What’s the new word of the day, kids? It’s “ceraluminium”, a veritable no-nonsense nomenclature combining ceramic and aluminum. That’s the new word that describes the next-gen Asus Zenbook S16, powered by new AMD Ryzen 300 AI processors. But let’s ignore that for a second, because there are some much more interesting ProArt PCs coming down that do more than steal the best designs from the Asus ROG gaming line.
Gizmodo had the chance to take a look at some of Asus’ upcoming laptops. Still, while we weren’t overly impressed with the silly nomenclature of materials, we were with the ProArts’ wide range that can be a suitable device for everything from work to design to gaming.
Weird wording is one thing, but looking at the new ProArts compared to other new laptops from Asus, it looks like ProArts kitchen sink attitude is the real strength of this year’s laptop edition. They pack tried and tested hardware together in one package, running on the nascent, untested AI-centric CPU from AMD. Based on the short amount of time I got to experience both the laptop and the touchscreen models, I was left very curious as to how Asus was able to take the best things from its gaming and productivity lines and put them into an entirely new line Copilot+ devices.
What does the new ProArt line look like?
The entry-level ProArt P16 laptop is supported in a new chassis derived wholesale from the ROG Zephyrus G16. Why is this important? It’s lighter and thinner than the older ProArt Studiobooks and uses the material we already really liked from the material and design of ROG Zephyrus G14.
Unfortunately, it won’t have the same 240 Hz OLED display, but a 4K, 60 Hz screen. It also doesn’t have the ROG-specific lighting like the Zephyrus, though it will offer a discrete laptop GPU alongside an Nvidia Geforce RTX 4070, as well as a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU. Basically, there is only one configuration and it is quite expensive at $2700. It already is though available for pre-order.
If the ProArt 16 feels good but is still relatively familiar, the new ProArt PX13 and PZ13 are much different. The PX13 is a 2-in-1 based on the same design as another older gaming product, the ROG Flow X13. It’s a 2.8K HDR-capable OLED display plus a GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. The 2-in-1 will cost $2,000 up front, though it should be available soon too and is already available advance order.
This PZ13 is particularly interesting in light of the Microsoft Surface Pro. Just like Microsoft’s convertible, this platform runs on the Snapdragon X Elite chip and Apple’s M4 iPad Pro. It comes with a removable stand that magnetically attaches to the back of the computer, while the keyboard attaches to the bottom of the tablet unit.
The keys feel pretty good, though still thinner than you’re probably used to if you haven’t used products like the Magic Keyboard, but it’s still a relatively light and versatile Windows-based tablet with a 13-inch, 3K OLED touchscreen.
Even better is the number of ports available. There are two USB-C ports and a full SD card reader. Unlike its two brothers, we’ll have to wait until Q3 this year to see the PZ13 in action.
How does “keraluminium” feel?
Now that the lineup is split between the x86-based Ryzen processors and the ARM-based Snapdragon processors, we’ll see who really comes out on top in both performance and power. All other computers coming this year from the Asus lineup are similarly divided. That Zenbook S16 we already mentioned comes with a Ryzen Ai 9 HX 370 as well as a 3K OLED, 120Hz touchscreen display. “Ceralumin” feels quite pleasant to the touch. It feels like ceramic, smooth but not plastic, and still feels quite light. I like the overall look of the back plate and the off white color.
Asus has made a big deal about its new material and cool ventilation design, but how well these ultra-light laptops perform matters. I tested some of the new Copilot+ features on them, but none of them seemed like they were intended to highlight the capabilities of these laptops.
We’re starting to see the full scope of the new “Copilot+” PC version. These are devices they have NPU capable of supporting 40 TOPS (trillion operations per second) to run with some amount of AI on the device. All that means right now is that there are a few new features like Recall and Create an AI art generator on Microsoft Paint. For now, it’s best to ignore the whole discussion of neural processing power until there’s a killer app that’s worth it.
The ProArts feel extremely exciting because they look and feel like they’re taking the best bits from Asus’ current design plate, no ‘ceraluminum’ required.
