By Tanveer Singh, Published Jan 26, 2025
Unless you’re looking for a powerful gaming laptop, your priority list probably looks something like this: long-lasting battery life, a great display, a comfortable keyboard, a decent design and camera, and smooth performance for day-to-day applications. If you want to marry all of that with a convertible form factor, the Asus ProArt PZ13 feels like the perfect answer.
As a Snapdragon X Plus laptop, the ProArt PZ13 will struggle to run a few programs natively, but the most common ones work without issues. If you want peak performance, you should probably look at a Snapdragon X Elite or Intel Lunar Lake laptop, but if you’re after a stylish hybrid with an OLED display, lifestyle-changing battery, and great cameras — all in a highly affordable package — the ProArt PZ13 is a clear winner.
Pricing, specs, and availability
The Asus ProArt PZ13 is a creator-focused 2-in-1 laptop available in a single variant with the Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, and 1TB storage in a Nano Black colorway. The company has priced it at $1,100, and you can buy it from Asus’ website or Best Buy.
…if you’re after a stylish hybrid with an OLED display, lifestyle-changing battery, and great cameras — all in a highly affordable package — the ProArt PZ13 is a clear winner.
Pricing, specs, and availability
The Asus ProArt PZ13 is a creator-focused 2-in-1 laptop available in a single variant with the Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, and 1TB storage in a Nano Black colorway. The company has priced it at $1,100, and you can buy it from Asus’ website or Best Buy.
…if you’re after a stylish hybrid with an OLED display, lifestyle-changing battery, and great cameras — all in a highly affordable package — the ProArt PZ13 is a clear winner.
Specifications
CPU Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100, 8 Core, 3.4GHz (single-core) / 3.2GHz (8-core)
GPU Qualcomm Adreno
Display type Touchscreen OLED, 500 nits, 16:10, 60Hz, Display HDR True Black 500, 100% DCI-P3
Display (Size, Resolution) 13.3-inch, 2880 x 1800
RAM 16GB LPDDR5X, 8448MHz, soldered, dual-channel
Storage 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0
Battery 70Wh
Ports 2x USB 4.0 Gen 3 Type-C (40Gbps), display/power delivery, SD Express 7.0 card reader
Operating System Windows 11 Home for ArmWebcam1440p front camera with Windows Hello, 4K rear camera
Wi-Fi connectivity Wi-Fi 7, 802.11be 2×2BluetoothBluetooth 5.4Form factor2-in-1Dimensions11.71 x 7.99 x 0.35 inches
Weight 1.87 pounds (tablet)/3.34 pounds (total)
Speakers Stereo speakers with Smart Amp
Colors Nano Black with Moss Green kickstand
Pen compatibility Asus Pen 2.0 & third-party stylus
Design and display
Premium OLED goodness in a slim package
The first thing I noticed about the ProArt PZ13 after unboxing was its slim and compact footprint. The 13.3-inch form factor is perfect for creative professionals or business users who are always looking for portable lightweight notebooks. The build quality of the laptop (or the tablet) is excellent, with a smooth finish that feels premium.
This is a convertible machine, hence you need to put up with a detachable keyboard, which isn’t always preferable, such as when keeping the laptop on your, well, lap. It’s not impossible, but something I avoided doing. That said, the keyboard doesn’t feel flimsy or cheap, and the magnetic snap-on mechanism is always reliable.
My unit came with the Moss Green magnetic kickstand already attached to the back of the laptop, but you can easily take it off. The port selection on the PZ13 is a bit controversial, since you only get two USB4 Gen 3 (40Gbps) ports for charging and external connections, plus a single SD Express 7.0 card reader. Most creative professionals might find this enough, but others might need a docking station to connect more devices.
Coming to the stunning OLED touchscreen, which is one of the major highlights here, I couldn’t find any faults — brightness, contrast, color reproduction, viewing angles, and response time were all superb. The glossy screen looks rich and blur-free, plus the 3K resolution makes the text look buttery-smooth. My 1440p 27″ desktop has obviously never shown text this sharp, so I was extra impressed. Even 50% brightness was more than sufficient when working in a café during the day with light directly overhead.
Coming to the stunning OLED touchscreen, which is one of the major highlights here, I couldn’t find any faults — brightness, contrast, color reproduction, viewing angles, and response time were all superb.
Working in tablet mode is a treat, thanks to the smooth, precise, and quick-to-rotate screen. Asus sent the Asus Pen 2.0 with the review unit, but you’ll have to buy it separately for around $100. The pressure-sensitive stylus is one of the better ones I’ve used on a tablet, and I even tried my hand at pixel art, which you can see in the images above (don’t roast me, please).
Keyboard, trackpad, and more
Will satisfy most users
I’ve used a fair number of laptop keyboards, including detachable ones, with my iPad, so I knew what to expect. There were no surprises — the detachable keyboard is as good as any other chiclet keyboard. Frankly, I have no complaints about it, since I was able to write thousands of words without encountering too many typos, and even increased my typing speed compared to the mechanical keyboards I use with my desktop.
I would have liked it if Asus provided better legends, but the well-spaced-out keys and decent build quality were enough to not be a bother. The trackpad is tactile (not haptic), which is a win in my book, since I always need that reassuring feel of a physical left or right click. It worked without any hiccups, and although I used my Razer wireless mouse most of the time instead, the times when I did have to use the trackpad didn’t disappoint.
I had to watch a number of YouTube videos during my time with the PZ13, and the multimedia experience was decent. The stereo speakers are loud enough for personal use, and even during video calls, I didn’t feel them lacking in volume or clarity. The webcam on the PZ13 is a 1440p shooter at the front and a 4K one at the rear. While the higher resolution camera is a welcome change in a sea of laptops stuck with Full HD cameras, it didn’t show skin tones accurately.
The 4K rear camera doesn’t shoot any mind-blowing images, but it’s serviceable for when you really need to click pictures with a tablet.
Performance and battery life
Great all-rounder with one glaring flaw
Finally, it’s time to look at the factors that might make or break the ProArt PZ13 for many users. A disclaimer first — my typical usage on a laptop doesn’t involve gaming, photo & video editing, or other creative workloads. While I ran the necessary benchmarks to compare the PZ13 with its peers, my focus was mostly on how it fares as a smooth performer in day-to-day tasks, and more importantly, how long it lasts me on a heavy day of usage.
I was seriously impressed by how snappy it felt in regular tasks
The first day I used the PZ13, I was seriously impressed by how snappy it felt in regular tasks — waking up from sleep, launching Chrome or File Explorer, or simply navigating around the settings. The Snapdragon X Plus chip is clearly more than capable of handling the rigors of a writer’s typical day. While the PZ13 also touts an NPU with up to 45 TOPS, I still don’t find any of the Copilot+ features particularly useful. The AI noise cancelation, however, might be working silently in the background to improve my video calls.
The battery life on this thing was nothing short of game-changing. I don’t remember the last time I was able to last a full day without charging a laptop — maybe it was the Apple M1 MacBook Air around 4 years ago, but that’s it. One of the biggest selling points of Windows on Arm is the phenomenal battery life of these Snapdragon chips. The lack of anxiety when working on an article while watching videos for research on the battery-saver mode can transform your lifestyle.
The battery life on this thing was nothing short of game-changing.
I even noticed the PZ13 losing only around 2-3% battery over 10 hours when in sleep mode. There were times when I could even easily make it last through 1.5 days of use. On the days I charged the laptop (while not in use), it only needed around 1.5 hours to go from 10% to 95%. All in all, the performance and battery life of the PZ13 are fantastic, as long as you’re not looking for a productivity workhorse or something that can run every single program natively.
| Asus ProArt PZ13 (Snapdragon X Plus, X1P-42-100) | Dell Inspiron 14 (Snapdragon X Plus, X1P-42-100) | Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G7 (Snapdragon X Plus, X1P-42-100) | Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G7 (Intel Core Ultra 5 125U) | Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7440 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H) | Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 (single-core / multi-core) | 2,395 / 11,273 | 2,356 / 11,042 | 2,412 / 11,157 | 2,145 / 7,695 | 2,185 / 11,181 | 2,803 / 14,497 |
| Crossmark overall (emulated) | 1,262 | 1,249 | 1,241 | 1,263 | — | 1,558 |
| Cinebench 2024 (single-core / multi-core) | 104 / 486 | 104 / 687 | 97 / 714 | 89 / 437 | 100 / 630 | 124 / 972 |
| Price | $1,100 | $750 | $1,430 | $850 | $1,000 | $1,400 |
The only glaring flaw you’ll notice in these benchmarks is the bizarre Cinebench multi-core number. The PZ13 can’t even beat the cheaper Dell Inspiron 14 with the exact same processor. While this is a red flag for creatives who want a great performer in something like Adobe Premiere Pro, the many positives of the PZ13 can easily make it a great deal at the price. Note that the Crossmark benchmark ran with emulation, and you can probably guess that from the screenshot.
Compared to, say, the closest Surface Pro 11 variant, which costs around $1,900 after factoring in the keyboard, the ProArt PZ13 is a steal. For $1,100, you’re getting nearly the same performance, a gorgeous touchscreen OLED display, generous battery life, a well-built 2-in-1 design, and an included keyboard and kickstand.
Should you buy the Asus ProArt PZ13?
The Asus ProArt PZ13 is targeted at creative professionals who want the convenience of a convertible with the battery life of a MacBook. The OLED touchscreen is a joy to use for any kind of user, the laptop sips on battery, and you get a bundled keyboard in the $1,100 price. It’s hard to beat the ProArt PZ13 as far as 2-in-1 Windows on Arm laptops are concerned.
You should buy the ProArt PZ13 if:
- You want an affordable and portable 2-in-1 laptop
- You love the luxury of full-day battery life
- You need a color-accurate and vibrant OLED display
You should avoid the ProArt PZ13 if:
- You need serious productivity performance
- You can’t sacrifice functionality due to Windows on Arm
- You need an abundance of ports
Story from Xda-developers.com
Tanveer Singh
PC Hardware Author PC, GPU, Windows
After a 7-year corporate stint, Tanveer found his love for writing and tech too much to resist. An MBA in Marketing and the owner of a PC building business, he writes on PC hardware, technology, and Windows. When not scouring the web for ideas, he can be found building PCs, watching anime, or playing Smash Karts on his RTX 3080 (sigh).
