So, what’s not to love? Well, early compatibility issues limited early adoption of the Snapdragon X, and the integrated graphics performance of the CPU turned out to be quite poor. And so far, powerful on-board AI features haven’t proven useful, as most AI work is still done in the cloud. With the second-generation X2, Qualcomm set out to deliver on the original promise of faster performance.
But what exactly does “fast” mean? As with most claims in the PC space, it’s all about the mark. On the Zenbook A16, the tests I ran showed exemplary performance from the X2 Elite Extreme, in some of the most commonly used benchmarking tools, namely Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024. (I don’t have enough competitive Cinebench 2026 results to make a comprehensive comparison yet).
The performance improvement on Geekbench is quite impressive, with the A16 scoring 50 to 100 percent faster than competing AMD and Intel systems. It’s faster than the Apple MacBook M4 Pro, the last Mac that I have benchmarked against. However, the Mac beat the Asus in the Cinebench benchmark, but not by much, and the Asus now stands firmly in second place in my test log.
Graphics performance is better than in previous generations of Snapdragon X chips, with frame rates quadrupling on average, according to the test. Those are big and much-needed improvements to the CPU, and while no one will accuse the A16 of being a gaming stunner, it at least makes for a passable experience with less taxing games and heavy graphics workloads.
Beige Bellies performance
Photo: Chris Null
I’m happy enough with how the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme performs to back off from its performance claims, but there’s more to the Zenbook A16 than its CPU.
Under the hood, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E94100 CPU is complemented by 48 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. The 16-inch touchscreen offers a solid resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels, and is very bright. Weighing in at 2.9 pounds, it’s impressive (if unheard of) for the 16-inch category, and at 0.65 inches (thickness), it has a sleek, completely portable carrying experience. of Asus Ceraluminum technology (now with added magnesium) is used on the cover, base and keyboard frame of the machine. That helps keep it thin and light, although when adjusted or touched, the screen was brighter than I expected.
