Asus's latest Zenbook A16 runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, a chip that posted the highest single-core scores we've seen in a Windows laptop. Multitasking, video exports, and code compiles happen noticeably faster than on Intel or AMD equivalents in this price tier. Everything else — the display, the keyboard, the port selection — lands squarely in "acceptable but not inspiring."
The real cost isn't the $2,000 MSRP. It's the ecosystem lock-in. Arm-based Windows laptops still struggle with some x86 software, and drivers for niche peripherals remain spotty. If you're a developer or content creator who lives in native Arm apps, the performance gains are real. If you need reliable compatibility with legacy tools, you'll spend more time troubleshooting than working.
The battery claims don't match real-world use either. Asus advertises all-day life, but our benchmark suite drained the machine in about seven hours — decent, but not the two-day runtime Qualcomm promised. The chassis feels plasticky compared to competing ultrabooks in this price range, and the 16-inch display tops out at 60Hz despite the premium positioning.
This is a laptop for someone who runs benchmarks for a living and doesn't care about anything else. Everyone else should wait for the software support to catch up.