Zephyrus G14 Honest Review - Most Powerful CPU in Thin & Light Laptop! Good Gamer Too!
The Asus Zephyrus G14 packs a wallop of a punch with a 7 nano-meter, 8 core Ryzen 9 CPU and an RTX 2060 Max-Q GPU. It comes with a high refresh rate 120 hz display, 16 GB of 3200 mhz dual channel memory, 1 TB of SSD, wifi 6 for future proofness, and only weighs a mere 3.7 lbs—which is freaking insane. When I heard these specs, I lost my FREAK’IN MIND and just had to review this machine. As always, we’ll try to keep this review simple, honest, and fun… Here we go!
See gallery of screen caps from the full video review!
Full Video Review on GizmoSlipTech See Below
PRO: Incredible GPU and CPU Performance Per LB
Here’s a couple benchmarks that breaks down CPU and GPU performance on a per dollar basis. You can see the Zephryus performs quite well when it comes to overall performance for the GPU for the money, but where it really shines is in its performance per pound, crushing the competition for CPU and GPU performance.
See gallery of benchmarks below. For my full analysis of the benchmarks check out the full video review of the Zephyrus G14 on GizmoSlipTech.
PRO: Great CPU Performance Per $$
This laptop crushes much more expensive laptops when it comes to CPU performance per dollar. Very few laptops out there right now can compete with it, even larger ones. The Ryzen 9 4900hs is just that good with its 7 nano-meter, 8 core, 16 thread setup.
CON: Not the best GPU Performance per $$
While the G14 is good value, it is possible to buy better GPU performance for the money with 1660 TI laptops like Helios 300 which run about cheaper, but are much thicker/larger so there’s trade offs. Would you rather have a machine that costs slightly more and has slightly less performance? Or would you rather have a machine that is thin and light and still play games pretty damn well?
PRO: Some Upgradability
It is possible to upgrade both the RAM and SSD on this machine if you open it up. Though only one stick of RAM is upgradable because 8 GM of ram are soldered to the motherboard. Max Ram is 24 GB for Dual channel. It is possible to go to 32 GB of ram, but I wouldn’t recommend it because you lose performance with single channel memory.
PRO: Rigid Chassis, Great Design
Overall, the plastic body of the G14 is solid, with minimal flex. It’s not as rigid as a unibody Razer Blade 15,+ but it’s still impressive. Some version of the laptop can come with an LED matrix on the lid. My version did not. Pretty cool idea though if you ask me.
CON: No Webcam
So all you wanna be cam girls out there will have to look elsewhere… But seriously, Zoom/Skype calls are becoming more popular because of covid, and the lack of a webcam is a pretty big oversight. But I suppose you can always buy an external one if you really want one.
No webcam on Zephyrus G14
CON: Buggy Fingerprint Sensor
I started using the fingerprint sensor without problems, but after a couple days it no longer recognized my fingerprint. I didn’t bother resetting up my fingerprint, but that probably would have fixed it for a time.
PRO: Great Keyboard Feel, Missing Home/End Keys.
This keyboard feels great to type on. They feel snappy. Have minimal flex. And have a good shoonkness to them. But it lacks home/end buttons, so if you use those a lot you’ll need to map new ones with hotkey software.
CON: Keyboard Backlighting Sucks
The other major drawback to the keyboard is the extremely poor backlighting. Unless you’re in a really dark environment, the backlighting actually makes the keys harder to see… WHO THE HECK THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO DO THIS? They’ve essentially put camouflage on the keys… There is dark grey color option as well, but that’s not available in all regions.
PRO: 65W USB-C Charging
Perfect for international flights with battery banks, or perhaps using a USB-C charger for portable power and leaving the main power bank at your desk.
PRO: Flexible Asus Control Software
Four Modes to the Asus software:
Silent, which massively reduces performance, fan noise, and lengthen’s battery life.
Performance, which is for average performance, fan noise, and average battery life.
Turbo, which is for slightly higher performance with increased fan noise.
Manual, which allows you to blast the fans at 100% speed, slightly overclock the GPU, but reduces operating temps on CPU/GPU significantly.
If I owned this machine and I had headphones to play games, I’d run it manual mode with 100% fans for better CPU/GPU temps, and then swap it to performance or silent mode when doing casual tasks like web browsing or Netflix.
PRO: Above Average Speakers
Excellent for watching Netflix in bed or casually listening to music. Solid bass, clear mids and highs. The only downside is the volume doesn’t get that loud, but I’m happy with the speakers.
PRO: Incredible Battery life
My experience with the battery life was superb. Oddly enough, some other reviewers didn’t get as long as I did. Perhaps their graphics switching was not working properly, but for me it worked like a charm.
Netflix - 6-7 Hours
Web browsing - 8-10 hours
Gaming - 1.5-2 hours
PRO: Above Average Brightness 120hz Display
You have two display options. A 1440P 60hz or a 1080p at 120hz. For gamers, the 1080 120hz option is the one to go with. The colors and brightness are above average. It measured 335 Nits and 91% sRGB. I did not test the QHD panel, though from other reviews I’ve read the nits brightness is closer to 270 and about the same colors. I would recommend the 1080P panel unless you really want the extra resolution.
CON: Sluggish Response Rate, Ghosting
The only downside is that the display’s response time is pretty slow at 35 ms, which can cause some ghosting if you play fast response FPS games primarily. Most gamers honestly wouldn’t even notice it though, so unless you know you’re picky when it comes to ghosting, I wouldn’t worry about it.
PRO: Good Selection of Ports, but Lacks SD Card slot and TB3
On the left, we have a headphone jack, USB-C, HDMI, and power jack. On the right, we have a 2nd USB C, and two more USB Type A. Overall, this is a solid selection of ports with good flexibility, but it’s not perfect.
The lack of SD card slot is a pain. The lack of Thunderbolt 3 support means no external GPU option, which certainly limits the potential of this machine.
CON: Internal Temps Run HOT
In an air conditioned room, the CPU temps run 95C and 75C for GPU in Far Cry 5, which is one of the most demanding games out there. While these temps are high, the performance of the laptop is still good, and the temps are within rated limits of the hardware for long term use. So I don’t view them as a deal breaker, but 95C is very high imo for long term use and does cause me some concern. I would definitely consider getting an extended warranty with this machine for that reason. That said, I have laptops now that are 4 years old and still running, despite pushing close to 100C temps regularly. So its possible to last long term at those temps.
Fan noise and GPU/CPU temps for the G14.
PRO: Manual Fan Mode Reduces Temps
I also tested the laptop with manual fan mode which overclocks the GPU and allows you to manually se the fans to 100%, this reduced the temperatures down to a more reasonable 86C for CPU and 68C for GPU in Far Cry 5. For this reason, if I owned this laptop, I would blast the fans at 100% while playing very demanding games. Manual mode makes the keyboard slightly less toasty too.
See above graph for temps with different fan modes.
CON: Laptop Keyboard/Belly Surface Gets Warm
Gaming with machine in your laptop can get uncomfortably warm. I’d advise against this generally. The keyboard does also warm up, but the WASD keys never became uncomfortably hot for me, so not a huge deal. The sides and underside can get very hot though, so keep that in mind.
CON: Loud Fan Noise
As with all thin and lights I’ve tested, the fans are very loud, unless you sacrifice performance with the silent mode, expect to wear headphones to have a good audio experience. Others around you might still be annoyed by the loud fans though. If audio is a concern, the best balance of performance and noise was the “Performance” fan setting.
Conclusion: Is the Zephyrus G14 Worth Buying?
This is one spicy laptop for the money. Not only does it provide the best CPU performance per lb of any laptop I’ve tested, but it also provides a solid gaming experience for the price tag. If you’re looking for a powerful yet portable gaming laptop at a reasonable price, this one would be a FANtastic choice… See what I did there? Yeah… I’m not apologizing.
