A Smooth Showcase For NVIDIA’s RTX Spark

Using the ASUS P16 with RTX Spark jogged my memory of the primary time I turned on a MacBook Pro with an M-series chip: Everything about it feels lightning quick. I used to be up and working very quickly, and I felt unstoppable as I downloaded a number of huge recordsdata concurrently to start out my benchmarking course of. But in fact, for a $7,000 system with 128GB of RAM, it rattling effectively higher really feel speedy.

I’ll admit, I used to be a bit shocked by the ASUS P16’s preliminary benchmark scores: Its PCMark 10 (Applications) determine was 3,000 factors decrease than the ultra-slim ASUS A16 I examined earlier this 12 months, which was powered by a Snapdragon X2 Elite chip. The RTX Spark system additionally lagged behind barely in Geekbench 6’s single-threaded CPU check, which is an indication that Qualcomm’s chips simply have extra succesful CPUs.

But actually, the star of the RTX Spark’s design is its GPU, NPU and unified reminiscence, and people all stood out in different exams. The ASUS P16 RTX Spark was 4,700 factors increased than the MacBook Pro with M5 Max in Geekbench 6’s GPU benchmark, which exams general graphics efficiency. The ProArtwork P16 additionally scored 3,895 factors in UL Procyon’s AI Computer Vision 2 benchmark, in comparison with 3,267 factors from that very same MacBook. Its 1,519 rating in Procyon’s AI Image Generation check was additionally 600 factors increased than Apple’s. Those Procyon benchmarks all clearly benefitted from the RTX Spark chip’ s beefy graphics energy.

Beyond benchmarks, the ASUS P16 was capable of run OpenClaw and the big Qwen3.8 27B mannequin, which alone takes up 42GB of RAM, whereas nonetheless leaving me with a ton of RAM for different duties. At the identical time, I used to be even capable of play Control: Resonant and Cyberpunk 2077 at prime quality settings with out breaking a sweat. Sure, the followers appeared like they had been about to carry the P16 off my desk, however there was by no means any noticeable slowdown in efficiency.

NVIDIA has beforehand stated that the RTX Spark’s graphics {hardware} is about on-par with the RTX 5070 cellular GPU, whereas additionally drawing a lot much less energy, and that held true in my testing. I used to be capable of play Control Resonant at 70 fps whereas rendering the sport in 1,440p with “extremely” graphics settings, ray-tracing set to medium and 4x body era. That’s a recreation the place the general constancy issues greater than a triple-digit framerate, however I might get the ProArtwork P16 to 120 fps by decreasing the graphics settings.

While I did not have a lot hassle working different video games, together with Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Gears of War: E-Day, there’s an opportunity you will have hassle with some titles. Since RTX Spark is predicated on an Arm CPU, it has to depend on Microsoft’s Prism emulator to deal with most video games. That introduces an instantaneous efficiency drop, in addition to potential points. There are native Arm64 builds for in style titles like Fortnite, DOTA 2, Marvel Rivals and the upcoming World of Warcraft: Forever, so there’s an opportunity that compatibility considerations will soften away in a number of years. But if you happen to do not need to fear about emulation troubles in any respect, you are higher off with a regular gaming laptop computer working an Intel or AMD chip.

There are additionally related compatibility considerations for older Windows software program basically, although I did not encounter any weirdness throughout my testing. The complete Windows on Arm expertise obtained an enormous improve when Copilot+ programs launched two years in the past, and since then, it looks like Microsoft has labored to make its x86 emulation much more seamless.

The ProArtwork P16’s 16-inch “Lumina Pro” OLED display was good for Control Resonant: It was capable of showcase darkish black ranges and excessive distinction in darker environments, however it additionally seared my eyeballs at instances with its peak 1,600-nit luminance. It’s undoubtedly one of many brightest OLED screens I’ve seen on a laptop computer, and it immediately competes with Apple’s Mini LED MacBook Pro shows, which additionally prime out at 1,600 nits. That excessive brightness additionally made the ProArtwork P16 good for getting work executed exterior within the solar, as I attempt to eke out each bit of heat I can earlier than winter arrives.

I used to be equally impressed by each different side of the ASUS ProArtwork P16. Its vast keyboard and luscious key depth made typing a dream, and it additionally has top-of-the-line haptic touchpads I’ve ever seen on a Windows PC. While it could have been good to have a quad-speaker setup, which has turn into more and more frequent in massive premium laptops, the ProArtwork P16’s twin audio system nonetheless sounded strong. They additionally supply a little bit of spatial audio help, due to Dolby Atmos.

The solely main draw back to the ProArtwork P16, like most jet-black PCs, is that it is a horrendous fingerprint magnet. Marks begin showing the moment you contact it, and heaven forbid you eat something oily whereas utilizing it. It takes just some minutes for the P16 to start out wanting like a gross mess, and it’s kind of annoying to maintain clear. It’d be nice to see ASUS undertake an anti-fingerprint materials sooner or later. 

The ProArtwork P16 lasted ten hours and 51 minutes within the PCMark 10 Applications battery benchmark, which is effectively beneath the 15-plus-hour vary we have seen on many premium machines. It was additionally bested by Dell’s newest XPS 16, which disillusioned me when it clocked practically 12 hours on the PCMark battery check. You’ll a minimum of be capable to do extra with the P16 on battery: I observed that benchmarks and recreation efficiency did not waver in any respect after I yanked the ability twine. According to NVIDIA, the general effectivity of RTX Spark permits for a excessive efficiency curve with out burning an excessive amount of energy.