Asus ProArt PZ13 review: For the creative nomad

Although a tablet is a great device for a creative professional, it doesn’t offer the versatility of a full-fledged laptop. You can opt for a 2-in-1 laptop, but there aren’t many options that won’t burn a hole in your pocket. So far, that is. The new Asus ProArt PZ13 is a competitively priced 2-in-1 that features the new Snapdragon X Plus chipset and promises great performance with better battery life. It’s a good alternative to the Microsoft Surface Pro, especially if you want something cheaper.

The ProArt PZ13 offers a lot more at a starting price of Rs. 1,04,990. You get a great display, good form factor, lightweight design, and useful accessories. Should this be your new 2-in-1 laptop? Know below.

Asus ProArt PZ13 Design: Industrial

• Dimensions – 297.5 x 202.9 x 9 mm
• Weight – 0.85 kg (without keyboard), 1.2 kg (with keyboard)
• Color – Nano Black

Asus has given the ProArt PZ13 an industrial look, which feels tough and premium. It gets an aluminum unibody with chamfered edges and a thickness of 9mm. The bevel around the screen has a pattern that echoes the ‘Pro Camera Design’, and a few other elements make the otherwise bland design stand out. It would have been nice if Asus included a built-in kickstand on the rear panel. Instead, you get a separate case, which adds to the thickness of the tablet.

The tablet doesn’t get a lot of fingerprints

The ProArt PZ13 also offers an IP52 rating and claims to pass multiple MIL-STD-810H tests. The rear panel also has a small slit that serves as an air intake and a flush-mounted camera. The surprising thing is that it does not get many fingerprints or stains.

In terms of ports, the Windows tablet features a power button on the top edge and an exhaust vent for a single fan. There are volume buttons on the right edge, while the left side has an open USB Type-C port, a rubber flap that hides the second USB Type-C port, and a full-sized SD card slot.

A flap covers one of the USB Type-C ports

There’s a magnetic pogo connector at the bottom to connect the included keyboard. The tablet has dual speakers on both sides.

Asus ProArt PZ13 display: Sharp, bright and vivid

• Size and Type – 13.3-inch OLED Touch, 16:10, 500 nits
• Resolution – 2,880 x 1,800 pixels
• Refresh Rate – 60Hz

The touch display on the ProArt PZ13 is bright and colorful. It’s quite sharp as the 13-inch OLED panel offers 2,880 x 1,800 pixels resolution, 0.2ms response time, and 16:10 aspect ratio, which is great for productivity users and content creators. However, it only offers a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz. The display offers good brightness indoors, but the glossy coating makes it difficult to use outdoors in direct sunlight. To keep the panel scratch-free, Asus has offered Gorilla Glass NBT for protection.

OLED touch displays provide good colors and have great viewing angles

When it comes to color and other enhancements, the display offers Dolby Vision, HDR, and Pantone verification and covers 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut. Viewing content on the screen was a good experience, but photos could be a little oversaturated in the standard color profile. It’s best to use the DCI-P3 color profile if you want more accurate colors or the sRGB profile for photo/video editing. It should be noted that to gain access to the available color profiles, you must first use them on the ProArt Creator Hub app.

Viewing angles and touch response on the OLED panel were also quite good. Talking about touch response, the display also supports pen input and you can use the Asus Pen 2.0 to sketch, write and more.

Asus ProArt PZ13 keyboard, touchpad, speakers and cameras

• Keyboard – Detachable backlit keyboard
• Speakers – Dual side-firing with Dolby Atmos
• Webcam – 5 Megapixel with IR sensor
• Rear camera – 13 megapixel

You get a detachable keyboard in the box. It attaches to the chassis using pogo pin connectors and strong magnets. I liked the quality of the keyboard case. The keys are backlit with ample illumination in the dark and offer approximately 1.35mm of travel. The typing experience is good, and despite being thin everything feels very stable. It also has a Copilot key and a full row of function keys.

The detachable keyboard offers 1.35 mm of key travel and a clicky touchpad

There is a huge touchpad in the middle below the keyboard. Its surface is smooth, supports multi-touch gestures, and the click mechanism functions effectively. I had no problems using the touchpad for tasks and navigation.

The ProArt PZ13 has two side-facing stereo speakers that support Dolby Atmos. Although they provide good audio quality for tablets, they may not be ideal for laptops. The speakers deliver full and undistorted sound even at maximum volume. However, their sound is somewhat limited, and you may inadvertently cover them up while holding the tablet.

Both cameras on the ProArt PZ13 perform well in daylight

Asus has given two cameras in ProArt PZ13, which are quite good. The 5-megapixel front-facing camera performs well in daylight and produces somewhat noisy video in low light. It supports Windows Hello facial recognition and also comes with an IR sensor. You also get a 3-microphone array for clear voice recording. It also has a 13-megapixel rear camera, but I’m not sure what it’s for. It records 1080p video and takes good photos in daylight.

• OS – Windows 11 Home
• Additional Apps – MyAssus, StoryCube, ProArt Creator Hub

It’s software time, and in addition to your standard Windows 11 tools ProArt PZ13 has a few extra features, including some AI features like Copilot, CoCreator in Paint, Live Caption, Windows Studio Effects, and automatic Super Resolution. Eventually, you’ll also get access to the controversial Windows Recall feature, but it’s not here yet.

You can use AI to help you draw in the Paint app

Additional tools on the 2-in-1 include the trusty MyAsus app, a tool to automatically organize all your exported digital photo files called StoryCube, and the ProArt Creator Hub that lets you customize the tablet however you want. You can choose display profiles, control fan speed, and change operating profiles. The Asus ScreenXpert app is also available on tablets, letting you manage various aspects of the touch display.

Asus ProArt PZ13 Performance: Not Specified

• Processor – Snapdragon X Plus
• RAM – 16GB LPDDR5x (non-upgradeable)
• Storage – 1TB M.2 NVMe (non-upgradeable)
• GPU – Adreno X1-45

Okay, let’s talk about performance. The ProArt PZ13 comes with a lower-end Snapdragon X Plus chipset, which is somewhat noticeable when running heavy apps or performing resource-intensive tasks. The tablet also starts heating up when opening multiple tabs on Chrome or streaming videos on Netflix, YouTube and Prime Video. If you stress the chipset, you may notice some loss in performance. Compared to the X Elite chipset, there is a drop in power output when it comes to multi-core usage. This is expected since the X Plus has an octa-core CPU, while the X Elite has 12 cores. However, there is not much difference when it comes to AI computing.

The Snapdragon X Plus has an octa-core CPU

I ran some synthetic benchmarks on the PZ13 to see how it performed compared to laptops with Snapdragon X Elite CPUs. As expected, multi-core scores are lower on Geekbench, Cinebench and 3DMark, but AI performance is quite similar. All benchmarks were run in the performance profile.

You can use the ProArt PZ13 for most daily tasks, like browsing the web, creating artwork using the stylus, viewing content and more without facing any major disruptions. I found most of the apps to be compatible with ARM; If something doesn’t work, you can always run it in emulated mode. However, during my testing, I didn’t face such compatibility issues, at least with the apps I used.

Gaming on tablets is a no-go unless you’re playing some retro games. I tried to play some Xbox Game Pass titles, and the games wouldn’t install. The tablet did not perform well in the 3DMark Night Red and Steel Nomad Lite GPU benchmarks.

In terms of connectivity, the tablet offers tri-band WiFi 7 (where supported) and Bluetooth 5.4. Both worked well during the review period.

Asus ProArt PZ13 battery: long lasting

• Capacity – 70Wh
• Charging – 65W

Although the Snapdragon X Plus chipset may not provide top-level performance, it offers excellent efficiency. The ProArt PZ13 has great battery life, and when you’re using it for a few hours a day you can go days without charging it. I could easily do a whole day’s work with the keyboard connected. The larger 70Wh battery also helps here.

The tablet can last for days without a charge if used for only a few hours per day

Fast charging is also available thanks to the included 65W charger. It took about 1 hour 40 minutes for the tablet to be fully charged from 10 percent.

Verdict on Asus ProArt PZ13

The Asus ProArt PZ13 is a competitively priced 2-in-1 that offers a good display, excellent battery life, good performance, and portability. The detachable keyboard and extra kickstand cover make it as thick as a traditional laptop, but you can use it as a tablet with a stylus. It’s also cheaper than other Snapdragon-powered 2-in-1s available in the market.

If you’re not looking to spend big cash and are looking for a good-value 2-in-1 with a great display and long-lasting battery life for your travels, then you should probably consider the Asus ProArt PZ13. Should do. ,