My testing is deep, weird, and still underway. Stay tuned.
But that review is going to spend a lot of time talking about CUDA cores, tokens, local AI models, and benchmarks. Before disappearing down that rabbit hole, I want to talk about the actual laptop—because this feels like a premium machine designed to brawl with high-end MacBook Pros.
The Asus ProArt P16 is the cleanest, most imposing laptop I’ve ever reviewed. It reminds me of Darth Vader in the best possible way: a big, cold, imposing black slab of metal that looks like it means business. Real “You may dispense with the pleasantries, Commander. I am here to put you back on schedule” kinda vibes. That’s exactly what I want from a $7,000 laptop.
Better yet, Asus somehow squeezes its 16-inch display and 128GB of unified memory in a chassis just 0.51 inches thick and 3.95 pounds. It feels almost impossibly thin when you pick it up, yet the metal construction is rigid as a carbonite-frozen Han Solo, without flex or creaking. The hinge opens smoothly with one hand. The black finish looks fantastic, though it picks up fingerprints and oils over time. That may simply be because I’m a fat greasy degenerate gamer, but hey, on the plus side it also proves easy to wipe away.
More surprising: This thing usually stays remarkably quiet in many (but not all) scenarios. I’ve spent hours hammering large local AI models while developing my real-world benchmark suite, and the P16 remained far less audibly intrusive than I expected from hardware this potent and thin. I haven’t tried gaming on it though.
An OLED fit for $7,000
The 16-inch OLED touchscreen is just as luxurious. Its 3840×2400 resolution and 283 pixels per inch make everything razor sharp, while the 120Hz refresh rate keeps motion smooth. OLED’s perfect blacks and punchy contrast make colorful images almost seem to loom over the panel rather than exist inside it. It’s bright, dense, vibrant, and gorgeous. Seriously — I’ve never touched a laptop with an OLED panel this luxurious and delightful, even if it doesn’t translate well to static pictures.