ASUS 16" Zenbook Pro 16X OLED Multi-Touch Laptop

[SDColorado]

Does anyone have any experience with the Asus 16" Zenbook Pro 16X Laptop?

I need to buy a new PC-based laptop for work and some content creation/photo editing. I was looking at buying a Lenovo X1 Extreme, but have found the shopping experience with Lenovo to be less than ideal.

Starting with the fact that they try to tell you the laptop that you are looking at is $6,000, but they are generously discounting it down to $2,500. Whatever. Everyone else has a similarly specced laptop for about $2500.

Beyond that, they have constant pop-up chat boxes from the sales force that keep telling you to let them know when you are ready to purchase and they will make sure that you get the best possible deal, but every time they mess with my cart the price seems to go up from what I had.

Just list a fair price free of all the discount code BS and be done with it eh?

In any case, the frustration with Lenovo's nonsense got me looking at some alternatives and one of them was the Asus 16" Zenbook Pro 16X Laptop, which looks nicely specced for a solid non-code, "we have the best deal for you" nonsense price.

Does anybody have any experience with this laptop or Asus in general? How is their support if you have an issue?

Thanks in advance for any input.

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[maflynn]

Here's some YTs to check out

I didn't find any reviews, just overviews of the laptop. Asus makes good laptops and they're on my short list of manufacturers when its time to replace my Razer. BTW, what frustrations are you having with Lenovo? Issues with the laptop or support? I have a lenovo but its all but unused at this point. There's something I like, but many things I don't. ITs the Thinkpad X1 Extreme btw

 

[SDColorado]

BTW, what frustrations are you having with Lenovo? Issues with the laptop or support? I have a lenovo but its all but unused at this point. There's something I like, but many things I don't. ITs the Thinkpad X1 Extreme

The frustrations so far have strictly been with their website and the buying experience.

1) When you are shopping for computers everything is overpriced and everything is perpetually on sale. The X1 Extreme unit that I was considering was mid-tiered other than the top-of-the-line display they offered and was listed as being priced at $5999 on sale for $3499. Well, nobody in their right mind would ever pay $5999 for it, and nor would they likely pay $3499. This brings me to #2

2) There are a series of ecoupon discount codes you can try to get the price of the unit down to a more reasonable price. There is the student/military/senior discount which knocks off 5%, then the THINKBIGDEALS code takes another percentage off and the HOLIDAYOFFERS knocks an additional $75 off and gets the price of the unit down to $2,043.87. A similarly specced unit for Asus is about $2,000 so that is the more fair and more accurate price. But if you want to change a spec and see how it affects the pricing you have to jump through all the hoops and discounts again to see how it will affect the in-cart price.

3) The prices for Lenovo Services are high and end up costing more than the laptop depending on which you choose and for how many years. So you are left battling with what levels of support you need and for how many years as a part of the pricing/budgeting process.

4) The pop-up chats and revolving door pricing. I could price out the unit I am interested in today, but if I don't buy it today it may well be a different price tomorrow. I have had it happen a couple of times already where the price has gone up. Also, there are constant pop-up chat windows from overly helpful sales folks who want to make sure you are getting the "best possible offers and deals" but also somehow manage to raise the price in the cart after telling you that they can save you $500.

5) They are currently backed out on CTO shipments until mid-December

I have mentioned my frustration to the sales staff about the revolving pricing and the reply I received was "We understand your frustration, but there is a reason Lenovo does this and it is up to another department." Yeah, your sales and marketing dictate the ridiculous revolving pricing. Got it.

Despite all that I was still considering one because I could get it with a 5G modem that I am not really entirely sure that I will ever need

What have you found you don't like about tye X1 Extreme? I considered one back in 2018 and ultimately returned it for a few reasons. But that was 5 years ago and I can't recall exactly what those were.

I believe a couple was that (A) it ran hot and throttled quickly. Something supposedly address with a better cooling system and (B) Speakers were lousy and still are by most reviews

 

[maflynn]

1) When you are shopping for computers everything is overpriced and everything is perpetually on sale.

No question, its a silly game they play. I literally paid 1/2 of what the regular price was.

As for inventory, they seem to be more affected then other manufacturers - not sure why but they seem to have less in stock. Yes, their website is horrible and confusing to navigate around

What I love about my X1 Extreme is the keyboard, the screen is really nice looking. Its not a sexy laptop, I've liken it to a minivan. ITs not pretty but it gets the job done. What frustrated me the most, was the meager GPU and the fan curve. The fans would spin up to a loud and annoying level even if the temps were not that bad.

My Razer isn't perfect but its better in many respects then the X1 Extreme

 

[SDColorado]

Here's some YTs to check out

Now that I have my Lenovo rant out of the way I will check out the YouTube videos on the Asus Zenbook

I have read through a few reviews. Mostly positive with a few knocks that are definitely not show-stoppers for me. Primarily that it is a fair bit heavier than many competitive models due to the construction, the battery life is OK but not outstanding despite the size of the battery, and the Asus dial has limited support outside of Adobe Creative Suite.

That is all fine, I am not planning on carrying it far. I work from home mostly, so the largest commute on most days is from my office to the outside patio in nicer weather. When I do have to go out in the field I use a tablet, so the weight of the laptop or how long it lasts on the battery isn't an issue.

As for the Asus dial. If it isn't useful, ignore it right? Much like the "Touchpad" on my MBP. I find it useful about maybe once per week, mostly it gets ignored

A couple of other individual reports I read so take them with a grain of salt...

One reviewer reported that he felt the aluminum casing was way too soft and that a couple of test units he received had bends around the vent areas. His was the only report I could find of that while others have said the case was very solid and contributed to the weight. A couple of thoughts were (A) Asus intentionally sent out units that didn't pass QC as test units knowing that they were bent or (B) They were made aware of the issue and have since addressed it.

Another review mentioned that the keyboard raises 7 degrees when you open the case which is great for both typing position and additional cooling of the unit, but that if you have pets it is a concern about how much pet hair etc., that it can pull in. We have 3 dogs in the house, so I am not sure if this is really a big red flag or if the reviewer just needs to do a better job of managing their own pets' hair

 

[SDColorado]

No question, its a silly game they play. I literally paid 1/2 of what the regular price was.

As for inventory, they seem to be more affected then other manufacturers - not sure why but they seem to have less in stock. Yes, their website is horrible and confusing to navigate around

What I love about my X1 Extreme is the keyboard, the screen is really nice looking. Its not a sexy laptop, I've liken it to a minivan. ITs not pretty but it gets the job done. What frustrated me the most, was the meager GPU and the fan curve. The fans would spin up to a loud and annoying level even if the temps were not that bad.

My Razer isn't perfect but its better in many respects then the X1 Extreme

Minivan! I like that. They aren't pretty or sexy but when you really need one they get the job done.

The fan issue is definitely one that comes to mind. I seem to recall even simple tasks like checking email will make the fans ramp up. I am not particularly bothered by fan noise like Hajime. If I was I would probably stick with something like the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 2 and the Intel Xe graphics. But it shouldn't come on so quick and fast for such a modest use. Supposedly they have addressed that somewhat with the Gen 5 models, but have they done enough? Supposedly the Asus IceCool Pro is a better system.

As far as looks, I actually like my wife's IdeaPad a lot better. The blue looks nicer and isn't the fingerprint magnet or carbon fiber diagonal maze of the X1 Extreme. The Asus ZenBook 16X isn't the sexiest notebook either I suppose, but at least the surface is supposed to be resistant to fingerprints and the light-up logo adds some Apple-esque appeal.

 

[SDColorado]

As for inventory, they seem to be more affected then other manufacturers - not sure why but they seem to have less in stock. Yes, their website is horrible and confusing to navigate around

To be fair, Asus is out of everything as well. But since everything is soldered on with the Zenbook 16X there are other sources to go to that have units of various configurations in stock. It's a bit annoying that it everything is soldered on, but since I can pick up a unit with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD and there are various retail stores that have them in stock I am OK with that. I really only need a 1TB drive, but it appears 16GB/RAM and 1TB or 32GB RAM/2TB are the stock configurations in the retail stores.

Lenovo has a reputation for its support. I don't know if it still lives up to that reputation or not. They offer up to 5 years next day on sight, priority parts ordering, 5-year damage protection, etc. Asus is only 3 years extended warranty/damage protection and no onsite.

How is Razer? My understanding is that customer support is excellent, but tech supports not so much. Or has that changed? I have been hesitant to look at them because with it being a work computer I can't be sending it off to them for an extended depot repair if something goes wrong. Something that makes me a bit hesitant with Asus as well.B

Edit: Maybe I am overthinking the onsite support. Being a laptop there probably isn't much that they can do onsite anyway other than replacing a keyboard or battery. Most issues would probably have to go out for depot repair anyway.

 

[maflynn]

How is Razer? My understanding is that customer support is excellent, but tech supports not so much. Or has that changed? I have been hesitant to look at them because with it being a work computer I can't be sending it off to them for an extended depot repair if something goes wrong. Something that makes me a bit hesitant with Asus as well.B

Overall the Razer is an excellent laptop, pricey but excellent. When I bought mine, I did so through Amazon and I purchased Amazon's warranty. I didn't need it, but it was better then dealing with Razer's tech support. From what I hear things have improved with Razer but I'd rather not take a chance.

Design and build quality his high, and its still a great laptop, even though I'm rocking an 9th gen CPU and an RTX 2070.

 

[SDColorado]

Overall the Razer is an excellent laptop, pricey but excellent. When I bought mine, I did so through Amazon and I purchased Amazon's warranty. I didn't need it, but it was better then dealing with Razer's tech support. From what I hear things have improved with Razer but I'd rather not take a chance.

Design and build quality his high, and its still a great laptop, even though I'm rocking an 9th gen CPU and an RTX 2070.

Good info. I had a brief look at the Razer 17", but only briefly. In part due to the past reputation of Razer and their tech support (or lack thereof) and also because it is a gaming machine. Do I *really* need a 240hz refresh rate for the work and photo editing I plan to do? I can't imagine that I do.

For me, a numeric keypad is more important than a high refresh rate and that is also something that the X1 Extreme is missing. The Asus Zenbook Pro 16 and Studio Art models do have one in some form.

But maybe I should take another look.

 

[SDColorado]

I didn't need it, but it was better then dealing with Razer's tech support. From what I hear things have improved with Razer but I'd rather not take a chance.

Is it the Assurion 4-Year warranty that you purchased? I have noticed that Assurion has purchased uBreakiFix and they have all added the "by Assurion" moniker under the name.

Does that then become the best repair option if you do have an issue under Assurion?

 

[SDColorado]

Well, I went ahead and ordered the Asus Zenbook Pro model with the I9-12900H, 32GB RAM, 2TBSSD, and GeForce RTX 3060. I will see how it goes. 30-day return policy so it should be plenty of time to figure out whether or not it is a keeper.

 

[maflynn]

Well, I went ahead and ordered the Asus Zenbook Pro

Congrats and good luck. At least on paper, that's a fantastic configuration. I'm debating on what will replace my Razer. It still works, but the time is coming and I'm starting to do some research

 

[SDColorado]

Always new stuff coming all the time as well. In a month or two I will probably see something else I wish was around at the time I ordered this one.

Actually, I really kind of struggled to decide between this Zenbook Pro and the Asus ProArt Studiobook 16 or ProArt Studiobook Pro 16.

I have a 30-day full money-back return policy with it, so if I am not completely satisfied I may try one of the ProArt models.

 

[maflynn]

I have a 30-day full money-back return policy with it, so if I am not completely satisfied I may try one of the ProArt models.

Depending on what you do, the ProArts are nice as well

I'm the opposoite of you, I hate the numeric pad on my laptop. What's funny, I'm a heavy user of that on my desktop, I use it constantly, but on laptops I hate it. I'm weird like that.

I was eying the Lenovo Legion 5i pro and the ROG Zephyrus G14/G15/M16 laptops but at the time I think only the white model was available. I'll see what the future brings, in 2023, and I'm seriously tempted to sell my MBP 14" and get the larger 16" model.

 

[SDColorado]

My preferences used to be more in line with yours, being a heavy user of the numeric keypad on my desktop, but hating them on the laptop. But over the past 3 years or so I started to use my desktop less and less. To the point where I am even going to replace the one that I have. As my use of the laptop has increased and since I do a lot of numeric entry, I have started to find I wish my laptop had a numeric keypad. My wife is always happily tapping away on hers and keeps telling me how much she loves having it. So, time for me to bite the bullet on that I think

I really like the ROG Zephyrus, it seems it has always been a strong performer. I am not as familiar with the Legion 5i. I don't game, so I tend to not pay as much attention to the gaming laptops as I probably should. I know they are often strong creative/work laptops as well.

I think the 16" laptops are a sweet spot. I used to always own a 17" laptop, but started to feel it was too large. I then switched to 15" laptops and sometimes missed the size and real estate of the 17" laptops. 16" laptops, awesome!