Discovering the Ideal Work Travel Tablet - Beyond Microsoft, Lenovo Choices

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

The Asus ProArt PZ13 is an artistically aligned laptop and is on sale right now at Best Buy for $1,100.
It’s ready to help pro-level artists with its vibrant OLED touchscreen, long battery life, and supportive apps.
The device is held back by a limited array of ports and a substandard keyboard.

A couple of months ago, I tested out Microsoft’s Surface Pro 11 , a laptop that doubles as a tablet. It has Qualcomm’s next-gen chipset and a lot of great features that made me enjoy the machine. I highly recommend it to business professionals who frequently travel. It seems Asus must’ve seen the Surface Pro and thought to itself, “We can do better.” The result of this inspiration is the Asus ProArt PZ13 .

Also: I tested Lenovo’s Windows laptop that doubles as an Android tablet, and it has so much potential

I mentioned the Surface Pro 11 because the two share many similarities, although the ProArt model is better suited for artists and creative professionals.

ZDNET RECOMMENDS Asus ProArt PZ13 Asus’ new ProArt PZ13 laptop is a lightweight machine that punches well above its weight class. Qualcomm’s energy-efficient Snapdragon X SoC can take on the toughest of tasks. View at Best Buy

Upon lifting the laptop out of its box for the first time, you’ll be greeted with a 13.3-inch, 3K (2880 x 1800 pixels) OLED touchscreen. Its resolution isn’t as high as Microsoft’s laptop, although the ProArt PZ13 more than makes up for this with image-enhancing apps.

It has Dolby Vision, support for the entire DCI-P3 color gamut, and VESA DisplayHDR True Black for ultra-dark shadows. Everything works together to ensure a stunning visual experience, except for the 60Hz refresh rate. That’s a fine speed, but I would’ve liked to have 120Hz. At 60Hz, motion and animations on this laptop can look a little blurry.

Also: One of the most versatile laptops I’ve tested also has one of the best displays

The device has a really neat feature called Creator Hub. It’s a dashboard app that lets you adjust the PZ13 on the fly. The most impressive of its many tools is Color Control, which lets you change the on-screen color gamut at any time. For example, the DCI-P3 option tweaks the colors so they’re best suited for movies while Display P3 is recommended for artists as it more accurately displays hues. You can even adjust the color temperature.

Creator Hub gives creative professionals a great amount of flexibility. Although I’m not an artist myself, I certainly appreciate having the ability to fine-tune my experience instantly.

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Asus’ machine is no slouch either, as inside the ProArt PZ13 is a Snapdragon X Plus chipset. I was able to maintain about 60 tabs open without experiencing any major slowdown. I had videos playing and Twitch streams running, and I could still check out my email without any issue.

Sadly, I couldn’t get a specific benchmark number on the SoC (system on a chip). None of the major benchmarking tests have been updated for the Snapdragon X, but hopefully, that day will come soon.

Also: This lightweight laptop has one of the best displays I’ve seen, and it’s not a MacBook Air

Like other Qualcomm-based laptops, the ProArt PZ13 has a ridiculously long battery life, and for once, the marketing materials were correct. This device ran for over 21 hours straight when on the Best Power Efficiency mode. I left it on overnight and was shocked to see it was still active in the morning. On Best Performance mode, the model manages to outperform most Intel-based laptops, as it lasted for about 14.5 hours on a single charge.

These battery times are perfect if you ever need to take the ProArt PZ13 on the road. There’s no need to worry about the laptop dying on you at the worst moment.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

The tablet is 0.35 inches thick and weighs a little under two pounds. Asus throws in a muted-green protective cover with the purchase. The cover adds some bulk to the device, although not by much. It’ll fit snugly inside a bag.

As much as I like Asus’ new computer, I didn’t like the ProArt PZ13’s keyboard. Asus states it has a 1.4mm key travel distance. On paper, that should ensure a good typing experience, but I felt the keyboard was flimsy. Pressing a key bends the accessory a bit.

Also: I tested Lenovo’s Windows laptop that doubles as an Android tablet, and it has so much potential .

Furthermore, there are very few ports. You get three in total: two USB-C inputs and an SD card reader. Granted, the device is somewhat thin, so perhaps Asus couldn’t find room for any more ports. Still, it could’ve at least included a headphone jack.

My last critique is admittedly a nitpick. I would’ve appreciated a free stylus in the overall package. Microsoft’s 11th-gen Surface Pro had one when I got it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So unless you already have a pen, you’ll have to buy one for the PZ13, which isn’t a big issue since the laptop is fairly cheap.

ZDNET’s buying advice

Prices for the Asus ProArt PZ13 start at $1,100 on Best Buy , which is a steal. There is a more powerful version available on Asus’ website – for $1,649 , you can purchase a ProArt PZ13 sporting Qualcomm’s Hexagon NPU, delivering extra power.

Other than that, they’re the same device. Get the Hexagon version only if you are expecting heavy workloads.

How we test laptops

We use a combination of methods to test laptops here at ZDNET. First, we acquire data from benchmarking software to analyze a system’s metrics under the hood, and compare those to advertised numbers. Then, we spend an extended amount of time with the laptop (usually a week or two) using it the same way a typical consumer would, in order to analyze its portability, form factor, and how well the battery actually holds up, among others. For an extensive breakdown, check out our comprehensive laptop testing methodology .

Benchmarking: We run a series of tests to put the computer’s hardware through the wringer in order to see what it’s capable of. Cinebench is one of the most commonly-used hardware testing suites, which tests the laptop’s rendering performance on single and multiple CPU cores. PCMark 10 is another powerful program that covers a wide variety of tasks performed in the workplace.
Processor: The “brain” of the laptop, and one of the most important factors that determines performance. This is tested in benchmarking software.
The display: Brightness is measured in “nits,” and color spectrums are tested in benchmarking software.
The graphics processor (GPU): We test the GPU with a combination of benchmarking software, gaming, and media playback.
Physical form factor: We carry the laptop around for at least a week and note how well it commutes.
Battery testing: We test a unit’s battery in a few ways. A handful of benchmarking programs have their own battery testing components, but we also will just let the laptop run for as long as it can under a medium load.
The human element: As we mentioned earlier, metrics and system data is important, but numbers alone don’t give you the full picture. This is where we weave in our personal experience with the device and tap into the practical use cases that consumers actually care about.