This review first appeared in issue 349 ofPC Pro.
When you think of Asus Vivobook range,cheap laptopsprobably spring to mind.
So you may wonder whats going on here: a Vivobook costing 2,500?
Asus has packed plenty of powerful parts inside the Vivobook Pro 16X
Surely thats more Asus ROGgaming laptopterritory?
Here, though, Asus has creators in its sights rather than gamers.
It comes loaded with Nvidias Studio drivers, a Pantone-validatedOLEDscreen and even a clever dial built into the touchpad.
But lets start with the fundamentals: power.
Thats because Asus has opted for a Core i9-13980HXprocessor, which is as boy racer as it sounds.
The X is the overclocking cherry on top.
The chunky chassis and poor battery life mean it’s not very portable
No wonder it can gobble up to 105W.
Its also why this laptop returned such stonking speeds in our CPU-torture tests.
This supreme speed was repeated in Cinebench R23s multicore section, where it scorched its way to 25,660.
The keys are a decent size, and the large touchpad is smooth and responsive
Thats a huge jump.
Its also the reason why this laptop costs 2,500 rather than 3,000 or 3,500.
I first saw this in our suite of gaming tests.
A top-quality OLED panel makes films look great
In other words, its only unplayable frame rates came in that final, brutal test.
Here, it performed in line with expectations for an RTX 4070 laptop.
Asus loves to add little extras to its touchpads, and here thats a DialPad.
It’s easy to remove the base of the chassis and upgrade the memory and SSD
Its a clunky mechanism, but this stops you accidentally switching the dial on and off.
Once active, a white circle within the dotted lines lights up.
Press it, and the Asus dial overlay appears on-screen, with different options depending on context.
The Vivobook Pro 16X is a fine choice for gamers and creatives alike
Its no substitute for a physical dial, but creatives with dexterous fingers may grow fond of it.
And there are a couple of positives.
Plus, a dedicated number pad makes sense in a laptop this width.
Super size
This machine is no ultraportable.
Whichever dimension you measure, its chunky.
Rather than style, then, this laptop is designed for practicality.
Thats a strong connectivity offering, backed up by Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. you could trickle-charge it using the Thunderbolt ports, but I cant imagine travelling without the 540g power supply.
Except, as it turns out, bright sunshine, where the screens reflectivity became obvious.
Inside, though, its superb.
Final thoughts
If youre a demanding user, then, this is almost a perfect laptop.
Then again, we need to remember that this isnt a 3,000+ mobile workstation.
In terms of price, thats certainly competitive when placed next to an equivalent16in MacBook Pro.
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