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Ten thousand dollars ($10k) is a lot of money to spend on anything. But when you are spending it on a laptop, you would want to make sure it is the best decision.
There has been an upheave in the craze of computer manufacturers focusing on making laptops dedicated to professionals in the creative industry. This sudden rise in interest is probably due to the growing numbers of people in the professional world and the growing difference in the laptop requirements of gamers and creatives.
The Asus ProArt StudioBook One is Asus’s latest answer to providing creators with the best hardware possible in a portable form factor. Should you trade your Macbook Pro for one? Let’s find out.
Specifications
There is only one configuration for the ProArt StudioBook One, and this configuration costs $10,000.
CPU: The 9th Gen Intel Core I9-9980HK @ 2.4GHz
Display: A 15.6-inch Adobe RGB matte display with 3,840 by 2160 resolution @ 120Hz
GPU: The ultimate Nvidia Quadro RTX 6000 Max-Q edition with 24GB of VRAM
Memory: 64GB of DDR4 RAM @ 2.7GHz
Storage: 1TB of M.2 NVMe SSD
Design
The design of this workstation immediately sets it apart from other workstation laptops on the market. The computing components of the Asus ProArt StudioBook One are carefully arranged behind the display, just like in the iMac. The design decision is understandable since it is powered by some very heavy heat generators like 9th Gen Intel Core I9 and the Nvidia Quadro 6000.
The laptop has several gaps underneath for airflow away from the 120Hz 4K resolution display. The design of the laptop with its rear components is probably to prevent the heat from the laptop from burning your laps or having restricted airflow if kept on an uneven surface.
One particular spot that the hot air is vented might be a bit of a problem to the user; that is the gap right above the screen. Depending on how you tilt the screen, the hot air might be aimed right at your face. While the heat does not blast at your face, it causes a noticeable ambiance of warmth around the face.
In terms of port selection, there are 3 x Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C and a power port on the lid.
A bundled hub for 1 x USB Type-C, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Ethernet, and 2 x USB Type-A.
Display
Since this laptop is dedicated to creators in fields like animation and data science, you would expect it to have a bigger screen. However, the ProArt StudioBook One comes with a 15.6-inch 120Hz 4K resolution Adobe RGB matte display. While it is the same screen as the one found in the Razer Blade Pro 17, it performs quite differently. While the Razer Blade 17’s display is reflective and a touchscreen (which tends to change the screen color and affect contrast), ProArt’s display is matte, which helps retain its color accuracy.
According to Cnet.com, the ProArt StudioBook One has the most accurate Adobe RGB profiles that they have ever seen in a laptop screen out of the box. The antiglare causes the brightness to peak at around 325 nits, and the color contrast is at 900 to 1.
The screen of this laptop is an absolute joy to look at, and several tests showed just how accurate it was. The screen, however, is not color accurate for sRGB since there is no profile for it, and there is no way to create one with the laptop’s tools.
Performance
While the 9th Gen Intel Core I9-9980HK is an absolute beast, at the $10K price point that the Asus ProArt StudioBook One comes at, a 10th Gen Intel Core I9-10980HK outperforms it in so many ways. Perhaps, the decision to use the 9th Gen processor has something to do with heat dissipation.
What really makes the ProArt Shine is the Nvidia Quadro RTX 6000, which is way faster than the RTX 2080 Super Max-Q edition found in consumer gaming laptops and the RTX 5000 as well. The performance was only topped by the 17-inch laptops like the Gigabyte Aorus 17X with full RTX 2080 Super (not a Max-Q edition).
The RTX 6000 performs very brilliantly in real-time rendering and preview in 3D applications and Premiere Pro. The best part about the ProArt is that with the 24GB GDDR6 RAM of the RTX 6000, it experiences very little performance drop when switching from full HD resolution to 4K resolution.
Final Verdict
The Asus ProArt StudioBook One is not a laptop for everyone. While the price point is enough to discriminate among prospective buyers, the design is another factor. The ProArt StudioBook One is the world’s first laptop with an RTX 6000 GPU with up to 24GB of VRAM; this means a lot of processing power is under the hood.
If you have the money to buy this kind of laptop, and you have a good use for it, and also do not mind the MacBook-like keyboard feel, then this might be for you. Otherwise, you can get better performance from 17-inch laptops with larger form-factors like the Gigabyte Aorus 17X.
