In its press release, Asus refers to it as “Most Powerful Zenbook Ever”. He is the Zenbook Pro 16X OLED (or UX7602 by his stage name). A laptop PC that packs maximum power – Core i7 12700H or i9 12900H, RTX 3060 6 GB GDDR6, up to 32 GB DDR5 in its maximum configuration – in a 2.4 kg aluminum chassis for less than 2 cm in height thickness (17 mm at the thinnest).
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If gaming is largely within its reach, it is a machine for “creators”, from photography to video editing, including 3D modeling and other similar applications. Professions – or hobbies! – who also need (or want?) the best screen, here a 4K OLED 16/10 paneland 550 cd/m², Pantone certified, please.
Assets that Apple does not have
Comparing the impressive video compression/decompression capabilities of Apple’s M1 Pro/Max with the Intel/Nvidia couple, we’re tempted to bet that in this area as in battery endurance, the 16-inch MacBook Pro should have the advantage. What to kill the Zenbook Pro 16X OLED? Not so fast.
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What PCs lose in “coherence” (Apple develops both the chips and the system), they often compensate with richer equipment and additional functions.
And the Asus machine is no exception to this rule. Even honors the PC “clan”: between the giant touchpad (which incorporates a calculator), the RGB LED backlighting, the 4K OLED panel which is tactile and compatible with the supplied stylus (4096 pressure levels), the physical wheel inherited from previous models (and improved, because 75% more compact than the previous generation) or even the gaming potential of the Nvidia card, the Zenbook Pro 16X OLED has some great assets on its side.
10 hours of battery life (on paper)
If we will forgive him a much lower endurance than that of the Apple machine, we will not give him a gift on the noise side. Let’s hope that the steam chamber specially developed for the occasion, as well as the air intake system, will spare our ears. Asus promises 10 hours of autonomy (in what uses?), and 40 dB max in standard mode (bis?), only several tests in several scenarios will shed light on our lanterns.
The equipment does not stop there, with a UHS-II standard SD slot, a Full HD webcam (1920×1080 points) coupled with an IR camera (Windows Hello facial recognition) and a fingerprint reader. There is also an audio system with six speakers and four microphones, or two Thunderbolt 4 sockets (SD Express 7.0 and HDMI 2.1 compatible).
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Also see video:
A machine so well equipped and so luxurious – aeronautical grade aluminum, mechanism for raising the keyboard for the air intake, very high-end component – obviously costs money. A lot of money: the basic version with a Core i7 will start at 2,999 euros and we don’t yet have the price for the maximum configuration in Core i9 version.
In any case, the machine is aligned with that of Apple in terms of price. The pressure is therefore important for Asus to offer the same level of performance.