The Asus Vivobook Pro lineup of mid-range laptops includes both portable 14-inch models and full-size variants with 16-inch 16:10 displays. Having discussed the Vivobook Pro 14X in a previous article , in this review we’re looking at the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X series.
Asus offers this with either AMD or Intel hardware, and this review unit is the Intel variant, code name Vivobook Pro 16x N7600PC. This pairs an Intel Tiger Lake H35 Core i7-11370H 4C/8T processor with an RTX 3050 graphics chip, alongside an OLED 4K display and a 96Wh battery.
The entire Vivobook Pro series is marketed towards creators on the go, mostly due to the awesome screen with a 16:10 format and 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, that big battery, and the mid-tier hardware specs. However, the AMD variants have a significant performance advantage over this Intel model, with 8C Ryzen H processors and options for up to a 3050Ti graphics chip. They’re not yet available in stores at the time of this article, but you’ll find out what to expect from them from our review of the AMD-based Vivobook Pro 14X .
Nonetheless, this article is all about the Pro 16X N7600PC, with its strong selling points and its flaws that you should consider in your purchase decision.
Specs as reviewed – Asus VivoBook Pro 16X N7600
Asus VivoBook Pro 16X N7600PC
Screen 16.0 inch, 4K+ 3840 x 2400 px, 60 Hz, OLED, glossy, non-touch, 400-nits, Samsung SDC415D panel
Processor Intel Tiger Lake H35 Core i7-11370H, 4C/8T
Video Intel Iris Xe + Nvidia GeForce GTX 3050 4GB (35-50W)
Memory 16 GB DDR4-3200 (soldered), up to 32 GB
Storage 1x M.2 PCIe x4 SSD (Samsung PM9A1), single M.2 2280 slot
Connectivity Wireless 6 (Intel AX201), Bluetooth 5.2
Ports 1x USB-A 3.2 gen1, 2x USB-A 2.0, 1x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 1.4b, microSD card reader, audio jack
Battery 96 Wh, 120W barrel-plug charger with quick-charging
Size 360 mm or 14.19” (w) x 259 mm or 10.20” (d) x 18.9 mm or 0.74” (h)
Weight 4.27 lbs (1.94 kg)+ .45 kg (1 lbs) for the charger+cables, EU version
Extras white backlit keyboard, glass touchpad with virtual Dial, HD webcam with privacy shutter, stereo bottom speakers, finger-sensor in the power button
AMD Ryzen versions of this laptop are also available, as the VivoBook Pro 16X M7600 .
Update: Here are my thoughts on the latest update in this lineup, the 2023 Asus VivoBook Pro 16X K6604 model . And here’s my detailed review of this updated Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED series .
Design and construction The VivoBook Pro 16X is a large-footprint laptop, as you can tell by the fact that it comes with a 16:10 display with fair bezels all around. In comparison, the Zephyrus M16 is only 243 mm tall, the new MacBook Pro 16 is 244 mm, a regular VivoBook 15 is 234 mm, and this is 259 mm.
Despite that, it only weighs less than two kilos, and it doesn’t sacrifice on the build quality, internal specs, or battery size. Add in the compact 120W charger, and you’ll look at around 2.4 kilos combined to grab along in your backpack, just make sure there’s enough room in there for a 360 x 260 mm computer.
Aluminum pieces are used for this laptop’s entire construction, and it feels sturdily made, doesn’t flex or bulge or creak in any noticeable way. The aesthetics and overall feeling of the materials are not as nicely polished as on the more premium laptops, but the only design choice I don’t really like is the textured pattern on the hinge; everything else is fine, even that rougher kind of plastic on the bezel around the screen.
Asus offers the laptop in either this Silver variant that we have here, which comes with gray keycaps in two different shades, or the darker-gray variant with black/gray keycaps. The former does a better job at hiding smudges, while the latter looks to me a bit more serious and offers better keyboard contrast. Nonetheless, the readability of the keys is much improved even on this Silver variant compared to previous Asus laptops that ship with white keycaps and white illumination.
Asus also upgraded the power button on this VivoBook Pro series, which now integrates a finger-sensor and no longer includes an annoying always-on light in it. They also moved all the status LEDs on the side.
As far as the practicality goes, the laptop sits well-anchored on the desk thanks to its grippy rubber feet, the edges and corners are blunted and friendly on the wrists, and the screen can be comfortably picked up and adjusted with a single hand. The hinge is also stiff enough to keep it in place as set up, and allows it to lean back to about 150 degrees.
I do have two nits with this overall design.
Number one, the cooling system still blows some of the hot air into the screen, as the exhausts are placed between the hinges. However, as you’ll see in our tests down below, this design characteristic is less of an issue on this laptop, as the hinge is specifically crafted to divert most of the air down and to the back of the laptop, away from the user and from the display.
Then there’s the IO, which is mostly cramped on the right side of the laptop, potentially cluttering your mouse area when connecting peripherals.
Compared to the AMD models, this Intel variant also gets USB-C Thunderbolt 4 support with video/charging, but all the other ports are the same. I would have appreciated a full-size card-reader on this sort of creator-laptop, but Asus kept this consistent with the VivoBook Pro 14X model and only included a micro SD card reader.
Overall, this VivoBook Pro 16X is an alright design, despite some limitations in the IO and cooling design. It looks good, feels well made, and is practical for a mid-range laptop. Just make sure you’re OK with its larger footprint, especially if you plan to carry it along to work or school.
Keyboard and trackpad The keyboard on this VivoBook Pro 16X series is an oversized variant of the same one we’ve seen implemented in the Pro 14X, with an extra NumPad section at the right.
The layout is OK, not bad, not great. Most keys are properly sized and spaced, but the NumPad section is made out of narrower keycaps and the arrows are squashed together. As for the Home/End/PgUp/PgDn functions, those are both binned as secondaries for the arrows keys, but also secondaries for some of the keys in the NumPad Section.
The feedback and typing experience are pretty good here, and most should find this a reliable and good typer overall.
The illumination system is white, with 3 brightness levels to choose from, a dedicated Caps Lock indicator, and the ability to re-activate the lighting by swiping your fingers over the clickpad when it times out.
A fair bit of light still bleeds out from under the keycaps, but I’m glad to see Asus implementing gray keycaps (in two shades of gray) on this color variant of the VivoBook Pro 16X, which offer much-improved contrast over the white keycaps used on past generations. Contrast is going to be even better on the darker-gray color variant of this series, with the gray/black keycaps.
For mouse, Asus offers a large glass clickpad on this VivoBook Pro lineup, centered on the arm-rest. It performs well and feels nice to the touch, but it’s a little bit flimsier than the clickpads implemented in ZenBooks. This also doesn’t act as a NumberPad.
Instead, the novelty is the addition of the Asus DialPad, a virtual dial that you activate on the clickpad by swiping from the right corner. By default, this gives you control over the screen’s brightness and audio volumes, but can be customized in the ProArt Creator software for other functionalities. Furthermore, this also integrates with Adobe software such as Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere, and the clip down below better explains what it can do.
VIDEO Finally, for biometrics, there’s a finger-sensor in the power button that works just fine, but no IR camera.
Screen – 4K OLED At this point, Asus seems to only offer a single screen option for the VivoBook Pro 16X N7600 models: a 4K+ 3840 x 2400 px OLED panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 60 Hz refresh, and a glossy non-touch finishing.
With the sharp pixel density, excellent contrast, and vivid colors, this panel is one of the nicest my eyes have come upon, well suited for daily use and for creative color-accurate work. Plus, without a touch layer, there’s no longer that graininess effect noticeable over white content, such as when browsing and reading texts, that we experienced on the touch-enabled OLED Asus laptops.
Here’s what we got in our tests, with an X-Rite i1 Display Pro sensor :
Panel HardwareID: Samsung SDC415D (ATNA60YV02-0);
Coverage: 100% sRGB, 97.3% Adobe RGB, 99.7% DCI-P3;
Measured gamma: 2.2;
Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 393.28 cd/m2 on power;
Min brightness in the middle of the screen: 4.78 cd/m2 on power;
Contrast at max brightness: 1:1;
White point: 6400 K;
Black on max brightness: 0 cd/m2;
Response time: <1 ms;
PWM: to be discussed.
The panel comes with a Pantone validation, and it is very well calibrated out of the box. We also haven’t noticed any significant color or luminosity variations between quadrants, so overall this is a very good screen for everyday use and professional work.
On the other hand, at only 400-nits of peak brightness and with a glossy finishing, this might struggle in bright environments.
And then, there’s a lot to discuss on the pros and cons of OLED panels on laptops. That’s a topic for a more specific article, but you should nonetheless research and understand the advantages (blacks, contrast, colors, low blue light emissions, etc) and the potential culprits (such as flickering, black crush, gray banding, or even burn-in to some extent) of OLED laptops before deciding whether they’re the way to go for your or not.
I’ll also add that Asus offers another screen option for the AMD-variants of the VivoBook Pro 16X M7600, and that’s a 2.5K IPS panel with 2560 x 1600 px resolution, 500 nits of brightness and still 100% DCI-P3 color coverage. That’s most likely cheaper, more efficient, and arguably a better match for the hardware available on these Pro 16X models, so it’s a shame it’s not an option on this Intel N7600 variant as well.
Hardware and performance Our test model is a top-specced variation of the VivoBook Pro 16X N7600 built on an Intel Core i7-11370H 4C processor with Iris Xe graphics, paired with an Nvidia RTX 3050 35-50W dGPU, 16 GB of DDR4-3200 memory, and 1 TB of fast SSD storage.
What we have here is a Media Review sample provided by Asus, identical to the retail units you can find in stores. We tested it with the early software available as of mid-October 2021 (BIOS 305, MyAsus 3.0.22.0 app, Nvidia Studio Driver 472.12). Some aspects might change with future software tweaks.
Specs-wise, this is built on an Intel Tiger Lake H35 hardware platform, with the Core i7-11370H processor on our configuration. Asus implements various power profiles on this laptop, allowing the CPU to run at up to 48W of sustained power here. That’s OK for this sort of processor, but don’t forget this is only a 4C/8T CPU.
For the GPU, this N7600PC configuration comes with an Nvidia RTX 3050 chip, with a TGP of 35W and the ability to run at up to 50W with Dynamic Boost. This is the highest-end dGPU option available for this series, as the higher-tier 3050Ti chips are not offered on this Intel configurations and are only reserved for the VivoBook Pro 16X M7600 models with AMD hardware.
The memory is soldered on the motherboard, so non-upgradeable. Asus offers 8, 16, and 32 GB configurations, all with DDR4 memory, so make sure you get the one that fits your needs from the get-go.
Storage might also be a slight limitation with this series, as there’s only a single M.2 2280 slot inside, just like on the 14-inch models. That means you can’t add a secondary drive when you’ll run out of space, you’ll have to replace the one that comes preinstalled. I was expecting an extra drive slot on this 16-inch laptop, but instead, Asus stuck with almost the same design between their 14 and 16-inch VivoBook Pros.
Nonetheless, the SSD and WiFi chip are the only upgradeable components, and accessing them is a simple task, requiring you to remove the back panel that’s held in place by a couple of Torx screws. None of them are hidden behind rubber feet.
As far as the software goes, at this point, both the standard MyAsus app and a new ProArt Creator Dashboard allow control over the power profiles. The two are tied together, so operating a change in one app automatically applies it in the other.
For the purpose of this review, we’ve used the laptop on Standard (in My Asus) – Normal (in ProArt Creator) with daily use, and on Performance (in My Asus) – Rendering (in ProArt) for the performance tests.
There’s also an option in ProArt to increase the fans’ speed (Enable Full Fan), which automatically forces the fans to spin fast regardless of the load, so I ended up leaving that option unticked.
The Standard + Normal profile keeps the fans idle with light use, and very quiet with multitasking. The laptop feels snappy with daily multitasking, video streaming, text-editing, and the likes.
On to more demanding tasks, we start by testing the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 benchmark for 15+ times in a loop, with 2-3 seconds delay between each run.
On the Rendering/Performance mode, the Core i7 processor peaks close to 60 W for a little bit, then drops to ~53W and eventually stabilizes at around 48W of sustained power in this mode, with clock speeds of ~4 GHz, and temperatures of ~90 degrees Celsius, but with very quiet fans at only 37-38 dB. The thermal and power limits prevent the CPU from running at its maximum 4.3 GHz all-core Turbo speeds.
Forcing the fan to spin faster by enabling Full-Fan in the ProArt Creator control app pushes the fans closer to 50 dB, but despite the lower internal temperatures, the system still cannot sustain 4.3 GHz all-core Turbo.
Switching over to the Standard/Normal mode limits the fans to only around 35-36 dB. In this case, the CPU gradually settles at around 35W of sustained power, with temperatures in the low-80s. The performance also drops by about 10% from the previous profile.
Whisper mode limits the noise even more, but also limits the CPU at 25W, resulting in roughly 70-75% of the performance measured on the top profile.
Finally, the laptop runs at ~35 W of power when unplugged, on the Performance mode. All these findings are detailed in the chart and logs down below.
To put these in perspective, here’s how this Core i7-11370H implementation fares against other performance ultraportables in this test. It’s on par with other i7-11370H implementations, but no match in this sort of test for any of the 6C/8C platforms out there, either Intel or AMD.
We also ran the 3DMark CPU profile test.
We then went ahead and further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test and the gruesome Prime 95.
We also ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time, and this unit passed it, which means there’s no performance throttling over a longer sustained load.
Next, here are some benchmark results. We ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks on the Rendering profile at FHD resolution, for consistency with our past reviews. Here’s what we got.
3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 10214 (Graphics – 11635, Physics – 14422, Combined – 4340);3DMark 13 – Port Royal: 443;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 4578 (Graphics – 4460, CPU – 5393);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 8375;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 2627;Handbrake 1.3.3 (4K to 1080p encode): 31.03 average fps;PassMark10: Rating: 3970 (CPU mark: 13354, 3D Graphics Mark: 8222, Disk Mark: 24476);PCMark 10: 5654 (Essentials – 8699 , Productivity – 8829 , Digital Content Creation – 6387);GeekBench 5.0.1 64-bit: Single-Core: 1548, Multi-core: 5152;CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 1100 cb, CPU Single Core 234 cb;CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 2714 cb, CPU Single Core 592 cb;CineBench R23 (best run): CPU 6954 cb, CPU Single Core 1549 cb;x265 HD Benchmark 64-bit: 52.75 s.
We also ran some Workstation related loads on this Core i7 + RTX 3050 configuration, on the Rendering profile:
Blender 2.90 – BMW Car scene- CPU Compute: 6m 8s (Rendering);Blender 2.90 – BMW Car scene- GPU Compute: 1m 31s (CUDA), 46s (Optix);Blender 2.90 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 17m 7s (Rendering);Blender 2.90 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 4m 18s (CUDA), 2m 39s (Optix);Pugetbench – DaVinvi Resolve: 703 points;Pugetbench – Adobe Photoshop: -;Pugetbench – Adobe Premiere: -;SPECviewerf 2020 – 3DSMax: 49.89 (Rendering);SPECviewerf 2020 – Catia: 30.67 (Rendering);SPECviewerf 2020 – Creo: 60.35 (Rendering);SPECviewerf 2020 – Energy: 9.71 (Rendering);SPECviewerf 2020 – Maya: 150.54 (Rendering);SPECviewerf 2020 – Medical: 14.88 (Rendering);SPECviewerf 2020 – SNX: 10.64 (Rendering);SPECviewerf 2020 – SW: 94.47 (Rendering).
We’ll further update our tests to better analyze this sort of Creator-oriented laptops, but for now, we only ran these tests on this VivoBook Pro 16X.
Ok, so on the CPU side, the Core i7-11370H is a snappy performer with single-core tests and daily multitasking, but lacks in comparison to the Intel/AMD 6C and 8C platforms in multi-threaded loads. Since Asus offers the Vivobook Pro 16X with either Intel or AMD hardware, I’m going to use our findings from the smaller Vivobook 14X (Ryzen 7 5800H + RTX 3050Ti) for comparison with this Intel i7-11370H + RTX 3050 configuration tested here.
So the i7-11370H ends up 5-15% faster in single-core loads, but then the 8C Ryzen 7 5800H outmatches it by 1.3x to 1.8x in multi-threaded loads, and the differences are greater in the longer-duration tests such as Blender or Cinebench R23.
On the GPU side, this Intel + RTX 3050 configuration only ends up 5-10% slower than the AMD + RTX 3050Ti model in most tests, which is a smaller gap than I was expecting based on the specs difference between the two Nvidia chips. The Intel Tiger Lake hardware seems to somewhat uplift the 3050 here, and that might be caused by the fact that both these laptops ship with this newer kind of SR higher-latency DDR-3200 MHz memory, and the AMD 5000 platform is more dependant on these memory latencies than the 11th gen Intel platform.
Numbers aside, I’ll also add that this VivoBook Pro 16X can run fairly noisy on combined loads on this Rendering/Performance mode, as up to 46-47 dB. That’s why you might want to consider switching to the Normal profile, which quiets down the fans to 39-40 dB at head-level, with a 5-15% drop in performance, as the CPU and GPU are both slightly power-limited in this case.
Gaming performance While you should not get this laptop with gaming in mind, let’s still look at how this Core i7 + 16 GB RAM + 3050 configuration does in games.
For starters, we ran tests on Ultra settings on FHD resolution, with the laptop set-up on the Rendering/Performance profile. We also threw in the 3050Ti configuration of the Vivobook Pro 14X and the Zephyrus G14, for comparison.
Ultra settings, Performance profile VivoBook Pro 16X – VivoBook Pro 14X – Zephyrus G14 –
Far Cry 5 64 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
68 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
84 fps (72 fps – 1% low)
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor 86 fps (61 fps – 1% low)
88 fps (63 fps – 1% low)
113 fps (82 fps – 1% low)
Red Dead Redemption 2 35 fps (28 fps – 1% low)
40 fps (29 fps – 1% low)
44 fps (32 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 48 fps (33 fps – 1% low)
56 fps (45 fps – 1% low)
69 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 19 fps (9 fps – 1% low)
24 fps (11 fps – 1% low)
26 fps (14 fps – 1% low)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 60 fps (46 fps – 1% low)
63 fps (47 fps – 1% low)
70 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
The Witcher 3 – recorded with Fraps/in-game FPS counter in campaign mode;
Far Cry 5, Middle Earth, Tomb Raider – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities;
Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings .
Much like in the GPU benchmarks, this VivoBook Pro 16X only ends up 5-10% slower than the 3050Ti configuration of the VivoBook 14X.
If you must run games on this, I’d recommend trimming down on those details and set-up the resolution at FHD+ to properly benefit from the screen’s 16:10 aspect ratio. Here’s what we got on Medium settings at FHD+ resolution.
Medium settings, Performance profile VivoBook Pro 16X – VivoBook Pro 14X – VivoBook Pro 14X –
Far Cry 5 69 fps (57 fps – 1% low)
76 fps (44 fps – 1% low)
42 fps (34 fps – 1% low)
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor 119 fps (83 fps – 1% low)
111 fps (82 fps – 1% low)
71 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
Red Dead Redemption 2 47 fps (34 fps – 1% low)
51 fps (39 fps – 1% low)
35 fps (28 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 62 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
66 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
39 fps (33 fps – 1% low)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 89 fps (65 fps – 1% low)
98 fps (73 fps – 1% low)
56 fps (44 fps – 1% low)
The Witcher 3 – recorded with Fraps/in-game FPS counter in campaign mode;
Far Cry 5, Middle Earth, Tomb Raider – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities;
Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings .
These are good framerates and very close to the Ryzen 7 + 3050Ti configuration available on the similar VivoBook Pro 14X M7400/16X M7600 models.
However, you should also keep in mind that you won’t be able to run games at the screen’s native 4k+ resolution here, so you’ll always have to use a non-native resolution that can lead to a slight amount of fuzziness and scaling artifacts in most games. Furthermore, the panel is only 60Hz, so you’ll also notice stuttering in fast-paced titles, all these further adding up as reasons why you should not get this VivoBook Pro series primarily for gaming.
All these results are on the Performance/Rendering profile, which is rather noisy for an ultraportable, spinning the fans at 46-47 dB at head level.
The performance is consistent though and does not degrade over time, as the CPU averages temperatures of around 65-75 degrees C and the GPU runs at around 70 degrees Celsius between the tested titles. Here are the logs at FHD+ resolution.
Lifting up the laptop from the desk in order to improve the flow of fresh air into the fans doesn’t make a noticeable difference here, as the performance and temperatures are already excellent with the laptop sitting on a desk.
I would, however, consider gaming on the Normal/Standard power profile at FHD+ resolution.
The CPU is a little more power limited in this case and the GPU only runs at 35-40W, which translates into a 5-15% drop in framerates over the Performance profile between the tested titles, but with still very good internal temperatures (around 70C for the CPU and sub-70C for the GPU) and much quieter fan, at around 39-40 dB.
Gaming on the battery is also possible here, the system sustaining 10W of CPU and 30W of GPU power unplugged. Paired with the larger-sized battery, this laptop can also provide 2+ hours of gaming on a charge.
Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers, and others Asus went with a dual-fan dual-heatpipe thermal module here. This is more complex than on regular VivoBooks powered by low-voltage hardware.
Compared to the VivoBook Pro 14X, this 16X model also gets slightly longer heatpipes and a larger fan/radiator on the GPU side, which help keep the temperatures down under load, as explained in the previous section.
Fresh air comes in from the bottom with this design, through the open intakes over the fans and heatpipes, and the hot air is pushed out through vents hidden under the hinge. The plastic hinge is designed to split the hot air, sending most of it down and to the back and away from the user, and only some into the screen, as you can see from our thermal readings down below.
Asus also ramps up the fans to 46-47 dB on the Rendering/Performance profile, which is fairly loud for a laptop of this kind. The Normal profile is much quieter, at 39-40 dB, with a slight toll on performance, but this might be worth considering for the much quieter experience.
The fans rest idle with light use on battery and barely kick on with daily multitasking while plugged in. I also haven’t noticed any coil whine or electronic noises on our sample, but make sure to test for them on yours.
As for the external temperatures, no complaints with daily use, even with the mostly passive cooling, or with demanding loads and games. Most of the chassis stays under 40 degrees Celsius, with small hotspots around the radiators and over the heatpipes, on the back. Some of the hot air is pushed into the screen, but most of it is soaked up by the plastic hinge and bezel, so the panel only reaches temperatures in the mid-30s here, which will not lead to any unpleasant surprises down the road.
*Daily Use – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes, Normal Mode, fans at 0-35 dB *Gaming – Rendering mode – playing Far Cry 5 for 30 minutes, fans at 46-47 dB
For connectivity, there’s the latest-gen WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 through an Intel AX201 module on this laptop. It performed well with our setup.
Audio is handled by a set of stereo speakers that fire through grills placed on the bottom of the laptop, on the front lip. The angled shape of the D-Panel allows the sound to bounce off the table without distortions and prevents you from easily muffling them while using the computer on the lap. The actual speakers are also larger than what Asus puts on the Pro 14X model, so they are a bit louder and richer in sound quality, but still about average for a multimedia laptop of this generation.
I’ll also mention that there’s an HD camera placed at the top of the screen, with a physical shutter, and it seems a little better quality than the norm, at least in fair lighting. The webcam is flanked by microphones.
Battery life There’s a 96 Wh battery inside the VivoBook Pro 16x, so Asus didn’t skimp on this end either. Even with the Intel hardware and the 4K OLED screen, this notebook will still last for a fair while on a charge.
Here’s what we got, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~60 brightness).
10 W (~9+ h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Normal + Better Battery Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;7 W (~12+ h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Normal + Better Battery Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;6.5 W (~14+ h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Normal + Better Battery Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;15 W (~5-6 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Normal + Better Performance Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON.
The laptop ships with a mid-sized 120W charger, which plugs in via a standard barrel plug. It’s the same charger as on the 14-inch VivoBook Pro. USB-C charging is also possible here.
Price and availability- Asus VivoBook Pro 16X The VivoBook Pro 16X is listed in stores in some regions at the time of this article.
Over here, the tested VivoBook Pro 16X N7600PC configuration with the Core i7-11370H + 3050 + 4K OLED screen + 16 GB of RAM + 1 TB of storage is available for 1450 EUR MSRP, at launch. The same goes for 1500 EUR in Germany and 1500 GBP in the UK. This is the only N7600 configuration available at this point.
I can’t find this Intel in North America at this point, but over there you can find the AMD-based VivoBook Pro 16X M7600QE from $1449 MSRP for the Ryzen 7 + 16 GB + RTX 3050Ti + 4K OLED screen model. Furthermore, lower-tier variants with the IPS screen or RTX 3050 dGPU should also be available at some point, with a potential starting price of $1099.
Stay put for updates, and in the meantime, follow these links for updated prices and configurations in your region: Intel-based N7600 model and AMD-based M7600 model .
Final thoughts- Asus VivoBook Pro 16X I find it hard to justify a 4C Intel Core i7-11370H hardware platform on a mid-range creator laptop these days, given how most demanding work apps would greatly benefit from the extra cores and threads that this Tiger Lake H35 platform does not offer. That’s even more difficult to recommend on a fairly expensive configuration for the included hardware specs, as the final price is pushed up by the inclusion of this OLED 4K+ display here.
Furthermore, Asus offers an arguably more balanced configuration with the AMD-based variants of the Asus VivoBook Pro 16X M7600, powered by up to a Ryzen 9 5900HX full-power processor, and I’d expect most potential buyers would get that one instead if available in their regions. Especially since Asus also offers the M7600 models in a couple of configurations that are not available with the N7600 lineups, such as with the 2.5K IPS screen or with slightly more capable 3050Ti graphics.
Also, if on a tighter budget, the regular 15-inch VivoBook Pro 15 series reviewed here in the AMD versions or here in the Intel variant should also be on your list.
This article compares the Core i7-11370H to the Ryzen 7 5800H platforms and is a good place to start understanding the differences between the two variants.
As far as I’m concerned, Tiger Lake H45 6C i5-11400H or the 8C i7-11800H hardware would have made much more sense here on these Intel-based Vivobook Pro 16X laptops, allowing to level the field and even tilt the balance in favor of these Intel models.
With Tiger Lake H35, this VivoBook Pro 16X is an unbalanced and rather expensive configuration for creator-focused tasks and demanding work-loads, and a difficult sell despite its otherwise awesome OLED 4K display, long battery life, and balanced ergonomics and design. Hopefully, Asus will update this with H45 hardware at some point, as that would completely transform this series for potential buyers.
This wraps up our review of the Vivobook Pro 16X N7600 here, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions, and feedback down below.
Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com . I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.
Kalumba
October 27, 2021 at 2:22 pm
I think this matches up nicely with Dell's Inspiron 16 Plus, and that even comes with an RTX 3060 with 3 fans and 5 heatpipes. Any particular reason you guys haven't reviewed that laptop yet?
Andrei Girbea
October 27, 2021 at 2:48 pm
we don't get access to Dell review units, and their products also ship very late over here.
ludro
October 27, 2021 at 3:03 pm
Great review, very insightful!
Are you guys planning on reviewing the Vivobook Pro 15 as well? Thanks!
Andrei Girbea
October 27, 2021 at 3:06 pm
Yes, curently working on both the K3500 and the M3500 models.
ludro
October 27, 2021 at 3:54 pm
Fantastic, looking forward to both!
Kurt
October 28, 2021 at 1:12 pm
Amazing review!! Shame about no USB-C PD and only 1x USB-C port, that's the only deal-breaker for me for this price.
Julien
November 7, 2021 at 10:35 am
Thanks for the review :)
Would you happen to have the screen dimension (inches or centimeters) without the bezel ?
Went for a new laptop to replace my macbook pro 15.4 inches from 2012 and discovered that my actual screen was bigger than the vivobook pro 15 (15.6 inches). So i thought the 16X would be the perfect match if screen size without bezel is the same size than what I actually have.
thanks and have a nice day !
Andrei Girbea
November 8, 2021 at 12:00 pm
the specs say 344 x 215 mm
Fran
December 10, 2021 at 10:57 am
Screen glossy? No, thanks! Screen mattte is much better, at least for photography.
David Richards
May 11, 2022 at 3:44 am
Just want to say thank you for the very comprehensive review, including some of the ergonomic details others seem to lack. It was very helpful indeed.
Gavin Ayling
November 1, 2022 at 9:44 pm
The article says "Compared to the AMD models, this Intel variant also gets USB-C Thunderbolt 4 support with video/charging, but all the other ports are the same."
Does this mean the AMD model cannot connect an external display that uses the Nvidia graphics chip, or does this mean that neither can use the nVidia graphics chip, but additionally the AMD cannot connect via USB-C to a display?
I could probably have worded this better, but I hope you understand what I'm asking!
Andrei Girbea
November 2, 2022 at 12:57 pm
AS far as I remember, the AMD version is USB-C 3.2 with 10Gbps transfer, DP video, and charging. You'll want to double-check, though, since I haven't reviewed that one
Roger
November 27, 2022 at 4:03 am
Mr. Andrei: Great review.
I have had one white laptop with glossy screen. Painful. I had a choice to see reflections of the keyboard/hands or my shirt. Of course I could turn off all the room lights and wear a black shirt. So never again glossy for me. This Vivobook 16x is silver not white and has the darker version choice. So better than white. I wish you would comment more on screen reflections.
I like the performance of the AMD version, but I need Thunderbolt for working with large files & many files during processing. Some of my processing runs for 45 minutes on my 3 yrs old XPS 15 9570.
Andras Heczey
December 6, 2022 at 1:24 am
Purchased this Vivobook Pro OLED 16 with i7.
After two months it started to freeze with strange patterns appearing on the screen. Spent significant time trying to trouble shoot with Asus via the phone (updated bios, reinstalled display/graphic card drivers etc). Very disappointing and despite the issues, they don't offer a replacement or refund, can only send in the computer for service (in which case, what do I use to work on?).
Will not consider it again.
Kiyama Tatsuya
December 9, 2023 at 11:35 pm
Has anyone else experienced slow charging via the Thunderbolt port? I bought a 100W Anker GaN charger for the laptop so that I didn't have to lug the bulky traditional charger around, but I can't get more than 50-60W peak for some reason which means the battery drains under high usage, whereas I have no issues with the normal charger. Before I return the charger, I wanted to make sure it couldn't be the laptop's issue or some configuration problem, as the manual says the laptop should support 20V/5A charging via the Thunderbolt port and that's what the charger claims to be capable of as well.