The Zenbook A16 is an even bigger, bolder model of my favourite laptop computer of 2025

It’s been rather less than a yr since I first noticed the Asus Zenbook A14, a super-light, super-thin Home windows laptop computer with unimaginable battery life. And it’s been six months since I purchased one for myself (in reality I’m typing on it now). Apparently I’m not the one fan, as a result of Asus is again with an even bigger, bolder sequel: the Zenbook A16. 

With a sandy coloration and a particular “ceraluminum” materials (which Asus is bringing to different Zenbook laptops this yr), it’s clearly a relative of the A14. However this bigger member of the household isn’t centered on the naked minimums. With an enormous, high-resolution display and extra (figurative) energy due to a more moderen Qualcomm chip, I get the impression that Asus needs to place this design as a competitor to the bigger Floor Laptop computer and MacBook designs. 

The largest improve, in each a figurative and literal sense, is the 16-inch display. It’s nonetheless an OLED panel (a spotlight of the A14, at that value and weight), nevertheless it’s now rocking a a lot better 2880×1800 decision, permitting extra respiration room for workplace duties and looking. And like the unique design, it does with no contact part, for individuals who don’t want something however a laptop computer and a pointer. I actually like that, since that helps preserve weight down and battery life up. 

That mentioned, the spacious battery (70 watt-hours) isn’t any larger for the brand new design. With an even bigger display and a extra highly effective chip, each drawing extra wattage, it appears virtually inevitable that the battery lifetime of the A16 will probably be shorter. That was among the best options of the A14, however Asus representatives advised me that it was a precedence to maintain the burden down. 

Michael Crider / Foundry

Talking of weight: 1.2 kilograms, or 2.6 kilos for these of us in much less civilized nations. That’s solely 20 p.c extra chunky than the smaller A14, for a considerably bigger machine. However that area isn’t wasted. You get six audio system unfold out (unusually none of them straddling the keyboard like most laptops this dimension), plus a full-sized SD card slot, which wasn’t obtainable on the A14. Different ports are similar, with two USB-C on the left aspect (booo!), full-sized HDMI, and a USB-A port on the precise.

Asus could be most excited in regards to the new chip powering this laptop computer, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite Excessive, no less than on the configuration being promoted at CES. That’s the top-of-the-line Arm chip with 18 cores topping out at 5GHz. That’s screaming efficiency for a thin-and-light laptop computer, although avid gamers or those that rely on specialised, high-end software program would possibly balk at something however an Intel or AMD chip. You additionally rise up to 48GB of DDR5 reminiscence (when you occur to have gained the lottery these days), however simply 1TB of PCIe storage, in line with the spec sheet. 

Michael Crider / Foundry

The largest query for the Zenbook A16 would be the value, and Asus isn’t answering it, regardless of an “finish of Q1 [2026]” launch goal. The unique A14, which can also be getting that X2 processor and no different main adjustments, actually solely grew to become compelling to me when it went on sale. So I can’t think about this one turning heads as an ARM-based laptop computer, particularly if the RAM crunch drives the value too far above the $1500 mark. I can see this matching up effectively in opposition to the bigger MacBook Air… much less so for the MacBook Professional.