Apple’s MacBook Professional 16 sits alone as the very best content material creation laptop computer you should purchase at this time. It’s quicker, extra environment friendly, and better-built, and it has an superior mini-LED show. It’s additionally very costly, and naturally it runs macOS.
That leaves a gap for a extra inexpensive machine working Home windows. Enter the Asus ProArt P16, which gives its personal compelling benefits together with good efficiency, a beautiful OLED show, and enticing pricing. Is that sufficient to dethrone the very best?
Specs and configurations
Asus ProArt P16
Apple MacBook Professional 16
Dimensions
13.97 inches x 9.72 inches x 0.59-0.68 inches
14.01 inches x 9.77 inches x 0.66 inches
Weight
4.08 kilos
4.8 kilos
Processor
AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
Apple M3 Professional (12-core)Apple M3 Max (14-core, 16-core)
Graphics
AMD Radeon 890MNvidia GeForce RTX 4060Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
Apple M3 Professional (18-core)Apple M3 Max (30-core, 40-core)
RAM
32GB64GB
18GB (M3 Professional)36GB (M3 Max 14/30)48GB (M3 Max 16/40)64GB (M3 Max 16/40)96GB (M3 Max 14/30)128GB (M3 Max 16/40)
Show
16.0-inch 16:10 4K+ (3840 x 2400) OLED, 60Hz
16.2-inch 16:10 Liquid Retina XDR (3456 x 2234), 120Hz
Storage
1TB SSD2TB SSD
512GB SSD1TB SSD2TB SSD4TB SSD8TB SSD
Contact
Sure
No
Ports
1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 21 x USB-C USB42 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 21 x HDMI 2.11 x 3.5mm audio jack1 x SD card reader
3 x USB-C 4 with Thunderbolt 41 x HDMI 2.01 x 3.5mm audio jack1 x SD Card reader
Wi-fi
Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
Webcam
1080p with infrared digicam for Home windows 11 Hi there facial recognition
1080p
Working system
Home windows 11
macOS Monterey
Battery
90 watt-hour
100 watt-hours
Value
$1,900+
$2,499+
Score
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars
The ProArt P16 is available in a handful of configurations. The bottom mannequin is $1,900 with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 370 HX chipset, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, and a 16-inch 4K+ OLED show. It’s $2,700 with 64GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and an RTX 4070.
The MacBook Professional 16 begins at $2,499 with an M3 Professional chipset, 18GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD. and a 16.2-inch 3456 by 2234 mini-LED show. Upgrading to an M3 Max ups the value by $1,000, whereas rising RAM to 36GB and storage to 1TB. On the very excessive finish, the MacBook prices a whopping $7,199 with the quickest M3 Max, 128GB of RAM, and 8TB of storage.
Merely put, the ProArt P16 is much more inexpensive.
Design
Mark Coppock / Digital Developments
The MacBook Professional 16 enjoys Apple’s fastidious design sensibilities, sharing the identical easy but elegant aesthetic and favors cohesiveness over ostentation. Briefly, it’s a stunning laptop computer that’s out there in two colours, Silver and Area Black. The ProArt P16 is extra pedestrian, with an all-black chassis and features and angles which can be extra harking back to the everyday laptop computer at this time. It’s not that the Asus isn’t enticing, it’s that it simply doesn’t rise to the identical stage.
The identical will be mentioned about every laptop computer’s construct high quality. The MacBook Professional 16’s chassis is constructed from a single chunk of CNC machined aluminum. It and the lid are inflexible, with none bending, flexing, or twisting. Its heft offers it a strong feeling that few laptops can duplicate. The ProArt P16 can be manufactured from aluminum, however whereas its chassis and keyboard deck are fairly inflexible, the lid offers in to gentle strain. The ProArt P16 feels lots properly constructed, however the MacBook is, once more, on one other stage.
I don’t imply to pile on, however the MacBook’s Magic Keyboard can be higher, primarily due to its snappier, extra constant switches. Each have massive keycaps and loads of key spacing, however the Magic Keyboard affords quicker and extra correct typing. The MacBook’s enormous Pressure Contact haptic touchpad can be significantly better than the ProArt P16’s smaller mechanical model. Relating to coming into knowledge and navigating the UI, the MacBook Professional 16 is a greater expertise.
When it comes to connectivity, each are combined baggage. The ProArt P16 has extra legacy ports, however its single USB4 port gives much less bandwidth than the MacBook Professional 16’s three Thunderbolt 4 ports. Each have HDMI, and each have full-size SD card readers. The ProArt P16 has extra up-to-date wi-fi.
Each even have related 1080p webcams, and each present good photographs for videoconferencing. The ProArt P16 makes use of an infrared digicam for Home windows 11 Hi there facial recognition, whereas the MacBook Professional 16 has a fingerprint reader embedded within the energy provide.
Efficiency
Mark Coppock / Digital Developments
The ProArt P16 is constructed round AMD’s newest chipset, the 28-watt Ryzen AI 9 370 HX with 12 cores and 24 threads. It’s a quick iteration of AMD’s Ryzen collection, whereas incorporating the quickest neural processing unit (NPU) out there working at 50 tera operations per second (TOPS). As well as, the ProArt P16 will be outfitted with both the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 or RTX 4070 GPU. We reviewed it with the RTX 4070.
The MacBook Professional 16 makes use of both Apple’s M3 Professional or M3 Max chipsets. The M3 Professional has 12 CPU cores and 18 GPU cores, whereas the M3 Max is available in 14-core CPU/30-core GPU and 16-core CPU/40-core GPU variations. Our evaluation used the quickest M3 Max.
Merely put, when outfitted as we reviewed them, the MacBook Professional 16 is way quicker than the ProArt P16. That’s most obvious within the Pugetbench Premiere Professional benchmark that makes use of a number of M3 Max CPU optimizations in comparison with the Home windows model relying extra on the GPU to hurry issues up. The one space the place the ProArt P16 is quicker is in gaming, the place the MacBook is usually held again by a dearth of contemporary titles that may reap the benefits of its GPU.
Nonetheless, it’s vital to notice {that a} extra comparable MacBook Professional 16 by way of worth will use the M3 Professional. That can make efficiency loads nearer.
Geekbench 6(single/multi)
Handbrake(seconds)
Cinebench R24(single/multi/GPU)
PugetbenchPremiere Professional
Asus ProArt P16(Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 / RTX 4070)
Bal: 2,688 / 14,497Perf: 2,690 / 14,455
Bal: 50Perf: 49
Bal: 114 / 1,165 / 11,184Perf: 114 / 1,208 / 11,421
Bal: 5,444Perf: 6,451
Apple MacBook Professional 16(M3 Max 16/40)
Bal: 3,083 / 20,653Perf: 3,119 / 20,865
Bal: 50Perf: N/A
Bal: 140 / 1,667 / 13,146Perf: N/A
Bal: 8,046Perf: N/A
Show
Kunal Khullar / Digital Developments
Right here, we’re pitting OLED in opposition to mini-LED. Which means we’re evaluating OLED’s inky black and extremely dynamic and correct colours in opposition to mini-LED’s unimaginable brightness and excessive dynamic vary (HDR) efficiency.
It’s a reasonably intense battle. The ProArt P16’s OLED show is sharper at 4K+ (3840 by 2400) in comparison with the MacBook Professional 16’s 3456 by 2234 decision. And the MacBook’s show additionally runs at as much as 120Hz, making for a smoother expertise.
In response to our colorimeter, the ProArt P16’s OLED show isn’t even near as vibrant, and each have deep distinction. However its colours are wider and barely extra correct, and its blacks are excellent with out the blooming impact that generally exhibits up with mini-LED.
Actually, each shows are glorious for productiveness customers and creators. The MacBook Professional 16, although, has the very best HDR in a laptop computer at this time because of its unimaginable HDR brightness that’s as much as 1,600 nits.
Asus ProArt P16(OLED)
Apple MacBook Professional 16(mini-LED)
Brightness(nits)
359
640
AdobeRGB gamut
98%
89%
sRGB gamut
100%
100%
DCI-P3 gamut
100%
100%
Accuracy(DeltaE, decrease is healthier)
1.0
1.22
Distinction ratio
25,110:1
22,150:1
Portability
Mark Coppock / Digital Developments
Each laptops are very shut in measurement in width and depth, though the MacBook Professional suits in a barely bigger show because of smaller show bezels. Each are near the identical thickness, however the MacBook Professional 16 is significantly heavier. It should weight you a down a bit greater than the ProArt P16.
Battery life, although, is a extra vital differentiator. The ProArt P16 lasted for 8.5 hours in our net looking take a look at and 11 hours in our video looping take a look at. That’s not dangerous for Home windows creator laptops. Nonetheless, the MacBook Professional 16 lasted for 19.5 hours and 27 hours, respectively. It’s the longest-lasting laptop computer we’ve examined.
A part of the distinction comes from the MacBook Professional 16’s bigger battery. Most, although, comes from the unimaginable effectivity of Apple’s M3 structure. The MacBook will final you longer each when pushing it onerous and when doing typical productiveness duties and media consumption.
The ProArt P16 is a superb choice for Home windows customers
Mark Coppock / Digital Developments
Look, it’s easy: the MacBook Professional 16 stays the very best 16-inch laptop computer round. It’s extremely quick, it has superior battery life, its construct high quality is second to none, and its mini-LED show is tough to beat. And it has a price ticket to match.
The ProArt P16 can be fairly quick, it’s significantly lighter, and it has an incredible OLED show. It’s additionally much more inexpensive. In the event you’re a Home windows person with MacBook envy, then the ProArt P16 is the go-to choice.
