Important points of ZDNET
- of ASUS Pro Art PZ13 is an artfully arranged laptop available at Best Buy for $1,100.
- A brilliant OLED touchscreen, long battery life, and support apps support professional artists.
- This device is held back by a limited port array and substandard keyboard.
A few months ago, I tested Microsoft’s Surface Pro 11, a laptop that doubles as a tablet. Powered by Qualcomm’s next generation chipset, it comes with many great features that you can enjoy with this machine. Highly recommended for businessmen who travel frequently. Asus must have looked at the Surface Pro and thought, “We can do more.” The result of this inspiration is ASUS Pro Art PZ13.
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We mentioned the Surface Pro 11 because there are many similarities between the two, but the ProArt model is better suited for artists and creative professionals.
When you first take the laptop out of the box, you’re greeted with a 13.3-inch, 3K (2880 x 1800 pixels) OLED touchscreen. While the resolution isn’t as high as Microsoft’s laptop, the ProArt PZ13 more than makes up for it with image enhancement apps.
It features Dolby Vision, full DCI-P3 color gamut support, and VESA DisplayHDR True Black for ultra-dark shadows. Everything works together except for the 60Hz refresh rate to ensure a great visual experience. This is still plenty fast, but I wish it had 120Hz. At 60Hz, motion and animations on this laptop can look a little blurry.
Also: One of the most versatile laptops I’ve tested, a crowd-pleaser with solid hardware
This device has a really cool feature called Creator Hub. This is a dashboard app that allows you to make adjustments to your PZ13 on the fly. Among the many tools, the most impressive is the color control, which allows you to change the color gamut on the screen at any time. For example, the DCI-P3 option is ideal for movies because it fine-tunes colors, while Display P3 is recommended for artists because it displays hue more accurately. You can also adjust the color temperature.
Creator Hub gives creative professionals great flexibility. Although I’m not an artist myself, I certainly appreciate having the ability to tweak my experience on the fly.
Asus is no slouch either, with the ProArt PZ13 powered by a Snapdragon X Plus chipset. I was able to keep about 60 tabs open without experiencing any significant slowdowns. I had videos playing, Twitch streams running, and I was able to check out my email without a problem.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get any concrete benchmark numbers for the SoC (system on chip). None of the major benchmark tests have been updated for Snapdragon X, but we hope that day comes soon.
Also: This lightweight laptop has one of the best displays I’ve ever seen, but it’s no MacBook Air.
Like other Qualcomm-based laptops, the ProArt PZ13 has ridiculously long battery life, only this time the marketing materials were right. The device operated continuously for over 21 hours in maximum power efficiency mode. I left it on overnight and was surprised that it was still active in the morning. In best performance mode, this model lasts about 14.5 hours on a single charge, which means it performs better than most Intel-based laptops.
These battery times are perfect if you need to take your ProArt PZ13 on the go. You don’t have to worry about your laptop breaking at the worst possible moment.
The tablet is 0.35 inches thick and weighs just under 2 pounds. Asus provides a subdued green protective cover at the time of purchase. The cover adds bulk to the device, but not by much. It fits perfectly in your bag.
I like Asus’ new computers, but I didn’t like the ProArt PZ13’s keyboard. According to ASUS, the key travel distance is 1.4mm. In theory, this should ensure a good typing experience, but I found the keyboard brittle. The accessory will bend slightly when you press the key.
Also: One of the longest-lasting laptops I’ve tested also has a beautiful display
Additionally, there are very few ports. A total of three are available: two USB-C inputs and an SD card reader. Admittedly, the device is rather thin, so perhaps Asus couldn’t find room for more ports. Still, they could have at least included a headphone jack.
My final criticism is obviously to the point. I wish the whole package had included a free stylus. When I got Microsoft’s 11th generation Surface Pro, I really enjoyed it. So unless you already have a pen, you’ll have to buy one for the PZ13, but since laptops are pretty cheap, this isn’t a big deal.
ZDNET purchase advice
Asus ProArt PZ13 prices start from $1,100 at Best Buythis is a steal. Asus’ website has a more powerful version — At $1,649Now you can buy the ProArt PZ13, which is equipped with Qualcomm’s Hexagon NPU and provides even more power.
Otherwise it’s the same device. Get the Hexagon version only if you anticipate heavy workloads.
At ZDNET, we test laptops using a combination of methods. First, analyze the system’s internal metrics by pulling data from benchmarking software and compare them to the advertised numbers. We then use the laptop for extended periods of time (typically 1-2 weeks) in the same way as the average consumer and analyze its portability, form factor, and battery life. actually Above all, it holds up. For a detailed breakdown, check out our comprehensive laptop testing methodology.
- benchmark: We put your computer’s hardware through a series of tests to see what it’s capable of. Cinebench is one of the most commonly used hardware test suites, testing a laptop’s rendering performance on single and multiple CPU cores. PCMark 10 is also a powerful program that covers a variety of tasks performed in the workplace.
- Processor: It is the “brain” of your laptop and one of the most important factors that determines its performance. This is tested with benchmark software.
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Graphics processor (GPU): Test your GPU with a combination of benchmark software, games, and media playback.
- Battery test: Test your unit’s battery in several ways. Some benchmarking programs have their own battery test components, but here we just let the laptop run under moderate load for as long as possible.
- Human element: As mentioned earlier, metrics and system data are important, but numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. Here, we incorporate our personal experience with the device and leverage practical use cases that consumers actually care about.
The ultimate goal is to break down the features of every laptop we test into easy-to-understand terms that people will find useful.
