ASUS - ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) 14" OLED 3K 120Hz Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS - 32GB LPDDR5X - GeForce RTX 4070 - 1TB SSD - Platinum White

THIS… Is the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 with a 14” 3k 120hz OLED screen, and this might be one of the most feature-packed laptops I have EVER tested or had the opportunity of owning. I am excited to see how this laptop pans out as I am looking to phase out my MacBook Pro as well as my razer into one computer to do everything on. With an OLED screen, a 4070 and 32gb of ram in the model I received, let's see how this stacks up in a growingly competitive marketplace and if this is a true multi-role gaming/productivity laptop. Obviously, we have to start with performance - No this does not come in a model that contains more than a 4070, and a few years ago I think I would have really been upset over this. That being said, today, I can say that I am perfectly fine with this choice. I have had laptops with 2080’s/3080’s and you never gain more performance that is actually realized in day to day tasks/gaming. They cost significantly more, are larger, get hotter and die way faster. We can expect 100+ frames on almost every game you can think of at near max settings given you are in turbo mode and plugged in. On battery, we can expect good performance; I could go over 100fps if I turned the settings down or killed my battery faster… so whichever way you want to tilt that balance you can certainly have a good time. I was also able to use Ableton 11 with no problems, even when I was using external monitors I never saw any noticeable lag or latency. Thanks to the 32gb DDR5 I never really ever notice … any lag ever? I am a Chrome demon and my 20/30 tabs have never been a problem, even when playing a game or opening up a creative application simultaneously. The only thing this laptop is really confined by is battery life, which for me, was about 7 to 8 hours on eco, half that in light gaming and probably 1-3 hours heavy gaming. My screen is always on max brightness too, so you could probably squeeze some more out of this G14 if you needed. The battery life was always more than enough for me to leave the charger at home worry-free. The screen is simply amazing and I was relatively unaware how good Asus has gotten at OLED screens. Yes, this is a 3k (2880 x 1800) screen…and without losing you in the details it really is almost unnoticeable between 4k and 2k… it just looks GOOD. This is a WOLED 16:10 screen with more features packed into it than my desktop monitor: 100% dci-p3/ .2ms gtg / 120hz / HDR 500 & Dolby vision HDR / g-sync / Pantone validated AND with a max brightness of 500nits. I found the brightness to be more than enough for most settings with this gloss screen. I really don’t know what beats this screen, it is truly beautiful and ticks all the boxes that you could dream of for a gaming laptop and also has HDMI 2.1 for when you want to use another screen. Build quality is great, cnc aluminum which is always my favorite feel on a laptop. There is still, however, some flex in the middle of the keyboard and around the edges. It is slight and I have to really press to actuate this flex. I can one hand the screen open as well, which is my FAVORITE feature on higher-end laptops. It has a chamfer lip on the front of the laptop that helps you open the screen and differentiate between the back and front of the laptop. The slash lighting on the back is super cool and if you hate it you can turn it off, but I have a slow pulse. Nothing on this laptop says ‘gamer’ outside of the RGB keyboard. Thanks to the profiles built into the software, I am able to quickly change profiles for the lighting and am easily able to set my keyboard to white for when I am out and about and then back to my preferred color when I am home. My favorite part about my old gaming laptop was how much it didn’t look like a gaming rig and this is a great evolution from that as well. I will endorse wholeheartedly the white design, coming from a black laptop prior I am really enjoying how elegant the G14 looks! I can certainly tell a difference between the CNC MacBook frame in the feel and heft, but at this price point, this is exceptionally well done! The keyboard is something that I was initially on edge about because I am big on productivity out of my laptop and if the keyboard sucks then the whole thing is a bust for me. Thankfully I really do enjoy the G14’s backlit keyboard. It has 1.7mm of travel and feels premium - they don’t say what the switches are or trying to be but to me it feels like a mix between MX brown and a membrane combined. The keyboard is not loud but there is still a soft click as you putter along. They also have the G14 in person at most BestBuy's to try so I would recommend that if you are worried. Cooling is something that is rather important here, but I want to affirm that I never felt the heat on the keys at all and really only in the rear of the chassis. I burnt the hair off my legs from an old old alien-themed gaming laptop and those days are gone! I was really impressed with the variation in fan speeds and the ability to run at 0db for almost every nongaming application! For turbo mode I did put it on a cooling plate, but this was more for performance rather than how it felt. Ports and charging are always some of the biggest gripes for gaming laptops, but thankfully for the G14 it is another highlight reel! That being said, the first reaction to seeing that this has a non-standard power supply I/O is to complain that it isn’t USB-C, and I am always the first to pick up the pitchfork and light the torch! This is just not the case with this, and several other high-end gaming laptops. Asus, much like Razer, Alienware or whatever flavor of gaming RGB you look at, uses a proprietary high-watt power supply to monitor the battery, prevent overcharging, modify the speed at which it charges and so on…it really is for the longevity of your battery. If you still want to charge via USB-C you can still do that as well, so really no harm done in the end. Alright, now that we can put the pitchforks away, the I/O is seriously impressive: 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack 1x HDMI 2.1 FRL 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C support DisplayPort™ 1x Type C USB 4 support DisplayPort™ / power delivery 1x card reader (microSD) (UHS-II) I really can’t complain about this with a full-size HDMI as well as a type-c display out, the only REAL knock I have is on the microSD card reader…I am using this as a multiuse gaming/production laptop and while my drone does use microSD, my cameras use the standard size…I would rather have a microSD adapter for a full size slot than having to get a type-c or USB adapter for my normal SD cards. Not the biggest deal, but something I kinda of scratched my head on. The ports are all fast enough that I can plug my external SSD in with no noticeable lag either which is always nice. Something I enjoyed was that there is HDMI on the left, and the display port type-c on the right so you can get display output from either side. To wrap this show up, I really don’t have much to gripe about or really any complaints at all. Armory crate, the included software to help control your performance, is on the more clunky side… but nothing that a few minutes and a Youtube video can’t solve. It is easy to swap out the m.2 for something bigger and while I wish that it had another m.2 port…this is a 14” laptop and space is tight! This is 100% going to be my new daily driver, I like to type on this and love to game even more. Thanks to the included HDMI port I can easily plug this into any tv to make any area a productivity or gaming area. This is truly a rockstar gaming laptop, and while I know that the segment is getting really packed with solid competition, I don’t really see anyone that is beating out the Zephyrus G14 as it seems to be the new King of the Hill. Between the build quality, screen, performance and honestly how good this keyboard is…its hard not to recommend this over probably any other laptop in this category and most above it as well. The best part of the whole thing is, when you buy this at best buy… you never have to worry about getting the wrong laptop, they have this model and several others from other brands in the store so I recommend you go in and test them out firsthand. Best Buy has an excellent return policy and even better customer service, so you never have to worry about buying a product that you don’t like… so why not test it out?!

Screen: Best I have seen in any laptop... Ever. Sound: Best I have ever heard in any laptop... Ever. Keyboard & Trackpad: Best I have used in any laptop... Ever. NVidia 4070: I play all my games on high everything, absolutely do problems. I also utilize the AI features of this specific card and it is fantastic. You will love gaming, coding, and everyday stuff with this laptop and with this card. RAM: It's 32 GB in a laptop. Stop pretending it is better to be able to install RAM. That's only the case if they don't give you enough. 32 GB is enough. It wasn't enough when they sold the G14 with lower amounts of RAM. Soldered RAM is faster and more efficient, especially in terms of power conservation... The RAM performance is fantastic. Lighting: The keyboard lighting is the best on the entire series of laptops. This is my third personally owned G14. I'm responsible for a lot of G14 sales because it's what I recommend to just about everyone. Slash lighting is cool, could have a few more options on how to utilize it, but there is already software for better options. QC: Any complaint I had with the g14 2023 model was addressed with this one. Fantastic build. Amazing look. Storage: 1TB storage is solid both in terms of size and performance. I will probably upgrade this in terms of performance, but I'm definitely not in a hurry because it is really good. Battery: I think it's great. Just take advantage of the power features. People that complain about "only 4 hours of usage" while having everything maxed out are insane. It's a battery. It's sufficient in size and the power options to get the most out of your battery are fantastic. Weight: This this is awesome to carry around. I love the power, performance, weight balance... So was it worth driving 2 hours, one way, to get it? Now that I have both seen and used it... I would have driven 8 hours, one way, to get it. Yes. Go get one. The second you can find it available, go get one. Did you buy one yet? Go get one.

Asus’s G14 series of laptops is one of absolute epic heritage. The very first G14 was one of my best purchases, sporting a Ryzen 9 CPU, RTX gpu, and 1TB of storage. 4 years later, the G14’s latest iteration is nearing perfection, but keeping the winning combo from years ago. This time CPU wise instead of the 4900HS, we have a 8945HS. Pulling dedicated graphics duty is the 4070 mobile, clearly outpacing its 2060 max-q from years ago. The chassis has kept what made it special while offering further refinements. And the unusually large 1tb ssd has been replaced by a, err… well, faster 1tb drive? Well, guess you can’t have everything. That said, this piece of kit for the money is still quite a power house. While the premium for the 4070 isn’t necessarily worth it over the 4060, let’s set that aside for a moment and compare this apples to apples to competitors, which without calling out a particular brand, could be compared to the aforementioned fruit. In fact, I have a particular model that has a CPU that ends in 3 pro, and I have to say the G14 holds its own. Physically it is nearly identical in dimensions to this fruit competitor, differing in height due to the slight increase in rubber foot height in the rear. Screen real-estate and keyboard layout are very comparable, as is trackpad size, etc. The G14 GA403 is in every way an improvement over the previous gen G14’s. Gone are the odd gamer-y angles found on the first generation. Squared edges dominate, with the only strangely shaped item found is the squat hexagon power button. The awesomely cool, but only high end equipped matrix led lid display has been replaced by a series of LED’s in a slash offering a bit of flair without the expense. Gone is the only semi-reliable fingerprint reader-in-power button, which is replaced by Windows Hello IR facial recognition. The previous 1080p and 2k screens are replaced by a 2880x1800 display that comfortably runs at 1440x900 hi-dpi resolution. This screen not only has a super high resolution, but while lower than the year prior’s refresh rate of 165hz, offers 120hz of individually illuminated pixels - yes this is OLED. A beautiful dynamic contrast ratio which cannot be outdone by LCD’s is on display. Offering Dolby DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, the display does not disappoint. I found the display more than bright enough in any indoor setting. Speakers on this laptop, of which there are 6, are excellent. This rivals any notebook (including the aforementioned fruit based one) on having the most expansive and clear sound I’ve heard from a laptop - all while being in a package that’s smaller than most. Bass hits, and clarity is top notch. Keyboard backlighting is solid, and controllable in the Armory Crate app and Windows new Dynamic Lighting control panel. Unfortunately it’s a single zone (meaning one color, not individual or multiple zones), but really I don’t find that too much of a limitation. Color is good, as even white is surprisingly white given the RGB nature. The keys themselves feel just as good as the previous keyboard, if not a bit better. The trackpad is large and oversized with decent palm rejection and good gesture support. Build wise, the laptop is quite light - weighing in at 3lbs 6oz - owing to its magnesium aluminum alloy construction. The laptop’s build quality is firm and feels just as solid if not more so than its older brethren. Considering we’re packing top tier Zen4 cores, a fully enabled AD106 GPU core, and all the things supporting those high end components, the weight and build quality are just outstanding. This laptop is a powerhouse, especially plugged in. Shifting the GPU mode to ‘Ultimate’ in Armory Crate unlocks the 90w power limit and helps the AD106 reach its peak performance. Between the CPU and GPU, this laptop is packing some of the best hardware in this price range. AMD’s cpu is both power efficient and powerful, and Nvidia’s GPU is solid, offering nearly double the frame rates of my trusty old 1st gen’s 2060 max-q. Games were fluid and smooth, and despite needing a driver update to work correctly, the mux switch helps the 4070 push the maximum amount of frames it can. If you haven’t heard of this ‘mux’ thing, it’s something that’s usually reserved for higher end gaming laptops with dedicated GPUs. It allows the GPU, on demand, to bypass the internal on-board graphics, and drive the screen directly. That allows for native things like g-sync, and better performance. The AMD 780m takes over when the Nvidia GPU isn’t required, making the battery last a bit longer than it would with the 4070 drinking it down. Performance is good on battery, if only that despite battery limited settings, the Ryzen CPU is blindingly fast. Even hampered by low clocks and process utilization limitations found in the ‘silent’ profile, it still manages ~8500 in cinebench. On performance, even on battery the CPU realizes 15k+ points. Plugged in you’ll see the full ~18k points you’d expect from the CPU. The inbuilt AMD APU is no slouch either - filling in day to day duties more than adequately. The 4070’s performance is limited on battery, but still manages to perform adequately if you’re in the mood for a mobile gaming session. I benchmarked and compared numbers for a couple games, but 3dmark Firestrike did a good job showing the GPU about 70% of its plugged-in performance numbers. Not horrible on a battery, but not quite as efficient as the CPU, which still gave about 85% of its numbers. The new rectangular power plug is fine. It can be plugged either direction, which is nice. It’s no magnetic charger, but overall it’s a sure way to deliver the 180w of power the brick can put out. While it can also charge on USB-C, but to 100w, the power hungry hardware calls for a little more juice, and we’re a bit away from that much power over USB-C. Disassembly of the chassis is fairly easy. There are 11 screws - 2 hidden under black plugs. They’re a star head, and the 4 near the front are a different length. On opening you are presented with the complex headpipe design, 3 fans, and the only 2 upgradable components: the mediatek WiFi and NVMe SSD. Hey, at least it comes with 32GB of DDR5! Some observations: The old model has a nearly identical CPU. The 7940hs and 8945hs are nearly identical in specs - sporting slight tweaks in power draw and slightly higher AI TOPS. The old model also could be optionally equipped with 4080 or 4090 cards, which may be available eventually in this chassis. The old model had a thicker lid w/ mini led screen and higher refresh rate. While some details that have changed are arguably not as good, OLED will always have deeper blacks, and the obscenely expensive high end cards are no huge loss for most buyers in this chassis size.. Overall, I think the G14 GA403 brings the G14 forward. A cleaner, more grown up design, while still keeping some gaming flair and doing what the G14 has always done: bring the biggest baddest gaming hardware in at a fairly reasonable price. The GA403 sports some of the best tech available, and a screen that’s just gorgeous to view. I have no hesitation recommending this or any G14.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) model is an amazing accomplishment for ASUS and is nearly perfect at what it's designed to be - a lightweight, highly portable powerhouse that can blast through productivity or games with ease. It's not the lightest laptop overall, nor the most powerful - and there are things that can be improved, as there always are - but it's a top notch blend that hits all of the right notes. Is it right for you? Read on to find out! Physically, this device checks nearly all the boxes to be a "covert" gaming machine. The aluminum chassis looks and feels premium and the laptop is shockingly light for how much power it packs. The lid opens and closes smoothly, though it is worth noting that it only opens to about 130 degrees or so, which is fine for me, but it doesn't open "all the way flat." The top features the "slash bar" lighting which can sync to music, show alerts or use a programmed pattern, but as I'm looking for a more covert gaming machine, I will mostly have it off. There's also an etched ROG seal in on the bottom of the top cover - I wish ASUS would have left these features off to acheive a full "office ready" vibe, but they're much better those most other laptops and should work in many staid environments. The screen is jaw droppingly gorgeous. It fills most of the lid so there are only small bezels on the left and right with a slightly bigger one at the top (which includes the 1080p camera which does NOT have a physical shutter but which DOES support Windows Hello) and bottom to lift the screen a bit higher. The OLED makes for super clear motion, fast responses and DEEP blacks - the picture overall is amazing and must be seen to be believed. Due to the high native resolution, most games (and Windows itself) will not be using the true native, but this is a capable panel (and bright/fast to boot). The trackpad is huge and uses precision drivers - it has a good feel to it and click actions are smooth. The keyboard is lovely to type on and I quickly achieved my typical speed and accuracy ratings - the backlight on this model is single zone RGB though I'm likely to keep it in white. The backlight is fine but not exceptional and does the job in a dark room though it can make the symbols on the number keys a bit hard to see and I'll likely turn it off if the room has enough light. There is no fingerprint sensor, but there are 4 additional programmable macro keys. The sound is quite good with viritual surround and multiple options. Fan noise is acceptable unless you're REALLY stressing the system and the system doesn't seem to get too hot though the upper part of the deck (sort of above the "F6" key) can get quite warm, this doesn't impact the keyboard usage itself. The bottom has quite a lot of ventilation and is reasonably easy to open, thought it does require 11 T6 star screws two of which are under removeable adhesive pads. On the inside, the only thing you can really do is upgrade the SSD (there's a single M.2 NVMe SSD slot in size 2280 that has the system drive - I replaced this with a 4TB version and used the built-in cloud recovery to re-image it and now I have lots of storage) and the WiFi card (a 6E card that is plenty fast is included). For ports, on the right side is a single USB 3.2 type A port and a single USB 3.2 type C port that supports display but not power. There's also a microSD card slot. On the left, there's another USB 3.2 type A port and a USB 4 (!!!) type C port is fully functional including power delivery up to 100W. The square power jack is next to that - the included adapter is 180W and not too heavy, but nice to know that you can use 100W USB-C in a pinch to charge / power the laptop (albeit not to the full level that the 180 adapter can). There's also a single, full sized HDMI 2.1 port and a headphone jack. As far as specs, this is the fully loaded version with the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS (with 780M graphics), an NVIDIA 4070 GPU (mobile version), 32 GB of DDR at 6400mts (not upgradeable). The included 2280 NVMe is 1TB and fast enough at up to 5 Gbps, but there are faster and/or larger replacement drives if you're interested. The laptop is FAST - it blazes through productivity tasks even on it's quiet/cool "Silent" setting and can play AAA games at great quality settings on Performance or Turbo modes (particularly with the support of DLSS 3/frame generation). I've included a picture of the insides AND a screenshot of a 3dMark time spy run - the only settings changed for the run were changing the performance mode to "Turbo" in Armory Crate. Battery life is excellent in productivity usage, I'm seeing "all day" type battery life in mixed use (if charged to 100%, I can get over 10 hours of mixed use), but I'll usually leave the laptop in the limited charge mode where it only uses 80% of the battery to improve overall battery life (and I can still get 7-8 hours which is more than I need). In gaming, the battery can be eaten up quickly, with the highest ends game settings able to use the full battery in under 2 hours, but that's true with nearly any gaming laptop. If you want, you can use the integrated graphics for older games and get better battery life while gaming with acceptable performance though that requires a bit of tweaking. Overall, this is a great laptop that can transition nearly seamlessly from work to play - it's not perfect, and I wish the lid was plain vs the slash lighting and ROG etching (and that the keyboard backlighting was a bit better) but it's the closest I've seen to perfect for that use case in the 20+ years I've been in IT (and longer than that gaming/building PCs). So if you want something that can work all day and play (near a plug, probably) all night, this is a great option! Give it a try today!

This ASUS - ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) 14" OLED 3K 120Hz Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS - 32GB LPDDR5X - GeForce RTX 4070 - 1TB SSD - Platinum White has become my preferred laptop. There are so many reasons why this is my new go to device. The performance is astounding. You get a true gaming experience no matter your level of gaming. With 32 GB if memory, a dedicated graphics card with plenty of memory, a full terabyte of storage, and one of the best displays I have seen, by far, on a laptop. I use it mostly for gaming, but have also used it with some heavy graphic design software, too. No issues at all with heavy gaming or design software. The design of the laptop is great. I love the backlit keyboard, which is also customizable with color. The outside has a nice light on the top and it’s customizable too. One other thing that makes this such a great gaming laptop is the size. It’s a 14”, it is pretty thin, and not heavy at all. Makes it fantastic for portability. The laptop has never gotten too hot for me, nor has it ever been too noisy. The fans are pretty quiet, even during heavy gaming.

Unboxing and Setup: The Asus G14 arrived in a premium sealed box, with the charger neatly packaged separately. Setting up the laptop is a breeze, requiring only a quick connection of the power adapter and a press of the power button. Asus Armoury Crate adds convenience with customizable profiles and easy updates. Battery Life: Playing Fortnite at balanced settings, I achieved a respectable 45 minutes of gameplay at 75% brightness. Further adjustments could extend this time, showcasing the laptop's versatility. Performance: With turbo mode and the dedicated GPU engaged, I effortlessly maintained a solid 120fps in Fortnite, even on ultra settings. The OLED display brings every detail to life, from shadows to distant horizons. Keyboard and Design: This features an excellent keyboard with satisfying key travel and eye-catching RGB lighting. The light slash on the lid adds style and serves as a visual status indicator when closed. Display: The 120Hz refresh rate OLED panel offers a stunning gaming experience with calibrated profiles and G-Sync support. Bright, responsive, and visually stunning, it's a standout feature. Heat and Audio: While the laptop can warm up during intense gaming sessions, the onboard speakers deliver impressive sound quality, enhancing the gaming experience with rich, detailed audio. Ports and Build: The Asus G14 balances portability and connectivity with a selection of essential ports. The aluminum build exudes quality, though it may feel slightly heavier than expected. Pros: - Blazing-fast performance - Stunning display quality - Premium build - Reliable and fast wireless speeds - Seamless transition between gaming on battery and power Cons: - Non-standard PSU - Lack of a lip on the monitor for one-handed opening - Short gaming battery life - Heat generation during intense use - Micro SD slot instead of full-size SD slot

The 2024 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a bit of a departure from the previous incarnations of the G14. The 2024 model makes improvements to the processor, display, memory, and storage while some things like the 4XXX series GPU’s remained the same. I have a 2023 model G14, so I was able to make a pretty direct comparison. My immediate impression is the this laptop certainly aims more at the Ultrabook crowd compared to prior years more gaming focused look. Specs Processor – AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS - CPU 8C/16T @ 4.0 GHz with boost to 5.2 GHz Graphics – NVidia GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU w/ 8GB GDDR6 @ 1355 MHz boosted to 1655 MHz Radeon 780M 12 core onboard the Processor @2800MHz Memory – 32GB LPDDR5X 6400 Quad Channel (17-15-17-34) Storage – 1TB PCI-e 4.0 NVME WD SN560 SDDPNQE-1T00-1102 Display - 14” 2880 x 1800p 16:10 (WQXGA+) OLED screen @120HZ, 0.2ms, 100% DCI-P3, G-Sync Camera – 1080p IR Webcam Network Adapter – 802.11AX (WiFi 6e) adapter / Bluetooth 5.3 Radio Ports – 1X USB 4 Type-C with DisplayPort and power delivery / 1X USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C with DisplayPort / 2X USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A / 1X HDMI 2.1 / 3.5mm TRRS jacks for headsets / 1 MicroSD Reader Battery – 73Wh – 8-10 hours of web browsing and some light gaming OS – Windows 11 Home – a few preinstalled ASUS utilities Design This generation of the G14 changes out the old plastic body shell and brings in a machined aluminum 6063 chassis. My initial impression was this wasn’t far off in feel from a Surface or Macbook, and really feels like a very premium laptop. The machined aluminum chassis does not give off a “gamery” vibe, and about the only thing the gives it away is the slash lighting on the display shell and the RGB keyboard. The slash lighting can be configured in the Armoury Crate control panel. It has several presets to change the movement of the light, and even one to match the whatever media you are playing. Beyond that this very much looks and feels like an Ultrabook. The screen hinge is a different setup as it no longer props the base up as it opens, and the hinge opens about 135° compared to just beyond parallel for the old setup. The main body is very slim .63” thick and weighing just over 3.1lbs. This is .1” thinner and almost half a pound lighter than the previous incarnation. This is certainly reaching for the goal of being a portable powerhouse. The G14 comes with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, which is part of the new Zen 4 architecture and likely the last one before the Zen 5 architecture. The 8945HS sits at the top of AMD’s laptop processor list, but it is mainly a rehash of last year’s 7940HS which powers my 2023 G14. The only real update to the processor is improved AI performance out of the chip. The onboard graphics card is a Nvidia 4070 laptop GPU. The R9 processor is a multithreaded 8 core with a 4.0GHz base clock with a single core boost up to 5.2GHz. The 4070 supports ray tracing and DLSS 3.0, which will help the GPU keep up with the 3K panel resolution. The laptop can be connected to multiple external monitors through the HDMI 2.1 port and the other through the USB-C ports. Your monitor count is limited by the bandwidth each monitor needs. The G14 comes with a 32GB of LPDDR5 6400 RAM in two 16GB modules. These are soldered modules, so there is no upgrading the RAM. Storage comes in the form of a 1TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 NVME drive from Western Digital. There are no additional slots, so if you need more storage you would have to swap the drives and reinstall the OS and utilities. The display is a 14” 2880 x 1800p OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, which ASUS calls the Nebula Display. This is a 16:10 display, which I somewhat prefer since it provides a little more vertical real estate. At this resolution you come away with a 242.6 PPI density, which should provide super sharp details. This appears to be the only display offered on this year’s G14 – not that I have any complaints. The 0.2 ms response time is very fast among most displays out there, but right in line time with what OLED panels have to offer (many going even faster). The display is plenty bright with a peak 500nit brightness – more than enough to stay bright in a well-lit space. The display also supports Dolby Vision HDR, and it carries Pantone color validation along with a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut for a very accurate display color. The display can be driven seamlessly by the 4070 GPU or by the processor based 780M GPU thanks to the included MUX switch and Nvidia Advanced Optimus. The system automatically toggles between the GPUs depending on the process needs, and in my usage you don’t even realize the system has made the switch. The screen is excellent to watch movies and TV. I spun up a few 4K OLED demos on Youtube, Netflix 4K, and my 4K digital LOTR trilogy. The deep blacks of the OLED are just so hard to beat – it is a really excellent looking display. Games and Benchmarking I ran the G14 through the same series of benchmarks (3DMark Time Spy, GeekBench, PCMark, Cinebench R23, Dirt Rally Benchmark, and Shadow of War Benchmark) that I use to test my PC’s when I am trying out a new one or tweaking settings. I included a screenshot of my raw results table, which is with the standard G14 settings right out of the box. Overall, it performed CPU heavy tasks fairly similar to the 2023 G14. The aluminum chassis dissipates the heat better, and it sounds like the fan noise isn’t as pronounced. The downside to the superior heat transfer ability of an aluminum chassis is the surface of the laptop body feels noticeably warm after running some heavy benchmarks. The area of the chassis under the function key row up to the screen is the warmest spot, and where the waste heat is being channeled inside. The only thing I can say is ASUS did a good job keeping the rest of the keyboard and laptop surface from getting hotspots, since those are the areas where your hands would rest 99% of the time. I loaded up Halo Infinite through Gamepass and Mirror’s Edge in Steam. I already had a Gamepass subscription, so the included 3-month code just extends my subscription. With Halo Infinite 3K at the highest settings looked pretty sharp, but I also tried it out at 2K and 1080p to see how framerates were handled. The colors on the OLED panel were amazing. Input/response times were instantaneous with the display. I played the game on the high settings with Ray Tracing on low for 1080p, 2K and 3K. I could bump up to Ultra for 1080p and have reasonable FPS but 2K was just a bit to much, and 3K was beyond what the GPU could handle. 3K with high settings I was sitting steady around 60 FPS without any visual issues or screen tears. The game played great. Moving to 2K bumped me to 75 FPS and 1080p brought me up to 85-90 FPS. I could drop the settings to medium and hit 120 FPS at 1080p and around 110 FPS at 2K. 3K was in the upper 90’s with a few peaks that touch 100. Overall, the game looked and ran great. The laptop didn’t get overly warm, but the fan was definitely running on high. Mirror’s Edge is visually one of my favorite games – the super high contrast colors are an assault on the senses, but I still love it. The game, even though it’s pretty old, still runs great. However, it runs seems to run with FPS capped around 62 no matter the setting. Regardless, with the settings maxed out the game ran super stable without any dips or screen artifacting. The graphics settings maxed out at 3K with V-sync on topped out at 62 FPS and held that stable. The imagery on the OLED screen was terrific – the high contrast of an OLED on a game like this really makes the white walls and pop against the shadowy areas. Keyboard and Trackpad The keyboard is still a tenkeyless full RGB chiclet membrane design. The marketing talks about larger keys and improve travel length. I can attest to both of these claims. I liked typing on the 2023 G14 keyboard, but this one does feel like a little bit of refinement. The key material feels nice to the touch and the slightly deeper key travel is appreciated. The keys are very quiet, so you won’t wake anyone up while you hammer away at the keys. The RGB on the keys is nice and bright – this is all controllable in the Armoury Crate lighting controls. There is still the drawback of lighter RGB colors making it hard to discern the key against the white keycaps, which is inherent to almost every white keyboard RGB keyboard I have ever used. The keycaps still don’t have assignable colors for individual keys, which is something I would have liked to see. The trackpad is still pretty good. Its 5 x 3.1”, so it takes up a good amount of space. Multi-touch gestures work well and the sensitivity is just right. I typically switch trackpads off and use a mouse, but with a portable machine like this one I really haven’t felt the desire or necessity to do so. Upgradability The G14 is pretty limited on upgradability – even the 2023 model was pretty limited. With the soldered RAM the storage drive is the only thing you can mess with. You can only upgrade the internal storage drive with a bigger/faster one, and there isn’t space for any additional drives. I would say it’s probably worthwhile to upgrade the NVME drive – the WD SN560 is a middling drive and there are certainly faster options out there. I would ultimately upgrade to a 2TB if I felt I was running out of space. Final Thoughts The redesigned G14 with the R9 8945HS and Nvidia 4070 makes for a great entry in the premium compact laptop space. Its gaming ability is more than enough for its small stature, but it really shines with its portability. The screen is beautiful and the G14 has enough power to take advantage of it. The 32GB of RAM is plenty, even if it isn’t upgradeable. The 1TB NVME drive is decently fast, but I would expect to it fill up quickly with today's larger game files.

Asus is blaming best buy i dont know who did it but this laptop came with the wrong gpu so double check your gpu people! FALSE ADVERTISING! Going to try to exchange it!

I’m a legal professional - so computers are my way of life. But I also edit photos and videos for both work and personal reasons. And I love to game. When looking into laptops I need something that handles it all (and Macs aren’t an option for me). I need something that is light, portable, and powerful enough to handle editing and gaming when the need arises. I also need a laptop with decent battery life - at least for typical computing tasks (I don’t expect to be able to game for long periods of time on any laptop battery). Also, the design and style of the laptop really matter to me. This laptop can only be described as the Windows equivalent of a Macbook. It’s expertly designed and feels great. While there are thinner laptops out there, or laptops with even better gaming chops, this is truly the best of all worlds. I cannot say enough good things about this laptop. IN THE BOX Quickly, the laptop comes in an understated box, with another box inside of it (which houses the laptop itself). Then there’s the charger with what appears to me to be a proprietary charging port (which delivers a lot more power). There’s also some documentation. DESIGN This computer is made of aluminum and is meticulously crafted. It’s smooth and has a premium feel and finish. Everything is just lined up perfectly. There’s little to no flex in the chassis, unlike some plastic cases. It weighs less than 4 pounds while maintaining a thickness of less than inch. Honestly, it’s remarkable how ASUS was able to fit all these components in the computer. The bezels on the screen are remarkable thin as well. It’s not borderless but pretty darn close. In other words, there’s no large distracting borders. ASUS continues to include an additional row of keys to the top of its keyboard for volume, mute, and a hot button to start up Armoury Crate. The keyboard feels great, it’s a little clicky but is muted in the sense that it won’t bother people around you like a large mechanical keyboard might. The touchpad is big and responsive. It’s one of the best I’ve used that recognizes taps with precision. And it goes from the bottom of the keyboard to the bottom of the laptop with little to no space in between. It’s one of the best touchpads I’ve ever used. FEATURES First and foremost, the screen. This has a 3K OLED screen with 120 hz refresh rate. While I don’t test laptops for a living, I would find it hard to believe if you told me you found a better screen. OLEDs for those that don’t know, offer deep blacks and high color contrast because individual pixels light up versus an entire backlight lighting up the screen. It truly is a beauty that is perfect for anything - gaming, video editing, surfing the web, whatever. I promise you, after you use this screen you will be hard pressed to go back to a non-OLED that’s less than 3K resolution. And the fact that the screen is 14 inches means the pixels are packed in creating a super sharp image. Just scrolling websites with a high refresh rate is a joy as the animation is inky smooth. The speakers in this laptop are also on another level (relatively speaking). I would never say that any built in speakers will trump any external speakers, but when comparing built in speakers in laptops, you can’t do any better. It has 6 built in speakers with dual side woofers and Dolby Atmos audio. It claims to have a 100hz bass frequency, but when just speaking in the general sense, the sound terrific. The bass is pretty amazing all things considered. When using the laptop in your lap you can feel the “subs.” And honestly, it’s super loud. In a quiet room, I don’t have the speakers over 14 percent. The sound gets a little hollow at higher volumes, but all in all it sounds great. It’s not surround sound obviously, which brings with it a certain level of immersion, but it was certainly not distracting and explosions playing shooter games sounded pretty darn good. It does claim to have intelligent cooling with “high efficiency” fans, and while the temperatures during normal computing didn’t get too high, when gaming or editing when the fans are pumping it does get a little hot. It feels warm while in my lap, but not uncomfortable. When gaming, it never felt too hot to touch. Bottom line is that I don’t see overheating as a major problem. It comes with the laptop GPU RTX 4070 and a Ryzen 9 processor, both are extremely powerful. The Ryzen processor supposedly has AI Accelerators, but this seems to me at least to be marketing (since AI is apparently all the rage). Maybe it made a difference, but I didn’t recognize any benefit the AI Accelerators provided. RGB lighting is another nice touch. As I said, I’m a professional that takes my laptop to court. So I don’t want it to be too flashy, but I do like some personality or at least something to separate it from the crowd. The keyboard has RGB lights that you can adjust relatively easy. Now you can’t change the colors of individual keys, they’re all the color, but you can adjust the effect from strobing, color cycle, static or breathing. The backlight on the keys are great, they’re easy to read, and the ability to change colors is nice because - to me - because it’s nice to mix things up. But the thing I love the most is the slash lighting. Now, it’s a little gimmicky because you can’t see it when you’re using it, but you can adjust the settings so that it lights up with the lid close and the computer is asleep. But the feature I like the most is syncing the lighting with music. GAMING PERFORMANCE Based on the spec sheets, you’d expect this laptop to handle virtually every game you can throw at it. And it does. I have been playing Cyberpunk on it at medium to high settings (DLSS really helps too) and was averaging over 60 FPS. For less demanding games (Fallout 4) it looks and performs phenomenally, getting me well over 100 FPS. Slower paced games, my go to for relaxing is Lego Builders Journey looks absolutely stunning. The inky blacks of the display along with ray tracing is just something you have to see to truly appreciate. I’ve played some Xbox GamePass games (like Starfield) and it looked exemplary. I was truly impressed. Now, it’s a little bit of a bummer gaming on a laptop that’s only 14 inches when I was used to 16 inches, as I said in the outset, I needed a more portable laptop. But frankly, I didn’t miss the larger screen as much as I thought I would. The inclusion of VRR is also a big plus. VRR can cause issues in OLED screens, but this screen provides a smooth and tear free experience. DAY TO DAY PERFORMANCE/VIDEO EDITING I’ve run into absolutely 0 issues with this laptop. Everything I’ve tried to do, albeit Word processing, PowerPoint, Outlook, Chrome, transferring files, etc. has worked flawlessly. I don’t have much to say about it other than it works as it should - at least so far. I haven’t done a lot of video editing on it yet, but it was rendering 2K video files in minutes. While I’ve run into performance issues with Adobe Cloud software on my other devices, I’ve had no such issues here. No crashing, no slow downs, nothing. CONS I have to mention a few quirks if you will. I don’t think these are make or break, but it’s something to consider. There is only one SSD slot. This is a little bit of a bummer as in my other laptops I’ve installed an extra SSD drive to store my raw data like games and videos. Games take up so much space nowadays, 1 TB doesn’t feel like a whole lot. And while you can upgrade the single slot SSD to a bigger drive, that involves a lot more hoops to jump through than just adding a second drive. But there is enough space for a double sided drive, so if you’re willing to spare the money, you could get a pretty large drive. The RAM is also soldered so it’s not user upgradeable either. The power output of the GPU is less than last year’s model, so some of the performance is a little restricted compared to other brands with similar specs. Real world performance, meaning, the gaming experience, I don’t think it matters much, but for those where specs/performance is the end all be all, that’s something to consider. Battery life is not great, even for day to day tasks. I’m getting about 4 hours of typical computer use not including gaming. This isn’t an issue for me, I don’t typically find myself using a laptop for longer than that without finding an outlet, but I realize it might matter to some people. For me, I kind of chalk it up to coming with the territory of using a gaming laptop. The webcam is 1080p, so it’s plenty serviceable, but I wish it came with a physical privacy slider. The microphone however, is pretty good and will work well - although I tend to use external microphones and cameras for web calls so this doesn’t matter much to me. CONCLUSION There are tons of gaming laptops out there to choose from, and while I won’t say this is the best of them all, when it comes to price, performance, design and features, this ASUS ROG14 should be on your list to check out. As an all around laptop, it’s great, and being able to game on such a portable package was just a pleasure. It’s nice to have a laptop that can do it all, and while it may not be the best at everything, it definitely excels at virtually everything.