Asus ROG Zephyrus G15: Review
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G15, with its nearly ideal balance of gaming performance, battery life, and design, is, without a doubt, one of the greatest gaming laptops now available. The pricing is low (for a high-end gaming laptop), the performance is comparable to that of a desktop PC, and everything is housed in a design that isn’t the same old Decepticon-inspired style that has afflicted gaming hardware for the past decade or two.
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 has one of the most excellent mobile processors, the Ryzen 9 5900HS, and Nvidia’s cutting-edge mobile RTX 3060, RTX 3070, and RTX 3080 GPUs, Zephyrus G15 is capable of some of the highest framerates you can get on the go.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 Specifications
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS |
| Graphics | Nvidia RTX 3070 |
| Display | 15.6-inch, IPS, 2560 x 1440, 165Hz |
| Battery | 90 WHr |
| Dimensions (WxDxH) | 3.98 x 9.57 x 0.78 inches |
| OS | Windows 10 Home |
| Price | $1,249 |
| Weight | 4.19 pounds (1.9 kg) |
Pros of Asus ROG Zephyrus G15
- Ultra-lightweight metal frame
- Top-Notch Keyboard with Touchpad
- Solid communicators
- Very silent motors
Cons of Asus ROG Zephyrus G15
- In 1440p, the RTX 3060 has a hard time keeping up.
- There isn’t a webcam.
Price
Prices for the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 start at $1,499 (£1,599, AU$ 2,599). The display is the same 15.6-inch QHD (1440p), 165Hz, 3ms, across all versions. Whereas all US models are equipped with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS processors, the UK mid-range and Australian entry-level models use Ryzen 7 5800H chips instead. There are also variations in Memory and SSD size, with the minor configurations sporting 16GB RAM and 512GB SSDs and the most bringing that up to 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD.
Design
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 does not feature eye-catching design cues or extraneous RGB light strips. A member of the Asus’ Republic of Gamers (ROG) series, this 15.6-inch laptop prioritize portability and high-quality materials above raw power. Only the bottom panel is plastic; the remainder of the eclipse-gray chassis is metal. This metal is integral to the laptop’s construction and is quite thick. The chassis did not budge despite my best efforts to bend it. A sturdy and well-made laptop, this is it.
The MSI Sword 15 is made entirely of plastic and offered at a similar price. The Zephyrus, however, isn’t exactly a work of art in terms of its design. Its lack of sharp edges and general lack of vibrancy means it won’t do anything to raise your heart rate. Sunlight or bright lighting is the only time this laptop’s lid stands out. A rainbow-like appearance is produced when light is refracted by a prismatic coating and passes through 8,279 small holes.
Ports
This one has decent connectivity options compared to other gaming laptops, given its small size. Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 is equipped with the standard set of ports, including an RJ45 socket, audio jack, HDMI 2.0 output, Kensington lock slot, and card reader, which unfortunately only supports microSD cards. Unfortunately, Thunderbolt isn’t available on the G15 because AMD is used.
Two Type-A ports and two Type-C connectors (3.2 Gen 2 each) with 100 watts of Power Delivery and DisplayPort support are what Asus has gone with for the USB ports. Whereas right-handed users shouldn’t complain about the ports’ placement, left-handers will likely be displeased by the design because the left side’s ports are awkwardly prominent. The freedom of movement of an external mouse may be severely hampered by its tethered connections.
Rechargeable Battery Capacity
The battery is rated at 90 WHr, so we knew it would keep going for a long, but these results are actually on par with Ultrabooks, which is surprising to see in a gaming laptop. The Asus TUF Dash F15 is the only device to pass both our HD movie test and PCMark10’s battery life benchmark by a wide margin (which is shocking). Meanwhile, the Gigabyte Aorus 17G has a PCMark10 Battery life of slightly over 6 hours and an HD movie runtime of 6 hours and 23 minutes. On the Aero 17, we should expect to see results of 6 hours and 7 minutes on the PCMark10 Battery test and only 3 hours and 39 minutes on our HD movie test.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 is a pleasure to type on. Essential travel is generous, and the keystroke is light and responsive. The sound of typing is soft and unobtrusive. The 10FastFingers typing test revealed that I could type at a rate of 100 words per minute with 98% accuracy on any keyboard. The Zephyrus G15 is an excellent keyboard. The keystroke is light but responsive, and there is plenty of travel for obvious feedback. The sound of the pressed keys is low and should not be noticed. In a 10FastFingers typing test, I managed an average of 100 words per minute with 98% accuracy; that’s the best I can perform on any keyboard.
FAQs
The battery capacity of the laptop?
All of the ROG models from 2023, including this Zephyrus G16, use a 90Wh battery. Charging through USB-C is supported up to 100W, and the battery can go from 10% to full in around 2 hours with fast charging for the first half an hour.
Keyboard configuration of the laptop?
Both the keyboard and mousepad of Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 are excellent. Keyboards on the G14 and G15 are very similar; the G14’s was one of my favourites of 2020. The 1.7mm of travel on the click is very pleasant, and the dedicated volume keys (a Zephyrus mainstay) are a welcome addition.
