SUS ProArt P16: A Hands-On Review

Imagine this: you are not just a regular person or student who can walk into a store and pick a laptop with a blindfold on and be happy with whatever you get. You need something special, something bespoke. You need something you can use by your office table, something you can travel with, and something you can easily use at a coffee shop without having to worry about the battery or the display not being bright enough. You need a MacBook Pro…

…Is what you thought I would say. Well, you don’t.

ASUS has been quietly making a name for themselves among creators. While ASUS is usually the go-to for a student who just needs a note-taking laptop or something simple, they are now making a name for themselves on the higher end of devices. In this case, with the ProArt P16.

A laptop targeted for creators and high-end users, and it ticks all the boxes, without ticking off your bank account quite as much as you’d expect. At R64,999, considering what you get, the price is actually not bad at all. In fact, when you look at other offerings, it makes the price even sweeter, you simply won’t find another laptop in its class with this combination of an incredible display, high RAM and storage configurations, and powerful internals for the money.

Display: The Showstopper 

The ProArt’s party piece is its display. Something you notice right away and continue to notice, because you look at the display all the time. It’s beautiful. Not perfect, but beautiful.

It features a 16-inch 4K OLED touchscreen panel. Usually, when you hear “4K OLED,” you immediately think of high-end TVs or gaming monitors, but ASUS have packed these specs into the ProArt P16 to really target creators. There are very few laptops with such displays, and the ones that do have them are typically gaming machines. Even the highest-end MacBooks can’t match it.

One thing I do have a gripe with is the brightness. The laptop gets up to 500 nits, which isn’t bad but could be better, especially for outdoor use. The display also has a refresh rate of 60Hz which is good, but having at least 120Hz would make it exceptional, especially for video editors. Overall, the display is way above average, and to me, is the ProArt P16’s bragging piece. 

Battery: No Anxiety Here

Logic says, the bigger and more advanced the screen, the more power it consumes. The ASUS ProArt says, not really. The 90Whr battery can easily get you a full day’s use — up to 12 hours, depending on the workload. It also comes with a 200W charger that fills up the battery in under 2 hours.

Performance & Storage: Muscle That Matches the Looks

Under the hood, the ProArt P16 comes with some serious muscle:

• AMD Ryzen™ AI 9 HX 370 (12-core, up to 5.1GHz)

• Integrated AMD Radeon™ 890M graphics

• Discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 4070 (8GB GDDR6)

  
  

You also get 32GB (upgradeable to 64GB) of RAM and up to 2TB of storage. That’s creator-friendly firepower, whether you’re editing high-res video, working with massive design files, or just the kind of person who has 87 Chrome tabs open.

It’s worth noting that the laptop performs even better when plugged in, as you can then tap into a performance mode for gaming or heavy production.

To keep things cool, the ProArt P16 has three fans. More fans usually mean more noise, but here they’re surprisingly quiet. You’ll hear them kick in under load, but they’re far from “jet engine” levels.

The Little Extras That Make a Big Difference

The ProArt comes with the ASUS Dial, a circular control on the touchpad area that can be customised for quick adjustments like volume or brightness. Within creative apps, it can do even more, scrubbing through a video timeline or adjusting exposure in Photoshop.

The display’s touchscreen supports stylus input, so illustrators and designers can sketch, paint, or annotate directly. As most modern Windows laptops do now, the ProArt P16 also comes with a dedicated Copilot button for quick AI access.

What I Liked About It

• The display — crisp, deep blacks (thanks to OLED), vivid colours, and battery-saving true blacks. It’s one of the best panels I’ve seen on a laptop.

  
  

• The form factor — for a 16-inch laptop, it’s impressively sleek and not chunky, weighing only about 1.5kg. It’s light enough to carry around all day without regretting your life choices.

  
  

• The keyboard — thin laptops often suffer in this area, but the ProArt P16’s keyboard feels premium and comfortable to type on.

  
  

• The touchpad — large, smooth, and responsive. You won’t be wishing for an external mouse unless you really want one.

  
  

• Speakers — the best I’ve heard on a laptop. Loud, clear, and bass-rich, combined with that display, watching content is a full experience.

  
  

• Ports — two USB-C (one 40Gbps), two USB-A, SD card reader, HDMI, headphone jack, and the proprietary charger. You can also charge via USB-C with a high-watt cable.

  
  

What I Didn’t Like

• The camera — fine for calls, but colours are washed out without extra lighting.

• The finish — only available in “nano black,” which shows fingerprints quickly. The touchpad is especially prone to smudges.

• Brightness — 500 nits is solid but not mind-blowing, especially outdoors.

  
  

Overall, It’s One To Consider

The ASUS ProArt P16 is a creator-focused powerhouse that genuinely gives other brands a run for its money. For R64,999, you’re getting a premium OLED display, excellent performance, generous RAM/storage, and thoughtful features, all in a sleek, portable package. It’s not perfect, but in its class, it’s one of the most compelling laptops you can buy right now.