Asus ZenBook A16 review: Snapdragon X2 impresses on CPU, stumbles on gaming

The Asus ZenBook A16 is one of the first laptops to ship with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme — an 18-core ARM chip that punches hard on CPU benchmarks but still leans on an integrated Adreno GPU that holds it back for gaming. At $2,200 / £2,100, it's a serious productivity machine with a 16-inch 2880x1800 OLED panel, 48 GB of RAM, Wi-Fi 7, and a chassis that weighs just 1.2 kg.

The Elite Extreme configuration packs 12 Performance cores at 4.4 GHz and six Efficient cores at 3.6 GHz. In Geekbench 6 single-core, the X2 doesn't quite match Apple's M5 but beats both the desktop Core Ultra 7 265KF and the Ryzen 9 9955HX — no small feat for a thin-and-light laptop chip. Multi-core scores tell a similar story: the X2 posts 22,785, outpacing the Alienware 16 Area 51's Core Ultra 9 275HX and landing close to the 14-core M4 Pro in a 16-inch MacBook Pro. Against Intel's incoming Panther Lake — the Core X9 388H — the X2 pulls ahead by roughly 24% in multi-core despite both chips clearing 3,000 points in single-core. Cinebench results continue in the same direction, though the review source was cut off before full figures were published.

The GPU picture is less rosy. The Adreno integrated graphics have improved meaningfully over the original Snapdragon X generation — benchmark output is now in the ballpark of Intel integrated GPUs, and in some tests edges past Panther Lake — but gaming remains a secondary use case. DirectX and Vulkan compatibility is broad and driver quality has matured since the first Snapdragon X laptops arrived two years ago, yet some titles still don't run, and anything above medium settings is a stretch. The ZenBook A16 is best understood as a productivity and battery-life showcase that happens to handle lighter games, not a gaming laptop that also does work.

The ZenBook A16 sits in an interesting spot: ARM Windows laptops have come a long way since the rocky first-gen Snapdragon X launch, and the X2 makes a genuinely competitive case against both Intel and AMD on raw CPU throughput. Whether the Adreno GPU closes the gap further with driver updates remains to be seen, but for buyers who game occasionally and work constantly, the ZenBook A16 is worth a serious look — just don't expect it to replace a dedicated gaming rig.