Ilias Aung

iOS developer and visual storyteller

Asus ProArt PX13

9th of July, 2025

I’m planning to take Cybersecurity at my local school, so I need a laptop that can run any flavour of Linux. As I’m in the planning stages of making a video game, I’d ideally like a laptop with a discrete GPU.

My requirements are:

I also have a wrist injury, so a comfortable keyboard is essential. Typing shouldn’t cause pain after a few minutes, and a solid keyboard makes a big difference.

At first, I was considering the Framework 13, but I couldn’t justify the price given the poor display. The Framework 12 has a nice design and I actually like the aesthetic. But again, the display and battery life were disappointing. The performance was also notably abysmal.

It’s unfortunate because I really admire what Framework is doing with vision of tech repairability. Still, how much does that actually matter? My 2015 MacBook Pro lasted until 2024 with no repairs. I took good care of it and it served me well for almost a decade.

So I started thinking about getting another MacBook. I came close to buying one, especially since I already have a Mac mini at my desk. But then I came across an open-box Asus ProArt PX13 for $1699.

Here are the specs:

A brand new one with lower specs was selling for the same price. The regular price for this model is $2899 CAD. I suspect newer models are on the way, which might explain the discount.

It felt almost too good to be true, but Best Buy listed it as Geek Squad certified, which meant easy returns if anything went wrong (spoiler: something did, but I was able to fix it).

Delivery was quick, arriving the next day, which I appreciated. It also came with the stylus (though I draw on my iPad, so it’s kind of useless to me anyway).

The only drawback is the battery life, and I emphasize this heavily: it’s bad. However, since it’s a 13.3-inch laptop packed with all that power, it’s something that I had to accept.

The battery life averages 3 to 5 hours, though I managed 7 with light use. It runs hot when in performance mode, which is expected for a laptop this size and powerful.

The speakers are okay at best. My iPad Pro sounds much better despite being thinner.

Overall, the condition was indeed excellent. It’s honestly a beautiful machine. The OLED 3K display is gorgeous. The keyboard was a bit mushy, but it wasn’t too painful to type on which I was worried about due to my injury.

I installed Fedora (my go-to Linux distro) and kept Windows for some light gaming.

Speaking of gaming, the NVIDIA RTX 4060 wasn’t being detected at first. I didn’t notice until I launched Baldur’s Gate 3—though the AMD AI 9 HX 370 actually handled it surprisingly well. I don’t blame the Geek Squad for not discovering this issue at all.

Thankfully, after a few hours of troubleshooting, I got the graphics card working again. I was this close to returning it for a MacBook and skipping the usual hassles from Windows machines.

That said, I’m mainly using this for productivity and school. The AMD AI 9 HX 370 (yes, I’m repeating it again to emphasize how absurd the name is) is more than enough for what I need. The 4060 is a nice bonus for when I do require that extra power.

All things considered, I do like this laptop. The compact size, powerful specs, beautiful display, and Linux compatibility make it a perfect fit for my needs. Despite a few rough edges like battery life and speakers, it does everything I want and does it well.

Don’t get me wrong, I often think about how I perhaps should have gotten a MacBook Pro for the battery life alone, but for now I am enjoying the Asus ProArt PX13.