The powerful Asus Vivobook Pro 16X (N7601Z) OLED, which made a debut earlier this year in the international market with various hardware combinations, has now arrived in India and is currently priced at Rs 199,990, for i9-12900H and 32GB DDR5 RAM variants.

It features some top-notch specs that may attract people looking for high-end computing devices for gaming and content creation. This laptop is a beast on paper, barring the RTX 3060 graphics card, which is a year old.

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But does it roar like a beast in actual situations?

I laid my hands on the top-of-the-line Vivobook Pro 16X (N7601Z) variant, there is another version with i7-12650H and 16 GB RAM that is also available at Rs 159,990.

So, Without any further adieu, let’s find out about this machine’s performance on the ground.  

Display: The Asus Vivobook Pro 16X has a large, 16-inch full-HD (4K+WQUXGA, 3840 x 2400) HDR OLED screen with perfect colour accuracy up to 100 per cent DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage, 600 nits of brightness, and VESA True Black 600 colour certification with Pantone validation. Overall the display panel’s quality justifies its price range. It has a 16:10 aspect ratio, four nano-edge bezel designs, and a 90.3 per cent screen-to-body ratio for an absolutely stunning viewing experience. 

The Vivobook Pro 16X display panel has a matte feel and hence occasionally glare despite using an OLED panel, which is supposed to be glossy in various lighting reflections, in contrast to certain OLEDs of a price range laptops. 

It has an 86 per cent screen-to-body ratio and 4.8mm-thin left and right side bezels to frame it. There is a more vertical area to appreciate here.

The device creates pictures with vivid colour and authentically dark tones with depth. Viewing angles are also great , you will not notice any colour fading.  4K video playback appears buttery smooth without any distortion while the pictures and text are clear and sharp.

It has a maximum brightness range of 600 nits. However, starting over this vibrant display in long usage may kick discomfort in the eyes due. So, to avoid it, an eye protection filter or lowering the brightness will certainly help in the long run. Any input lag is likewise essentially undetectable, thanks to the display’s 0.2ms reaction time. It processes 4k video streaming with ease, and that too is quite fast. 

Build: Packed in a metal body with an aluminium finish, the laptop meets US MIL-STD 810H durability standards. At 2.3 kg and 19.9 mm thick, it isn’t too bulky. It comes in cool grey and 0° black colour schemes.

Talking about the overall design, at first glance, you are sure to love the display. Its magnificent 16:10 panel, which appears broad and tall, is particularly well presented, thanks to its minimalist design.

The VivoBook Pro 16X OLED’s colour-coded keyboard, which assigns keys to orange, black, or grey keycaps, is another striking feature. If handled judiciously, this feature can significantly increase productivity.

The DialPad tool, which is concealed in its extra-wide precision touchpad, can do the same, but to access it you have to swipe diagonally from right to left.

However, there is a catch. When the top is closed, the aluminium chassis looks boxy and rectangular, and outdated. You may typically anticipate fashionable curves and embellishments on laptops’ exterior corners considering the price range. It also means that this laptop lets its performance speak for itself.

There is a little to no flex on the keyboard and back panel, and there is enough metal across the width of its base, and the computer feels substantial and strong. It should confidently withstand the rigours of typical daily use or travel as far as the massive 16-inch laptops are concerned.

Processor: Powered by an ultra-fast Intel Core I9-12900H CPU which has six performance and 8 efficiency cores, with 20-thread, 5GHz. The processor offers 1TB of PCIe 3.0 SSD (expandable up to 2 TB) and 16/32 GB of DDR-5 RAM (upgradable up to 48 GB) with a 3.5 GB/s transmission rate. However, it uses an Nvidia RTX 3060 (DDR6) graphics card with 6 GB of video RAM, many might question why it doesn’t have 3070 or 80 Ti.

Nonetheless, the graphic card easily handles high-end gaming with stability, performance, and optimal frame rates. It also contains Nvidia Studio drivers and an ASUS IceCool Pro cooler with a 140W combined TDP, two fans, and six heat pipes for maximum cooling.

Many high-end gaming laptops launched this year like the ROG STRIX SCAR 15 2022 include the recently announced I9-12900H CPU, which proved one of the finest performers.

Additionally, when put through performance tests, the VivoBook Pro 16X OLED excelled primarily at the top of my comparison group.

Cinebench R23: I used Maxon’s Cinebench R23 to evaluate the VivoBook’s CPU performance. The performance of the VivoBook Pro 16X OLED in the Multi-Threaded test was average. It employs all the cores that a laptop’s CPU threads to render an image on the screen. It was ranked higher than the highly competent Intel Xeon CPUX5650 (6867) with 7849 points

Since a majority of the programmes people use today won’t utilise all the cores in a laptop’s CPU, it’s useful to know how the laptop performs when a single core is active. 

I also ran the Cinebench R23 Single core-Threaded benchmark, which only tests a single core, to get a more accurate assessment of how the VivoBook Pro 16X OLED’s CPU will perform with general app usage. Surprisingly, it topped the benchmark of single-core performance as far superior to the 11th generation Intel Core i7-1165G7 or Intel Core i9-9880H.

3D efficiency:

The laptop GPU of the VivoBook Pro 16X OLED is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 with 6GB GDDR6 memory.

Although it wasn’t the strongest GPU in the lineup, the result showed that it had some muscle and could be used for 3D applications as intended.

I used the 3DMark Time Spy 1.2 benchmark to evaluate the VivoBook Pro 16X OLED’s 3D graphics performance. The Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED outperformed several laptops equipped with RTX 30 series GPUs. Therefore, it is safe to state that the Asus VivoBook 16X OLED is a good choice for tasks needing 3D rendering or imaging.

It performed admirably when handling games like GTA 5, Valorant, and Asphalt 9 in testing, but it also got a bit warm. This is because of the metallic body, which makes even a slight increase in temperature while using it feel noticeable.

And it is advised to put in the charger cord to maximise its gaming potential, as I have seen some lag and frame drops even while playing light games like Asphalt 9.

Battery: It has a 90 Whr battery and supports fast charging at 240 W. The power brick comes bundled with the box. I charged it up fully before using it for quick video editing and multimedia streaming to run it down to standby from full capacity to test the battery’s endurance on a single charge. 

In the battery test, the Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED’s 96WHr battery lasted just under 3 hours based on my usage, dropping from 77% to 38% in just one hour (note: I checked the battery drainage time by setting it on the best performance mode). 

However, depending on how you use the Vivobook Pro 16x, you should expect that number to be significantly higher or lower. Though the charging time is pretty quick keeping the massive battery size in mind, thanks to the 240 W brick, it charges VivoBook Pro 16X in under one and half hours. 

Thermals: It was crucial to know how the Vivobook Pro 16x would handle heating despite having a large footprint due to its 16-inch display panel, which is thin and powerful inside. in particular because the tilting keyboard makes an air vent just over the CPU. The IceCool Pro thermal technology, which includes a 3D vapour chamber and effective 12v fans with 97 blades, was now explained by ASUS. The main difference you would see in practical use is that the keyboard hardly ever gets warm.

The dual-fan design features four external exhaust vents at the sides and back of the laptop to quickly and silently dissipate heat to the outside. Another thing that stood out was how much quieter the fans were. But even after all the vents and fans, it is advised not to use it on the lap as it is not “lap-friendly.” The heating and metallic body will make using it on a lap an unpleasant experience. 

Trackpad and keyboard: It has all the parameters checked which You would expect to see on a performance laptop, with a full-sized backlit Chiclet keyboard, a physical Numpad, command keys with decent size, and space to travel your fire fingers in between. On the right side, it does have a sizable number pad. Additionally, it has half-sized arrow keys that perfectly align with the bottom of the keyboard rather than sticking out from underneath it, but the icing on the cake is its ESC key in flaming orange colour.

The keyboard was reasonably easy to type on. The keyboard is backlit with a single white light. Asus could have used RGB light like they do in their other high-end laptops. Careful consideration went into where the keyboard and touchpad were placed, leaving enough room for your hands on either side of the touchpad. Additionally, there is plenty of space between the keyboard and the screen, so you won’t accidentally hover around it when typing.

When you swipe in from the right side of the high-precision touchpad diagonally, the VivoBook Pro 16X OLED’s DialPad, its virtual control dial appears, and the same process but in reverse is needed to close it. 

The DialPad is compatible with Adobe’s Creative Suite software, making it ready for AfterEffects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom Classic. However, you may also configure your DialPad in other programmes via Asus’ own Creator Hub app if you don’t find your app on that list.

With its simple circular movement, the dial pad sped up the process of correcting saturation and cancelling any action. For all the producers who use productivity tools like Adobe, this feature is a bonus.

Sound: The Harman Kardon speakers are strong, and the side-mounted speakers generate rich, dynamic sound without any muffling, although the maximum volume is less than ideal. However, you can hear the speakers pounding and vibrating around the speaker grills.

Other specs: The Vivobook Pro 16x comes with the fastest-available Bluetooth 5.2 and top-tier WIFI 6. Regarding connectors, this laptop has a Thunderbolt v4 Type C port, 3.2 USB Gen 2 Type C port, 2X USB Type-A ports, HDMI 2.1 with 8K 60 and 4K 120 FPS, RJ45 Ethernet, Micro SD Express 7.0 port, and a 3.5 mm audio input.

This laptop has Windows 11 pre-installed, a 1080 full HD camera with a physical privacy shutter, and a Windows Hello recognised Fingerprint sensor for biometrics,

and all of these features come standard. The camera performs its function fairly well, but in low light, it makes images a little softer.

Conclusion: People who are looking for a powerful laptop that can handle both high-end gaming and content development work can definitely look up to this. Surely, there are other alternatives in the market but It is lightweight and thin and comprises top-notch specs. It is suitable for a variety of creative tasks, including 3D rendering, video editing, and moderate gaming flawlessly.

But one thing which might go against it is its price range (Rs 199,990). There are plenty of options available which offer a kind of similar performance at a decent price.