A 16-inch laptop that weighs less than many 13-inch ultrabooks sounds like a design fantasy, but ASUS has made it real with the Zenbook A16. Reviewed by Thurrott.com in June 2026, this Copilot+ PC leverages Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor to deliver Windows on Arm in a surprisingly travel-friendly package. The headline number—2.6 pounds—immediately resets expectations for what a large-screen productivity machine can achieve without sacrificing performance or battery life.

Thurrott’s review notes the Zenbook A16’s chassis uses a magnesium-aluminum alloy, a material choice that keeps weight down while maintaining rigidity. There is virtually no flex in the keyboard deck or lid, and the matte finish resists fingerprints better than the glossy surfaces found on some competitors. Port selection is generous for such a thin profile: two USB4 Type-C ports, one USB-A 3.2, full-size HDMI 2.1, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. The inclusion of HDMI and USB-A means no immediate dongle life, a rare courtesy in the ultralight category.

Opening the lid reveals a 16-inch 3K (2880x1800) OLED panel that Thurrott describes as “simply stunning.” The display runs at a 120Hz refresh rate with 0.2ms response time, covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and hits a peak brightness of 600 nits in HDR content. The glossy finish does attract reflections, but the high brightness largely mitigates this indoors. The bezels are razor-thin on all sides, giving the Zenbook A16 a 93% screen-to-body ratio. Above the display sits a 1080p Windows Hello IR camera with a physical privacy shutter, a must-have in the age of endless video calls.

The star of the show is the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, Qualcomm’s third-generation custom ARM core design after the X Elite and X Plus. Thurrott’s benchmarks place single-core performance within striking distance of Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285H, while multi-core scores lead by roughly 15% in Cinebench 2026. The integrated Adreno GPU handles light creative work and even some older DirectX titles through Microsoft’s updated emulation layer, though AAA gaming remains hit-or-miss. The real differentiator is the Hexagon NPU, which delivers 48 trillion operations per second (TOPS), well above the 40 TOPS floor Microsoft set for Copilot+ PCs. This means all on-device AI features—Recall, Cocreator, Windows Studio Effects, and third-party apps drawing on the Windows Copilot Runtime—run without stutter or cloud roundtrips.

Windows on Arm compatibility has been a sore point for years, but the Zenbook A16 arrives at a turning point. The review highlights that most mainstream productivity apps now offer native ARM64 builds: Microsoft 365, Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Adobe Photoshop, Zoom, Slack, and Visual Studio Code all ran flawlessly. Electron-based apps and legacy x64 software rely on Microsoft’s Prism emulator, which has matured to the point where Thurrott noticed no perceptible lag in day-to-day use. The only notable gaps remain specialized engineering tools and certain games that depend on kernel-level anti-cheat drivers, none of which have ARM equivalents yet.

Battery life is where the ARM architecture truly flexes its muscle. The Zenbook A16 packs a 76 watt-hour battery, and Thurrott’s rundown test—video playback at 200 nits with Wi-Fi off—yielded an eyebrow-raising 22 hours and 15 minutes. In a mixed workload involving web browsing, document editing, and occasional video calls, the laptop consistently lasted through two full workdays on a single charge. The included 65-watt USB-C charger juices the battery to 60% in about 45 minutes, but the laptop also sips power from any USB-PD source, making it a road warrior’s dream.

The keyboard and touchpad are typical ASUS excellence. Key travel is 1.7mm with a satisfying tactile bump, and the layout includes a full number pad thanks to the 16-inch chassis. The touchpad is both large and, crucially, made of glass, with smooth scrolling and precise palm rejection. Thurrott noted that the touchpad doubles as a NumberPad 2.0, an ASUS staple that illuminates an LED numeric keypad at the touch of a button, handy for spreadsheet jockeys.

Thermals and fan noise receive a positive mention. The Zenbook A16 uses a dual-fan vapor chamber cooling solution that keeps the Snapdragon X2 under 45 watts of sustained power while surface temperatures stay comfortable. Even under load, the fans produced a whoosh rather than a whine, measuring just 34 decibels—quiet enough for a library. The bottom panel is easy to remove, though the RAM is soldered, and the only user-replaceable component is the M.2 2280 SSD.

Pricing and configurations weren’t detailed in the review, but Thurrott indicates the tested unit came with 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and a 1TB SSD. If ASUS follows its typical pricing strategy, the base model with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD could start around $1,299, while the top spec could reach $1,899. Availability is expected in late Q2 or early Q3 2026 through major US retailers and the ASUS web store.

The Zenbook A16 enters a competitive arena. Apple’s MacBook Air 15-inch with the M4 chip offers superior single-core speed and a fanless design but runs macOS, not Windows. Dell’s XPS 16 with Intel Lunar Lake is heavier and hotter, but x86 compatibility remains a security blanket for some users. Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7x with the Snapdragon X2 Plus is lighter but uses a lesser display. ASUS distinguishes itself by combining the largest screen, the lightest weight, and the highest-end Snapdragon processor in a no-compromise Copilot+ package.

Thurrott’s verdict is overwhelmingly positive. The Zenbook A16 is praised for its stunning OLED display, exceptional battery life, and build quality that belies its weight. The few downsides—lack of user-upgradeable RAM, the typical OLED susceptibility to burn-in over years of static UI elements, and the lingering app compatibility edge cases—are seen as acceptable trade-offs for what is otherwise a landmark Windows on Arm machine. It is the kind of laptop that makes Windows users stop staring longingly at MacBooks and start taking Copilot+ seriously.

For anyone who has waited for a Windows laptop that feels truly modern without compromise, the Zenbook A16 is a compelling answer. It packs desktop-class performance into a chassis lighter than many paper notebooks, pairs it with a screen worthy of creative professionals, and lets you leave the charger at home for days. If the Snapdragon X2 continues to receive developer support and Microsoft keeps refining the Arm build of Windows, this laptop could well be the first of a new generation that finally buries the old x86 power-and-weight trade-offs.