ASUS just made a 16-inch version of one of our favorite laptops of 2025 — and it’s the fastest Qualcomm laptop ever

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Last year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) saw the unveiling of a laptop that quickly became a standout – it won our “Best Laptop of CES 2025” award and was a favorite among reviewers and readers all year long.

The ASUS Zenbook A14 really raised the standard for lightweight Windows laptops using Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. I gave it a great review (4.5 out of 5 stars), and now at CES 2026, ASUS is releasing an even more powerful updated version.

The new Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 chip is impressive, but the laptop design remains largely the same. What’s really turning heads is the upcoming 16-inch model – it’s one of the first laptops to feature Qualcomm’s fastest processor yet, and I’m really looking forward to it.

The OG but better, and a new big sibling

Let’s start with the basics: the 2026 ASUS Zenbook A14 isn’t a radical redesign, which is expected. The biggest update is the new processor option: you can now configure it with the latest Snapdragon X2 series chips, including a powerful Snapdragon X2 Elite model with up to 18 cores and an incredibly fast 80 TOPS Neural Processing Unit (NPU).

This results in a significant boost in performance, particularly when gaming or running AI applications. While that’s positive, it’s not groundbreaking. I’m disappointed ASUS didn’t also upgrade the 14-inch OLED screen to a smoother 120Hz refresh rate instead of keeping it at just 60Hz, and that will likely affect my overall review score.

But the real highlight is the new ASUS Zenbook A16. It keeps the same sleek design, but features a larger, stunning 16-inch OLED screen with a sharp 2.8K resolution and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. It can also get incredibly bright – up to 1,100 nits with HDR content – and offers even more power than before.

The Zenbook A14 is even better now, but the A16 is the real star of the show this year.

The new Zenbook A16 is one of the first laptops to feature the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor. This chip boasts 18 cores, can reach speeds up to 5.0GHz, and includes Qualcomm’s most advanced graphics processing unit (GPU) yet. It also offers significantly faster memory performance compared to previous Snapdragon X2 processors.

The Zenbook A16 offers up to 48GB of incredibly fast memory, along with an SD card reader and a stunning 2.8K OLED screen. The display boasts a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and can reach up to 1,100 nits of brightness when viewing HDR content. Despite all these features, it remains one of the lightest 16-inch laptops available, weighing under 3 pounds (approximately 1.2 kilograms).

I usually prefer smaller, 14-inch laptops, but I’m really drawn to the larger 16-inch version of this Zenbook. If the new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor performs as well as expected, this laptop could be one of the best Windows machines released this year.

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2026-01-06 20:46