The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is a premium choice renowned for its refined design, excellent display, and robust software ecosystem. It is ideal if you prioritize longer battery life and a seamless experience with other Apple products. However, it comes at a premium price. On the other hand, the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 provides strong performance at potentially a lower price point, making it a good fit for demanding tasks like 3D rendering or machine learning. It's also worth considering if you prefer a wider range of connectivity options. However, it may have lesser battery life and be less portable than the MacBook Pro due to its heavier build. Consider your needs – performance and price with ASUS, or portability and ecosystem with Apple. Choose accordingly. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)
Excellent for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Excellent for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Best in class overall build quality
Best in class battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15
The ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 has no clear advantages over the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023).
Key differences
General Use
9.1/10
7.7/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
487.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
346.0 nits
17.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
12.5 Hours
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
7.6/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.6/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is excellent for general use, while the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) excels in general use due to its powerful CPU, ample RAM, brilliant Mini LED screen with higher resolution, superior color accuracy, and longer battery life, which justify its heft and contribute to its higher portability score. In contrast, the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 offers competitive processing power and a quality OLED screen, but falls short with half the storage capacity, less impressive screen quality, and shorter battery life, which affects its suitability for extended use without charging, despite being lighter and potentially more portable.
Gaming and AI
7.4/10
6.7/10
5.8/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.8/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
8.7/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is good for gaming and AI, while the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
8.8/10
7.5/10
8.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
5.8/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.8/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is very good for engineering and design, while the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 is good.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
9.1/10
7.7/10
8.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is excellent for content creation, while the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
8.9/10
7.5/10
8.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) is very good for software development, while the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
9.3/10
7.6/10
16.2in
SIZE
15.6in
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
487.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
346.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a better screen than the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 for general use, AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
For general use, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a high-resolution display with great brightness levels, allowing for clarity and comfort in daily activities such as browsing, document editing, and multimedia consumption. Its suitability for engineering and design is enhanced by a wide range of colors it can display, offering accuracy important for detailed work. However, for 3D applications, its standard refresh rate doesn’t provide the smoothness that high-refresh-rate displays offer, which is a key factor for fast-paced visuals often necessary in gaming or 3D rendering.
Battery
17.5 Hours
12.5 Hours
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has 17.5 hours of battery life. The ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 has 12.5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.6/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) has best in class build quality, while the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$2,423
$1,109
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
$4,000
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) has a price of $2,423 and the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 costs $1,109.
"The Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023: M2 Max challenges GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. The new MacBook Pro 16 2023 with the M2 Max SoC is the most powerful laptop Apple has on sale right now. While we do not get the expected performance and efficiency improvements from completely new 3 nm chips, which we expected ahead of the launch, the 2023 model is still a solid update. The CPU of the M2 Max can be up to 20 % faster than the old model and we also see an advantage of 25-30 % for the GPU with 38 cores. However, both components also consume more power, so the efficiency did not change that much under maximum load."
"The ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 offers a strong CPU, chassis, and display. One of the most popular 15.6-inch prosumer or multimedia laptops out there is the Dell XPS 15. Thus, comparisons between it and the Asus Zenbook Pro 15 are inevitable. Asus has a couple of tricks up its sleeve that XPS users are still missing out on including 1080p OLED and an AMD Ryzen CPU which help separate the Zenbook Pro 15 from the XPS 15. It also integrates a numpad and a few more port options albeit at the cost of a larger chassis size."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) or the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
About ASUS
ASUS, a Taiwanese electronics brand, is one of the largest personal computer vendor by market share. The majority of their laptops are targeted towards personal use or gaming. Their most popular product lines include the budget-friendly VivoBook, more premium ZenBook, and their TUF and ROG gaming laptops, the latter of which has a reputation for excellent gaming performance.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
By the numbers
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Laptops evaluated
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Proprietary Laptops ratings developed
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Recommendations made
22,273
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Jason is a staff expert and software engineer that has been making laptop recommendations for 7 years and moderates one of the largest laptop subreddits.
Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.