Asus Zenbook Professional 16X OLED (UX7602) overview: A high-spec creator laptop computer with an outstanding display and tilting keyboard

Asus’s laptops geared toward creators, just like the Professional Artwork Studiobook 16 OLED I reviewed again in December 2021, embrace specialist options such because the round Asus Dial, together with high-end parts. The brand new Zenbook Professional 16X OLED (UX7602), which Asus describes as “probably the most highly effective Zenbook ever”, additionally options the Asus Dial, together with a 4K OLED display, a Twelfth-generation Intel Core i9 processor and 2TB of SSD storage. All this know-how comes at a excessive worth, although: the Asus Zenbook Professional 16X OLED (UX7602) prices £2,999.99 (~$3,682 on the time of writing). 

The 16-inch Zenbook Professional 16X OLED is a sturdy and well-made laptop computer, however it’s additionally huge and heavy. It weighs 2.4kg, and that is with out the large 200W energy brick. The laptop computer measures 355mm by 251mm on the desktop and is 17.8mm thick on the again, tapering barely to 16.9mm on the entrance. If you must carry it, you will want a big bag and loads of muscle-power. 

The aluminium alloy unibody chassis, which complies with MIL-STD 810H, affords loads of safety to the high-end parts inside, whereas the cooling system is augmented by the AAS Extremely tilt mechanism that raises the keyboard to comfy angle (extra on that beneath). 

The display is excellent, as befits a top-end ‘creator’ laptop computer. The 16-inch OLED touchscreen affords 4K decision (3840 x 2400 pixels, 283ppi) in a 16:10 side ratio that gives a tall viewing space. The bezels are small, though noticeable, with the underside one specifically being relatively deep. Asus claims a display to physique ratio of 90%, though our calculation places it at 83.3%. 

Peak brightness is 550nits, and the 60Hz refresh charge, whereas lagging behind the 120Hz-plus of many flagship-class telephones, delivers easy and watchable video. All the same old certifications for color and show high quality are in place: Dolby Imaginative and prescient, Pantone Validated, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 licensed. The display helps 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and is TÜV Rheinland licensed for low blue-light emissions. 

The display helps the Asus Pen 2.0, though this stylus was not included with my overview unit. 

Some artistic customers would require high-quality audio along with top-end visuals, and the Zenbook Professional 16X OLED’s six audio system — two tweeters and 4 woofers — do a wonderful job on this entrance. There are speaker grilles on both facet of the keyboard, plus a second pair of a lot smaller grilles on the entrance underside of the chassis. Sound high quality is nice, with no discernible distortion even on the (fairly loud) high quantity. 

It is good to see a 1080p FHD digital camera on-board. Video high quality is excellent, and the digital camera can also be outfitted with IR to assist Home windows Hiya face authentication. The webcam may be disabled for privateness functions just by hitting the F10 key. 

When the lid is opened the AAS Extremely mechanism elevates keyboard to a 7-degree angle, lifting its again edge 14.5mm from the horizontal. Asus says that is the right angle for ergonomic typing, though I did not discover it any kind of comfy than on a standard keyboard. Asus additionally claims that the lean angles the audio system in the direction of the consumer for higher stereo replica. Nonetheless, the important thing good thing about the lean mechanism is its position within the laptop computer’s cooling system, permitting 38% extra airflow and enhancing warmth dissipation.

This enhanced airflow is significant given the Zenbook Professional 16X OLED’s highly effective Twelfth-generation Intel Core i9-12900H processor and discrete Nvidia graphics, and it is solely a part of the cooling story. Asus’s IceCool Professional system options two IceBlades followers, every of which have 97 3D-curved blades, that expel scorching air via the area created by the keyboard carry.  

The keyboard has a backlight which may be cycled via three brightness ranges by way of a Fn key. That is customary performance, however extra uncommon are the user-configurable multicolour results. Varied hues can traverse the keyboard and illuminate mild bars to its left and proper. You possibly can configure colourways for energy up, energy down, when efficiency modes are switched, when e-mail is available in, when a USB machine is connected, and extra. And when the battery will get low, lights glow purple. The Asus marque on the lid will also be configured to light up in your selection of colors. 

The keyboard’s keys are a bit bigger than traditional, taking full benefit of the out there width, and they’re very barely concave — so barely, actually, that it is barely noticeable. I discovered typing comfy, with the 1.4mm key journey and vigorous bounce-back making a optimistic key motion. 

The principle purpose the keys are bigger than we’d often count on is that Asus has not squeezed a separate quantity pad into the keyboard. As a substitute, this may be discovered on the touchpad, the place it is known as up by tapping an icon within the high proper nook. The pad itself is gigantic at 150mm large and 90mm tall, and it delivers haptic suggestions that confirms actions have been made. It is responsive and comfy to make use of. 

Sitting to the left of the touchpad is the Asus Dial, a round touch-sensitive space with a central button. This enables for a spread of system-wide controls resembling display brightness, quantity and scrolling. Customers of Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Professional, Photoshop Lightroom Traditional, After Results and Illustrator may use it to entry menu choices. The concept is that it gives straightforward, seamless entry to controls with out interrupting your artistic stream. 

It is a disgrace the Asus Dial’s application-based performance is at present restricted to a small set of apps, as customers of different creativity instruments will miss out on its productiveness advantages. 

Asus has constructed the Zenbook Professional 16X OLED to be a powerhouse for artistic customers, and with that in thoughts there’s only one high-end processor possibility — Intel’s Core i9-12900H. That is supported by a discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. There’s 32GB of non-expandable RAM and a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. That is way more storage than would usually be offered as customary, however probably needed for all of the multimedia materials that customers might want to retailer. 

Ports and connectors are plentiful by immediately’s requirements too. A pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports are all the time free, because of the presence of a devoted energy enter. There is a single USB-A port and a full-size HDMI port in addition to a 3.5mm audio in/out jack. The SD card slot is specified as SD Categorical 7.0, making it quick sufficient for exchanging giant knowledge recordsdata — so long as your reminiscence card additionally helps this customary.

With power-hungry parts and a big display to maintain going, battery life might be a priority. Has Asus accomplished sufficient to make sure the Zenbook Professional 16X OLED can see customers via prolonged intervals with out being tethered to the mains? 

I ran my customary mainstream workload mixture of writing into net apps, steaming and looking. That is hardly the onslaught this Core i9 system would possibly count on from artistic customers, so we are able to regard it as a lightweight workload for this technique. 

Over three hours the 96Wh battery misplaced 37% from a full cost, suggesting whole battery lifetime of simply over 8 hours. It is value noting that my overview laptop computer was not a ultimate manufacturing unit, so this end result is not too far off Asus’s declare of ‘as much as’ 10 hours. 

Nonetheless, with extra demanding workloads, the Zenbook Professional 16X OLED UX7602 would possibly battle to ship a full day’s work between fees. I didn’t check charging velocity. 

Conclusions

The Asus Zenbook Professional 16X OLED (UX7602) is giant and highly effective laptop computer. It is robustly designed, with an uncommon angled keyboard, a big trackpad with an built-in quantity pad and the Asus Dial, in addition to a wonderful 16-inch OLED contact display. 

The flamboyant keyboard backlighting may be a bit excessive for some, however the Core i9 processor, 2TB of storage, glorious audio system and even the FHD IR webcam mark this laptop computer out as particular. Simply concentrate on potential limitations of battery life and the Asus Dial’s restricted software assist.

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Asus Zenbook Professional 16X OLED (UX7602) specs

OS	Home windows 11 (Residence or Professional)
Processor	Intel Core i9-12900H
RAM	32GB (LPDDR5)
Storage	2TB (M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 Efficiency SSD)
Graphics	Intel Iris Xe Graphics (built-in), Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop computer GPU (discrete)
Show	16-inch OLED touchscreen, 4K (3840 x 2400, 16:10, 283ppi)
Refresh charge	60Hz
Response time	0.2ms
Brightness	550 nits (peak)
Color gamut	DCI-P3 (100%)
Color depth	10-bits/pixel (1.07 billion colors)
Certifications	Dolby Imaginative and prescient, Show HDR True Black 500, Pantone Validated
Ergonomics	TÜV Rheinland-certified, SGS Eye Care Show
Ports	USB-A (3.2 Gen 2), 2x Thunderbolt 4 (show & energy supply), HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio in/out jack, DC-in, SD Categorical 7.0 card reader
Keyboard & touchpad	customisable per-key white RGB backlit keyboard, 1.4mm key journey; 150mm x 90mm haptic touchpad with Asus NumberPad 2.0
Different enter units	Asus Dial (built-in), Asus Pen 2.0 (elective)
Digicam	FHD with IR for Home windows Hiya authentication, privateness shutter
Audio	6 audio system (2x tweeters, 4x woofers), 4-mic array with AI noise cancellation
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth	5.2
Battery	96Wh
Battery life	as much as 10 hours
Energy provide	200W AC adapter
Dimensions	355mm x 251mm x 16.9-17.8mm (13.98in. x 9.88in. x 0.67-0.70in.)
Weight	2.4kbg (5.29lbs)
Ruggedness	MIL-STD 810H
Functions	MyASUS, ProArt Creator Hub
Safety	BIOS booting consumer password safety, Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0, fingerprint sensor (built-in with energy key), IR webcam with Home windows Hiya assist, McAfee LiveSafe 30-day trial
Worth	£2,999.99

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Alternate options to contemplate

Laptops with 16-inch screens are comparatively new to the market, however there’s already a good selection of merchandise on this kind issue, which affords an honest quantity of display actual property whereas avoiding the extremes of bulk and weight discovered in lots of 17-inch units. This is a few main contenders. For extra on laptops geared toward creators, take a look at ZDNet’s roundup.

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