The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) is a straightforward win for the Taiwanese tech producer, I assumed — it ought to have been a easy copy and paste with some new elements, however one thing received misplaced in translation.
For $1,599, you get a brilliant show and a clicky keyboard… and properly, that’s about it. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU underperformed, whereas the battery life is shorter than anticipated. And don’t even get me began on the touchpad.
It’s unhappy to see the titan fall, however fall it did, distant from the greatest gaming laptops.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) value and configurations
Clocking in at $1,599, the Zephyrus G14 I reviewed is outfitted with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 14-inch, 1600p, 165Hz show.
On sale for $1,279 on the time of writing, you may decide up the mannequin with a Ryzen 7 7735HS CPU and RTX 4050 GPU. However when you’re in it to win it, then the $3,299 may swimsuit you higher — it presents our CPU plus an RTX 4090 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
In the event you’re on the lookout for one thing extra inexpensive, take a look at our greatest low-cost gaming laptops web page.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) design
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) specs
Value: $1,599
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB SSD
Show: 14-inch, 1600p, 165Hz
Battery: 4:56
Dimension: 12.3 x 9.0 x 0.73 inches
Weight: 3.6 kilos
For higher or worse, the Zephyrus G14’s design hasn’t modified a lot within the final three years — I beloved the best way it regarded when it first debuted, however attractiveness can solely final for therefore lengthy. It’s received the milky-white paint over its magnesium-alloy lid, and half the lid is roofed in mesmerizing microdots for the mini LED lights. There’s a reflective ROG emblem stamped within the nook like a label on an enormous piece of equipment.
The inside sports activities a comfortable sparkly white paint over the deck and milky white on the keyboard. Its top-firing audio system are proper above the keyboard in addition to a set of devoted media keys. The bezels on the show are slim, however fortunately there’s sufficient room for a webcam on the high.
At 3.6 kilos and 12.3 x 9 x 0.73 inches, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is the lightest amongst our 14-inch rivals. The Lenovo Legion Professional 5i (5.5 kilos, 14.3 x 10.3 x 0.9~1.1 inches), MSI Stealth 14 Studio (3.8 kilos, 12.4 x 9.7 x 0.8 inches), and Razer Blade 14 (4.1 kilos, 12.2 x 9 x 0.7 inches) simply couldn’t sustain.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) ports
There are a good variety of ports throughout the board of the Zephyrus G14.
Navigating alongside the left facet of the laptop computer, you’ll discover two USB Sort-A ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C port, and a microSD card slot, whereas the fitting holds room for the ability jack, an HDMI 2.1 port, one USB 4 Sort-C port, and a headphone jack.
In the event you want extra ports, take a look at our greatest USB Sort-C hubs and greatest laptop computer docking stations pages.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) show
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14’s 14-inch, 2560 x 1600 panel makes up for its common shade protection with a brilliant display and a easy 165Hz refresh fee.
I watched the primary episode of The Handmaid’s Story (oof), and Offred’s off-red (haha) clothes popped on display. When Offred leaves the home at evening, I might make out the small print within the structure round her. The panel was sharp sufficient to seize the pores on the actress’ face.
I ran round in Murderer’s Creed Valhalla, and the countryside had lovely inexperienced and yellow notes, though I sensed that it might have been a bit extra vivid. However because of the brightness, I didn’t have any bother navigating via the dimly-lit homes. And with that easy 165Hz refresh fee, I might see what my enemy was doing earlier than they even knew they have been doing it.
On our colorimeter, the Zephyrus G14 lined 78.3% of the DCI-P3 shade gamut, which is simply shy of the typical mainstream gaming laptop computer (78.6%). The Legion Professional (82.8%), Stealth 14 (114.4%), and Blade 14 (114.3%) all exceeded expectations.
At 392 nits, the Zephyrus G14 flew over the class common (342 nits) in addition to the Legion Professional (349 nits) and Stealth 14 (370 nits). Nonetheless, the Blade 14 managed 465 nits.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) keyboard and touchpad
I really like how the Zephyrus G14’s keyboard feels — the font is textured and the keys click on and clack to my coronary heart’s content material.
I scored 83 phrases per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing check, which speeds previous my present 78-fps common. The spacing and journey of the keys helped me navigate across the deck with ease.
Flip facet, I hate the keyboard lighting on the G14. The font doesn’t do the RGB lighting any justice — it seems to be like a mesh of lifeless Christmas lights from a B-horror film. Did I point out that it has solely one-zone lighting?
The 5.1 x 3.1-inch touchpad is comfortable and presents a deep, satisfying click on, but it surely’s received one downside. The deck isn’t degree with the touchpad, so except you need a dent in your thumb or index finger, you may need to reposition how you employ your touchpad. Gestures like two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing work effective.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) audio
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14’s high and bottom-firing audio system are loud, however they arrive off noisy and bombastic.
I listened to Stand Atlantic’s “deathwish,” and the opening vocals have been crisp whereas the guitar was pleasantly brilliant. Nonetheless, when the percussion and the remainder of the devices kicked in, it received noisy. It was troublesome to discern the devices from each other.
In Murderer’s Creed Valhalla, I fought one of many thicc bois and my ax slashes have been meaty, however sharp. The dialogue sounded clear, if perhaps a bit too brassy. When somebody pounded on the desk, it tried to copy a bassy sound, but it surely turned distorted.
Asus presents up the Dolby Entry app to unravel the speaker’s woes, and it helps to an extent. The audio system sound uncanny, sadly. The app does supply EQ settings to tinker with, so if you wish to spend time, you may make it work. Nonetheless, you’re higher off taking a look at our greatest gaming headsets web page.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) gaming, graphics and VR
Full of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, the Zephyrus G14 dominated after I launched axes within the throats of my enemies in Murderer’s Creed Valhalla, all at a crispy 97 frames per second on 1080p, Extremely settings.
On the Far Cry 6 (Extremely, 1080p) benchmark, the Zephyrus G14 scored 74 fps, dropping beneath the typical mainstream gaming laptop computer (80 fps). The Legion Professional (94) and Stealth 14 (85) characteristic the identical RTX 4060 GPU because the G14, however they did significantly better. To no shock, the Blade 14 (85 fps) additionally did higher with its RTX 4070 GPU. At 1600p, the G14 hit 60 fps.
The Zephyrus G14 achieved 82 fps on the Borderlands 3 (Badass, 1080p) benchmark, simply sliding by the 81-fps class common. It narrowly beat the Stealth 14 (80 fps), however couldn’t get forward of the Legion Professional (90 fps) and Blade 14 (98 fps). At 1600p, the G14 averaged 53 fps.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Zephyrus | Legion | Stealth | Blade |
| Far Cry 6 (Extremely, 1080p) | 74 | 94 | 85 | 85 |
| Borderlands 3 (Badass, 1080p) | 82 | 90 | 80 | 98 |
| RDR 2 (Medium, 1080p) | 65 | 70 | 58 | 73 |
| GTA V (Very Excessive, 1080p) | 90 | 97 | 83 | 100 |
On the Crimson Lifeless Redemption 2 (Medium, 1080p) benchmark, the Zephyrus G14 squeezed in 65 fps, waving on the best way previous the typical mainstream gaming laptop computer (63 fps). It even surpassed the Stealth 14 (58 fps), however the Legion Professional (70 fps) and Blade 14 (73 fps) did not budge. In the meantime, the G14 scored 39 fps at 1600p.
The Zephyrus G14 hit 90 fps on the Grand Theft Auto V (Very Excessive, 1080p) benchmark, matching the class common. It as soon as once more defeated the Stealth 14 (83 fps), however misplaced its foothold in opposition to the Legion Professional (97 fps) and Blade 14 (100 fps). In the meantime, the G14 scored 50 fps at 1600p.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) efficiency
Tucked away within the gentle underbelly of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor with 16GB of RAM. It had greater than sufficient energy to shrug off a pair dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube movies.
On the Geekbench 6 total efficiency check, the Zephyrus G14 scored 9,176, surpassing the typical mainstream gaming laptop computer (7,165). Nonetheless, that wasn’t sufficient to beat the Intel Core i7-13700H CPUs within the Legion Professional 5i (13,634) and Stealth 14 (12,841). And despite the fact that the Blade 14 has the identical CPU because the G14, it scored 11,425.
The Zephyrus G14 took 5 minutes and 20 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p on our HandBrake check, which is much slower than the class common (4:38) in addition to the Legion Professional (3:39) and Stealth 14 (4:41).
Asus’ 512GB SSD has a switch fee of 1,339 megabytes per second, slipping previous the typical mainstream gaming laptop computer (1,247 MBps). With a 512GB SSD, the Legion Professional hit 1,793 MBps, whereas the 1TB SSDs within the Stealth 14 (1,208 MBps) and Blade 14 (1,230 MBps) really slowed them down.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) battery life
Wow — this laptop computer has been doozy after doozy, however I didn’t count on it to screw up on battery life too. The earlier Zephyrus laptops have all been stellar, however this machine lasted solely 4 hours and 56 minutes on our Laptop computer Magazine battery check. That’s beneath the class common (5:52), and whereas it did outlast the Legion Professional (4:51) and Stealth 14 (3:17), the Blade 14 (8:34) got here out on high.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) webcam
Pay attention, I’m grateful that Asus put the webcam again within the Zephyrus G14, however that’s not going to cease me from crapping on this messy 1080p shooter.
In my check shot, my pores and skin and beard have been a pixely nightmare, and far to my dismay, it made it seem like I didn’t also have a neck (please, this doesn’t assist my self-confidence). The colours within the My Hero Academia poster behind me popped properly sufficient — from the crimson and white lettering of the emblem to the inexperienced in Deku’s swimsuit. However total, you’re higher off trying out our greatest webcams web page.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) warmth
Regardless of not assembly our efficiency expectations, the Zephyrus G14 nonetheless will get a bit heat underneath the hood. After gaming for quarter-hour, the underside hit 117 levels Fahrenheit, which is above our 95-degree consolation threshold. The middle of the keyboard and touchpad reached 110 and 84 levels, respectively. At its hottest it was 122 levels on the underside close to the hinge.
It was cooler whereas watching a 15-minute video. The most well liked the underside received was 105, whereas the keyboard and touchpad measured 103 and 95 levels, respectively.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) software program and guarantee
Like with most Asus gaming laptops, a very powerful app is Armoury Crate, which manages the efficiency of the CPU, GPU and followers. In the identical app, you may customise the important thing lighting, combination video games from different launchers, and create profiles for efficiency and lighting primarily based on what you are doing. The GameVisual app adjusts the colour of your show, whereas the MyAsus app runs system diagnostics and {hardware} checks in your system.
There’s some basic Home windows 11 bloatware like Spotify and Solitaire.
The Zephyrus G14 comes with a one-year restricted guarantee. See how Asus carried out on our Tech Help Showdown and Finest and Worst Manufacturers rating.
Backside line
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) is a tragic story of affection and loss — largely the loss half, the love was so 2020. The gaming laptop computer must be good at gaming, but it surely’s beneath common generally. And the way Asus threw away its stellar battery life is a thriller to me.
If you’re on the lookout for one thing with a bit extra energy on the similar dimension, think about the MSI Stealth 14 Studio.
Sadly, it’s exhausting to advocate the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 — there are higher gaming laptops on the market at an identical value.
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