Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Review

When the Asus Zephyrus G14 first arrived at our office in early 2020, we were taken away by its beautiful design and long battery life, not to mention how easy it was to transport. It met all of our criteria, so to speak. The top gaming laptops have greatly improved over the past few years, but Asus is betting that including AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 processors will be enough to maintain this model at the top.

While we haven’t put this little gaming laptop through its paces just yet, anyone acquainted with the previous generation will know it immediately. Our review sample arrived a little late due to shipping delays. The stunning all-white design is back, as is the effect-adjustable LED Dot Matrix on the top. Although it lacks the color gamut of RGB, it still manages to be quite a stunning item.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Specs

PROS

• The AMD Ryzen 9 is a lightning-fast processor.
• Top-notch 60 fps gameplay across all game types.
• Featuring a stunning 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage space on a solid-state drive, and a 1440p display.
• Compact 14-inch frame with sleek design
• Multiplayer games at 120 frames per second

CONS

• The review unit, an RTX 3060, is a bit costly in its current setup.
• Under load, noisy fans
• It seems there is no webcam

Design

The G14 didn’t impress me much out of the box. I didn’t find anything particularly offensive about it, but I’ve seen white housings with stipple effects on the lid before. Once I switched it on and heard my kid exclaim “WHOAAAA” from across the room, I had to admit that the layout was really cool. You see, there’s an anime matrix on top of the G14, with 1,449 mini-LEDs hidden behind 14,969 holes, all of which are illuminated and pulsating in sync with the music.

You can use the Anime Matrix to show off your own creations generated on the Anime Matrix Pixel Editor website or choose from a series of premade designs that rotate over the G14’s lid while you play minigames. When the G14 is plugged in, the matrix is always on and in motion, whether the lid is open or closed. The Armory Crate app gives you complete command over its timing and behavior.

Even though I had seen this on last year’s G14, I was captivated by the improved animations made possible by the G14’s increased number of lights and holes. Design-wise, the G14 is very similar to last year’s G13, with the exception of the Anime Matrix, which has undergone significant revisions. The 14-inch screen’s aspect ratio has changed from 16:9 to 16:10 this year. Along the top of the screen is a webcam equipped to use Windows Hello, and the touchpad is 50% larger than in previous models.

Software

When you buy a G14, you won’t find a ton of bloatware. Armoury Crate, developed by Asus, allows users to monitor and adjust system performance, illumination, and statistics in real time, among other things. Armoury Crate is my least favorite equivalent software from MSI and Acer, two of the most popular laptop manufacturers in the gaming industry. It’s difficult to understand, so I mainly use it to toggle between power profiles or check out some basic system information.

Ports

On either side of the G14, you’ll find a number of ports. The charging connector, an HDMI 2.0 port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack can all be found on the left side. The USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port also supports DisplayPort 1.4 and 100-watt power delivery. The other side of the device features a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, as well as two USB 3.2 Type-A ports and a microSD card reader (UHS II).

The assortment of ports, including HDMI for linking to an external display, should be sufficient for a minimal desktop configuration. To be honest, I would have preferred it if one of the regular USB connections had been replaced by an Ethernet connector. Putting aside the light matrix for a second, my favorite feature of the G14’s design is its compact form factor.

Performance

The inner workings of technological devices are more important than their aesthetic design. Also, Asus has placed its faith entirely in AMD for the G14 model year 2022. The top-tier G14 features an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and an AMD Radeon RX 6800S graphics card. When combined with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD, you’ll have more than enough power for any academic or professional endeavor and any triple-A video game.

Compared to the far more expensive MSI Raider GE76 and Gigabyte Aero 16, the G14 performed admirably. While the G14’s performance is less than that of high-end gaming laptops, it becomes quite outstanding when compared to desktop PCs with built-in displays like the GE76. Meanwhile, it’s as slim as the much more expensive Aero 16 and, in some situations, much slimmer.

Powered-Up Time

The G14 excels in this regard as well. The G14 lasted for 9 hours, 7 minutes on PCMark 10’s battery benchmark test. Amazingly, your experience is consistent with mine when using the G14 as your primary computer. When put through the same paces as the Gigabyte Aero 16, the MSI Raider GE76 lasted 3 hours and 37 minutes. The Zephrus G14’s battery life is truly unrivaled.