In the world of laptops, innovation happens every few years. Today, most notebook computers have a light and compact form factor, as well as longer battery life. Asus does the same, but it retains a bunch of weird geniuses and brings some wonderful concepts to life (such as dual-monitor laptops). And now, in the year when Apple’s latest MacBook Pro brought ports as a breakthrough feature for creators, Asus has continued to move forward and added a large dial to its ProArt StudioBook 16 OLED.
In addition to a detailed name, StudioBook 16 OLED is every creator's dream laptop. It all depends on the small plastic dial next to the trackpad. But that's not all; ASUS has gone all out to specs in typical ASUS fashion. StudioBook 16 OLED is composed of OLED display, Ryzen 9 processor and NVIDIA RTX 3070 GPU. Starting at Rs 1,69,900, is this the killer of the MacBook Pro?
I spent 10 days using ASUS ProArt StudioBook 16 OLED to find out. And, let's call it StudioBook 16 throughout the review to keep it simple.
The StudioBook 16 is similar to the Mercedes-AMG E63-an invisible sleeper that looks like any other laptop, but contains a large number of machines. When closed, you may not notice StudioBook 16 on your desk. It uses a matte black design and a simple lid to provide a low-key appeal, and the only gift is the retro style vents on both sides.
Open the lid and you will continue to see the same secret black theme continue inside. There is a full-size QWERTY keyboard with a numeric keypad and a large enough touchpad. However, this is where your eyes catch the unusual dial and the third middle button on the trackpad. The display design is not at the forefront. There are some borders to view.
The thick design means that Asus has packed all the necessary ports here. There are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports that support 100W power transmission, charging and DisplayPort. Joining these are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, an SD Express 7.0 card reader, a 3.5 mm combo audio jack and a Gigabit RJ45 LAN port.
With all these hardware and metal chassis, the StudioBook 16 weighs 2.4 kg, which is too heavy. Users may also like to keep a rag at hand, because the frosted surface is easy to get dirty.
If the name has not been announced, you will be happy to see an OLED display with a size of 16 inches and an aspect ratio of 16:10. The resolution is set to 4K, and the peak brightness level is as high as 550 nits. ASUS declares that it supports DisplayHDR 500 True Black, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, Pantone verified color, and Delta E <2 color accuracy. In layman's English, this means the excellent appearance and accurate display of colors that creators will love.
Thanks to the OLED panel, the boring tasks from writing to playing Battlefield 2042 feel very lively. The colors are bright and the high contrast is pleasing. I'm not a video editor, but when polishing photos in Photoshop for comment, I am sure that my photos look exactly as expected, at least on similar professional quality monitors. Game designers and testers may not be satisfied with the 60Hz refresh rate, but this is the price paid for the early iterations of OLED displays on laptops. The smooth lamination of the display may also confuse some users due to reflections, especially in bright environments.
Every creator’s laptop must have a glowing part. StudioBook 16 OLED provides some powerful specifications. Ryzen 9 5900HS constitutes the brain of a notebook computer, aided by up to 64GB 3200Mhz RAM and up to 2TB storage (2 x PCIe 3.0 M.2 SSD storage, RAID 0 configuration). My device has NVIDIA RTX 3070 and 8GB RAM, and it boots to Windows 11.
For creators’ laptops, this is some important hardware worth having. It shows, especially in everyday use case scenarios. For ordinary office workflow loads such as processing documents and processing web pages, StudioBook 16 can easily cope with it. Although my workflow does not require me to edit video, I do a lot of 4K photo editing on Adobe Photoshop, sometimes 6-7 at a time. StudioBook 16 can easily handle these tasks.
If you are looking for benchmark data, here are some things to watch. StudioBook 16 scored 26800 on the 3D marker Night Raid, 8100 on the 3D marker Time Spy, 6723 on PCMark 10 Productivity Suite, and 12,127 on CineBench R23. These scores are very comparable to other creators’ laptops, although gaming laptops with similar prices perform better.
RTX 3070 and Ryzen 9 make StudioBook 16 primarily a mid-range gaming laptop. I was able to play Forza Horizon 5 at 50-60 fps in 1080p resolution at medium and high settings. F1 2021 can run at 1080p Ultra settings, with an average frame rate between 46-60 fps. Battlefield 2042 can manage high settings for 1080p resolution.
In other words, you will not buy StudioBook 16 to play games. The point is to make life easier for creators through Asus Dial. It is located within reach of your left hand, making it easy to quickly adjust multiple settings. As standard, the dial allows you to adjust the brightness and volume level. In Adobe's professional application suite, it has gained more features. For example, I can quickly adjust the brush size, opacity, width, color level, and many other functions; all of these can be configured into the watch face through the ProArt Creative Center application.
Over time, I got used to the existence of the rotating dial, which really made my Photoshop tasks easier. Doing the same thing with the old "mouse method" on other laptops now feels outdated. ASUS said it is working with developers to make ASUS Dial compatible with more applications. Imagine being able to control your navigation on Chrome, or dial in to quickly access the controls you want in the game! The possibilities are endless; I just hope Asus makes them happen quickly.
The touchpad also has some tricks. It is said that the third button can help designers use applications such as CAD, where you need a button to rotate the model. If you use a stylus, you can write your thoughts or draw sketches directly on the touchpad.
Although there are many things that make creators happy, I hope that Asus will equip ProArt StudioBook 16 with better speakers. These speakers are good, but creators need to plug in headphones or professional studio-grade speakers, especially where audio is involved when editing videos and other tasks.
StudioBook 16 also includes a manual webcam shutter, which is great news for privacy enthusiasts. However, the shutter feels fragile and I want to know how long it can last after a year of normal use.
Asus claims to have a 90Whr battery, and the StudioBook 16 can be used for up to 8.5 hours. However, in my regular use case, I can extract up to 5 hours at a time. My use includes 10-11 hours of office workflow, which itself includes processing 8-9 tabs on Google Chrome, staying connected to Wi-Fi, keeping the display at 50% brightness, and participating in MS for an average of 1 hour Teams meetings. Your battery life statistics may vary.
The Asus ProArt StudioBook 16 priced at Rs 1,69,900 is a great laptop for creative work. ASUS's small dial changes the way you interact with your laptop. Once you get used to it, you will never go back to the traditional way of adjusting Photoshop parameters or even screen brightness! And because it is a physical dial, it feels natural. Why don't all professional laptops have a physical rotary dial?
The ASUS dial is the star of the show here and has great potential. However, hidden behind the dial is a sturdy professional laptop that will not be shaken by basic functions. It has powerful performance, an amazing display, a wide variety of I/O ports, and a reasonable price.
If you are buying a professional-grade laptop for creative work in the market and are focusing on the new MacBook Pro 14, we recommend that you check it out for yourself before proceeding. If you care about productivity, then you will like StudioBook 16.
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