The Best Content Creator Laptop: ASUS ProArt PX13 (HN7306WU) Review
Updated: Aug 19, 2024
Gaming laptops have long been the standard for creatives and demanding professions, with a lot of effort put in to making the gaming laptop they picked up to do serious CAD, engineering, database design & management, and photo & video editing look less “gamer” and more “please pay me because I am actually a serious professional.” Well, The ASUS ProArt PX13 is here to bring you something that is compact, efficient, long-lasting, versatile, powerful, AND looks professional, too! This laptop not only looks professional but the amazing “nano black” finish is fingerprint resistant to keep smudges, dust, and other grit from dirtying up this beautifully designed piece of equipment! In the next couple of paragraphs, and images, we'll look through the ASUS ProArt PX13's (HN7306WU) unboxing, features, and review how it performs to see how I came about calling this the BEST all-around content creator laptop that's out there!
Disclaimer
This is NOT a sponsored post, but I did receive this as a member of Best Buy's Tech Insider Program. As a member of this invitation-only program, I am provided products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased reviews. I did not purchase this product.
Unboxing
This was a strange experience, there was an outer shipping box but that’s normal. Next, was a larger “ProArt” box that contained two smaller boxes and two cardboard protective stabilizers. One of those boxes contained the charger, some literature, and other items that are likely still in that box. The other was a beautifully designed black box, inscribed with ProArt PX13 and the outline of the laptop that was within. This was a very strange packaging setup, but I kind of liked it... however, I also like opening boxes. So that was a fun treat for me, your mileage may vary. There was a large amount of "tonnage" leftover from the unboxing experience, getting rid of all of it wasn't as fun.
First impressions
Whoa! Just, whoa. Metal outer casing, LARGE ventilation all around, and ports! The variety of I/O ports and the number of them is absolutely incredible! Clearly, ASUS has taken note of what creators and power users are looking for in a, still thin and light, powerhouse laptop! You’re able to open the lid with just one finger, perfection. Massive trackpad, with a circle and a dot in it? Well, that’s weird, or is it? That is actually the ASUS DialPad, which adds a multitude of functionality to the trackpad that would normally only be available with the addition of a Microsoft Dial or some other wheel-type device (I use a Xencelabs Quickeys). This has been my favorite feature so far, editing in Premiere Pro so much easier while on the go! There is also the ability to adjust, add, remove, or completely custom build profiles to use with it. The keyboard is excellent, with great key travel, not a “click” but a good amount of tactile feel for a membrane laptop keyboard, battery life has been a consistent 6.5 hours of daily use without GPU intensive tasks like video editing or gaming.
Here's the specs:
13.3" 3K 16:10 (2880x1800) AMOLED
Touch Screen w/Pen Support
60Hz Refresh Rate
500 nits Max Brightness
CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
12-Core/24-Thread
2 GHz Base Clock
5.1 GHz Max Boost
NPU: 50 TOPS
iGPU: Radeon
dGPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 6GDDR6X
Storage: 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe m.2 2230 SSD
RAM: 32GB DDR5X 7500 MT/s Memory
WiFi7 & Bluetooth 6 Wireless (Swappable)
I/O:
HDMI 2.1
2x USB4 type-C w/PD (40Gb/s & up to 100w)
USB 3.2 type-A (20Gb/s)
MicroSD USH-II
3.5mm Audio I/O
DC-In (200w)
Webcam: 1080p w/Windows Hello
Width: 11.74" (29.9cm)
Depth: 8.26" (21cm)
Height: 0.68" (2cm)
Weight: 3.06lbs (1.39kg)
Display
13 3K Touch Screen – I don’t want to look away from this beautiful OLED. It’s a 3K 16:10 screen that is well calibrated out of the box and aimed at being able to color grade “close enough” without formally calibrating on your own. There are various color modes available out of the box that are tailored toward optimizing your workflow. The vivid mode will make anything from the finest landscapes to spreadsheets look so good you’ll have a hard time looking away from it!
Content Creation
This is where the laptop REALLY shines! The larger trackpad is certainly nice for shifting things around in Premiere Pro, in a document, workbook, or while cleaning up some recent photos of some unsightly signage, but what really shines is the DialPad in the top right! You activate this by swiping a finger from the top left until you see the white light in the center light up, this indicated that circle is no longer part of the trackpad surface, but a tool to aid in the creative process. The very first thing I did with this laptop was download Adobe Premiere Pro (well, Creative Cloud, but still) to get right down to how this machine would do in surpassing my current mobile editing rigs; an Alienware x17r1 i7-11700H, RTX 3070, 2TB Gen 4 SSDs (dual 1TBs), 17.3" 1080p matte finish "close enough" colors; and Microsoft Surface Pro 8 i7-1185G7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD (replaceable!), and Iris Xe graphics driving a 13" '2k' 16:10 Touchscreen. Both have served me admirably, the Alienware with its beefy internals and raw power but horrid battery life (and looking like a RGB spaceship on a boardroom table...), my Surface Pro 8 bringing ultimate mobility and some decent power with excellent battery life. The ProArt PX13 has so far supplanted both of them as my "go to" for editing when not at my desktop workstation, and for casual computing. It's thin, light, powerful, has great battery, a gorgeous screen that's factory calibrated up to Cinema P3 color. I use Adobe sRGB, because I post to the web, for you, not create professional works of cinema. It's nice to know that kind of color space is available if I decide to step it up a little, or get the budget and skills to color grade the latest Marvel movie!
Gaming
Gaming is possible, and the RTX 4050 is no slouch, but it's also not meant to be a gaming powerhouse. GTA V at full resolution was maybe 55-60 FPS, but very steady and consistent, drop this down to 1080P (well, 1200P. 1920 x 1200) and the framerate should jump considerably! My initial testing did not show this, but it did stabilize the framerate quite a bit. That’s just the nature of having a creator & professional laptop that is balanced more for content creation and professional tasks versus gaming, if you’re looking for something good for content creation and great at gaming, stick with the gaming laptops. For casually pulling up some of your favorite games and being able to have a great time, this laptop will do more than do the trick.
Conclusion
Overall, this machine is a well-crafted and carefully paired laptop that fits the niche that creators are looking for: a ton of RAM, a ton of horsepower in the CPU, a very competent GPU for rendering, and a gorgeous display! This total package not only looks the part of a creative powerhouse but has the guts inside to prove it. I do wish the SSD, which is replaceable, was a more traditional m.2 2280 versus the m.2 2230 that’s inside. This is both for the availability of affordable larger options and speeds, hopefully this is less of an issue as more storage companies release faster & larger options. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who is looking for a solid mobile workstation for video and photo editing, content creation, and occasional gaming. The combination of excellent I/O, amazing display, and a well-balanced CPU/GPU/RAM combination make this an excellent option. The metal casing, durable build, and sleek look make it a great choice if you also want a laptop that you can bring into a client meeting and not have to worry about your “RGB spaceship” making you seem less professional.
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