2 hours ago
4
pros and cons
Pros
- Gorgeous display
- High-end processor
- Appropriately priced
- Thin and light
Cons
- Potential emulation issues remain
- Variable artillery life
- Plasticky build
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Asus' caller Zenbook A16 is the sequel to past year's Zenbook A14, 1 of the thinnest, lightest, and longest-lasting laptops of 2025. The A16 picks up wherever its younger sibling near off, aiming for the aforesaid bladed and airy physique but with cardinal hardware upgrades that elevate it to a much premium position.
Physically, it's made with the aforesaid textured, smudge-resistant ceraluminum, features a superb 3K OLED display, ample trackpad and ultrasleek build. But nether the hood is its concealed weapon: the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor, Qualcomm's second-gen high-end processor with a 5-GHz timepiece speed, 192-bit representation interface and 228GB/s bandwidth.
Last year's Zenbook A14 was truthful bladed and light, it astir didn't consciousness real. The A16 trades successful that boundary-pushing lightness for a much almighty acceptable of hardware that Asus hopes volition instrumentality purpose astatine 1 large competitor: the MacBook Air.
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At 2.6 pounds, it's surely lightweight for a 16-inch, making a connection by coming successful astatine conscionable a hairsbreadth little than the MacBook Air M5 (which is 2.7 pounds), awesome considering it's an full inch bigger.
But I wouldn't beryllium truthful speedy to peg the A16 arsenic a c transcript of the A14 that's "just bigger." The smaller exemplary had an implicit marathon artillery that lasted respective days, whereas the A16 sacrifices immoderate of that longevity for power. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is simply a powerhouse that produced immoderate awesome show numbers successful my testing, portion proving it has what it takes for coagulated show for mundane tasks and demanding workflows. But not without a large trade-off.
Hardware and usage case
The A16's focal constituent is the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme system-in-package (SiP) -- Qualcomm's highest-end processor successful a user laptop, built connected a 3nm spot process with an ultra-wide representation bandwidth of up to 228 GB/s. The X2 Elite Extreme has six further CPU cores compared to the modular Snapdragon X2 Elite spot for a full of 18 (12 premier cores and six show cores).
Coupled with the modular 48GB of LPDDR5X 9600 representation and modular 1TB SSD, the A16 features a premium basal hardware loadout that is acold amended positioned for demanding applications than its predecessor was. This opens it up to workflows its aforementioned competitor, the MacBook Air, does well, specified arsenic video and photograph editing extracurricular of the top-tier pro people and beardown multitasking.
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When it comes to gaming performance, the Qualcomm Adreno X2 GPU successful the A16 performs overmuch amended than its predecessor, with improved ray tracing, and, according to Asus, 2.3 higher framework rates for games astatine a FHD solution with mean graphics settings.
What this equates to, successful my testing, is amended baseline show crossed the committee for mid-range titles, and a steeper drop-off successful show erstwhile it comes to much demanding games. The A14, by comparison, was not suited to thing but the coziest of games, and gaming connected ARM tin inactive beryllium tricky; Despite what Microsoft oregon Qualcomm whitethorn say, show issues related to emulation are inactive a thing.
Physical build
The show connected the A16 looks fantastic. It's a glossy, Lumina Pro 3K 16-inch WQXGA+ OLED with a 120Hz refresh complaint and highest HDR brightness of 1100 nits. Unlike the A14, it yet features an edge-to-edge solid sheet without the integrative bezels, giving it a acold much premium presence. It is bright, but it is very glossy -- thing to support successful caput if you person tons of overhead lighting.
The A16 tin besides thrust 3 outer monitors with the lid open, different container Asus seemingly strove to cheque successful its quest to decision the MacBook Air, which is constricted to two. It has the connectivity to backmost it up with a USB-A port, SD paper slot, HDMI 2.1, and 2 Thunderbolt-4 USB-C ports.
The keyboard and trackpad are good. Neither diagnostic outstanding plan elements, but some are satisfyingly responsive, comfy and good engineered. I volition constituent retired that the trackpad does not spell each the mode to the borderline of the laptop, but has a tiny lip; a astute plan prime I privation the Acer Swift 16 AI had utilized.
Asus continues to stress the ingenuity of its proprietary ceraluminum worldly with its daze and scratch resistant properties. It besides claims it's smudge free, but successful my acquisition this applies mostly to the apical of the laptop's clamshell. Not lone is the bottommost of the laptop not smudge free, the matte beige texture is an implicit fingerprint magnet.
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Similarly, the hollow, plasticky consciousness astir the keyboard and trackpad doesn't precisely exude premium durability -- particularly compared to competitors with much important aluminum builds similar Dell's XPS 14 oregon the MacBook Air M5 (particularly astatine the $2,000 terms point).
Additionally, the "Zabriskie Beige" colorway follows the line's neutral chromatic aesthetic, but I privation Asus committed to a colour palette that's either a small warmer oregon a small much silver, arsenic it's conscionable 2 clicks distant from being the hue of the household desktop from the '90s.
Battery life
The Zenbook A14 had 1 of the longest-lasting batteries connected the marketplace past year, earning a spot connected our best list for its longevity: 30 hours successful video playback and astir 20 erstwhile it came to usage. With the A16, however, things are a small spot different. Asus advertises 21 hours of video playback, adjacent with the beefier 70Wh battery. This measurement down successful longevity is simply a effect of a fewer antithetic factors, but main among them is the information that there's a batch much to power: namely the large, agleam show and the processor.
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In my archetypal investigating of the A16, I recovered artillery beingness to beryllium mediate of the road. For emblematic usage successful the bureau moving dozens of browser tabs, taking video calls, and uploading and transferring files, it lasted the full day, but without a batch of country to spare.
When it comes to demanding tasks similar gaming, rendering video successful Da Vinci Resolve and transferring ample files, I recovered artillery beingness to beryllium a small much sporadic. In my abbreviated clip with the Zenbook A16, I haven't had clip for a implicit artillery analysis, but during sessions wherever I pushed it, I experienced noticeable drops successful artillery beingness followed by sustained periods of overmuch slower depletion.
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This leads maine to judge that determination inactive possibly immoderate firmware improvements to beryllium made, particularly with this caller processor. Recent, consequent BIOS updates besides connote ongoing optimization efforts.
As it stands now, the A16 has perfectly bully artillery life, but it's important to enactment that it's a antithetic beast than its 14-inch predecessor. I'd qualify this laptop to thing person to the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i -- a hybrid creator/professional 16-inch with a banger OLED. It'll happily past each time for the communal suite of productivity tasks, but pushing the hardware for much demanding tasks is champion done portion plugged in.
ZDNET's buying advice
Is the Zenbook A16 the Windows mentation of the MacBook Air? Not quite, but it's a worthy rival successful its ain right. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme spot is simply a powerhouse, not the breezy Snapdragon X chips with multi-day artillery beingness recovered successful past year's Zenbook A14.
It's an attractive, future-facing 16-inch with a almighty processor and a gorgeous OLED display, a afloat suite of connectivity and a unsocial aesthetic. But it's besides a small experimental, with a caller processor from Qualcomm that goes successful a antithetic absorption from its erstwhile product.
But Asus is precise bully astatine improving connected merchandise design, arsenic this year's Zenbook Duo goes to show. The 2026 Duo not lone improved connected past year's model, it perfected it -- displaying an awesome maturation of its unorthodox signifier origin that was truthful good, it earned 1 of our Best of CES awards.
With that successful mind, it'll beryllium absorbing to spot however the A16 fits successful with the 2026 refresh of the Zenbook A14, including consequent generations of this laptop and its powerhouse chip.
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