The best new laptops I saw in person at Computex 2024 | Digital Trends

It is common to see a slew of new laptops launching at Computex, but this year was different. While Intel officially announced its latest Lunar Lake mobile platform, we won’t be seeing any products before the third quarter of 2024. On the other hand, Qualcomm’s new Arm-based Snapdragon X laptops already enjoyed their time in the spotlight in May at Microsoft Build as part of the Copilot+ PC announcement. This left AMD to carry most of the burden on its shoulders as it launched the new Ryzen “Strix Point” AI 300 series CPUs.

This also meant that laptop manufacturers had very limited products to showcase. Nonetheless, we managed to get our hands on some exciting upcoming laptops that will be available in various markets in the coming months. Here’s a look at some of the best laptops I saw on the show from at Computex 2024.

Asus ProArt P16

A special treat for creators, Asus unveiled ProArt 16 laptop powered by next-gen AMD Ryzen AI processors. The laptop features a similar design and chassis as the Zephyrus G16, but with a focus on content creators. The laptop features an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU (105W) and, when paired with the 50 TOPS NPU, it can offer enhanced AI workflows across creativity, productivity, as well as gaming.

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According to Asus, the ProArt P16 can offer 2.5x faster performance in DaVinci Resolve for video editing tasks and 4.5x faster performance for Adobe Premiere Pro’s AI Speech Enhance. Instead of having a physical dial like the previous ProArt series laptops, the new P16 now comes with a digital dial built into the trackpad. While having a physical dial offered more tactile feedback, it forced the company to move the keyboard farther away from the touchpad. Hence, this time it is swapping to a digital DialPad for a more minimalistic yet functional design.

As for the specifications, the laptop will be available with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 370 with 12 cores, up to 64GB of LPDDR5X memory, and support for up to two 2TB SSD storage. The display on the ProArt 16 is a 16-inch 16:10 Lumina OLED 4K touchscreen with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage and 500 nits brightness.

In terms of connectivity, you get similar options as the new Zephyrus G16 including a USB 4.0 Type-C port, a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and an SD card reader. You also get support for Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi. The laptop is available for preorder with a free three-month Adobe Creative Suite subscription and a six-month CapCut Pro license.

MSI Stealth A16 AI+

MSI also showcased some new laptops at Computex this year powered by the new AMD Ryzen AI 300 chips, and the Stealth A16 AI+ seems quite promising. The laptop is configured with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, and a large 99.9Whr battery.

The company hasn’t revealed any information regarding storage or memory, but in terms of I/O and connectivity, you get two USB 3.2 Type-A, a USB Type-C, an RJ45 Ethernet, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio combo jack, and a Kensington lock. The laptop comes with a magnesium alloy chassis that helps reduce the weight to 4.62 pounds.

It also features a distinguished chrome accent at the back with Stealth branding, and five heat pipes to aid efficient cooling. As for the display, the new Stealth A16 AI+ will be available with a 16:10 16-inch QHD+ IPS panel that offers a 240Hz refresh rate and 100% coverage of DCI-P3. Notably, the laptop will also feature Copilot with a dedicated key on the keyboard, as all these new devices do.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16

Asus is refreshing the ROG Zephyrus G16 with AMD’s latest Strix Point CPUs while retaining all the other specifications from the Intel Core Ultra model. As of now, the G16 is going to launch with top-of-the-line 12-core AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, with additional configurations expected at a later stage.

In terms of graphics, the laptop will be available with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, and utilize liquid-metal cooling and second-generation Arc Flow fans for thermal management.
You get the same 16-inch 2.5K 240Hz OLED panel as its predecessor, with VESA DisplayHDR and True Black 500 certification, a 0.2ms response time, and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. Notably, Asus has also listed an IPS panel option with near identical specifications on the official product page.

Memory and storage options are similar too, including 32GB of dual-channel LPDDR5X RAM with a 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. For connectivity, it includes a USB 4.0 Type-C port, a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and an SD card reader. The laptop now also supports Microsoft Copilot, Wi-Fi 7, and an overall weight of just 1.85kgs. Asus will be offering the same colors as before — Eclipse Gray and Platinum White — with pricing and availability to be announced later.

Asus TUF A14

A surprising entry into the league of 14-inch gaming laptops, Asus announced a notebook under its budget TUF lineup. Essentially an affordable version of the company’s popular Zephyrus G14, the new TUF A14 has a fairly thin chassis, having a thickness of just 0.78 inches and weighing only 3.2 pounds.

The TUF A14 will also be powered by AMD’s latest Strix Point Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 12-core processor along with LPDDRX5 memory clocked at 7500MHz and dual M.2 SSD storage slots, capable of accommodating 2TB PCIe Gen 4 drives. As for the GPU, the laptop will be available with either Nvidia’s RTX 4050 or 4060 with a 100W TDP.

The 14-inch 16:10 QHD+ IPS panel offers a 165Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, 100% sRGB coverage, and 400 nits of peak brightness. In terms of port selection, there’s a USB 4 Type-C port that supports DisplayPort 2.1 and Power delivery 3.0 (100W), a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, HDMI 2.1, an audio combo jack, and USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port.

Additionally, Asus says that the laptop will come with a 73Whr battery, a 200W charging brick, a 1080p webcam with IR, and a military-grade chassis with a metal finish on the top and bottom. Pricing and availability is still under wraps, but we are speculating a starting price point of under $1,000.

Asus ProArt PX13

Another addition to the ProArt lineup of laptops from Asus, this 13-inch laptop crams powerful hardware in a small chassis and is by far one of the most impressive laptops in its category. For starters, the ProArt PX13 can be configured with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 and goes up to an RTX 4070, alongside next-gen AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processors. According to Asus, the CPU and GPU are capable of delivering a combined TDP of 115W, and to cool the chips, the laptop employs four exhaust vents and a liquid-metal cooling solution. It will be available with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory and up to a 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen 4 SSD. That’s pretty astounding for a laptop of this size.

The laptop comes with a 360-degree hinge so you can flip the 13.3-inch display to convert it into a tablet. Speaking of the display, it sounds exceptional on paper as it comes with a 3K (2880 by 1800) OLED 16:10 touchscreen panel with 0.2ms response time, 400nits SDR and 500nits HDR peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, VESA Certified HDR True Black 500, Pantone validation, as well as stylus support.

It also features a range of high-speed connections, including two USB 4.0 Type-C ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, HDMI 2.1, a 3.5mm audio combo jack, and a microSD slot. That last one sounds like an odd choice, considering this is a powerful creator laptop. There’s also support for fast wireless connectivity including Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7.

In terms of design, the ProArt PX13 feels rock solid and even complies with the MIL-STD 810H military standard. Despite its robust design, it is lightweight at just 3.04 pounds, and maximum thickness of 0.70 inches. Like the ProArt P16, this one also comes with a digital DialPad built into the trackpad.

Based on the name and capabilities, it feels a bit like a non-gaming version of the Asus ROG Flow X13. Asus also has a 2-in-1 version of this, the ProArt PZ13, which looks similarly impressive, although it runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips rather than AMD.

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