 |
| Asus ProArt PX13 GoPro Edition |
When we reviewed the Asus ProArt PX13 back in 2024, it immediately established itself as one of the most compelling compact convertibles for creative professionals. Powered by the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and the dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, it was a tiny powerhouse that could sketch, render, and game with equal gusto. Fast forward to 2026, and Asus is back with a refresh. But this isn't just a simple CPU bump.
The new ProArt PX13 "GoPro Edition" arrives with a significant philosophical—and architectural—shift. While the chassis remains largely untouched (save for some subtle "GoPro" visual flair), what lies under the hood represents a radical departure. Asus has decided to sever ties with Nvidia's dedicated graphics for this model, opting instead to go all-in on Team Red. At the heart of the new PX13 is AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395, the flagship of the highly anticipated "Strix Halo" line.
But what does this monumental change mean for the video editors, digital painters, and on-the-go creators who made the original a success? We dug into the specs and early benchmarks to find out.
The Core Shift: Strix Halo Arrives
The headline feature here is undoubtedly the Ryzen AI Max+ 395. For the uninitiated, "Strix Halo" is AMD’s audacious bet on merging high-end CPU and GPU capabilities into a single, massive die.
- CPU: It packs a whopping 16 Zen 5 cores. That’s four more than the already-impressive HX 370 found in the 2024 model.
- GPU: It features the integrated Radeon 8060S, based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture.
- Memory: It supports a staggering 128 GB of unified RAM, shared dynamically between the CPU and GPU.
This isn't just an incremental update; it's a complete re-engineering of the laptop's brain.
Performance Breakdown: Multi-Core Monster vs. Gaming Nuance
For the average user browsing the web or streaming video, you won't notice a single difference. As the benchmarks confirm, single-core performance remains virtually identical between the Zen 5 chip in the HX 370 and the new Max+ 395. In everyday scenarios, both systems feel snappy.
The real story unfolds when you stress the system. In multi-core workloads—think video exporting, batch photo processing, or compiling code—the four extra cores on the 16-core Strix Halo chip come out to play. We are seeing a significant performance advantage of 30% to 50%, depending on the benchmark. For creatives who live by render times, this is a game-changing leap.
However, the plot thickens when we look at the graphics department. On paper, the Radeon 8060S is a marvel of iGPU engineering. But when it comes to raw gaming rasterization power, the situation is more complex. The Radeon 8060S is only marginally better than the old RTX 4070 Laptop GPU. In many gaming scenarios, the performance delta is negligible, and early projections suggest that Nvidia's current-gen GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU would be significantly faster.
So, if you're a hardcore gamer looking for the highest frame rates, the switch to an all-AMD solution might seem like a lateral move or even a step back.
The 128 GB Secret Weapon: Why VRAM Matters More
So, why would Asus make this switch? The answer lies in that 128 GB of unified memory.
The old RTX 4070 was hamstrung by its 8 GB VRAM buffer. The new RTX 5070, while faster, is also likely to be capped at a similar, restrictive amount of VRAM. For complex 3D rendering, huge multi-layer Photoshop files, or 8K video editing, 8 GB simply isn't enough. Once you hit that wall, performance plummets.
The integrated Radeon 8060S, on the other hand, has no such dedicated VRAM. It can tap into the system's massive pool of 128 GB RAM. For a video editor working with a long timeline of 8K Red Raw footage or a digital artist creating a canvas with hundreds of layers, this is transformative. You are no longer fighting against a VRAM limit. The GPU can access whatever memory it needs.
To get a deeper dive into how this memory architecture affects real-world rendering times and creative workflows, be sure to check out our full, detailed review with comprehensive benchmarks on LaptopsCheck.
Read the Full Asus ProArt PX13 GoPro Edition Review Here
Of course, it's not a perfect victory. While the Radeon 8060S excels at tasks that fit within a massive memory pool, Nvidia still holds the crown for raw compute and software optimization in many CGI and 3D rendering applications (like Blender or Octane), where dedicated CUDA cores often make the difference.
The Verdict: A New Kind of Creative Powerhouse
All in all, the new Asus ProArt PX13 GoPro Edition is once again a formidable and incredibly compact convertible for creative users. However, its target audience has slightly shifted.
It moves away from being a "jack-of-all-trades" machine for gamers and creators alike, and instead doubles down on being a specialized tool for memory-intensive creative work.
If your workflow is constantly hitting the 8 GB VRAM wall on traditional laptops, the Strix Halo architecture with 128 GB of unified memory isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a revolution. For those whose primary focus is high-end gaming or CUDA-accelerated rendering, the previous model or a competitor with a dedicated RTX 50-series GPU might still be the better bet. But for the digital artist or video editor who needs a portable studio, the 2026 ProArt PX13 has just raised the bar.