Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Review – Performance Does Not Come Cheap

Asus India recently released its latest instalment to the ROG Zephyrus series of gaming laptops in the Indian market. The company first announced the product lineup at CES back in January 2023. As part of the CES reveal, Asus showcased the ROG Zephyrus: Duo 16, M16, G16, and G14. Going through the lineup, the Duo 16 is aimed at content creators or streamers and the M16 tries to offer a more muted, non-gamer design. On the other hand, the G14 (and G16) target a wider range of audience including both gamers as well as content creators.

Unlike the rest of the ROG Zephyrus lineup, the G14 opts for the AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors with Zen 4-based Ryzen 9 CPU instead of 13th-gen Intel CPU. However, like all other ROG Zephyrus products this year, it comes with the same, Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 Series Mobile GPUs for graphics. Few weeks after the India launch, we got a chance to review the Zephyrus G14.

The Zephyrus G14 offers a wide range of CPU and GPU combinations starting from AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS Mobile CPU with Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU. On the top-end, we get Ryzen 9 7940HS Mobile Processor with GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU. All these variants are currently available on the Asus ROG website and other online retailers such as Amazon India.

However, I am sure that you must have questions around the real-world performance of the laptop. Does it perform well in AAA games? Is the display and design any good? Check out our comprehensive review for the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 here for answers to all these questions and more.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Specifications

Before we talk about the performance of the G14, let’s check out the specifications of the laptop variant that we reviewed below:

​

Performance Benchmarks

Gaming on the Zephyrus G14

Now, without any more delay, let’s check you are reading this review for, the gaming performance of the Zephyrus G14. On-paper, the laptop ships with some top-of-the-line hardware in a comparatively small factor to enhance portability. But. does the small-factor impact the performance of games?

For the gaming tests on the Zephyrus G14, we ran 8 AAA titles at max graphics settings. Here is the complete list of titles that were tested, Cyberpunk 2077, Forza Horizon 5, Borderlands 3, Hitman 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA V, A Total War Saga: Troy, and Horizon Zero Dawn. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS Mobile CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU-powered laptop pushed our expectations high.

As you can see through the table above, the laptop does not disappoint when it comes to gaming performance, providing players with some of the best frame rates on these AAA titles at max settings. At the minimum, we got about 81 FPS on average in Red Dead Redemption 2 at maximum setting at 1080 resolution. Furthermore, one can get even more performance by setting the graphics settings down.

However, I did experience considerable frame rate drops when trying to push the laptop over the limit with 4K settings. I observed this when I was playing Fortnite and Valorant at max settings. Here, I saw that the frame rate suffered slightly with random stutters. The frame drops and stutters went away while lowering the graphics settings.

Synthetic, productivity benchmarks

Well, games were not the only thing that we tested on the laptop. The Zephyrus G14 also went through some extensive productivity benchmarking tools that will show us how it stands against other gaming laptops and devices that IGN India has reviewed over time.

It is clearly visible that the combination of AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS Mobile CPU and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU can provide you with best-in-class performance for a gaming laptop. In addition, it can also handle content creation and general work.

Battery backup and Thermals

Moving on to the battery backup, the device ships with a 76WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion battery and a 240W AC Adapter. For general work such as surfing the web, watching videos, taking notes, etc., the laptop survives only for a 4/4 and a half hours before you have to plug it in. Fortunately, the 240W AC Adapter is able to charge up that battery soon enough to make the issue not too cumbersome.

Now we have arrived at the thermal section, which is an integral category for any piece of gaming hardware. Judging from the stats from HWInfo and our first-hand experience, the laptop does not perform great in terms of the thermals. During our benchmarking, we ensured that the laptop was properly ventilated and got sufficient fresh air.

During the tests, the CPU temperatures were reaching a peak of 96 degrees Celsius, and a low of 53 degrees Celsius. During the peak, the CPU did thermal throttle to bring temperature back in control. On the other hand, the GPU reached a peak of 91.2 degrees Celsius with its lowest being 49.7 degrees Celsius.

The CPU’s and GPU’s temperature during intensive gaming and sometimes long hours of work averaged around 80 degrees Celsius and 75 degrees Celsius, respectively. While for any computing device, the question is not if it will thermally throttle and instead “when”. While the temperatures on the G14 are in line with some other gaming laptops, the fact that the heat made it too hot to touch at times was problematic.

When testing out Fortnite and Valorant, I felt the laptop was getting too hot to touch around the number keys and under the display. To the point that I had to turn off the game in order for the gaming laptop to get back to usable temperatures. This issue likely highlighted by the game settings (I was trying to push things with max graphics settings at 4k) and could be curbed by bringing them down.

Design and Display

Right off the bat, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a laptop that will definitely catch your eye, thanks to the flashy AniMe Matrix. This is a network of LED lights on the top side of the laptop (on the back (not bottom) side when the laptop is in use. AniMe Matrix is nothing new but regular, yearly tweaks and improvements have ensured that it isn’t out of fashion. As my first experience with the design, AniMe Matrix did instil some sort of life in the ROG Zephyrus G14. Beyond this, the beautiful display and top-of-the-line hardware compels interested buyers to consider this laptop.

The 2023 iteration of the Zephyrus G14 is slightly slimmer than the previous version and the new colour options are some of the best available on the market. However, as mentioned above, for me, the cherry on the cake is the AniMe Matrix. Beyond the looks, on the engineering side, this time the AniMe Matrix design needs precision machining of more than 14,000 holes for 1,400 mini-LEDs. All this effort makes the device look absolutely stunning. Furthermore, like prior versions, you can customize the AniMe matrix through software to give your device a personalised look. This is bound to grab everyone’s attention around.

For the display, the Zephyrus G14 ships with a ROG Nebula display with QHD resolution (2560×1600 pixels), 165Hz refresh rate and a response time of 3ms. In my usage, whether it be the beautiful scenery of Red Dead Redemption 2 or your favourite Netflix series, this display does it all in an impressive manner. The response time and refresh rate of the device will keep things buttery smooth, giving you all the competitive edge, you need for competing in multiplayer games.

Software and Miscellaneous

Well, there is not too much to go on here, the device comes loaded up with Windows 11 Home, which comes with all the general features that you would need. Over and above that, as this is a ROG laptop, the device comes with Armoury Crate software. This software allows buyers to take complete control over their devices. One can monitor and manage the performance of their gaming laptop and customize the looks including AniMe Matrix and lighting. These options include changing the keyboard backlight lights on your gaming laptop, keyboard functions, mouse cursor, wallpaper and more.

As part of the performance monitoring and management, gamers can select different performance presets such as Windows, Silent, Performance, Turbo, and Manual. These presets adjust the cooling and power targets of the laptop for performance as per the needs of the user. Other Armoury Crate tools give players the ability to manage memory and storage, set performance profiles, adjust fan speed, and CPU core configuration. One can even launch games directly from the app.

Value for Money

Now for the other question that decides everything at the end, is Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 worth your money? Well, the answer is not as clear cut as one would hope. We reviewed the top-of-the-line Zephyrus G14 Model, the GA402XZ-N2019WS which costs INR 2,66,990 on Asus India’s website.

Looking at the price and performance, this model might not be a justifiable purchase for everyone. It provides top-tier performance for the buyers who need it, but I still can’t overlook the thermal and battery issues. Given the price point and other aspects of the laptop, I expected longer battery backup and better thermal performance from the laptop.

However, this price does bring players the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS Mobile CPU and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU, a combination that does not come cheap. There are lower-priced variants for the Zephyrus G14 that players could opt for too if they are okay with the RTX 4060 or RTX 4050 GPUs. The only changes between the different variants of the G14 are the CPU, GPU combination along with the presence or absence of AniMe Matrix depending on the price. If

Now, if you have the money to spend then we would advise you to look at the competition in this price bracket before finalizing your purchase. Both Asus as well as the competition has several options that are similar, if not better in this price range.