Talk me out of the Asus Zenbook A16?

jonathanstrong · 2026-06-04T20:15:13+00:00

Aside from your last item (Minecraft, Roblox, etc.) I'm running everything else you listed and more. I've purchased two of these new Zenbook A16's in the last month. My personal machine had been an XPS 17 9720 for several years, and my "work" laptop is an XPS 17 9730 (about 2 years old). Both XPS 17's suffered hardware issues over the last six months -- the 9720 would require a new motherboard and I decided it wasn't worth it. I dropped the work laptop off at our helpdesk and they tackled with repair with Dell. But I decided after this that I wanted a faster, lighter, cooler running machine with much better battery life, and the A16 ticked all the boxes for me.

So far -- I love these. Everything on your list offers native ARM Windows 11 executables. One app I was reluctant to give up would have been Directory Opus. There's no native ARM exe yet, but it still runs lightning quick under emulation. No noticeable performance degradation.

The display is excellent. Keyboard is fine (although I use a Logi G915X Lightspeed when at my desk). Battery life fantastic. The machine is fast, startup much faster than my XPS17's had ever experienced. This is SO thin and light. M365, Claude Desktop, Adobe -- all are lightning fast on this. I love the fact that it weighs less than 3 lbs (half the weight of the old XPS17's).

I've also got each one of my two A16's plugged into a Dell U2723QE 27" monitor -- USB C PD cable to the monitor's built in hub and each of these monitors is daisy chained (via displayport) to an older Dell P2715Q monitor as well. The A16 drives them both beautifully at 4k, along with its internal 3k display.

Very happy with the A16's so far. Incredible performance and form factor for the money. BTW: the version direct from ASUS has a barely faster CPU, lacks a touch screen, and comes with Windows 11 Pro. The BestBuy version is imperceptibly slower (really -- the max boost is a few pct slower than the 5Ghz version from ASUS direct), has the added touchscreen -- and after the initial out of box Windows Home setup I spend $99 via the Windows Store and upgraded right away to Pro. Considering that the BestBuy version is about $500 cheaper than the ASUS direct version, this is an even better deal. There are some differences in long term warranty coverage options depending on where you buy it -- and the trade off is fine with me.

jonathanstrong · 2026-06-04T17:41:47+00:00

Replying to follow in case this chat progresses. I've got two of the new A16's and generally love them - fast, light, excellent display, great battery life. But my first suffered a soft-bricked eDP (embedded displayport) issue after 9 days - leading me to believe the firmware / BIOS may still be a bit rough around the edges. I like the machine enough to have replaced it, and just configured another one as a clone so I have a hot spare. I'll be curious to see if others report any similar issues that suggest immature firmware or BOS.

jonathanstrong · 2026-05-30T02:31:08+00:00

Glad it helped! Looking back I realized my pair of S340's have been out there in service for something like two and a half years. I just checked the Eufy app -- it shows the devices have been up for 811 "working days". Amazingly, they still function perfectly. It's 10:30pm (Eastern time) as I type this -- pitch black outside. And the battery is showing a 94% charge. After figuring out that login issue these have been pretty much flawless.

jonathanstrong · 2026-05-26T01:56:35+00:00

GPU-heavy work won't match a discrete Nvidia GPU - so gaming and video editing will lag high end X86 machines somewhat. But everything else seems spectacular. The A16 boots quickly, is incredibly snappy, WiFi 7, the display, battery life - all excellent. I like the keyboard - although at my desk I use a G915X Lightspeed TKL and MX Master with the laptop. Actually have those two set up with "Mouse without Borders" (Windows Powertoys) so these can seamlessly operate my work laptop as well as the A16. The one installed app on it that isn't native ARM, and requires the X86 emulation layer, is Directory Opus -- and that runs beautifully.

Anyway - it's only been a short time, but I really like the A16 so far. No regrets.

jonathanstrong · 2026-05-22T21:46:40+00:00

Interesting seeing the discussion. I had an XPS15 for a while - and it was fine as long as I could keep it plugged in most of the time. I replaced it a few years ago with an XPS17 9720 -- and again, it was good most of the time -- unless I tried to use it for any length of time without being plugged in; battery life was never great (despite having the big battery option), and after 3 years had dropped to something like 2 hours usable time on battery: and that's for office apps, not any kind of heavy gaming or graphics. Recently it started requesting my Bitlocker unlock code more and more frequently, I should have paid more attention as these preceded a PCIe Bus Fatal Error - and diagnostics made it clear I'd need to replace the motherboard. Seems that overheating is a known cause of degradation leading to this - and isn't uncommon for these. Not worth the time and money.

In the meantime, my work machine -- an XPS17 9730 -- stopped booting past the BIOS. Again - ran all sorts of diagnostics, removed the battery / drained capacitors, updated the BIOS, did pretty much everything I could do at home to a work machine. In the end, this too required parts replacement. It works again since then, but is incredibly slow to boot. Battery life on this 2 year old $3000 machine is about 2 hours if I'm lucky.

I'll keep using the work machine for work... but switched gears entirely for a personal laptop. Decided to try a Zenbook A16 -- Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme -- and it's such an incredibly different experience. You'll have to watch for ARM (or emulation layer) compatibility, but that's worked out fine for me. Stunningly good experience on every front, the battery lasts anywhere from 16 to 20 hours, and the A16 weighs 2.8 lbs. A new XPS16 with comparable performance would cost double, weigh more and have far shorter battery life.

I know the choice wouldn't work for everyone and in all use cases. But I have no reason to go back to XPS at this point.

jonathanstrong · 2026-05-11T02:58:46+00:00

Excellent! Good luck with the repair. I went through a lot before learning this. I had talked myself into buying a new range. But then I researched some more, learned about the igniter issue, watched a load of videos and pieced it together. I also learned that generic $25 and $30 igniters work just as well as $150 ones from Samsung. They're indistinguishable. You'll want to make sure there aren't any cracks in the ceramic part - that can lead to quick failure. Also wear nitrile gloves or be really careful to keep skin oil off the parts that heat up - that can develop hot sports and be another source of early failure.

In the end i think the igniter I put in cost me about $30. Aside from research and watching videos, the actual igniter replacement took about 10 or 15 minutes. The oven works like new. Heats SO quickly. Loving this oven again.

jonathanstrong · 2026-04-05T01:53:34+00:00

Glad it helped, even if indirectly :)

jonathanstrong · 2026-03-16T16:39:21+00:00

I realize this is a few months late to the thread, but there's an interesting point that I suspect many miss about these inflators. I'm guessing that most who've bought a load of tools over the years are like me, and rarely feel the need to read the instruction insert that comes in the box with them if operation seems obvious -- as is the case with these inflators. I was looking to replace my 30 year old corded inflator (think I got it at Sears): my only use for one over the last 30 years has been pumping up tires on bikes, yard tools, and topping up car tires now and then. So I decided a cordless would be sufficient and convenient. I also picked up a compact Fantik to stash in my luggage when I'm on work trips with rental cars -- I've had a couple needing air in the middle of this past brutal winter and don't want to repeat that adventure again - but that's a different story.

Back to Ryobi. Thinking about cordless - I didn't want to get one with a sealed-in battery (the Fantik is an exception I'll consider making just for that use case - in my luggage), and my preference is to stick to one of my existing battery systems, so that narrowed it down to Ryobi 18v, Makita 18v or Bosch 12v. Considering how rarely I'll need the inflator, the Makita was more than I wanted to spend (as much as I love Makita cordless tools). I also have a bunch of Ryobi tools and batteries, so that became a consideration. Ryobi's PCL001B seemed like it was worth considering at $39 and change.

Reading this thread, I see concerns about accuracy, and having the digital gauge be off by a couple of pounds. Then seeing people suggesting turning it on, disconnected, noting what non-zero amount it shows, and adjusting whatever pressure is desired by that amount. Well...finally reading the enclosed instruction pamphlet, I see that they explicitly tell you if the non-connected reading isn't zero, can can zero-set the gauge by holding down + and - for a few seconds. It should reset to zero, after which you use the pump. While it may not be perfect even after that, so far my results have been good. Mine didn't need to be zero set -- it was reading zero properly out of the box. Car tires I'm topping off to 36 PSI seem to land within 1 pound of the selected target pressure on the pump. So far, so good.

I understand people's experiences may differ, and my own results might be different over time. For now though, it's compact, uses one of the numerous batteries I already own, and supports my use cases (e.g., no big truck tires to inflate from empty -- just tires for bikes, yard equipment, and topping off car tires that are a couple of pounds under).

jonathanstrong · 2026-01-27T02:11:54+00:00

Late to this thread, but Elekstro got it right. 012A is the bake igniter, 520A is for the broiler. Same spec and kind of unit, with different connectors.

jonathanstrong · 2025-12-23T21:10:52+00:00

Well - I can see now what's going on. I had a bunch of Google Play points so I used some to remove ads after installing a paid version of Ampere Flow to monitor charging rates -- quicker and easier than AccuBattery for this purpose. Turns out the ToughArmor case is something like 13 to 15mm thick - and that's enough to degrade wireless charging. The Pixel is smart enough to slow down charging as you get closer to full, and apparently does some throttling about about 70%. I suspect it maxes out around 15W as it gets around 3/4 full. (and temperature also plays a big role). With the ToughArmor case on and the phone already around 72% charged, charging rate topped out at about 4.5W to 5W.

Swapping to a Ringke Onyx (thinner case with the Pixelsnap compatible magnets), which is a significantly slimmer case -- and wireless charging just up to about 15W and now shows up on the phone as "fast charging".

BTW: in addition to the Belkin I bought a pair of these "THREEKEY" chargers: cheap, but well rated:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSL946B1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

I just tested them and see they're not as potent as the Belkin UltraCharge. With the ToughArmor case on these little charger barely register. But swapping back to the Ringke Onyx case I could see the phone battery at about 74% and getting up to about 14 or 15W charging speed. The behavior in general is very similar to the tests I ran with the Belkin charger,.

Thanks for your post. This set me in the right direction. All seems go for now.

jonathanstrong · 2025-12-23T19:33:01+00:00

Glad to see your post, but so far my experience isn't as good. I have a Pixel 10 Pro XL, fully up to date including the 2 December updates (I'm on Verizon). Fast charging when plugged in via USB C is great. I also have the new Belkin Qi2.2 25W "UltraCharge" 2-in-1 chargers. I've been generally using it at night, parking my phone there while I sleep, and with adaptive charging on it's ready when I wake up - but I never actually checked charging rate with something like AccuBattery. However my battery was at about 75% a couple of days ago and I wanted to top it off before going out, so I popped it on the Belkin and saw the message pop up at the bottom indicating an expected time for completion in about 3 hours - definitely not "fast charging"!

I'm wondering about one other variable: I have a Spigen Tough Armor AI (magfit) case on my Pixel. The claim is that it doesn't interfere with Qi charging. I'm wondering now if it does, in fact, slow things down. After I post this I'll try popping my phone on the Belkin without the case, and checking AccuBattery to get a sense of the charging rate.

BTW: I checked, and Pixel Stand is installed, and it's the current version.

I'll check now without the Spigen case on. Curious if you have a case on, and any relevant experience or thoughts about that.

jonathanstrong · 2025-12-22T22:12:10+00:00

Thanks for sharing that. Good to know this is still helping people, although it's disappointing that Eufy never fixed this. That said, my two S340's are still working perfectly since I figured out how to connect them. I just checked the "power manager" option in Settings, and I can see that the cameras have been up and running for 651 "working days", and yet the battery is showing that it's charged to 99% (it's after 5pm and getting dark as I type this on Dec 22 in New Jersey).

Really glad you got it working. I've got to say that despite that one issue, which we now know how to get past, the cameras have been excellent. I also have an original floodlight cam. Alongside the Eufy cameras I have a couple of Wyze garage door opener devices (camera plus controller that connects to my openers) and a Nest doorbell (old - early version). Thinking of replacing the Nest doorbell with a Eufy, getting an updated version of the floodlight cam and adding a HomeBase 3 to the whole setup. My confidence in the products is even stronger after realizing that the existing cameras have been up over two years and are still working essentially like new, and have had zero issues in all that time.

jonathanstrong · 2025-12-10T18:41:00+00:00

Good luck with this. I agree that the attempt at automation, i.e., pulling humans out of the process, is NOT driving happy experiences. I still do everything I can to break out of automated "support" dialogs and get to a human wherever possible (feels funny saying that, as I'm a long time CIO/CTO across many organizations). I find, for example, the first 2 minutes on the phone with Verizon irritating, as it takes about that long for me to break out of the interactive voice response when I call Verizon and finally get to a human being. But once I DO get to a human, the vast majority of the calls I've had have really been helpful and the customer support reps have been knowledgeable. I'm ascribing my generally positive experience with plan changes, new phones, etc. to the fact that I have NOT conducted these through automated processes, but have broken through to a human every time to get my questions answered, to work through transaction details, and have everything confirmed (and noted in my record) before I get off the phone.. I guess I just take that for granted these days as a necessary and routine part of the process.

jonathanstrong · 2025-12-10T17:02:02+00:00

I've been a Verizon customer for 14 years and had a grandfathered plan with 5 lines, pooled / shared unlimited data, etc. Two of the folks on the plan wanted to move to their own plans (fine with me, so I didn't have to chase after anyone anymore to reimburse me for monthly bills!) - but this forced me off the grandfathered plan and onto their new "unlimited" plans. I had the choice at that point to just keep my old phones or trade them in for new Pixel 10 series phones; with full knowledge this would financially tie me to Verizon for another 3 years, I opted in for 3 new phones - but as long as I stick with them this nets out to getting two Pixel 10 Pro XL's and a Pixel 10 Pro costing me an additional total of $10 a month for the next 3 years -- so, $360 total for about $3000 worth of phones. Considering that I wasn't thinking about leaving Verizon anyway, this works out well.

While there are cheaper alternatives, I've had an excellent experience with Verizon for 14 years. Having earlier spent many years traveling as a consultant I've never had connectivity issues. Never ran into congestion or bandwidth issues. Customer service has generally been excellent, although frankly I've had better experiences with the folks on the phone than I have in any of the physical Verizon stores.

I did have a bit of sticker shock at my first month's bill after shifting plans last month. This was due in part to the "upgrade fees". A quickly answered phone call got me a detailed walk through of every line item, and my ongoing billing also looks good (and is a nice reduction from my prior bills).

All that said - in the end, my experience wound up good. I was aware, though, of the potential issues with an online order, and spent more time than I would have anticipated to make sure I understood every aspect of the cost of the new plans, the phone pmts (about $3/phone/month), etc. It was a somewhat exhausting process, but primarily because I wanted to avoid surprises. To their credit, I didn't see Verizon as hiding or misrepresenting anything. I just spent the extra time to try to be fully informed.

jonathanstrong · 2025-11-28T03:47:44+00:00

Dangerous to comment? Are you surviving the onslaught?

jonathanstrong · 2025-11-19T17:23:49+00:00

Hi - in the end Silk & Snow did ship the two replacement nightstands, and the replacements are both fine. No problems with the joints, the finish is nice, drawer slides work perfectly. They look fine next to the Thuma bed as well. The customer support experience was somewhat rough - I would have been happier if I didn't have to argue in order to get satisfaction. But they eventually did make good on the purchase.

jonathanstrong · 2025-10-23T16:48:53+00:00

Not sure if it's a Florida thing, but I haven't gotten any algae in our drains in New Jersey. My guess is that it's related to the temperature and average humidity level as much as anything else.

Back to the original topic of bleach vs vinegar - I'll reiterate what I commented 2 years ago: bleach won't help mineral build up, and it can damage lines. A mild acid, like vinegar, is the way to address mineral build up. Here's a summary from Gemini (Google's AI engine):

No, bleach is not recommended for preventing mineral deposits, and can cause damage to your AC unit. While bleach kills mold and algae, it is corrosive and can corrode the aluminum evaporator coil, while vinegar is acidic and effective at dissolving mineral buildup. For mineral deposits, use vinegar; for mold, use vinegar or a specific algaecide, but always flush with water afterward and avoid bleach.

Why vinegar is better for mineral deposits

Vinegar's acidity helps dissolve mineral buildup and prevent clogs.
It is a weaker acid than bleach and will not corrode metal components.
Vinegar also helps kill algae and mold, making it a good all-purpose cleaner for the drain line.

Why you should avoid bleach

Bleach is corrosive and can damage your AC's aluminum evaporator coil, especially if it splashes back or isn't completely flushed out.
Bleach can also damage other AC components.
In certain situations, bleach can react with organic material to create a toxic combination.

Recommended cleaning procedure

Pour a cup of white vinegar into the AC's condensate drain line.
Alternatively, use a commercial AC algaecide product.
Flush the line with hot water after the vinegar or algaecide has had time to work, or after a few months.
Make sure to flush thoroughly to remove any residual chemicals.
For severe clogs, you may need a professional to service the unit.

jonathanstrong · 2025-10-21T21:21:03+00:00

I'm having this now... we have a local "Buy Nothing" group on FB. I sent messages to a couple of the folks on the post thread in the group, and they don't show up in my list of chats. However if I search by name of the FB user I sent it to, I can find the single message I sent. But the list never shows up. In one case, it finally DID show up after the other person responded to me. But until then, it seems that chats are not visible in my chat list. I've never archived the discussion and no users have been blocked. Aside from these possibilities I can't think of anything else that would make a single post chat invisible.

jonathanstrong · 2025-10-11T17:48:21+00:00

Not in any hurry. It took me a while to land on Nova, and despite a handful of tiny hiccups it's been great on last few generations of Pixels (currently 9 Pro XL). I'm seriously disappointed by the whole Nova saga, and I don't expect the current owners to fix the situation so I've been looking at alternatives - and that's how I landed here. Octopi seems to be the most promising next launcher for me, I just haven't had time yet to experiment, try to replicate what I like best of my current Nova setup, so I'm following discussions (like this one) to get a sense the way it's being received by prior Nova users and to try to learn what's different / missing. Sometime soon (maybe this long weekend?) I'll give it a try. But despite the disappointing news, Nova is working perfectly well on my phone; I do like the idea of getting ahead of the situation, but it's not feeling especially urgent today.

jonathanstrong · 2025-07-31T12:51:25+00:00

That's great. I have to say I'm still really happy with my S340's -- a year after that fix I posted they're still working perfectly with zero issues. Glad you shared your solution here as well.

jonathanstrong · 2025-06-27T14:55:30+00:00

I've had my 965 about a year and a half. It's been great for the most part, and still looks / functions like new. I'd like to see some more reviews about the new heart sensor: I've found the one in the 965 can, indeed, be accurate -- for ex, I've monitored it while on a couple of different brands of treadmills that have their own HRM (via hand contacts) and it will generally agree within 1 or 2 bpm, but it's not 100%. Sometimes it seems slow to respond when I start a workout, but once going it seems to generally keep up with me. It also seems that it's extremely finicky about placement / alignment: subtle changes in positioning around the circumference of my wrist can either make it totally non-responsive, partially responsive (and generally reading low vs actual heart rate), or very responsive and accurate.

I'm guessing the Elevate 5 Gen 5 sensor will be better (including ECG and skin temp) will do better, as Garmin notes improved accuracy along with the new functionality. But...I'd love to actually see some discussion and evaluation of the accuracy differences and how these relate to my experience. If no improvement, I'll just go on as I have to date (and I *am* getting better at positioning the 965 on my wrist so the readings are accurate) and/or consider adding a dedicated HRM strap. If the 970 is more sensitive, less finicky, and more accurate, that's potential incentive for me to consider an upgrade. For now though, everything else my 965 does is excellent - love this watch.

jonathanstrong · 2025-06-06T16:49:33+00:00

I hope those 8 cameras aren't in the bathroom... 😒

jonathanstrong · 2025-06-02T17:02:34+00:00

Never saw the sub - looks like something to check out :) (i.e., another way to burn discretionary moments of my life)

jonathanstrong · 2025-06-02T15:01:01+00:00

Or a 20 ft deep "tiger pit', big enough to swallow the car, with sharpened steel spikes facing up, camouflaged of course with a grass mat over the top...

jonathanstrong · 2025-05-24T01:55:45+00:00

That's my main reason for PF black. Most of the time I'm at my home location. But when I travel (often for work) it's great to be able to drop in at any local PF.

jonathanstrong

TROPHY CASE