

Some price comparison webpages are even worse: they offer many filters but miss some of the most important filters, such as display ratio.

[AngelGar]

I am a happy possessor of a ProArt (H5600QE - it was difficult to find). I just wanted to add:

• there is a fingerprint reader under the power button
• the trackpad works also as a small pen tablet (I use an ASUS pen SA201H) - I found it useful