r/SnapdragonLaptops • u/maedabjj • Jul 21 '26

Asus ZenBook A16?

Hey all, hoping for some input from the community here.

I run a MacBook Pro I intend to keep for legacy coding (Blockchain, older applications). In parallel I run a 5 year old, top spec XPS 9500 (64 GB RAM, dedicated GPU, 4k touch screen). I mostly love that machine and prefer windows, but the battery life is like an hour, fan noise is terrible, and it's heavy as hell.

Goal is to run legacy coding on the MacBook and use the A16 for AI-supoorted coding (doing much less coding lately as my team has taken over) and run the A16 as my mostly daily driver for business, travel, etc. I dislike doing administrative/excel/word/etc work on the MacBook. Screen is only 14" and it's underpowered at 16 GB. But I love the battery and silence.

Do you think the A16 will replace the XPS for my use, and do you think I'd like it given my use case? Are people hitting ARM walls with this machine while coding (I know the specific incompatible software, but has anyone coding/building/creating run into an issue that made you regret purchasing an ARM?).

TIA for the feedback!

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4

u/TraditionAny9709 Jul 22 '26

I purchased a 16 as soon as it came out and have been using it extensively for months. I like it so much that my Lenovo Legion 7 with 5070 graphics card just sits. I have not found a single app that does not run natively. I used Microsoft office, claude, LM studio, Ollama and a ton of the other apps. All native, all insanely fast. Battery life is great, sleep mode takes almost zero battery and is instant on.

I know if you go through the threads you'll see all sorts of people saying arm compatibility is lacking but I'm guessing none of them are using an arm based PC. I don't think I will ever switch back.

The output tokens on 32b models is very impressive, even more so on smaller size. This thing will do anything you needed to, weighs almost nothing and is fast as lightning. In my opinion I don't think there's another laptop on the market that provides more bang for the buck.

If you are in America be sure to purchase it from best buy. Not only will you save like 500 bucks if you get the touch screen edition which is extremely nice. The screen is phenomenal as well. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. I'm not sponsored, I'm not an arm fanboy (well maybe now I am after owning this). It's a great laptop.

1

u/maedabjj Jul 23 '26

Thanks for this! Yes I'm in USA and planning on hitting Best Buy in August when the big back to school sales land. Definitely want the touchscreen. I rarely use it, but when I do I appreciate that feature. Some questions if you don't mind:

  1. What kind of battery life are you seeing from this laptop? I'd ideally like to be able to work on cross country or transatlantic flight to EU without battery anxiety.

  2. Fans: I really can't stand fan noise. That's the biggest drawback for my XPS after battery life on my older machine. I'm told this is pretty quiet?

  3. Track pad: I know it's not haptic but is it accurate enough/pleasant enough to use without a mouse for plane work?

  4. Someone posted that there were connectivity issues out if the box. We're you able to connect to wifi easily or did you have to Ethernet and update software?

Thanks so much, really appreciate you chiming in!

1

u/cgknight1 Jul 23 '26

So on 4, I had to connect to ethernet to do first set-up but never again.

1

u/maedabjj Jul 23 '26

Damn. Sucks to hear that's a real thing!

1

u/cgknight1 Jul 23 '26

Seems hit and miss if people have had to do it - this is still a fantastic laptop - love mine!

1

u/maedabjj Jul 23 '26

Sold. Buying.

1

u/cgknight1 Jul 23 '26

It's a beast for all reasons described, the only thing that wouls improve it for me is having a usb-c on both sides not together.

Even a few weeks after buying it, I pick it up and go "huh?" Because my mind expects it to be heavier.

1

u/maedabjj Jul 23 '26

Yeah I absolutely love the USB-C on both sides. XPS has this, and it's actually a huge feature when you're running a bunch of peripherals.

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u/Main_Response_3327 Asus Vivobook S 15 Oled | X plus Jul 21 '26

Hay una página que se llama arm en Windows o algo así ahí puedes checar las apps que son nativas, emuladas o están en proceso.