Top Best 17 AMD ASUS Laptops in December 2021

I keep going back and forth on how to write this review.

Is it a good gaming laptop? Yes, it can play whatever you throw at it...may get a little noisy...but headphones cover over that. And its very near ultraportable specs for size...not so much weight though.

Is the screen vibrant and have good colors? Yes, for an IPS, Matte screen, it is really nice. I’m used to a 2-in-1 and I realize now how much easier on the eyes a matte screen is.

Can it output to a bigger screen? Yes...no issues there either. It ran 4K HDR no issues on my Vizio M55Q7. I did set to 2nd screen only to offload any demand on running the laptop screen.

So why the dilemma? For the current costs, is it enough? That is where I am struggling especially when I am looking at the other laptop that just found its way into our home, an ASUS TUF Gaming 17.3 with a nearly $300 lower cost, 144hz screen (a dream), 8GB RAM (1 Bay open), 512GB M.2, but with a 2nd M.2 bay available, i5 1135G7 and an NVIDIA RTX3050, plus built in RGB Keyboard and a WebCam. The build quality of TUF 17 is pretty cheap feeling when it comes to the palm rest and keys ability to hold on to oil. The chassis is sturdy, but just not made of high quality materials, but at the price ASUS had to cut corners somewhere...thankfully just not on the hardware.

Again, that’s where the The Zephyrus 14 is hard to review. While it has 16GB RAM, 512GB storage, and a RTX1060, the backlit keyboard is white only and...NO WebCam! The build quality is definitely more premium and solid and the plastic used for the palm rest and keys does not attract oils from the hands (however only on the right side keys are they experiencing a scratching affect when I type. Never experienced this on any other keyboard before and I have very trim, short nails. The screen lid feels aluminum, but I cannot confirm that on the ASUS product listing. What you do see on the ASUS product listing page is even more of what this laptop doesn’t have from the same product line...mostly way more control over the lighting and an integrated LED panel on the screen lid that can be customized greatly (which lends to the reality that the lid is aluminum).

The Ryzen 7 5800HS vs the i5-1135G7 are nearly apples to apples. On paper the Ryzen 7 has it beat in some areas 8 vs 4 cores, 7nm vs 10nm (better for lower power computing equaling longer battery life), but max clock speeds are 4.4GHz vs 4.20Ghz. Real world performance is going to be minimal difference, possibly in some video editing you may eek out a minute or two less on the rendering. But all-in-all its going to be similar experience.

I cannot fault the Zephyrus on performance...this is a portable gaming laptop and it does do that but knowing they could have put a 1TB M.2 drive in since games are going to eat up a lot of space, it would not eaten much into their profit margin and a WebCam. Really that last one is a no brainer. My guess is because the higher-end models from this line have the LED lights in the screen lid there wasn’t room for the camera. So the lesser versions it just looks like a huge omittance on ASUS part.

Of course, you can run Zoom or whatever else off your smartphone, but this is a gaming machine, what about those live streams you want to cast? You can turn your phone into a capable web streamer hooked up to the laptop, but now you need a dock or mount to get it just right. With 4 dedicated mics built-in to the chassis, ASUS knew chatting was going to be a must have feature, and it works really well as do the speakers. But for game immersion...headphones make the experience even better especially when they already have a mic built-in.

So it feels like ASUS had a formula for the build of this laptop and said here is the build price it has to be at given what the top-end model would cost to build.

I feel like this particular product build will be very niche in who it attracts and at that I think it will really only interest someone who doesn’t want a larger laptop and looking in the ultraportable range and gaming is a casual need/want, but can still run some quality games and not have lag issues. 2-in-1’s are out of the question here unless you are playing some really old retro games or 2D games. If that is the case a 2-in-1 has way more features (less ease of upgrade though) that may fit your school needs and some touch features that may come in handy when editing documents.

So, I’m not sure where I leave this review. Does it work as ASUS designed for gaming...again, yes. Is that all it is good for? No, it can handle all tasks just fine. My only complaints are the keyboard keys marking up when I type and the fingerprint reader is a little unreliable. Outside of that it is a fine functioning small laptop.j Plenty of ports for your needs and the keyboard has great tactile feedback and not too noisy like a gaming keyboard.

It’s just the value for me that is called into question, knowing that you can go cheaper in price, get more terms of hardware specs and are only sacrificing size and build materials. I would say fingerprint reader too but since this one has issues, it wouldn’t be missed. And it is also knowing that the design of this laptop was meant for something more and to get that more...you have to pay more.

So this is sort of an MVP in the business world...Minimal Viable Product. It works, does what it is supposed to, but doesn’t have all the features of what the final product will.

Can I recommend it yes...just know exactly what you are buying when you do. My 4 stars are based on does it work? And yes, minus the fingerprint reader issue and key scratching. I don't feel value can factor in the star ratings.

I was looking for a nice portable gaming computer with great battery life and decided to go with the smaller screen Asus.

Screen: 60hz 14" Screen is bright and beautiful! However I notice playing videos or gaming its not as smooth with the 60hz refresh rate. Since I have always used the 144hz screens I notice the difference. The good news is with this small screen battery lasts for some time when playing high quality video or games.

Keyboard: The keyboard is made well and very responsive. I miss a num keypad with the keyboard however with the smaller size I understand. They did a good job at trying to space the keyboard with the length of the screen for larger hands.

Hardware: NOT a fan of how the laptop casing is setup! It is set up to shift the weight onto the laptop screen latches. It makes the bottom of the laptop float as weight is now shifted and not along the bottom evenly. I can see this wearing down, causing warping and/or laptop screen issues. So far no issues however very concern over long term usage. Otherwise it has some weight to it but is small so feels like the casing can withstand average transportation. I still recommend to use a sleeve when transporting the laptop. Overall the ventilation works great after hours of heavy usage and never got too hot for my lap. The speaker positions are awesome, right in the front on both sides below the keyboard. You can hear everything clearly and loudly. The touch pad which also was very responsive along with the power button being a finger reader.

Gaming: I really enjoyed playing games on this laptop. I tested out FPS, RTS, RPG, MMO's and Emulators. This laptop comes with bundled software that tries to optimize graphic settings and its does a pretty good job. I would go in the game settings afterwards to find most games were able to play at max or very high settings with a smooth unlocked frame rate. Unfortunately as mentioned before with the 60hz I do notice the limitations.

Battery: Great battery life, using it with good battery settings it can last for some time. Especially if you have it set to highest battery save mode. This should allow multiple business meetings without the worry of having to carry the power brick.

Overall this is a nice gaming laptop however extremely concerned with the frame design. Since its very new time will tell if those latches and elevating the bottom of the laptop will cause issues. Since laptop screen is small at 60hz it provides great battery life for gaming and business / work use, (unless you use the num keypad)

As I found myself gaming more frequently on PC when I travel I wanted to try AMD with a bigger hard drive than I was currently using so I was exited to try out the new ROG Zephrus G14

Unboxing: I admit - I'm a geek when it comes to the unboxing experience, and ASUS does it right! I love how the laptop sits on a platform that raises up when you open the lid almost lid - almost like it's presenting itself to you.

Physical Appearance: Light and solid - that's the best way to describe it. A battery of presses and squeezes could produce no squeaks or creaks. Very impressive. The composite case material is not my favorite - it's not cheap looking, but it doesn't exude premium. I do enjoy the perforations on the outside of the lid - but I was bummed that this model did not include the AniMe Matrix LED display. Overall a solid looking PC built very well. Not ultrabook thin, but certainly no one would look at you using this and think - wow that's bulky.

Gaming: Of course I was excited to play a couple of my favorite games of late. I was blown away with how smooth the gameplay was on Madden 22. The FPS was generally 105-119 during plays and everything looked great on the FHD display. Generally I don't like anti-glare displays but this one didn't soften the image at all! Similar story for Star Wars Squadron. On my other PC some of the game play lags from time to time and so far about 2 hours in I haven't noticed any of that. Some of the cut scenes showed super high FPS but I'm not sure I trust those readings. I will recommend that you use some headphones when you play even though the speakers are actually quite good. The fans are pretty loud and they were on pretty much non-stop as I was playing. Playing Madden it didn't really bother me, but when playing a story based game it was a noticeable distraction during the cut scenes.

I found myself pulling up work emails and doing some basic Office tasks in between gaming sessions and I was surprised by how much I LOVE the keyboard. It's well spaced and feels great typing that I found myself picking it up to do more work this afternoon. Unfortunately, there's no webcam so I'll need to keep my other laptop at the ready for Zoom calls, but that's OK - I wasn't planning on doing any real work on this laptop anyway.

Benchmarks put this in the 99th percentile compared to other PC's in this class so needless to say I am quite pleased with pretty much everything.

I'm still not a ban of barrel power adapters and I would love to see ASUS and other PC manufactures use USB-C for faster charging. It does work with the USB-C port but a message pops up and lets me know that charging this method will be slower and may not keep up with actual use.

Conclusion - If you're looking for a gaming PC that's solid and portable then this is a great option and should be under consideration!

First impression of the Asus – ROG Zephyrus G14 is, very attractive box. I like the design and that it can be used for storage or safekeeping as the lid just folds down/up and is held in place by the plastic handle. Cutting the security tape and then opening the box I find the laptop, a power brick, and a 110v cord. The laptop is protected in a clear plastic sleeve with a felt pad over the keyboard. I press the power button, but as expected, it’s dead. I plug in the power brick and cord, give it a chance to get a bit of a charge, and try again. It comes to life and starts the usual Windows 10 start-up. I go through the step and get it online.

That’s when the fun begins. Notifications are popping up that it needs updates done in both Windows and Asus. I knew it was coming, but this is quite a bit. I run Windows update and it prompts for a restart. I click restart and instead of restarting, I go into upgrading firmware. So, I let that finish and get to the login screen. It doesn’t like my fingerprint, so I use my pin (glad I set that up). I open user login settings and redo my fingerprint. Asus or Microsoft made that super simple. Just delete the current fingerprint and it prompts you to do it again. Now it works every time. I fire up Windows update and there’s another one. Get that installed and reboot. Fingertip login works and I’m good…right. Nope, I open MyAsus, and it too wants an update. I get that done, reboot and then I get to test out this laptop.

The first thing I do is install Microsoft office. It installs with no problem and is rather fast in my opinion. Nice! I run Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and they’re all snappy. I see no lag or hesitation from a user’s point of view. Then I install the Epic Games app and a few of the games I own on my desktop. I test out Sonic Mania and it plays just like the old Genesis. Using an Xbox controller works great, but I had to do the Steam trick to get the controller to work. There’s a bunch of videos that show you how to add Epic to Steam.

Next, I check just to see if it has Thunderbolt 3/4, but having an AMD GPU, it pops the warning that the hub I plugged in will probably be limited. I then see what ports it has, and I find USB 3.2 c (2), USB 3.2 a (2), full HDMI, and 3.5 phone jack, so plenty of ports. The backlit keyboard is in white and can be set at static, strobe, or breathing. I tried to see if the color could be changed, but it seems to need Aura Creator. I downloaded it, but this laptop isn’t on the recognized list. If this is how to change the color and the laptop can do so, I hope Asus will add it to the accepted models. Also, the intensity of the white can be turned off or raised. By default, it is set at 33%.

Then I tested sound. I started with YouTube and the audio was clean but low. I had it at 100% and it was too low for me. I checked audio settings and the Realtek app, but there wasn’t anything there. Then I opened Dolby Access and tried those settings. Woohoo, I set it at Dynamic and it must have used Atmos settings. The volume wasn’t a huge change, but it was enough for me to clearly enjoy the sound across the den, about 15 feet. I thought maybe it was just YouTube because uploaders all seem to have different audio levels, so I tried Spotify. Same result, both ways. It sounds good and clear with Dolby Access set at Dynamic or in Custom 1,2, or 3. Hum, what else? The 14” screen. It looks great and has great clarity and color, at least according to these old eyes. The 16Gb of ram is more than enough for what I do, but I can see where hardcore gamers or videographers might need 32GB. From what I’ve read, one of the 8Gb sticks is soldered to the mobo, but the other is removable. I do wish it had a larger SSD, but that can be swapped out if need be.

Lastly, I just tried to sync my Android phone up with the PC. I was successful in connecting it to Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth, but I was having trouble getting the laptop to use the phone as a camera. I may have gone the wrong route, but Armoury Crate started asking for permissions and I gave up for now. Maybe later I’ll figure it out or there will be more (better) videos on YouTube, but for now, I have a few USB cameras that’ll work just fine.

I’d recommend this to gamers or anyone needing a laptop that can handle intense resource usage. I can see using it for video editing, Photoshop, and the latest games. It’s a sleeper and looks like any mid-range laptop, but this one packs a punch under the hood.

Sorry, last thing for sure. I went to take a few pics of the laptop and wanted to see how to light up the dot matrix lid. In Armoury Crate, there is an option for AniMe Matrix if your model supports it. This one sadly does not. It looks like it should as it has the dots and shimmers when held up to the light, but if the model doesn’t say supports AniMe…it doesn’t. That’s all ☹

I really like ASUS products and have a number of ASUS Republic of Gamer (ROG) computers and laptops. But, this one feels like a new model that has been left behind for 2 years. I know technology moves fast in the tech industry, but typically when tech gets older, it gets cheaper. Not this one, it seems to remain at its same price range while ASUS puts out newer updated, 2021 tech in the other laptops at the same price point. This is not to say this computer is bad or not capable, but the fact that this has a video card from 2019 while their other 2021 products are practically the same price just makes this one seem outdated despite the new AMD processor.

For a small 14” computer this has some power to it to play most games at medium to low settings. It is fast and snappy with the NVMe 512GB harddrive and 16GB of RAM. However, only one RAM slot is accessible (8GB on board, 8GB removable), in which you can upgrade to 16GB for a total of 24GB and there is only one M.2 slot. So, you either replace the main drive or use external storage for further expansion. There are two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports with one having Display port and power delivery, but not Thunderbolt. There are also two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, HDMI 2.0b and a 3.5mm headphone/mic port. The odd thing is the placement of the power plug in the middle of the left side. There is also no webcam like most laptops, while they are usually all low grade anyways, but does have a microphone for Cortana voice commands. Also took me a second, but the fingerprint scanner is the power button.

The screen is bright and colorful, low reflection, but low viewing angles making everything fade if you don’t angle it straight at you. The hinge is different too as it actually lifts the laptop up as it is tilted back. This is neat as it gives more air flow underneath and better angle for keyboard usage, but don’t know how long that tension will hold. The design of the hinge and back side also lends to the heat rolling up on the front side of the screen. Running stress tests it was running around 75°C pretty constant with 20-25FPS on the test.

Sound quality on this little thing is better than most laptops I have seen recently. It actually has four speakers with two facing up and two facing down. While on a hard surface, like a desk, this actually gives a decent range of high and lows with a surround effect.

The keyboard is a solid white backlight in which you can adjust brightness, but an annoying default setting when it goes to sleep had to be disabled for me. When it goes into sleep mode, it is like a restless sleep mode, where the keyboard will dim then blink twice and repeat every few seconds. In the Armoury Crate app, simply activated with unique button beside , under System > Lighting >Settings you can turn Sleep “off”.

Overall, this is a fair multitasking laptop that will play games. But, the video card is the bottleneck and ASUS has other laptops at the same price point with more to them. I hate to say that I wouldn’t recommend this to a friend, but I would probably recommend something with a newer video card if they were focused on gaming.

When I initially opened this laptop I was blown away. The marketing department really put some time into the design and making sure the customer was impressed immediately. The retail box has a neat little "pop up" feature that was pretty impressive. Once I booted up the laptop I was still impressed too. Although the screen is only 14" the 16GB of ram really compensated for the small(er) screen. I use this laptop in my spare bedroom as a work or gaming laptop and it is really holding up well. The keys are very soft of the hands, even though they are a little compacts. The processing is up to par with what I would expect from a leading brand's gaming series laptop too. The box even had a couple of those little camera blocking stickers too.

I would like to see laptop companies start to include a small, practical carrying case for customers to use as a carrying case. That would be a nice touch.

All in all due to its superior processing speed and other stock specs I would highly recommend this laptop to anyhow who is the market for a gaming set up that is on the go!

The Rog Zephurus G14 offers grade A performance in a compact form factor with clean and attractive style. Media on the full HD resolution screen is crisp with vibrant colors and laptop out of the box has decent specs. People who multitask, run intensive programs and casually game will benefit the most from this thin and light model.

GAMING PEFOMANCE

(All games tested are in 1080p)

Destiny 2 -High- 60 AVG FPS

No Man’s Sky -High- 56 AVG FPS

Surviving Mars -High- 60 AVG FPS

Frostpunk – Very High- 58 AVG FPS

GeForce Game Ready Driver Ver 471.68 08/10/2021 with GeForce optimal settings used

(All games played smooth with no tearing)

BENCHMARKS

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core) 1405

Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core) 7206

Pcmarks 10 6076

The conservative style of the laptop is modern without screaming that it's a gaming with branding or flamboyant colors. I partially like this since you bring it into a professional office environment. The laptop has a high-quality feel to it and in a form factor that is easy to carry or dropped into a bag. Laptop LCD lid has a slight flex with sturdy hinges and on the rest of the body there is no flex at all. Very light weight, thin and portable at 3.64 lbs which makes this a go to device for work or play.

Performance is more than enough for regular users, thanks to a powerful Ryzen 7 (R7-5800HS) CPU, fast SSD (M2) & dual channel 16GB DDR4 3200MHZ ram. I’m a bit of power user doing the with more than 25 tabs open on the browser, light video and picture editing for presentations, multiple spread sheets/documents open at the same time with everything quick and snappy. Multitasking with apps and casual gaming will not be a problem on this unit.

The LCD screen top is slightly longer and when you open the laptop, it props the keyboard upwards. This causes the keyboard to tilt which in turns improves the typing and allowing more air flow to the laptop on a flat surface. Typing on it is comfortable to use with no flex while depressing keys, travel is reasonable with a mushy feedback feel to it but responsive. Keyboard’s adjustable backlight is ok, but I do wish it was a little brighter on its highest setting. The touchpad is small but precise and smooth with Windows Precision drivers; two scrolling and gestures are good.

Laptop’s screen is a IPS matte 14-inch, 157 PPI, 1920x1080, 60HZ. 16:9, 320 nits in brightness, display has 97% sRGB & Adobe RGB profile 75.3%. The screen has a wide color gamut that is accurate which is a factor why media viewing & gaming looks good on this bright screen.

Sound volume is loud enough at 80% and quality wise, not bad for thin ultra-book speakers but don’t expect deep bass.

Ports: 1x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery, Display Port and G-Sync / 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C / 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A / 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack.

Thermals are good with CPU temp at 56C during general browsing and YouTube, fan running were quiet, and bottom of laptop got warm with spots by the top exhaust on the keyboard being slightly hot. During gaming CPU got to 79C. Laptop bottom heat is not unbearable during long play sessions and fan noise is not too loud on load.

Battery life on the 76 Wh battery was 7.20 hrs which is above average when compared to other gaming laptops. You will definitely get through a full work/school day with this laptop.

I really love this laptop , great performance , great price , and very portable

Perfect for coding , gaming in Mid level , and for work with adobe suit it’s really a nice product .

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus 14” is a no-nonsense laptop for the hardcore gamer on the go. First impressions of this laptop are how sleek and civilized it looks. The gamer aesthetic is subtle, looks and feels premium. ¼” thin bezels and minimalistic branding are also a big plus.

Big fan of its notebook form-factor as well, making it very portable.

Key stabilization is great on all keys and keyboard feels like any membrane keyboard. All keys have dimmable white backlighting which has customizable effects in the included Armory Crate software. Magnesium chassis has no deck flex with Dolby Atmos compatible, upward firing speakers. Another thing worth mentioning is the texture of the chassis feels comfortable when I rest my palms on it and will not attract smears and smudges.

ASUS’s “AI noise cancellation” is advertised to block out unwanted sounds from the microphone array. Was not able to get this feature to work even after an audio driver update and reinstallation of the Armory Crate software.

Next-gen RTX 3060 and Ryzen 9 5900HS shred through even the most intensive games at high settings. Paired with a 144hz, 1080p, variable refresh rate display, this trio creates a no-compromise buttery-smooth gaming experience. Don’t forget about workstation use, the Ryzen 9’s raw computing power is great for video editing, 3d rendering, and many more creative use cases. The SK Hynix NVME drive offers blazing fast read and write performance. Loads games in a heartbeat.

During heavy workloads, the fans are significantly quieter than other gaming laptops I have used. All this computing power comes with a cost, heat. The laptop gets uncomfortably hot on the bottom and very warm near the keyboard during intense gaming. However, cooling system keeps the temps in check, peaking at 76° on the CPU and 71° on the GPU under load.

This laptop has a myriad of thoughtful battery-saving features so you can enjoy longer cordless gaming sessions. For starters, Nvidia Geforce Experience has “batteryboost” optimized settings for games, which lowers the graphical fidelity of the games when on battery to save power while not sacrificing FPS. ASUS Armory Crate software also has preset “on-battery” and “performance” modes which automatically switch. Finally, the refresh rate of the display is locked to 60hz while on battery to greatly increase the battery life. Gaming on battery is still extremely smooth, even with all these features at work.

One drawback of this laptop is the absence of an integrated webcam. In this day and age where video conferencing is the norm, this redaction blemishes what is otherwise a near-perfect laptop.

Wi-Fi 802.11AX a big plus for future proofing or anyone who has latest AX (Wi-Fi 6) router. Incredible throughput with my Asus GT-AX11000 router.

Synthetic Benchmarks:

• 3DMark Timespy

- Overall Score: 6404 (Great)

- Graphics Score: 6161

- CPU Score: 8256

• Unigine Superposition (1080p High)

- Score: 8494

- Min FPS: 52

- Max FPS: 78

- Avg FPS: 64

• Blender BMW Render (CPU)

- Time: 03:38:86

• Blender BMW Render (GPU)

- Time: 05:35:26

• Crystal Disk Mark

- Sequential 1mb read: 3598 MB/s

- Sequential 1mb write: 2844 Mb/s

- Random 4kb read: 927 Mb/s

- Random 4kb write: 359 Mb/s

Real-world Gaming Benchmarks (All benchmarks were recorded with Nvidia’s optimized settings):

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019

- Min FPS: 79

- Max FPS: 139

- Avg FPS: 102

• Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

- Min FPS: 80

- Max FPS: 137

- Avg FPS: 104

• Escape from Tarkov (Customs Map)

- Min FPS: 32

- Max FPS: 85

- Avg FPS: 47

• Rocket League

- Min FPS: 202

- Max FPS: 251

- Avg FPS: 234

• Titanfall 2

- Min FPS: 55

- Max FPS: 146

- Avg FPS: 141

Hugely impressed with how much computing power and features can be packed into a small package. If you want to game all-out on the go, this laptop is for you.

I researched gaming laptops for weeks and to be honest this was not my first choice. The rumors of it overheating while under heavy loads were worrisome to me. The rumors were true and I was gaming at around 85C which seemed too much for me. After finding the solution which was to turn off the automatic boost built into the laptop. Because of this, I can 100% recommend this product. This 14' laptop with extremely powerful components in it gets up to 12 hours of battery life on a full charge. Absolutely blown away.

Pros:

- Plays all modern games I've thrown at it on Ultra

(Doom Eternal, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Forza Horizon 4)

- Has fantastic audio, much better than my macbook pro

- The screen at 144hz is very nice

- The keyboard is good and doesn't feel so chicklet-y

- Overall build quality is great

Cons:

- Too few USB ports, and they poke out on the right side, so if you put a mouse on the right side it collides with wires from anything else

- The keyboard is silver and lights up, in some lighting conditions it makes seeing what key is what very difficult.

- This baby gets hot! I highly suggest a lap desk and a cooling pad

- Although it has decent specs, clock speed on the gpu and cpu are clocked at lower frequencies likely for heat managment.

I want to go into a bit more detail than I see from others on this laptop and get into the pros and cons more deeply.

A quick summary would be that this laptop offers great performance especially for the size of the machine. Early battery tests of some light mixed usage yields results of 10-12 hours, inclusive of YouTube video playback of 1080p content. This is with the screen brightness at 50% and the screen refresh rate automatically lowered to 60hz, instead of the native 144hz. The 5900HS beats, in my testing, an Intel Core i7-10870H, and matches in testing an i9-10980HK., while the 3060 matches or beats a desktop 2060 while stock.

Delving into gaming, I tested Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p with the Highest Preset, and AA set to TAA. The game returned an average frame rate of 91 FPS. In Doom Eternal, with all settings cranked, the system gets over 130FPS on average, generally matching the 144hz refresh rate of the display.

At full stock settings, the laptop returned an overall score of 7532, with a score of 7324 for the GPU and 8985 for the CPU. Overclocking the memory by 150Mhz and the Core by 200Mhz using Armory Crate, and with the fans manually set to 100% yielded an overall score of 7959, with the GPU scoring 7798, and the CPU scoring 9016.

Temperatures are a bit interesting. With stock settings and running the system in Asus’ “Turbo” mode, the GPU stayed under 75°, and the CPU under 73°. Overclocked, the GPU pushed to 85° before setting the fans to 100%. Stressing both the GPU and CPU simultaneously in Turbo mode got the GPU to 77°, and the CPU to a toasty 96°. Setting the fans to 100% reduced the CPU temps to 86°, and the GPU to 71°. This was also using the same CPU and GPU stress testing.

With an overclock, the 3060 performs relatively close to an RTX 2070 Super Max-Q, with Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmarks showing a better result of 95FPS.

The response times of the display are a bit slower in practice vs other 144hz displays, but in games, I did not find it too noticeable. The fingerprint scanner is markedly improved over the last version of this laptop. Could just be drivers, but it definitely works faster and more accurately.

The keyboard backlighting is better than the previous version of this laptop, with the lighting being much more uniform, but during the day it is still hard to see due to the lighting being white on silver keys. Otherwise, the keyboard feels great to type on, with deeper travel than one might expect from a laptop so thin.

Removing the bottom panel allows the user to upgrade SSD, WIFI card, and 1 RAM module. 8GB is soldered to the motherboard.

The speakers are great with surprising clarity and bass. Using the default performance presets, they can easily overpower the sound of the fans when gaming.

I think this laptop is a great buy, with my only issues being the color of the backlight on the keyboard, lack of HDMI 2.1 (It has HDMI 2.0, but I think HDMI 2.1 would be more forward looking), and lack of ethernet, though the system has WIFI 6, and in my testing with a Netgear Nighthawk CAX80 Router, the system was able to achieve download speeds over 1400Mbps. The laptop does support USB-C charging, which works great, and the touchpad is fluid, and uses Microsoft’s precision drivers.

All around, I think this laptop would be a great companion for editing, code compiling, and gaming. Some of the things I’ll be using it for. I’d definitely recommend this laptop.

I'm writing this review after using ASUS G14 laptop for 15 days now. I'm used this laptop for my research and computational purpose of fluid flow and I'm so impressed by this. I had a choice of purchasing Macbook pro but I feel this had better configuration and best value for money. I love its battery backup and follow its recommendation of 80% balanced charge and I get 8-9hrs of work done on a single charge including reading papers and running python scripts. Best part is it has much needed ports that helps integrate with my monitor and headset. I didn't have to buy anything additional. And, it feels so light, it feels like carbon fibre body works of car. Sp light yet so strong. Best laptop to carry around.

One cons is it doesn't have webcam integrated but it has phone connect app, so i can use my phones camera for zoom meetings, but I already got extra webcam.

Overall great laptop. If I had one nitpick spec-wise, I wish it had a slightly lower CPU in exchange for a better GPU.

Some notes about using this after a month:

The display may appear washed out when you first use it. This can be improved by disabling Vari-Bright within Radeon Software (see first image). It's a power-saving measure, but it definitely hinders the display quality.

No webcam: I find this a great benefit, but many others may disagree.

The keyboard backlight is largely unnecessary. In dim lighting, the backlight may make the keys even harder to read. (see second image)

The bottom can be easily opened; the SSD and one stick of RAM can be upgraded (8GB are soldered onto the main board).

Other information can be obtained through video reviews, so please look there if you have not already. Search for "Gigabyte Zephyrus G14 2021", and most videos posted after February 2021 should be about this laptop.

It is amazing how the power of a high end desktop gaming PC from two years ago can fit into a 14inch laptop under 4lbs.

The Ryzen 9 5900HS cpu in this thing has enough power to be relevant for at least 3 years.

The RTX 3060 is a good balance of speed and power efficiency, although the 6GB may require realistic graphic detail adjustments in near future games. I do not think any gpu more powerful or higher wattage would be possible in this chassis. The RTX runs through Radeon iGPU which does reduce performance in cpu bound games, but allows freesync adaptive sync to eliminate stutter and tearing. The usb-c port on left side of unit supports displayport/hdmi directly from RTX 3060 with optional adapters. I verified Gsync works through usb-c port with displayport adapter to my external monitors. I have seen a lot of complaints that the HDMI port is not connected directly to RTX but I actually feel this is a good thing because it allows longer battery life when hooking up to projectors during business presentations where the power of RTX is not always needed. For simple slides and video, the Radeon is sufficient and the RTX can be used via Optimus if presentation requires more graphical grunt.

The cooling system is about as good as physically possible in a chassis this small without using a more expensive vapor chamber design. The liquid metal thermal interface on cpu helps minimize cpu thermal throttling issues. If running simultaneous cpu + gpu stress for prolonged periods, expect some mild throttling on either gpu or cpu as they share heatpipes. The VRMs seem to have dedicated cooling plate and pipe. Asus engineers seem to have found best balance between power and thermals.

The touchpad is small but very smooth and responsive. The keyboard has good layout. The backlight is improved in uniformity compared to last year, but still difficult to see in medium light conditions (especially at low keyboard light brightness). I put a 2021 G14 black keyboard cover on system and I think it makes system look better in medium/bright light rooms.

The speakers are loud and actually have some low frequency response. Probably the best speakers outside of a Macbook Pro.

The screen on my unit had minimal light bleed and good black levels. For text and videos, I had no complaints. Unfortunately, I do notice ghosting from the relatively lower response time. It is definitely better than last year’s model, but resembles a fast VA panel more than a fast IPS. Anybody sensitive to ghosting/response time should consider something else or use external monitor when not traveling.

The single m.2 slot and single SODIMM slot is disappointing but understandable. There is literally no space to fit additional slots due to small system. I wished all 16GB was soldered with open slot for user to add more. But I suspect more than 90% of users will find the 8GB soldered + 8GB SODIMM sufficient. At least there is option to increase RAM to 8 soldered + 32 sodimm in future even if only first 16GB will be dual channel.

Overall is probably the most processing/graphical power in the smallest/lightest laptop available on the market (Apple ecosystem users should also seriously consider Macbook Air or Pro M1). It is easy to carry around and allows use of up to 100watt PD USB-C charger to reduce need to take 180watt brick on trips. Just remember to get external webcam or learn how to use phone camera as webcam because there is no builtin webcam on this laptop.

When I was shopping for a new gaming laptop to replace my MSI Appache Pro 7RGE I wanted to look for a laptop that an AMD CPU and a better GPU something like a 1080Ti or 2070 Super. I stumbled across a post about Asus announcing their new G14 and G15 laptops supporting the new Ryzen 9th gen 4000 series mobile CPUs and throwing in 3060 and 3080's in them starting at $1499. Not gonna lie I flipped out lol I was incredibly excited about the news so I waited for them to drop and it was impossible to find one in any store, microcenter was even struggling to get them in but couldn't promise anything. So I checked our best buy and I found it available online so I didn't hesitate and bought the first available modle which happily was the G14 that came with the new Ryzen 5900HS and a 3060. Best upgrade....period....you can't find a laptop this powerful for under 2k, especially for it being only a 14in screen and weights just under 4lbs. I built a Ryzen desktop which I ended up doing 5k in and this laptop keeps up. If your ready this review do not hesitate, buy this model of the G14. Spending 1500 on gaming laptop and it keeps up with a rig with 5k worth of parts?....that rarely happens. Very impressed and satisfied with this laptop.

If you want a 13.3" ultra-lite 2-in-1 gaming computer, this is the only way to go. Literally.

Speed: The attached photo shows it all. I ran Passmark 3D on my Ryzen-9 3900 desktop with an old GTX-970, my newer HP Omen (9th Gen I-7, GTX 1650ti) and this PC (Ryzen 9 5900HS, RTX 3050). The desktop is the hands down winner. Surprisingly, the HP Omen came in second place, largely because the RTX 3050 sucks air. The processor speed is good, particularly for a laptop and blows away the 9th gen I-7. On the other hand, I am unaware of a faster ultra-lite or 2-in-1 on the market.

Battery Life: All the computing power results in a not great battery life. Real world battery life appears to be around 4-1/2 hours with the RTX-3050 turned off and somewhere under 2 hours with it on. I believe if you put the Ryzen on "low" and turn down the screen brightness, you can get around 7 hours of battery life.

Screen: It is a 2-in 1 so it has a touch screen which I view as necessary for a laptop. It has a 120Hz refresh rate (twice most screens) which is really good for gaming. The colors are colors nice and it bright enough for most situations. The screen is 16:10 which is wider than the standard 16:9.

Hard drive: Gaming requires substantial hard drive space as modern games are large. It is also nice for storing large data files such as movies.

Connectivity: It has only 1 standard USB port, a USB C port and an unusual port for an ASUS specialty external video card. It should have more ports and a micro-sd card reader. The lack of a card reader is a major disappointment.

Fit and finish: It feels solid. The keyboard is nice with adequate throw and good tactile feedback.

Conclusion: I very much like this PC. Great processor, screen, portability I give it an 8 out of 10 because the video card is not adequate and its lack of sufficient USB ports or a micro-sd slot.

I absolutely love the 13” ASUS ROG Flow, but not in the way I expected. At just over ½” thick and weighing under 3lbs, it’s super compact and practical, which makes it a joy to carry around and use either as a laptop or tablet. This is significant, because I usually don’t like 2-in-1 laptops. They’re often heavy, too thick, and cumbersome, making them more of a novelty than something convenient. But here, the Flow is just slightly thicker than a tablet with a case, and the bottom screen bezel doubles as a finger grip edge, so you’re not blocking the screen as you’re holding it. It’s well thought out to be practical, which is a common theme with the ROG Flow. From its relatively large keyboard, to responsive touch screen, wide trackpad, backlit keys, and 120hz PANTONE calibrated Gorilla Glass screen, it’s a fantastic daily and media use laptop. As a gaming rig by itself, it does well for what it is, but likely needs the optional XG Mobile attachment for serious Ultra graphics gaming.

BUILD / DESIGN

Well built and compact, the Flow X13 is a pleasure to carry around (especially coming from a 15” laptop). I love the matte black finish and the 360° screen hinges enable it to convert into a tablet, or tent it open to stand up like a table top TV. There’s a lot of small details that I appreciate, like the subtle curve to the keyboard keys for better tactile feedback and an excellent trackpad that doesn’t seem to miss. At about 0.65” thick, it’s even practical as a tablet with a responsive touch screen that’s also stylus compatible. ASUS claims a 10 hour battery life playing video at 150 nits, but it’s maybe more like 6-7 hours in practical use. It drops to about 3-4 hours for something more intensive like gaming, but it really depends on your settings and how you’re using it. The fingerprint reader (power button) works well, but is tiny and a pain to set up. However, after it’s set I noticed all I had to do was slide my finger across the sensor and it matched me quickly. The ports are up to date with two USB-C 3.2 gen 2 ports and one USB-A 3.2 gen 2 port. Be sure to look behind the rubber PCIe cover to find the 2nd USB-C port. The body’s all plastic, but it’s rigid with a high quality feel. The Gorilla Glass screen should ensure it can take as much abuse as most smartphones. No word on how it holds up to drops, but I’m hoping to never test that either. If that happens in your first year though, ASUS is cool enough to include 1 year of accidental drop protection after registering.

DAILY PERFORMANCE

Powered by an 8 core AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS CPU with onboard Radeon graphics and a secondary NVIDIA RTX 3050 Ti graphics card, ASUS crams a lot of power into a thin body. They keep the infrastructure speedy too, with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB NVME HD that tested at up to 2.5 GB/s on CrystalDiskMark tests. It’s remarkable that it doesn’t have cooling issues, but the thermal management works great and the fans are just about whisper quiet in every mode except Turbo. The bottom can get extremely hot in laptop mode, so beware of actually using it on your lap. This seemed to be more of an issue when gaming in Performance and Turbo mode though, so in regular day to day use, it’s likely fine. With the fan exhaust ports in the rear and right side, the cooling system works even better when the laptop is tented or in tablet mode, because the heat rises straight out of the top and even stays cool after 6 hours of streaming HD video. A dedicated Armoury Crate button quickly launches the app to make adjustments to the performance modes and screen settings. You can even save presets for specific games, which is really neat. For everyday office, streaming, web surfing, photo editing, and 4K video editing, the Asus Flow is snappy in both laptop and tablet modes. It’s an absolute pleasure to use as a main day to day laptop, but as a gaming laptop, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.

GAMING PERFORMANCE

As a stand alone gaming rig... it’s ok. It has the new RTX 3050 Ti GPU, which is Ray Tracing and DLSS capable, but you’ll need to find less demanding games to take advantage of it. Playing Doom Eternal on Ultra Nightmare settings, it averaged about 70-75 fps, which isn’t half bad if you know how crazy the game can be. However, playing it over HDMI on an extended monitor, the frame rate dropped to about 45-55fps, which was disappointing. Granted, this was with all of the graphic settings on Ultra Nightmare, which is a stress test for many computers, let alone a laptop. Turn it down just a notch and Doom’s super smooth on the 120hz screen. Cyberpunk2077 on the other hand…no. With low graphic settings playing on the internal screen, it struggled to even run at 60fps. However, there’s an XG Mobile peripheral, which is basically an external GPU hub powered by an RTX 3080 that should instantly turn the Flow X13 into a serious gaming rig. It plugs into a nifty PCIe 3.0 x8 port that’s proprietary to ASUS, but I hope it gets widely adopted. Even without the XG Mobile, there’s a lot of possibilities with a PCIe port, which should offer the same speeds as adding a PCIe card directly to the motherboard. Outside of the graphics, the speakers sound great with immersive depth and spatial imaging by Dolby. It’s not “surround” surround, but it creates a nice phantom 3 channel front stage. ASUS managed to include the same size keyboard that’s in my 15” Macbook Pro, ensuring that my hands won’t get cramped and helping to prevent hitting the wrong key. For the best gaming experience, be sure to switch it to Turbo performance mode in Armoury Crate for the fastest processing, and switch the graphics to high performance mode in either NVIDIA 3D settings or in the Windows Graphics Settings. The NVIDIA GeForce Experience app might do it automatically when it optimizes games to run best on your system, but you’ll have to do it manually for Xbox GamePass games. For some reason, the Flow seems to prefer to use the internal Radeon GPU over the NVIDIA, even when it’s plugged in and in Turbo performance mode. This is significant, because by default, it wanted to play DOOM Eternal with the Radeon GPU and was averaging only 40-45fps with the internal screen on Ultra Nightmare graphics. A good 30fps less than when using the NVIDIA! I would think there would be some kind of automatic switchover for high end graphics use, but I can’t tell how or when it decides to automatically switch to the Radeon or the NVIDIA GPU. Not a big deal for me, but definitely something to know if you want the best gaming experience from this laptop.

OVERALL

Overall, the ASUS ROG Flow X13 is a top notch 2-in-1 media laptop that’s relatively good for gaming. It can’t handle Cyberpunk2077, but DOOM Eternal on Ultra was fine, and it should be much smoother with less intensive games. When I think of a gaming laptop, I usually picture a 15” behemoth that’s “portable”, but not in a daily sense and acts more like a 2nd computer. ASUS flips the picture here with an emphasis on portability and practicality, making it great for daily use and why I like it in a different way than I anticipated. I’m using it far more than I anticipated and it’s quickly becoming my main computer. If you’re in the market for a portable laptop to do just about everything AND be a serious gaming machine with a full size graphics card, the ASUS ROG Flow X13 has the potential to be that. Add the XG Mobile peripheral and you’ll have a high powered laptop running an RTX 3080, which should handle most anything. Even if you don’t game and just want a high quality PC laptop with a better graphics card, the Flow X13 by itself should make you very happy. Highly recommended!

PROS

- Portable and practical

- Well built, attractive matte black finish

- 120hz screen refresh rate

- Responsive trackpad and touchscreen

- Converts into a tablet

- 15” keyboard

- Excellent Dolby sound

- Dual graphics cards (Radeon and NVIDIA 3050 TI)

- Two USB-C 3.2 gen 2 ports, one USB-A 3.2 gen 2 port

- Calibrated PANTONE color validated HD screen

- 16GB RAM (expandable to 32GB)

- 1TB NVME HD (2.5 GB/s on CrystalMark test)

- Backlit keyboard

- 8 core Ryzen 9 5900HS processor

- ASUS PCIe x8 port

- Ability to add ROG XG mobile external GPU for serious gaming

- Averages about 70 FPS playing DOOM Eternal on Ultra Nightmare

- Very quiet fans

- Asus pen stylus compatible

- Gorilla Glass screen

- Adaptive-Sync display support

- 16:10 screen ratio

- Free 1 year accident coverage from ASUS after registering

- Fingerprint reader

- Curved keys on keyboard

- Armoury Crate makes switching performance and color easy

- Link MyASUS works well with LG v50

CONS

- Screen is limited to 1080P (4K@60hz screen also available)

- Struggles to handle Cyberpunk2077 on low

- Bottom gets very hot in Turbo and Performance laptop mode

- Struggles to play DOOM Eternal on Ultra Nightmare on an external screen (avg 40 FPS)

- External screen output performance better for videos and media than gaming

- Needs ROG XG Mobile Dock to handle demanding games on Ultra graphics settings

- Forget about Crysis

- No ethernet port

- Fingerprint reader (power button) is small

- Doesn’t always automatically use the NVIDIA GPU for games

- Doesn’t have built-in game optimization program

Finally a laptop to replace the desktop.

Speed, capacity and graphics.

Boot up in seconds. Ample storage thanks to the 1tb SSD. Full 16gb RAM. AMD RYZEN multi-core 5000 chipset.

FHD 120HZ 16:10 display. ON/OFF finger print reader. Comes with HDMI output as well as wireless display capability thanks to native windows-10.

The touch screen functions like a tablet by folding the =keyboard over which disables the keypad for easy tablet work. I love the audio and backlit keyboard. USB, USB-C ports come in handing for charging and other accessories.

System Checkup via MyASUS.

Bought this recently on sale. It's a very compact laptop that's powerful for daily use and gaming. I enjoy using this laptop except for one fault: the lid will scratch the laptop near the vents whenever I open or close it. For a laptop that's only a few weeks old, this is disappointing and frustrating! Especially for someone like me who treasures the laptop. It almost made me return it, but I decided to keep it since I needed it for college.

Good laptop overall but I would not give it a perfect score as my laptop is now getting super noisy when the fan is running at high speed. The diagnosis says that my laptop might have a fan problem. OK, a fan problem after 3 months of buying. Not to mention screen problems that happen about once per week.

I would bet there is no better gaming laptop out there. Why do I say this? It offers everything you'd want in a gaming laptop or a serious business laptop, without making it a ball and chain tied to your leg.

It provides an amazing gaming experience, in a compact laptop size.

It has decent battery life, high performance, a display and video graphics card that will impress even the most hard to please gamers, and has standard 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. All of this in a laptop the size of most small 13" business laptops that are popular today.

From the keyboard, to the backlit touch pad, to the modest styling (not flashy, less likely to be robbed for it/have it stolen), to the proper sized fan for cooling, it seems this was well thought out and will separate itself from the amateurs. Did I mention the power button doubles as a fingerprint reader? Or that it is also a convertible, into a tablet? Or that the sound coming out of the speakers is beyond amazing.

As a business laptop, time is money. And this allows you to be most productive without a spinning wheel while it loads a page or saves/opens a large AutoCAD file. You can be off working or at least have open Outlook while you are listening to a web broadcast or working on AutoCAD. I've had many times I hear from peers in the drawing business that their bosses don't appreciate the productivity thing and cheap out. This is worth every penny if productivity is respected.

This is the first time I've used a gaming laptop and have thought it can be equally business as well as gaming because of its size and weight, plus nobody would know. That means a few things. It can be a dual duty machine. Or it can be used for business without folks thinking you are just a gamer who brought your machine to work for the day. The 16:10 ratio display, the graphics card, and the RAM/SSD on board means it can tackle just about anything you can throw at it.

But it is also a laptop that is easy to type on, and also the trackpad is responsive without having to scroll things 3 or 4 times to get a smooth scrolling on pages.

I’m a traveling professional who likes to play video games. I’m a little late to the PC gaming scene, but I’ve been enjoying it after investing in a several year old Alienware desktop and several year old Acer Nitro 5. It goes without saying that gaming laptops can’t replace desktop, but man, for me, someone who travels a lot with a laptop, this ASUS simply can’t be beat for the money. I can’t comment on all gaming laptops and compare one to another, but if you are in the market, ASUS demands your attention.

I’ve owned an older Alienware desktop, and have an Acer Nitro 5 for travel. This new Asus is now my go to. The Nitro is nice, but the NVIDIA GTX card was outdated (relatively speaking). And, it was pretty thick (not unbearably though). I haven’t tried the Razer Blade 13 inch, but I’d have to imagine the ASUS is the functional equivalent. Plus, the ASUS gives you the 360 degree hinge (which I’ll admit, isn’t a huge deal to me). The only downside is the limited number of USB ports, but it at least has a full size HDMI 2.1 port.

IN THE BOX

Not much. The laptop and USB charger. Some models I’ve heard come with a stylus and a sleeve, not this one. I’m okay without the stylus, but I’d like a sleeve. But no big deal.

SPECS

I won’t go over the specs in detail, Best Buy’s website is better for that. But know that it has two GPUs, an iGPU (AMD Ryzen integrated) for low power consumption. Obviously the RTX 3050 kicks in when you’re gaming, the iGPU integrated graphics kicks in when doing basic computing tasks. The screen is also full HD with 120 hz. While I’m a guy who always wants the highest resolution, 1080p on a 13 inch screen is more than sufficient. And the high refresh rate on the screen makes everything silky smooth, not just games.

GAMING

As a casual PC gamer (meaning I don’t build my own PCs, and don’t do my own upgrades) who plays a broad range of games and generally lets the computer tell me what the best graphics settings are, I found the ASUS to handle everything I could throw at it. I played Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry 5, and NBA 2K21, with a splash of Anno 1800. I let the computer pick the default graphics settings and I was pleasantly surprised. When gaming I used a Logitech gaming mouse and an Xbox controller (for NBA 2K).

I thought the RTX looked great, as good, or almost as good as the new generation of consoles. Of course, you’re playing on a smaller screen, but in having such a small laptop, that’s a tradeoff I’m willing to take. Not to mention the HDMI 2.1 port. I plugged in my Dell 27 inch gaming PC and I was able to run most games at QHD resolution on higher settings (with the higher refresh rate) and was, again, pleasantly surprised at the quality. I thought there would be some sacrifices and I’m sure there are when compared to a dedicated desktop PC with desktop grade graphics card but for the most part, the RTX card in the ASUS is all you need in most cases. The higher refresh rate is something you don’t know you need until you see it. It truly makes a huge difference in all games, not just competitive FPS. I really enjoyed playing Cyberpunk on this laptop and thought the game looked better than my several year old Alienware.

GENERAL LAPTOP USE

I dabble in video editing, mostly home movies of my kids captured on drones and GoPros. I found the ASUS to handle that well. It didn’t slow down much, if at all, when editing 4K videos. Of course, it’s not as quick as a desktop and I much prefer editing on a larger screen, nonetheless it’s more than capable of handling those types of tasks.

In terms of normal day-to-day computing, obviously this machine can handle it without problems. From web browsing, to video chat, to creating Excel spreadsheets and Word documents, it does great. And I can say the 16:10 ratio is particularly nice in having windows side-by-side. It’s not much more screen real estate, but at 13 inches, every little bit counts.

I found the battery life to be superb. I went nearly a week of general computer use without having to charge it. Obviously, gaming will knock the battery life down considerably.

KEYBOARD

You can’t really discuss a laptop without mentioning the keyboard. I type on a computer for work everyday, so the typing experience is a big deal to me. I prefer my mechanical keyboard, but you obviously don’t have the luxury of having a separate keyboard when traveling. In any event, this keyboard is pleasant to type on. It’s got plenty of travel and has a nice “clicky” sound/feeling that is satisfying to use (and not too loud to bother others. It doesn’t replace my mechanical keyboard on my desktop but it’s great for a laptop.

QUIRKS

I would be remiss to not mention some of the little quirks of this machine, or drawbacks. But they’re not really drawbacks per se, some are just limitations of any 13 inch thin laptop. The first is the fingerprint reader. I found it abysmal. I set it up when I started my computer but it recognizes my fingerprint maybe 10 percent of the time. I don’t even use it anymore. It’s on the power button, which I don’t mind, but it’s so unresponsive I wonder why it’s even there.

Ports. I know this is a small gaming laptop, but there are only 3 ports. HDMI, USB-C and your standard USB-A. There is a spot for ASUS’ proprietary docking cable, which is suited for the base model of this laptop (so you can plug in the RTX card to an external graphics unit). But for this particular model it ends up taking space that could have been used for an additional USB port. Obviously there’s little utility in plugging in another laptop RTX card in the external port when one is built in. But I digress. The biggest issue with the lack of ports is that you need the USB-C to charge it. So when you’re gaming, there goes one of the USB ports.

I need to mention that this is a 360 laptop so the screen flips all the way around. Like I said, that’s cool and I guess it’s nice to have, but I rarely use that feature. I do very much appreciate the touch screen as I generally use it when scrolling through documents/web pages. And it’s extremely responsive. Had this come with a stylus, I might have found myself doodling on it, but without that, I find it’s use as a tablet extremely limited (mostly due to limitations in Windows itself.)

CONCLUSION

All-in-all, this is my new favorite computer and easily replaces my 15 inch Acer Nitro. Not only because of the better GPU, but the size, build quality, and frankly all around package, is much more useful to me. From gaming, to work, this computer can handle it all. Like I said, if you are in the market for a small laptop, that travels well AND can handle most PC games on higher settings, this is one to seriously consider. Thus far I’ve found very little to not like.

The ROG Flow x13 has the looks and feel of an ultraportable 2-in-1, but is hiding an 8-core Ryzen processor and RTX graphics. It doesn’t have the best battery life and it can get pretty dang hot under load, but I’ve found it to be a capable compact gaming machine that could handle most modern games I threw at it at 1080p 60+fps.

In the box you get just the laptop and power adapter. One of the cardboard pieces can be folded up into a stand though, which is neat. The power adapter is a 100W USB-C PD supply. I definitely appreciate not having to deal with a proprietary power supply and bonus for me was I was already carrying a 100W PD supply anyway so I don’t even have to add the extra bulk to my bag. The build quality laptop is solid; the metal has a soft touch quality to it while I do think it skews a little TOO plain I do appreciate the understated design, especially in a gaming machine. The hinge feels strong and the screen doesn’t wobble much at all while I’m typing or gaming on it. The keyboard also feels good to type on and is decent for gaming; the keys are spaced well and I like the feedback I get from them. The keyboard is backlit, but there’s no RGB lighting, which again is fine for somebody like me who likes a more understated look anyway. The trackpad feels like it’s on the small side, but it’s very responsive and supports all the standard Windows gestures. The port selection is decent with 2 USB-C (one part of the proprietary eGPU connection), 1 USB-A, a headset jack, and an HDMI output.

Getting setup was pretty straightforward. There were a lot of updates to deal with in regards to Windows, Nvidia drivers, and the bundled Asus software, but once that was out of the way everything settled in pretty well. There was a tiny amount of bloat in the start menu with some games, a Spotify icon, and a couple of other things, but nothing that took more than a second to get rid of. The Armoury Crate software I found to be more useful than I expected and it’s a good app to manage your power profiles, Asus-specific laptop functions, and see some performance stats.

Gaming was about what I expected. I knew the 3050 Ti wasn’t going to measure up to the RTX 2080 that I use on my desktop, but it ended up performing well except in the ray tracing department. Control with graphics set to high, DLSS quality (720p rendering), and all ray tracing effects put in frame rates at around 20-27 fps. Turning ray tracing to medium didn’t help much, but turning it off completely got me around 55fps; not quite 60 but acceptable to me and that’s still with everything else set to high. Battlefield V was a similar story where performance was in the 20fps range with ray tracing turned on, but jumped up to around 60 with it turned off. Running less demanding games like Halo I was able to get 90-110fps at max settings and it all looked really good on the 1900x1200 120Hz display. Forza Horizon 4 I was also able to get running at high settings at 90-110fps. Asus advertises the Flow x13 with ‘Adaptive Sync’, but I do not think it is G-Sync compatible, or at least I was not able to get it to work. The ‘Adaptive Sync’ seems to only apply to using the integrated graphics, which is a shame. With the 3050 Ti I found with all but the most demanding games I had that I could run 60+ fps at high settings and the games that are on the edge you could get them there by making a few smart adjustments. I don’t think ray tracing is a reasonable proposition for this GPU though it just seems a bit too demanding. Asus does have a special external GPU accessory that contains an RTX 3080 for higher-end gaming, but at $1500 it’s an expensive add-on that is only compatible with this specific laptop. One thing I did notice was under high loads the laptop gets quite hot near where the screen meets the base - uncomfortably so if you have it on bare skin or try to pick it up.

Other notes:

- The power button on the side also serves as a fingerprint reader. It works well, but it’s hard to get to it by feel and I wish there was a fingerprint reader on the keyboard deck.

- The webcam is 720p and is okay, but not great.

- Battery life is sort of a mixed bag, but it seems like 3-6 hours is what I am getting depending on what I’m doing and the power setting.

- I got the back taken off to look inside and it came off pretty easy after removing 9 screws, but besides replacing the SSD and maybe the battery if necessary there doesn’t appear to be much to upgrade inside.

Overall I think the Flow x13 is a great compact gaming laptop that could also double as a work/productivity device without sticking out too badly. Even though the eGPU is expensive, I like the idea of getting that to have a powerhouse at your desk and a thin and light on the go.

---- Summary ----

Pros:

- Thin and lightweight

- High performance

- Long battery life

- Large and responsive touchpad

- Spacious keyboard

- Crisp and colorful display

- Great value

Cons:

- Internal fans can get loud

- No webcam

---- Review ----

Design:

Asus got me hooked on this laptop right away. Even the unboxing experience reflects the time and effort put into the design. For example, when opening the box's lid, the ROG Zephyrus G14 slowly lifts towards you as if you're being presented with your next best laptop. It also allows for easy removal from the box. Maybe it’s just me who found this cool, but what I’m getting at is the attention to detail is noticeable and appreciated. One of the first things I noticed about Zephyrus G14 is how small it is, and I mean small in a good way. Many gaming laptops are large, bulky, and heavy. Whereas, this laptop is the complete opposite. I’m reminded more of a professional work or daily use laptop than a flashy gaming laptop, and that’s right up my alley. While I do love to game, I prefer a laptop that is portable and easy to use as my daily driver. Typing on the keyboard feels comfortable since it’s at a slight angle towards you, there’s no compromise in size, and all the keys are very responsive. Additionally, they’re backlit. I also appreciate the dedicated keys for volume, microphone mute, and ROG Armoury Crate for easy access above the keyboard. The power button is above the keyboard as well, and it doubles as a fingerprint sensor. Another aspect of the design that I like is the touchpad, which is large and responsive. The only thing I’d wish for is a webcam. While I don’t use one regularly, it would be nice to have one built into the laptop, especially since I’m using it as my daily driver. Even with that minor inconvenience, I’m a big fan of the Zephyrus G14’s design. I’d even go as far as saying it’s one of the best-designed gaming laptops I’ve seen on the market.

Performance & Gaming:

I won’t bore you with a bunch of benchmark test results. If you’re into that, there’s plenty of other reviews online that can be referenced. What I’ll say is that I’ve had a phenomenal gaming and daily use experience with the Zephyrus G14. The game I’ve been playing lately, Call of Duty Warzone, exceeds my performance expectations, and I tried out a few other games as well. All have performed very well, and the display of this laptop delivers a crisp, high definition image that’s full of color. The internal fans can get loud sometimes, especially while gaming, but I don’t feel that I’ve tested enough gaming laptops to say that they’re abnormally loud or not. Fortunately, there is a “Silent” setting in the ROG Armoury Crate software that does place more of an emphasis on noise reduction, and it’s pretty effective. Although I use headphones often, the speakers on the Zephyrus G14 sound great. For a laptop of its size with just a couple of small openings for sound, I was impressed. Battery life also impressed me. I average around eight hours of battery life for normal daily use and around three hours while gaming, but I’d recommend staying connected to get the most out of the gaming experience that the Zephyrus G14 has to offer.

Verdict:

With its compact design, high performance, and long battery life, the Zephyrus G14 pushes the limits. It’s not what I’d expect from a gaming laptop, in a good way. When I envision a gaming laptop that’s also portable and well suited for daily use, I can’t think of anything better. The icing on the cake is that this laptop is a great bang for your buck. Overall, the Zephyrus G14 is an exceptional laptop for gaming and productivity.

I always appreciate when a manufacturer puts some thought into how they package their devices. When you open the box, it lifts and tilts the laptop slightly to allow you to remove it. It's not much but a bit of clever box engineering, but it adds a touch of class to your first impression.

The device itself is light, but feels sturdy and premium. Unlike most "gaming" laptops (which are often full of sharp geometry and LED lighting), this goes for a bit more of an "executive" feel. Although there are "gamer" details worked into the design, they're subtle. You could easily take this with you on a buisness trip without it seeming out of place, and fire it up for some gaming action in your hotel room. The shell is made from aluminum and solid-feeling plastic, and it just feels nice to use. There's a laser-engraved "Republic of Gamers" plate on the lid that looks classy and is a nice touch.

This is the first 14" gaming laptop that I've used. I have a 15.6" MSI laptop and this feels almost infinitely more portable. I could easily throw it and it's charger into a bag and go. My MSI and it's massive power adapter need a full-size backpack to lug them around, so mostly it just sits at home.

The cooling system appears to draw air down from in front of the screen and expells it from either side of the laptop, which is probably the most effective means of laptop air cooling. In periods of extended "testing", the laptop never got uncomfortably hot, and I was able to keep it on my lap. This is the third gaming laptop I've owned, but the first that's been able to accomplish this.

The screen is super sharp to look at. I'm accustomed to looking at a 27" 4K monitor for most of my work day, and this screen has a similar pixel density (about 157ppi at 1920x1080) due to it's 14" size. I also feel that this makes games look better than you'd expect, even at lower quality settings. I felt that most games on medium settings looked great and weren't lacking for clarity or detail.

Battery life is good. Not great, but good, which is about all I've ever been able to say for a laptop, especially a gaming one. By default, the Nvidia Experience software will work it's wizardry to maximize your battery life when not plugged in. It does this by limiting FPS to 30 and overriding your game's visual settings to put them somewhere in the neighborhood of medium. It's remarkably consistent at doing this, and maintains a solid 30 fps in whatever game I seem to be playing. Plugging the laptop back in near-instantly restores your visual quality to what you had it set at. Games are still very playable, of course, but you can easily tell that they're running at 30 frames. The primary benefit to this is that you can get about 2.5 to 3 hours of gaming on battery. You can absolutely turn this function off if you want (using the Nvidia Experience software) but the hardware in this laptop eats a lot of power, and like most gaming laptops, will chew through your battery in around 45 minutes without any power-saving measures. My personal thoughts on the matter are that if I'm unable to plug the laptop in, I want the battery to last as long as possible, so I'll leave this function on.

It has two USB-A 3.1 ports and two USB-C ports, as well as a standard HDMI out and a combination headphone/mic jack. There is no webcam, which allows for a small screen bezel all the way around. I mostly mention this because webcams are basically standard laptop equipment, so if that's a dealbreaker for you, you'll have to look elsewhere. It has a fingerprint reader, which I like to use and works about as well as you'd expect a fingerprint reader to work. Sometimes it reads right away, sometimes it wants me to try again, three or four times, before it recognizes my finger.

The laptop is snappy and responsive when performing tasks like surfing the web, and while I didn't test it much in this regard, I'm sure it can handle most office productivity apps with ease.

But the most important part, of course, is how well it performs playing games. It's a gaming laptop, after all. Now, the GTX 1650 Super is an entry-level gaming solution, but it's also a good one. It's meant to handle 1080p graphics on medium to high settings at 30-60 fps, depending on the game's demands. On the surface, this is a good match for the laptop's 60Hz screen, and since 60fps is currently the gold standard for mainstream performance, that's what I'm going to target in this review.

I tested 11 games, using the the following criteria:

1. The game must run at native resolution (1920x1080)

2. Vsync must be enabled (I hate screen tearing)

3. Performance must be at or near 60fps average

All other performance based settings were negotiable, but I wanted to use presets for simplicity's sake. You can, of course, tinker with advanced settings in most games if you're the kind of person who enjoys that. Of the 11 games I tested, all were able to hit acceptably close to 60fps on at least medium settings, and most of them were able to maintain framerates higher than 45 on maxed settings at 1080p. I understand that "medium" is an unexciting term for graphical performance, but as I mentioned before, it still looks pretty darn good thanks to the pixel density of the screen, and most modern games look pretty good on medium anyway.

These are the games tested, using the critera I mentioned above, and the highest "quality" preset where 60fps could be maintained during active gameplay.

FarCry 5 - Normal Preset

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - High Preset

The Outer Worlds - Medium Preset

Yakuza Kiwami 2 - High Preset

State of Decay 2 - Ultra Preset

Doom (2016) - Ultra Preset

Nier: Automata - Medium Preset

A Plague Tale: Innocence - Medium Preset

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Ultra Preset

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 - Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey - Medium Preset

Overall, I think this is a fantastic little laptop. If you're looking for something light and easily portable that screams "executive" just a little louder than it does "gamer", I don't think there are any better options than this. The whole "work" facade does unfortunately run into some trouble with it lacking a webcam, especially if "work" for you requires remote meetings under the current situation. Of course, a USB webcam is always a possibility. In terms of value, I don't think it's hard to find more powerful (albeit larger, hotter, heavier and less portable) laptops for less money, so if style and a small form factor isn't something you care about, you might be better looking at other options. If you DO like this model, there are more powerful versions of it (one with a GTX 1660 ti and another with an RTX 2060 Max-q) that may actually be a better bang for your buck if you can swing the upcharge, but this is still a very solid piece of machinery that can handle most of what you can throw at it without any problems, and I'd definitely recommend it.

I was provided this product by Asus through Best Buy's Tech Insider Network for the purpose of writing an unbiased review.

This is a great little laptop, just not for gaming. For a good gaming experience, you need good hardware, and the specs on this model just aren't enough. If you're a hardcore gamer though, you would know that right away just by looking at the specs. But since this is a ROG - Republic of Gamers - model, it needs to be brought up.

For testing, I decided to try out a racing game that's almost 2 years old now, Forza Horizon 4. It's a fairly demanding game, but not the newest and latest. As soon as I opened it up I got warnings that this ROG Zephyrus didn't meet the hardware requirements. It still let me start it up though, and then another warning popped up that the graphic settings had to be adjusted to "Very Low" in order to run, but it still may not be smooth. I was able to play the game in these settings, and honestly, the laptop kept up. The graphics were obviously not great being in "Very Low" settings, but I was able to drive around the open world and race no problem.

So for the serious gamer, there are better options out there. If you're NOT a gamer, or only play more casual games, then this laptop does pretty good. It handles everyday tasks no problem. Being a software developer, I spun up a server and small application and did a little bit of coding. It handled it without any issues.

Pulling this out of the box, its presented very nicely, with the laptop being lifted up as you open the lid of the box, a nice touch to be honest. Lifting it up its a solid device and seems to be built very well. The casing though (other than the outside of the lid), doesn't really have that premium look to it. But really its what's inside that counts anyway.

It's a smaller laptop so the keyboard isn't that great, but the keys have decent travel and feedback. The trackpad however is a bit stiff when it comes to clicking. I found myself wanting to connect a bluetooth mouse asap.

I did have an odd thing happen though when first using it. I plugged it in to charge for a few hours at first like the starter guide suggested. I then moved to my office, plugged it back in and all of a sudden Cortana from Windows started talking, BEFORE I even opened up the laptop! It just started up on its own, and the power button is on the inside so you can't press it without opening the lid, which I didn't do. Weird.

The power button also has a fingerprint scanner. During setup it asks you to move your finger around to get a good read of your print. Not sure how well this works though. Last couple times I powered the computer back up, it told me it couldn't read my fingerprint and forced me to use my pin to login instead.

One negative that is very noticeable is the fan. From the moment this computer is turned on, it runs. Even when the CPU usage is at 0%, it runs. When you unplug it and run off battery, it doesn't run as fast and loud, but it still always runs. Plugged in and it's annoyingly loud. As a developer I have multiple computers, my work computer runs 2 external monitors and has a LOT of programs running at any given time, yet remains silent, not the case with this computer. Turning the computer off gives you a sense of relief when you no longer have to hear the fan running.

On a very positive note though this has amazing battery life. After being charged to 100%, I unplugged it and put on some videos and threw them on a loop while I was working. After 8 hours of playing videos on battery alone, it said I still had over 2 hours of use left on the battery! All the while with the fan even running non-stop (although more silently since it was unplugged).

Overall this a great little computer. Great for everyday tasks, business use, and even as a development machine. When it comes to gaming though it's a bit lacking, but the fact that this falls under the ROG umbrella of gaming machines, it has to be mentioned.

I fell in love with this laptop as soon as I pulled it out of the box. Not only is it a beautiful piece of hardware, it's practical as well - gaming on the go is nice but not if you're breaking your back to carry the thing around. This laptop is light, pretty, quick, and powerful all in one package. That's rare, particularly for a laptop. In fact, it's so rare that this is the first laptop I haven't been disappointed in. I've been able to play AAA games on this machine flawlessly. NieR: Automata, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Borderlands 3 have all run extremely well. On top of that, the snappy SSD means it's great for things other than gaming as well. The laptop boots up faster than my phone, which means that in the time I've had it it's become my go-to device to pull some quick info off the internet. Speaking of which, the blazing fast WiFi capabilities of this thing put every single other device I have to shame save for the one wired computer.

There are a few flaws to it, however. Most of them are minor things - the lack of an owner's manual was off-putting to say the least as I'm pretty sure I'm still not getting everything I can out of this computer, and the fingerprint sensor is a temperamental thing that I still haven't been able to use successfully. At times it can get quite hot and the fans are loud, but that's just a fact of life. The one fatal flaw this laptop has is that the SSD it comes with, while fast, is only 500GB. That's less than my launch edition Xbox One. Even my old gaming laptop from 2013 has more storage. However, I'm prepared to forgive this because of how the laptop excels in basically every other area, and the fact that it appears to be easy to upgrade as opposed to most other laptops which tend to break if you open them.

This laptop does have a few odd quirks. For one, while it has an excellent microphone array and Dolby Atmos surround sound, there's no webcam. At least, not that I've found. I like that, but some may find it off-putting. Additionally, the fingerprint sensor isn't actually marked, and it took a bit of guesswork to find it and set it up (not that it worked anyway, but maybe my fingers are just sweaty). Also, apparently there are LEDs integrated into the lid, but if that's true I haven't the faintest idea how to set that up or make them do anything. Again, the lack of an owner's manual has been a real annoyance. Finally, the lights on this laptop are just a soft white instead of RGB like most gaming systems seem to be these days. This is a thing I really appreciate, but again may be off-putting to some.

Despite its flaws, using this laptop has been a real pleasure and I find that I've been neglecting my custom-built desktop in favor of it. *Most* things are easy to figure out about it or are self-explanatory, and the rest can be looked up online. I'd definitely consider the ROG line of computers for future purchases.

Now at Best Buy ($1100), this entry level, yet speedy 14-inch ASUS gaming laptop makes the most of what’s inside and shows itself to be an unexpectedly excellent performer.

Speaking of what’s inside:

“ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 Laptop: Enjoy everyday gaming with this ASUS notebook PC. The AMD Ryzen 7 4800HS processor and 8GB of memory deliver fast and smooth performance during intensive gaming, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card renders high-quality videos for enhanced videos and games. This 14-inch Full HD ASUS notebook PC has a 512GB SSD that provides storage for all types of files.”

Let’s dissect, starting with the processor. AMD is on a roll with their Ryzen processors. The base AMD Ryzen 7 in this laptop has downright respectable performance!

“Only” 8 GB RAM may seem skimpy. Consider its job, however. The basic NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card with 4 GB of its own onboard RAM performs what would have required not only higher performance in the AMD processor, but also more RAM dedicated to that main processor. It gets the job done well.

While on the topic of RAM, it is soldered on the motherboard. On other laptops, there might be a removable door on the laptop bottom, under which would be found the customary two modules, usually supporting up to 32 GB. While removing screws on the bottom panel will reveal a single available slot, I recommend leaving it alone on this laptop. Performance is adequate for most basic gamers and beyond. After all, this is an entry-level machine. Performance will fool you into thinking there is more power under the hood.

The matte finish display on this model looks just fine.

Sound is nothing short of amazing, owing to Dolby Atmos processing and well-designed speakers. I was in disbelief. I could have sworn there were speakers way out to the sides and behind, but there were none. Sure sounded that way. I asked a friend to sit in and listen. The reaction was as expected. A quick head shake, look to the sides, exclamation of shock and amazement. This is so much fun.

A pair of microphones is built into the top of the screen bezel.

With a 512 GB capacity SSD (Solid State Drive), there is adequate storage for more than gaming.

When opened, the design of the display hinge provides a rear lift for better keyboard approach position as well as a greater air gap underneath for more efficient cooling. Pressed into high performance operations, there will be some heat!

One feature absent on this series is a webcam. Also absent is touchscreen capability, though this is not important to me.

Battery life is specified at 10 hours, though I did not perform the requisite tests to validate battery claims. Anecdotally, it does not appear to be a power hog.

Despite my initial misgivings about 8 GB RAM, I am pleased to report that game play functions perfectly normally. Fortnite? Looks and performs just fine. Blade & Soul? Check. Nice, very nice.

The excellent gaming action enhanced by Dolby Atmos sound provides an entirely pleasing overall experience. The same can be said for the streaming video experience with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others. Nothing at all to complain about. Only praise is due here.

Everything being relative, is the action as sharp, seamless and snappy as on a high-end gaming rig feeding a wide screen, high end display? No, it is not.

However, as a multipurpose and capable gaming laptop with a $1,100 pricetag, it more than fills the bill, even considering the extra cost of an inexpensive USB webcam.

Sweet laptop, very sweet.

ASUS provides US customers with a one-year warranty.

Buy with confidence, and enjoy.

This is an amazing laptop, BUT this particular configuration is worth it only if you’re getting it for 800$ or below.

At its original price, I would not recommend this at all.

Tried a variety of games (no AAAs), Civ 6 runs excellent even far into a game, battery life is excellent, computer dissipates heat really well. The largest gripes I have about the laptop is no usb c charging, fans can get pretty loud, and the 8 GB of ram seemed to get bogged down pretty quick when trying to game with anything going on in the background. Overall, solid machine! oh side note, the packaging was really awesome :).

i! I am thankful that I have the opportunity to test and evaluate this sweet machine. I am not a kid anymore and I remember when the first Acer computers I encountered back in the mid-80's and they have come a long way. I used to think Acer=cheap but not anymore.

This is a classy machine. The screen is beautiful, the keyboard has large keys and the touchpad is large, as well. The on/off switch also doubles with a fingerprint reader. The machine seems to have enough ports to accommodate most people's needs.

You can read the specs elsewhere on Best Buy's page. or even on some of the other reviews.

I got this laptop thinking it was primarily a game machine. For some, that might be true. For my purpose, it seems to be an very good home pc with some great entertainment features - specifically the video and sound hardware.

I've only had this machine a few days in my possession so I am not quite ready to call this a full review. I intend this machine to be used for video editing, slideshow presentation, web browsing, email management, and word processing.

I probably should test some games and I have been pretty much out of that loop for a while now. If someone has a suggestion, I'd be glad to know it.

Everything seems to be much better than average as a home pc. I'm sure there are more powerful specs in gaming laptops but for the price I would have no problem recommending this laptop except for the most demanding gamer.

I am writing this on August 9, 2020. I will be back at the end of the month to give my full report.

I don’t understand the negative reviews for this computer. I bought it at 650$ and it is an excellent value. The build quality is great, the screen is 1080p IPS and is plenty bright. It is not a “gaming” pc but it does play games very well like TF2 and Fortnite.

Very fast and responsive.

So far so good. The 8 GB of memory hasn't hindered me yet and Autocad loads very fast. I like the touch screen since I use my iPad a lot and have come to enjoy that form of interface. All in all an excellent product with a cutting edge CPU. Oh, and the quality of the screen is excellent.

I'm really amazed by this machine. I have some history now with Asus, thanks to Best Buy for the opportunity! This began with the purchase one year ago of a Q536 on closeout. It had some issues with function keys, there was some light bleed with the beautiful 4K LCD display, the touchpad was annoying because it was intermittent - unpredictably so. Driver updates did not take care of it, so I adapted. Then over the following months I discovered Microsoft Surface machines and the Asus sat. It was second class - well built, reliable, fast, but funky. All metal build, but little annoyances that were there every time I used it. Pretty, but not svelte and it did not fit my interest in having a daily driver that I could carry around with me. So, I set it aside, and then sent it on it's way to a new home.

Sometime later I tried the Q407. Beautiful but again pretty annoying from an every day use perspective. I'd grown accustomed to touchscreen, and it has none. I'd purchased one for less than $400 as open box, and the condition was great... but it just did not cut it, so back it went to Best Buy. I realized that if it were free I would not have used it. Then a Zenbook Flip 14, the Q427. Such a nice block of aluminum, with 10th gen Intel 17-10510U and MX250. Light bleed was gone, the display great, but performance was middling, and at 3.2 lbs the weight was not ultra portable. Through this time my experience was that Asus did not really have the cooling solutions down yet, and so performance lagged, the laptop got hot, it was not portable enough and on the other side not powerful enough. So, off it went too, to a nice new home. Still, I would recommend it.

Then in February, I was able to purchase the new 4K UHD OLED powerhouse, the new Tiger Lake Flip 14, Asus Q538. Oh my goodness, what a wow! There are no reviews on this machine, and I'm interested to see what the reviewers will say. On BestBuy.com it gets great reviews for sure, it's 95% recommended, almost unheard of. This is Apple iPad Pro territory. Everything is perfect about it. They sorted out the cooling and there are cooling vents everywhere, but without eliminating a good selection of ports. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports for the first time with Display Out. I7-1165G7 with GTX1650TI. It's a benchmark monster - at only 4.19 lbs, built like a tank, the most beautiful laptop display I've ever seen, fast and faster. Every little issue was gone, all engineered out. These guys have blown me away.

But, I could not keep it - even though the price was only $1149 on sale when I got it (and I'd gotten it as Open Box for only $999), it was way over our budget and I should not have purchased it. So I returned it, please forgive me Best Buy.

Which brings us to this Q507. Still we needed a second laptop, something with an Intel or AMD processor, reasonably fast, able to edit videos, with a larger than 13" monitor. And so I took a chance with this, at only $550 for open box on recent sale ($649 new). It was tough to settle, but this one was budget friendly, we could do it - and again like the Q407 the price for the performance that this offers is really unheard of.

So, after a few days, I am amazed with this machnine. All of the little issues that had been encountered with prior machines are all gone. Performance is amazing! The R7-4700U benchmarks at the same levels as the new I7-1165G7. Actually a little better, both in CPU and GPU. The MX350 benchmarks at 30% the speed of the RTX1165. The display is not an OLED 4K, this was what I was most concerned about. In fact the spec from Asus is 45% NTSC and 250 NITs. It's not for outdoors. This means only 70% or so of sRGB - but from a display snob I'll say that this display is great! Again, no light bleed. None. It's not bright enough for use in direct sun, so you will need to evaluate your use case - but for me it's strictly an indoor machine. Colors are vivid, I sit it next to my Surface Pro X and can tell a difference, but what I turn that machine off and go back to this my experience is solid. Good. Colors do not seem muted or washed out.

Some who review this talk about sound being low, and this is out of the box. As soon as it's set up the "fix" is simply to open up "Realtek Audio" app, and use the nice equalizer panel to turn up the audio level and fine-tune the sound. Then it will stand up well versus just about any premium laptop audio, better than most. It runs cool, and the cooling is good enough that processor performance does not degrade much, there is not much evidence of temperature throttling. 4.19lbs, down from the 4.65lbs in the prior Q536. Tiny bezels - 90% screen to body ratio.

Seriously, this stands up so well versus the $1,500 1080P version of the Lenovo Yoga C940 15.6" with I7 and GTX1050. Graphics benchmarks are not far apart. The display is fine, I'm sure that if you are a photo or video editor you won't have the same color paletter or accuracy to work with, but a $150 external display will take care of that. Processor benchmarks? In Cinebench R23 this processor scores 6200+ for multi-core. The I7-9750H is a little lower! And, it was $550. $649 new if you wait for the sale.

This is long, I pray it will be helpful. I'll just close it with this. If you have a budget, and still want a fast, reliable and solid 15" plus laptop, I cannot imagine anything better than this. You can step up to the Q528 or Q538 with $3-800 more, but from Lenovo or HP you cannot touch something like this for less than $1K more and up.

$649? ($550)? Incredible.

Thank you Asus, Thank you Best Buy.

I bought this laptop recently on sale for $649.99 and for that price I think its a steal. Especially for the specs you get,

Build Quality: The build quality of the laptop is very good. All aluminum chassis and glossy, glass-covered touch screen display. Keyboard is backlit and feels good. Has a number pad but its smaller than other keyboards I've used. Touchpad is decently sized and click feels good out of the box. Aluminum feels lightweight and may be prone to dents if computer is handled rough but laptop has almost no flex anywhere. Display hinge is tight but since the screen swivels all the way back it actually helps keeping the screen in the position you want it.

Specs: The specs you get at this price are pretty much unbeatable in my opinion. The new Ryzen mobile chips are killer in terms of performance and efficiency. And its almost impossible to get a laptop with any sort of dedicated graphics at this price. Laptop is plenty fast for everyday tasks and casual gaming. I can play games like Overwatch and Fortnite with no issue at around High settings. Laptop never gets very hot even when gaming. Fan does turn on often but isn't super loud. Only gripes are the RAM is soldered to the motherboard and the SSD is only 256GB. Luckily the SSD can be upgraded.

Display: Laptop has a 1920x1080 IPS touch screen panel. Very good color and the AMD Radeon app has a lot of color customization to fine tune. Screen swivels back to turn the laptop into a tablet which is cool. Display doesn't get overly bright though. Coupled with glare, outdoor use might be difficult. Plenty bright for indoors

Battery Life: Laptop has a 56whr battery. I am averaging 6-7 hours of light use like web browsing and streaming. Battery life while gaming or doing intensive tasks would be reduced significantly I can imagine. I would rate battery life above average but not 9 hours like Asus claims.

Conclusion: If you can get this laptop on sale I think its a no-brainer purchase. The laptop is very capable and would be good for both portable computing and use at home. At its retail price of $800 I still think its a good buy but I would definitely shop around to compare. There are a lot of other great laptops too in the $800 price range.

Pretty good laptop for the price. I caught it on sale last month for 649.00, which is a very good price for this machine.

The build quality of the laptop is very good with an aluminum chassis and glossy, glass-covered touch screen display. Keyboard has a good feel, and it has a numeric pad, albeit very slim, and considerably smaller than other keyboards I've used. Touchpad is decently sized and click feels good out of the box. Aluminum chassis is lightweight, but stains easily, as does the screen. Not sure how rugged the aluminum top is. It has little flex. Display hinge is tight but since the screen swivels all the way back it actually helps keeping the screen in the position you want it. The hinge allows one to completely flatten the laptop out. Not sure this is of any practical use.

Specs: The specs for this price are pretty much unbeatable, in my opinion. The new Ryzen mobile chip greatly enhances performance and efficiency. And its almost impossible to get a laptop with any sort of dedicated graphics at this price. Laptop is plenty fast for everyday tasks and casual gaming. Laptop never gets very hot even when gaming. However, during normal gaming, the fan turns on often and is moderately loud. One drawback for a laptop of this retail price are that the RAM is soldered to the motherboard and the SSD is only 256GB. However, the SSD can be upgraded.

Display: Laptop has a 1920x1080 IPS touch screen panel. It has such features as TUV Rheinland certified eye care, fast face log in with IR Camera, and four-sided NanoEdge touchscreen. The color, contrast, and sharpness are very good, and the AMD Radeon app has a lot of color customization to fine tune. Again, the screen can swivel back to turn the laptop into a giant tablet. Display doesn't get overly bright, especially on battery mode. Coupled with glare, outdoor use on the battery is a bit challenging. The lackluster screen bightness is a bit disappointing, but is not a deal breaker.

Battery Life: Laptop has a 56whr battery. I have left the computer on and unplugged for 3 or 4 days, unused, and still had about 1/2 battety life left. I am averaging 7-8 hours of light use like web browsing, typing, and streaming. Battery life while gaming is less. I rate battery life as definitely above average but so far, not the 9 hour average that Asus claims.

Webcam: The cam offers clear images for those virtuals and live streams. However, some $399.00 laptops offer 1080p, and this model only has 720p.

Sound: This Baby has an Al noise canceling mic, and Harman/Kardon speakers. Some reviews complain about sound being low. However, as soon as it's set up, the fix for this is simply to open up the "Realtek Audio" app, and use the equalizer panel to turn up the audio level and fine-tune the sound. Then it will stand up well to just about any premium laptop audio, and maybe even better than most.

Conclusion: If you can get this laptop on sale I think its a no-brainer purchase. The laptop is very capable and is great for basic computing, moderate gaming, opens up like a touchscreen tablet, and longevity of use with its Rizen 7, and a fast, durable processor. This laptop is very good for both portable computing and use at home, but not so much outside in bright sunlight. Even at its retail price of $799, I still think its a good buy.

Pretty solid laptop! I got it at 549 open box when it was on sale for 649. Overall pretty happy with it! I recommend you wait till these go on sale again. Oh yeah it is a convertible with a touchscreen and all those features worked as it should but I don't really care much about this.

Pros:

-Performance! Scores 2600+ on Cinebench R20(not 23) and does not throttle like the 14 inch version with the ryzen 5 and the same gpu did. The MX350 is a huge bonus in certain games. Gets 100-200 fps in Valorant! 50-60 fps Genshin Impact 1080p Medium.

-Very little bloat unlike HP.

-Fully Aluminum and Glass build. Feels pretty premium.

-Keyboard feels solid.

-Pretty slim looking bezels.

-Speakers sound pretty good! Idk why the other reviewer said it wasn't. Solid for the price, and has a bit of a punch to it.

-Solid 7-9 hour battery life.

Cons:

-It is quite heavy and does not feel super portable. This might be because of I was used to 14 inch laptops.

-There's a big empty space inside (for a 2.5 inch drive?) but there is no option of adding it. There are no cables or slots included so it is just a waste of space. They could've added another cell to the battery for even better battery life. Shame.

-The screen is very meh. The colors are pretty washed out compared to other laptops at this price and gets only acceptably bright (250-300nits).

-The keys are quite small and cramped because they decided to include a numpad. The numpad is basically useless at this size anyways so they should've just included bigger keys without a numpad. The backlight is pretty low quality too and quite dim.

Other than a recurring (a LOT) problem with the touch screen not working, this is the best laptop I have owned!

Fast? At 5 GHz I have a wireless download speed of 500+ mbps.

How's the screen? EXCELLENTE'!

Keyboard? Superb-A-Mundo!

Highly recommended in spite of the screen glitch which just means I'll exchange it for another one. This laptop is that good!

Trust me. I know what I'm doin' when I'm reviewin'.

This ASUS Q5071Q has been a great laptop that I use for business and streaming video. It handles multitasking without any issues. It boots up very fast which is an improvement over my previous laptop. The touch screen is flawless and convenient, but I mostly use a mouse. I couldn't give it a 5 rating because the keyboard lighting is kind of a bluish-white light that blends in too much with the silver-grey finish of the keyboard making the keys difficult to identify in low light situations. But I like the laptop a lot.

This brand-new Asus Q406DA is a superb combination of technology and functionality which will outperform almost all existing laptops thanks to its incorporation of a new AMD Ryzen 5 processor and Radeon Vega 8 graphic processing units in an elegant, compact form which can double as a tablet.

Visually, the Asus Q406DA is a stunning design with a beautiful silver grey body highlighted by polished chrome hinges and logo. The keyboard has white backlighting and silver type faces. The 14 inch screen seems larger because it is jet black when off and incorporates a frameless NanoEdge. When you open the notepad, the screen uses a 360 degree ErgoLift hinge to raise the keyboard to a comfortable typing angle. Overall, the impression is very sophisticated and high tech. This design would be just as much at home in a corporate boardroom as in a college dorm.

Consider this fine combination of features:

• Asus ZenBook Model QA406DA

• AMD Ryzen 5 3500U CPU 4 core/8 thread, 15w max power load

• Processor runs at speeds from 2.1 to 3.7 GHz

• 64 bit Windows 10 Home operating system

• AMD Radeon Vega 8 GPU uses shared system memory

• 8 GB DDR4 high efficiency RAM primary memory

• 256 GB SanDisk SSD fast hard drive

• 14” IPS LED-backlit touch-screen display with 1920 x 1080 (full HD) resolution @ 60Hz

• Tablet mode with auto-rotation of screen orientation

• Windows ink workspace

• Harman/Kardon full-range stereo speakers and audio processing

• HD Webcam with dual microphones

• 3D IR Camera for facial and gesture recognition

• Bluetooth connectivity

• MicroSD card reader

• HDMI 2.0 video output

• 1 USB 3.1 Type C (up to 5 GBps)

• 2 USB 2.0 ports

• Wireless LAN 802.11AC (Intel 9560 NIC)

• Headphone out/Microphone in 3.5 mm port

• Ultra-quiet cooling fan

• 3 cell 42 Watt-Hour Lithium Ion battery

• Very slim and compact: 12.7” wide x 8.5” deep x 0.7” thick

• Weight: 3.5 pounds

So how does this laptop perform? Superbly.

It is almost as fast as dedicated gaming laptops but has the portability and features which will make it the go-to choice for business travelers. It is beautifully engineered. For example, when you open it, the screen hinge rotates and lifts the keyboard slightly, providing a nice angle for typing and increasing the airflow to the underside for cooling. The solid-state hard drive and low power needs of the CPU and GPU make fan noise almost non-existent. This is a very quiet device!

It seemed very fast when I was using it, so I ran two well-regarded benchmark programs (Novabench and PC Mark 10) on it and three of my other computers to determine their relative performance. These tests measure both the CPU (general processing) and the GPU (graphics processing) so they give a good overall result on the speed of a computer. The first was a base model desktop with an AMD A6 (A6-7310) CPU (comparable in speed to an Intel i3 CPU), no separate GPU and 8 GB RAM. The next was a nicely-equipped all-in-one computer with a 6th generation Intel i5 (6400T), Intel 530 GPU and 12 GB RAM. The third was a new gaming laptop with an 8th generation Intel i5 (8300H), Nvidia 1050Ti GPU and 8 GB RAM. Finally, I ran the same tests on the Asus Q406DA. All computers were well-maintained, running identical versions of Windows 10 with no other programs active. Here are the results (higher is faster):

Novabench Results:

Desktop A6: 636 (Base case)

All-in-One i5: 858 (35% faster than base)

Gaming laptop: 2028 (219% faster than base)

Asus Q406DA: 1425 (125% faster than base)

PC Mark 10 Results:

Desktop A6: 1451

All-in-One i5: 2300 (59% faster than base)

Gaming laptop: 4603 (217% faster than base)

Asus Q406DA: 3698 (155% faster than base)

In you go to the websites run by these two benchmarking services you will see that the results achieved by the new Asus Q406DA are faster than almost all 7th and prior generation Intel computers, including the i7 devices. It is nearly as fast as a dedicated gaming laptop! How was this achieved? Primarily because this new Asus ZenBook incorporates the just-released very fast AMD Ryzen 5 3500U, fast DDR4 RAM and the excellent AMD Radeon Vega 8 GPU.

OK, that’s a lot of numbers and technical jargon but the bottom line is that you will find this ZenBook capable of out-performing anything you currently own (unless you have a really geeked-out special system) and very smooth in running any games or software you may ever buy. Put this elegant notebook to work on most business software and it will never even break a sweat. Use it for photo or video editing and it will calmly do whatever you want, no drama. And you need not hesitate to fire up a graphics-intensive game because it has the power to handle even that core easily.

The Harman/Kardon sound system on this notebook is surprisingly good. I listened to some of my favorite albums from Spotify and the speakers were much better than typical for laptops. They are mounted at the bottom, have decent volume and good stereo separation – certainly good enough for watching Netflix or YouTube videos.

A major plus for this ZenBook is the outstanding battery life. I always test laptops by streaming Netflix series on battery power with a bright screen and high speaker volume. The combination of modem usage, video rendering, screen lighting and speaker volume usually drains most laptop batteries in less than two hours. But this Asus Q406DA lasted almost six hours before exhausting the charge! That is long enough for three full movies and certainly would suffice a traveler for all but the longest international flights. You can thank the ultra-efficient and power-miser AMD CPU and GPU for that amazing performance.

Another advantage for travelers is the compact size (less than 13” wide and 0.7” thick) and very light weight – about 3.5 pounds. The power cube is tiny (about 2” x 2” x 1”) so it won’t take up any precious space or weight in your briefcase/backpack. The notebook is nicely balanced with a great lighted keyboard and big touchpad, so those who like to literally use their laptop on their lap will be pleased.

And since you can turn this ZenBook into a tablet by rotating the touchscreen all the way around, it is ideal for reading online magazines and newspapers. In the tablet mode the Windows Ink Workspace feature really shines. I can see the tablet feature being a big part of the daily use of this ZenBook.

What are the weak points of this ZenBook? Really, I had to dig deep to find any complaints. I thought that the keyboard could use more contrast. In marginal light it is very hard to distinguish the type on the keys. Asus could have done a better job on the owner’s manual. It is generic to all of their notebooks, rather than specific to this model. It would have been nice to have a form-fitting cloth carrying case included (as many other notebook brands provide.)

But these are really just minor quibbles. When you consider all of its power and functionality you will agree that the price is a bargain. I can enthusiastically recommend the new Asus Q406DA for both serious stay-at-home power users and for those who need a perfect travel companion.

>>> Introduction

I wanted to try something smaller than the regular 15.6” size laptops we own, as well as to put my hands on non-Intel based processor laptops. After some careful consideration, I picked this Asus 14” that runs on AMD (well I already had in mind I needed to try an AMD based system). I was not completely sold on it, but based on the specs and form factor, I decided to give it a try.

First/early impressions are deceiving. After a couple of hours of use I was not really impressed (or perhaps I was just focused on the negatives). Ok, I have to be sincere, I was having buyer’s remorse, the machine looked very small, the default windows mode was too big, the horizontal to vertical ratio seemed excessive, it looked bulky for its size, tablet mode didn’t feel right, among other minor issues. But after days of use, I am very pleased with this Asus laptop. From an initial overall rating of 3.5/5.0 floating on my head, I think this one deserves a rating in the 4.5-5.0 range.

In comparison, we have Surface Book and a Dell at home, with this being the third laptop. I was primarily using the Dell, but took this as my next device, and I can say that although it feels a little small, after a while, it is very enjoyable to use. You may say that I am just adjusting myself to it after using it for a while, but no, I still use my work provided Surface Book daily, and I can attest that this device has been as enjoyable as the Surface Book, perhaps a little more, since I can do more personal stuff on this device than on the work laptop.

The two most important factors for me are Screen (resolution and quality image quality) and Performance (CPU speed and the like). I have to say that I am content with the decision to go for this little beast. Picture quality is great, and I can perform multiple tasks, for example listening/viewing to YouTube videos while working on a Word document. I have yet to install Adobe Illustrator and Visual Studio for video and software development, but so far, this has proven to do its job fine and swift. After some initial second thoughts, I am very happy with this device. I might even buy AMD stocks now that their laptops seem to perform at par (or better?) than the Intel based ones.

This taught me to try things for a little longer, not for the purpose of getting used to them, but to have a better and more solid experience and provide a more informed feedback.

>> Overall Pros: takes little real estate, great picture quality, easy multitasking, very responsive.

>> Overall Cons: built-in speakers faulty location, recommended resolution/scaling too big, too bulky for its size.

>>> Built quality

Overall, it feels a little bulky for what is to be an ultra-portable, but it is mentioned to be a military grade quality laptop, so I am giving it the credit for potentially being very solid. I won't drop it on the floor or anything like that, I am just saying that for the extra bulkiness, a higher level of toughness it is worth at the end. From all the bulkiness, the part that adds to it the most is the connection between the screen and keyboard portions, yes, it feels solid, but it is something noticeable after a few hours use. As I mentioned, for an extra level of durability, that should be just fine.

>>> Screen

We have at home one Surface Book at 3000x2000 resolution and a Dell 4k at 3840 × 2160 resolution, the former 14” and the latter 15.6” screen diagonal size with the latter used mostly by me. So, I’d figure that an Asus at 1920x1080 and 14” inches (with no edges) would be a fine addition. Provided the right Windows 10 settings are in place (resolution and scaling), and as can be seen in the attached picture, the quality of the image of this Asus can compete with the other two ones. I am now appreciative of the smaller real estate that this device takes, compared to the others, while still delivering an outstanding image quality.

This device has a 1920x1080 recommended resolution (max resolution). In Windows 10, the recommended scaling is at 150% which results in the screen to show less content than desired (words, pictures look too big). At that setting, in landscape (non-tablet) mode, web pages for major news, technology and other sites, render fine leaving a vertical space on the sides so that you can scroll with your right or left thumbs on the touch screen. On the other hand, at this setting, portrait mode (tablet mode) looks very awkward, with too much vertical content as opposed to horizontal. So, I am not sure 150% should be really “the” recommended scaling for this device.

Now, I changed the recommended scaling from 150% to 125%, and at that resolution, although more content is visible from websites, most of them leave a lot of white space on the sides. Tablet mode shows more content horizontally than the recommended setting, so content doesn’t look awkward anymore in that mode, leaving a better impression on my side. Well, with not too big thumbs and digits, I can still manage to hit in the right places at this scaling. I’d figure people with bigger hands/finders would still feel more comfortable with the 150% scaling.

>>> Performance

I am impressed with how fast this computer is perceived. I was able to multitask easily with no visible performance degradation as far as I could tell. One comparison test I did was to use Outlook on my Surface Book and this Asus laptop to sync my Microsoft email account (Hotmail) in Outlook: the Asus took around 15 mins to sync one year of data, about 1GB, and my Surface Book took basically about the same time. With the Surface Book being an i7 Intel core, I was more than happy with this and other comparison tests I made. Note that video editing and software development are yet to be tested/compared.

>>> Setup

This machine comes with a Windows 10 Home Version. Initial configuration was a breeze, and for the first time, and given that this one would be solely my laptop, I decided to use my Microsoft account to configure the system. I would usually just setup my personal computers with a local account, but I decided to go for Windows Hello (PIN based authentication) and all the automatic settings from my Hotmail (a.k.a. Microsoft) account. Still with privacy in mind, I didn't choose Cortana to snoop and to get in my way (besides I am too old school to get someone to tell what to do) and I also decide not to sync to OneDrive automatically. As usual, a little too much bloatware than desired, I wish only the basic stuff to be preloaded. Well, after a couple of weeks usage you’ll figure which applications need silencing anyways.

>>> Peripherals

I've had a few issues in the past on different machines not connecting to Bluetooth speakers timely or recognizing them timely, that seemed to have stemmed from OS issues rather than a hardware problem. I am glad that so far all the Bluetooth devices I have thrown at this, were able to connect. Wireless connectivity at different location, work/home/public, has been going fine with no issues.

>>> Storage and Memory

Definitely, modern laptops should all be running on SSD drives, not on the 5400rpm ancient ones. I've seen laptops running on 5400rpm disk drives, and I am sure the main contributing factor to the sluggishness presented by those computers was the disk drive. This one is a breeze. Even though it has 8GB and one might be tempted to think that it is not enough and might hurt the performance, it turns out that the 4GB of paging seems enough.

>>> Sound

Who in their right mind places the speakers at the bottom on the sides of the laptop? Did they do it so that you can “feel” the music when the device is placed on your lap? As opposed to “hear” the music? Or some new-enhanced experience? Regardless, I think this was a bad idea, even when placed on a flat surface, the sound that comes out is not clear because there is some rebound from the underlying surface, you’ll need to hold the machine on your hands or tilt it to get what otherwise looks like a very good sounding speakers. I wonder if the decision was to force people to use headphones or place the laptop on a pedestal to get a clear sound that you could enjoy. Who did this to this beauty? Not a deal breaker to me, but when I want to annoy my family with my music, I want it to do it crisp and clear. In addition, there is also some uncomfortable vibration when the laptop is placed on your lap while playing music on the speakers.

>>> Battery

This is other aspect of the game, and the Asus Q406D has a decent battery life. in full YouTube/music/video mode at work, just to test the battery, it easily lasted for about 6 hours, so the specs are right in the estimated time. As stated earlier I have yet to try some heavy image/video editing software as well as software development.

>>> Laptop vs Tablet mode

Ideally if it was detachable would be very handy to use it as a tablet. It feels a little bulky when in tablet mode. Given its size it is not an issue. The nice thing is that I can watch videos on a semi-tablet mode (the device folded half-way). Very convenient.

I’d think this to be a perfect laptop for a college student. Buy the pen, and an Office365 subscription (or get it through college) and you won’t need notebooks nor recorders to take notes and record lectures.

>>> Keyboard

Initially, I was not sure about the keyboard being risen in the back, as opposed to flat from the other ones I have, but it turns out, it feels comfortable when I am typing on this device when it is resting on a flat surface.

>>> Touch screen

I haven’t bought the Asus recommend stylus, but I have tried writing with my Surface Book Pen and it feels ok. I am sure if I get my hands on the recommended Pen I’d give a more positive feedback.

Overall Build:

This laptop has an overall premium feel. It is built from what feels like anodized aluminum. The body had nice rubber feet that keep it from moving when sitting on a desktop. It is very thin but has surprising weight to it for being relatively small.

Display:

When the display is open, the back part of the display extends to lift the laptop up to a more ergonomic position. The back has rubber to ensure the laptop does not slip when typing. There is a glossy finish on the screen that while looks nice, picks up a considerable amount of glare. I would have preferred a matte screen instead.The bezels are extremely thin, you get mostly display area on this thins which is very welcomed. There is an "ASUS" logo printed at the bottom, I find this annoying and would rather have a plain black bezel, but after a while you learn to ignore it. The resolution of 1920x1080 is surprising low for a laptop in 2019, however, text and imagery look very sharp and the size is readable. Overall color accuracy is about average, images looks more on the muted side than pop. Black levels are terrible however. There is a significant amount of clouding on the bottom left and right side of the screen. This is not noticeable when full illuminated, but darker images, movies, etc... you can really notice this. There is a webcam positioned at the top which offers Windows Hello ability. This is a fantastic feature and allows you to log into Windows 10 using just your face. It is a little on the slow side compared to other devices I've used, but only takes about 2 or 3 seconds to recognize.

Keyboard:

The keyboard is relativity nice to type on. The key spacing is a little close together and my fingers felt a little cramped on longer typing sessions. Key pressed felt good and were very responsive. There is a back-light which is fantastic, though in a dim lit room where the back-light is triggered, yet the silver color of the laptop is also visible, the white back-light tends to drown out the numbers on the keys making them hard to read at times. Overall this is a decent keyboard and typing experience.

Touch pad:

The touch pad is adequate. It has good tracking ability. The left and right click has very noticeable a "dive board effect". Luckily it also has the "tap" ability so that pressing wasn't always necessary. When possible, I preferred an external mouse to this touch pad.

Ports:

There are plenty of different ports available.

on the left: charger port, HDMI, USB 3.0, USB C

on the right: SD card, USB 2.0, headphone jack, and power button

Battery life:

Battery life is fantastic. on a single charge I got about 8+ hours of use. This was from installing apps to general usability to even about 35 minutes of light gaming

Performance:

8GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD performed as expected. This is about the minimum configuration you should expect and accept in 2019. 8GB of RAM was plenty to maintain a bunch of apps being open at the same time and I did not notice any slow down for my general usage of Office apps and web browsing. It is plenty to stream a movie and play many games. The 256 GB HDD will be plenty for most people, with cloud storage on the rise, this is even less of a requirement moving forward.

This laptop REALLY SHINES with the inclusion of the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor. This is a quad-core (4) processor with hyperthreadding capability which means windows can divide taks and process up between 8 cores!

Geekbench gave this CPU a score of 33362 which lands it about on par with the 8th generation Intel i5 processor. Since this is a new chipset to most people, this is an important comparison to make.

Where the AMD CPU differs, is the built in Graphics Processing Unit (GPU. This thing is equipped with a Vega Mobile Gfx. This is a big deal. This onboard GPU allows for the ability to play many modern games with ease. I had no issues running Counter-Strike GO, Call of Duty Black Ops 4, and simiar at medium to high setting and was able to maintain at least 40fps if not higher. The fact the monitor only goes to 1920x1080 is also a benefit here. It keeps that meachine from having to push unecessary pixels to maintain good visual performance. This laptop can play content the onboard Intel HD GPUs built into the i5 chips simply cannot even come close to doing.

When playing games or watching video content, this laptop does get hot! The cooling vents are located on the bottom the machine, so if sitting on your lap, this can get really hot. This thing is best used on a desk where it can properly vent.

Sound:

ASUS has included a harman/kardon audio package with this laptop. The sound quality is average and gets plenty loud clear enough to be useful. It is nothing to get excited about. External speakers or headphones will offer much better audio fidelity. More or less they get the job done.

Overall this is a very solid laptop for the price point. The inclusion of the AMD RYZEN is really the star of the show here. It offers great performance, impressive gaming capability from an otherwise non-gaming laptop, and this would be a great performing machine for just about any audience (assuming you are ok using Windows).

This is one slick laptop that I really have enjoyed using. Design wise this is one of the lightest and thinnest laptops I have ever used. This is coming from a guy that usually carries around alienwares, so take that with a grain of salt. I am not usually one for light coloured laptops but the single grey tone color of this laptop really spoke to me and I have to say I like it. From the top view you have an array of microphones with an IR camera ( with Windows Hello support) sandwiched between them. Below that is the 14 inch touchscreen that can be flipped 360°, which is great, allowing you to use the Q406 as a tablet. On the lower half of the laptop you have have a full qwerty keyboard (decent key travel) with no number-pad and the touchpad. On the underside of the laptop you have the an air-vent that runs almost the entire width of the laptop and two speakers on either side. On the left side of the laptop you have a circular power input, HDMI, a usb 3.1 and a usb 3.1 Type-C port. While on right side you have the power button, status indicator lights, the headphone/microphone jack, a usb 2.0 port and a Micro SD card slot.

This laptop is a breeze to use and having used it for a couple of days there a few things I have to point out. The screen to body ratio is impressive, its at least 90%. It has the smallest bezel I have ever used on a laptop too making the viewing experience fantastic. The color performance is pretty good and I can’t complain, but unfortunately the screen doesn’t get very bright, this doesn’t bother me personally but most people tend to use a higher brightness level than I do. As a touch screen it works very well too, with inputs and gestures working flawlessly. I can also confirm it is Windows Ink compatible and I was able to use the Bamboo Ink stylus with no problems.

Typing on the Q406 is decent, the keys don’t have much travel, but there are still comfortable to type on. The keys are backlit and have three levels of brightness. I was able to type like I do on larger keyboards after a few minutes of use, so no real issues there. There was also no serious problems with the touchpad, it operated suitably.

When it comes to performance, my expectations have been exceeded. The Q406 sports a AMD Ryzen 5 3500U with Radeon Vega 8 Mobile Graphics card along with 8GB of RAM (check pics to see Geekbench results). I put it through a lot of pressure, more than I normally use a laptop for, such as loading multiple youtube videos at once and opening 10+ tabs in both Chrome and then Mozilla. The videos started to lag slightly when I tried playing more than 3. Switching between tabs also became sticky when there were more than 16. When it came on to gaming I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to play both Far Cry New Dawn and Wolfenstein 2 on medium settings with little lag. Understandably both the laptop and power brick got hot while playing for a few minutes ) the Q406 doesn’t really get hot otherwise) but it wasn’t enough to get me concerned, also I had good ventilation which assisted with the heat.

Finally, when it came on to battery life I met another surprise. I was able to use this throughout a regular day of browsing, video watching, emailing and using Word and Excel without having to reach for the charger. I was able to squeeze out on average about 8 hours of use. I’ve never had a laptop last so long and I am truly impressed with what Asus has done here.

The Q406 is an impressive productivity machine in a nice sleek compact design. It has great performance, a fantastic battery life all while being ultra-portable. I definitely recommend this for casual media consumption and those who do a little gaming on the side.

Got this just released new Asus Zenbook Q406. So what is it? Let’s see, Zenbook is Asus line of ultra slim, powerful lightweight class of laptops that are equally good at Programming as well as gaming. While many of Asus Zenbook's are equipped with the Intel core processors, mine came with the newly released AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Processor. So for you computer aficionados , Ram is set at 8G DDR4 , SATA3 SSD Solid State Drive, USB 2.0, 3.1 and the new 3.1C USB-C, Next generation Wi-Fi, Wireless router connection and Bluetooth along with Micro SD card slot. HDMI out for multi screen or plugging into your HD TV. Running Windows 10 64 Bit on a 14 inch display. Power is the standard Asus wall wart transformer so its small, light weight and easy to carry.l and easy to carry.

Now we compared this to my daughters MacBook 2015 Retina 13 and my 4 yr. old Dell Business laptop running Intel I5vPro with a Hybrid 500GB SSD drive.

First impressions, this Zenbook with it's very slim Brushed Aluminum body is nothing less than amazing. It feels well built, sturdy, feels and looks very expensive, nice clear big HD touch screen, color is clear and nice! It’s a lot thinner and so much lighter than our older laptop and newer Mac, just look at the pictures. My daughter loved it, saying controls are just like my Mac! 2 fingers required for mouse curser moving so you Mac Users will get it quick. Her only wish was if the track pad could be a bit wider as it was narrower than her Mac and her hand kept coming off because she was used to her Mac’s pad. But that’s just a matter of getting used to it. She does computer graphics Photo Editing for a living so her Mac is her job. She pushed the Asus Q406 by starting to open multiple windows, programs and pushing it hard. When she came back saying she was blown away by the Asus Zenbook’s performance and how much quicker and responsive it was than her Mac, I knew Asus got this Zenbook right! We both loved the 360 Degree Flip back Touch Screen, it’s to the edge screen design makes for a more compact laptop, Military Grade built aluminum chassis, 3D IR Face Recognition camera, HDMI output, backlit keyboard, this Zenbook is loaded but still affordable. Battery life on my i5 is still unreal at 4 ½ hours, this Asus Q406 may just run all day! Asus power supply is small and light, a great idea, unlike my Dells power brick which alone probably weighs in at half the weight of this Asus laptop!

Now at the heart of this Ultra light book is the newly released AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor. It’s AMD’s mid-range level processor and from what I’ve seen its a top performer. With 4 cores for its CPU running at 2.1 GHz and max boost set at 3.7 GHz, it packs a punch. On the Graphics side, its 8 core graphics processor clocked at 1200 MHz has the punch you’ll need for gaming or working. Now while I am comparing it to an I5-4310 with 4GB of ram so obviously this Asus Zenbook Q406 is running circles around it as well as the newer MacBook but in today’s comparison this new AMD Ryzen5 3500U is ahead of Intel’s I5 8250 and almost on par with the 8265 in single core tests but ahead in multi core hyper threading test. Now this is impressive coming from a mid-level more affordable processor!

This Asus Zenbook’s graphics is the Ryzen5 Radeon Vega 8 graphics. I’ve always preferred AMD graphics cards, GeForce my second choice and Intel was always my last, just my personal choice. The new Ryzen5 doesn’t disappoint in gaming either. Our son was quick to run it thru his online gaming and graphics were running smooth without an issue. This processor has the power for gaming, the power for multitasking and coupled with stunning looks at an affordable price that just can’t be beat let alone ignored.

So in the end, I’m not a super techie guy but may know a bit more than the average consumer. I would have liked to have seen a larger SSD but with today’s external SSD’s , crazy sized Micro SD cards and given the Zenbook has a MicroSD slot, it’s not a deal breaker. There is so much value and performance, the choice is a no brainer. My take on Asus new Zenbook Q406 is its one well thought out design, matched with AMD’s brand new Ryzen5 3500U processor, not last years model, it’s a clear winner. It’s well-built and should last for many years. One beautiful machine with just stunning looks, you will need a nice laptop case or slip cover case because you will want to keep its stunning looks looking new. If you don’t want to break the bank, there is no need to. This new lightweight ultra-book competitor delivers all across the board, period. AMD’s just released Ryzen 5 3500U Processor is a winner delivering a lot of bang for the buck. No one at home will be disappointed.

Now if I can only get it back from the kids!

The first thing I noticed when getting this product was the packaging. You can tell tons about a product by the way it’s packaged and the set up that is required. This was simplistic, sleek, and easy from in the box to my desk. The laptop, some legal documents, a charging cord, and some simple instructions and you’re off to the races.

Not to sound old but I have t bought a laptop in almost seven years so seeing this laptop instantly blew me away by the size and simplicity. I plugged it in and was on my way. Setup was a breeze and since this runs on Windows 10, it’s the freshest software out there. Setup took probably under 30 minutes and since the computer has a front facing camera with facial recognition, I’m already operating it within seconds of opening it upon use.

The computer also easily ties into my Microsoft account by using Microsoft Edge as the primary browser, making it a breeze to switch between the computer to my phone to my Xbox, to my hotmail account. It’s all streamlined together.

What’s noticeable, and not just because I’m on a much newer system, is how fast this laptop is. That’s in big thanks to the AMD Ryzen processor. Not only the noticeable speed but the 256GB storage, and touch screen makes me feel like I’m operating not only at, but above current standards for computing.

I’m not going to list all of the specs on this system but it should be noted how well built this is. The touch pad, LED screen, backlit keyboard, HDMI output, large screen, thin size, webcam, and Bluetooth connectivity all are stand out features. The only thing I would have added is a DVD/CD rom drive but after giving it thought, I can’t imagine needing a disc drive that badly in 2019 but time will tell.

This is a very sturdy system that connects to WiFi and has a very long battery life if you’re not near an electrical socket and plugged in.

Overall, there’s not much more to ask for in this laptop and I’m really impressed by almost everything about it. It’s an easy purchase and something is definitely recommend.

Pros: Runs very fast, touchscreen, thin, facial recognition software

Cons: Can get warm near the battery, no CD/DVD drive

Recommendation: definitely buy

The Asus Q406DA Zenbook is an ultra portable laptop with excellent build quality. Despite being very light and thin, the aluminum frame feels very sturdy with little or no flexing. It’s a very solid laptop. The Asus Zenbook Q406DA is great for surfing the internet, watching videos, editing text, software development and light gaming while affording great portability and long battery life.

The super thin bezel allows you to have a larger screen on a smaller frame so it looks bigger than it really is. It takes up space like a smaller notebook but provides the productivity of a larger laptop. The display panel is excellent with wide viewing angles and bright rich colors. The built-in Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics has excellent video decoding capabilities so videos and movies look and play great. The Harman/Kardon speakers provide clean clear sound.

The unit I am reviewing contains the following:

Windows® 10 Home

AMD® Ryzen™ 5 3500U Processor with integrated Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics

14.0" FHD Touch Panel (1920 x 1080)

8GB DDR4 System Memory (2GB are reserved for the integrated graphics)

256GB SanDisk SSD using SATA3 interface

Intel Dual Band Wireless AC-8265 802.11ac (2x2) + Bluetooth 4.2

1 USB 2.0 port

1 Micro SD slot

1 HDMI port

1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 port

1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port

1 Headphone jack

While I wished it was larger, the 256GB SSD should be adequate for most people. With 256GB, I am able to install Visual Studio 2017 with an almost full workload (50GB) and still have about 131GB left over. Performance was very zippy based on my experience with Visual Studio. Coding, editing and building projects felt as responsive as if working from my main desktop system.

If you need additional space you can install a microSDXC card into the microSD slot. Just make sure you format it as NTFS instead of exFAT or FAT to avoid any possible problems with apps not being able to update automatically.

I inserted a Sandisk 128GB UHS-I V10/A1 class microSDXC card and installed Witcher 3 there and after a slightly slower startup time, I didn’t notice any slowness compared to running the game from the main SSD drive.

The Ryzen 5 3500U wasn’t able to run Witcher 3 acceptably at 1080p so I had to lower the resolution to 1280 x 720 and image quality to low in order for it to be playable for me. At those settings, it got around 18 to 30 fps. It still looked great to me at those settings and I’m amazed at how far integrated graphics have come.

Battery life seemed pretty good as I got around 5 hours while watching YouTube, installing and playing around with software such as Visual Studio 2017 and surfing the web. At the end of 5 hours, battery life was showing 22%. The new Ryzen CPUs seem very power efficient.

The Intel Dual Band Wireless AC-8265 provides decent connectivity with transfer speeds of 5 to 16 MB/s to/from my NAS. The transfer speed seems to vary a lot during file transfers but never stalls. I never saw any stutter or lag when playing videos from YouTube.

It was averaging 116 fps using Handbrake to encode videos with the Fast 1080p30 preset. Switching to the Super HQ 1080p30 Surround Sound preset, it was averaging around 18 fps which I think is pretty impressive for an ultra laptop. For comparison, my Intel Core i5-9600K desktop gets about 44 fps using the Super HQ preset.

In terms of noise, it’s a very quiet laptop. There is a fan in there which comes on when doing processor intensive activities such as encoding videos. Even when the fan is on, the noise is very minimal and the laptop never got hot. It only gets slightly warm on the left side.

Upgradability seems limited. In fact, I don’t see any clear paths to upgrade memory or the internal SSD. There are videos that show how to upgrade memory and the SSD for other ZenBooks by removing the bottom screws and bottom of the laptop but I don’t feel comfortable with trying this and accidentally breaking something on my beautiful laptop.

Utilities such a CPU-Z show that it has 8GB of dual channel DDR4 2400 memory with 18 CAS latency but the display for the SPD information and the memory slots are blank. This makes me feel like the memory might not be upgradable even if the laptop were easy to open it up.

Overall, I think most people would be very happy with the Asus ZenBook Q406DA. The Ryzen 5 3500U feels very zippy for everything that I have tried and the integrated graphics is best in its class for entertainment like watching videos and light gaming. It’s also very light and portable with good battery life for those who travel.

Purchased on 08/09/2019 for my daughter who was beginning college. About 2 weeks ago she noticed a very small sliver of glass missing from the screen on the right side up against the bezel. By 09/23/2019 this had become a crack in the screen and had moved across 3/4 of the screen diagonally. Touch screen will not work properly now. Brought the laptop back to Best Buy on 09/25/2019. They said there was nothing they could do and that ASUS would not cover a cracked screen under warranty. I purchased the computer with a credit card that automatically provides damage protection but I'm still upset. This is a 1.5 month old computer that has not been dropped or otherwise damaged. it has been carried in a padded case and has not been abused. There is no physical damage on the computer anywhere. I think it's just a shoddy computer with a shoddy week frame that can't handle the stress of simply opening the laptop causing the glass screen to stress and fracture. It should be covered under warranty. Best Buy should back what they sell. Best Buy gets 1 star and ASUS gets zero stars. I have always been fond of ASUS, but no more.

I picked this up on sale for $569.99 and at that price I recommend it. I also have the previous version (4500U and MX350) and thought I might compare the two before I sell that off this weekend.

I should mention that the first thing I did with each of these laptops is put in a 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus SSD. This new laptop is like the old one in that the screws are torx 5, and there are two more hidden under the rubber rear feet of the laptop. Once open, getting to the SDD is straightforward with the typical single PH0 screw (see pics). Also, the rubber feet on this new laptop are much easier to remove than those on the old one.

Compared to the older model, this new one is a little larger and a little heavier. Both are noticeable. It charges via USB-C and comes with one more USB-C port and one fewer USB-A port. The audio is better on the new one as well. It also runs much hotter when I compare the same loads between each at the same time.

It benchmarks a little higher than the old one, mainly because the 5500U supports SMT/Hyperthreading (so it’s 6-cores, 12-threads, vs the 6-core, 6-thread 4500U) and the Vega 7 integrated graphics are slightly better than the older Vega 6 integrated graphics on the 4500U (clocked 300MHz higher), but quite honestly, in day to day use there is no real noticeable difference. (Note that in the photo of benchmarking results, both computers list integrated graphics, but the benchmarking was done with the NVIDIA cards, that just how the program displays.)

One odd thing is that microSD cards are inserted upside down in this MX450 version, while they are inserted right-side up in the MX350 version of this laptop, so take notice and don’t force. It’s an easy thing to forget.

Where you do see a bit of performance difference is in the graphics capabilities, for *some* tasks. The MX450 implementation in this new version seems to give about 20% more performance on average. It’s nice, but it’s not earth shattering for gaming – it’s not enough, for example, to suddenly allow you to play a class of game that you couldn’t already play on the MX350 (but it allows you to turn up a few more graphics options). It’s worth noting that the MX450 implementation in the Zenbook 14 is the lowest performance variant of the MX450. (It performs about on par with the 96EU integrated Xe graphics in my Yoga 9i. That laptop has 16GB ram compared to the Zenbook’s 8GB, and therefore allocates more to vram than the 2GB on the MX450.)

The new Zenbook is noticeably better than the old one for creative applications that can take advantage not only of the faster GPU, but of the hyperthreading of the 5500U.

Unfortunately, this is not the greatest screen for such work, as it simply does not get all that bright (it’s 250 nits compared to the old one at 300, and yes, that difference is noticeable.) A tip about brightness – make sure you go into the Radeon Graphic settings and turn OFF Vari-Bright so the laptop is not constantly dimming its screen to save battery depending on what’s being displayed.

In the end, I would probably advise anyone looking into this laptop to also look at last year’s model, see what the price difference is, and then decide where you want to make your compromises. Either can be great choices.

Ok so this isn’t too bad. I like the overall design, feel, quality and weight. There’s no fluff straight out of the box.

Straight out of the box there was no charge, so did a full initial charge (usb c) and got it up and running. It turned on and the screen was bright and setup was nice. I was hit with a loud voice instructing me and then signaling that I could answer her questions to get through setup instead of touching the laptop when it wasn’t necessary. I didn’t like that I had to go through the Microsoft account setup. Let’s just get back to adding accounts without the fuss please.

The build quality is premium. It has a nice solid weight to it without being heavy. Which is great because I want this to be for my son as a replacement to his older laptop that weighs 2 tons. The material seems to be metal and I did notice fingerprint smudges on the top but it wasn’t too bad and barely noticeable due to its design. It’s easy to open and lift the screen with one finger. Upon opening the body of the laptop rises off of the surface, which is nice for ergonomics even though it’s a slight degree of change, but the lifting also helps to improve the airflow between the fan and surface. That’s a great edition that none of my laptops offer, especially when it’s on a sofa or bed surface.

The screen is great. The bezel is super thin and little to no distortion when pressed from behind or touched in the front. The screen is definitely a fingerprint magnet. The facial recognition is always a nice feature. It’s fast and hardly misses even in lower light. The camera is ehhhh, underwhelming. If you’re in low light, forget about it. The lag is crazy and you look and feel like your in one of the Matrix trilogies. In bright light it works way better no to very little lag, but it’s not as crystal clear as I would of hoped. It seems like I have a softening skin filter on. Which could be a good thing for those who like that sort of thing. The display and color renderings are great, bright, crisp and clear. No complaints there. Videos play flawlessly.

The letters/numbers on the keyboard are big and visible to those who may have trouble with smaller lettering but the key backlights are not as bright as they could be if you need it in lowlight. There is a button to adjust how bright they get or turn it off altogether. However, in the dark I think the backlit keyboard is great. I can see it with no problem whatsoever. If you like to feel or hear the clicks on the pad, this will suit you. The keys are nice to press. They aren’t hard or noisy.

Videos and games play great. I didn’t witness any lag during play time. My son plays games, but not ones that are extremely graphic heavy. So I was unable to test or compare those speeds.

The speakers are located on the undersides of the laptop which I’m not a fan of since not everyone sits at a desk every time they work on a laptop, so I figured the sound would be muffled. It actually sounds amazing. It was natively at 70 and I was nervous to turn it up because it was already so loud. There is a small difference in sound on the bed vs desk but nothing noticeable.

There were a couple times where I would tap the mousepad and it wouldn’t recognize the clicks. I would have to physically hit a key. And once where I was in the middle of typing and the screen went black. Very strange. Other than those times the computer is solid. It works just fine for my sons needs at this time and it’s powerful enough for his gaming and creating his short tutorial videos, as well as, any work that he needs to complete. It’s a great computer for just about anyone.

Even though I have only had this little jewel of a laptop for three days, I have found many things to love about it. To start with it a heck of a notebook/laptop for the price. You cannot find a laptop that has all of the amenities that this does that even comes close to this laptop for anywhere near the cost of this one. The design is beautiful, and overall, it seems to have all of those things that really matter in a computer that is used for work and play on an everyday basis.

To start with it is thin, sleek, lightweight, and solid in design. It weighs under 3 lbs. and is very similar in weight to a larger tablet in a keyboard case. But because it is sleeker, it is so much easier to use as a mobile device. The case is very well designed with little to no plastic. It seems to be manufactured of all metal and is designed for durability to US Military Grade standards. It has a backlite keyboard with three levels of brightness and a 14” LED screen whose resolution of 1920 x 1080 produces beautiful full HD graphics. The sound system is by harman/kardon (a well-established name in the audio industry) and it has a large trackpad that is a tad over 5” wide. The laptop has the feel of a much more expensive laptop model that runs on an iOS operating system, rather than Windows.

Key placement is very good and the feel of the keys, for me, is very natural in size and spacing. I can type very fast on this keyboard. It is equipped with one of the very best processors that you can buy – the AMD Ryzen 5 5500U. The NVIDIA Geforce MX450 is a good graphic card even if it is more on the entry level, but for typing and speed it is great. The operating system is 64 bit and is based on the X-64 processor. RAM (memory) in this computer is only 8 GB which is ample if you are just using it for word processing and simpler software programs that do not run a lot of graphics. The computer has a total storage capacity of 16 GB with additional storage space of 256 GB that is available on one of the best Solid-State Drives (SSD) that you can install in a computer.

The type of RAM or memory is an LPDDR4X. This is the latest and greatest and it has specifically been designed for mobile devices. It seems to work very well on this low powered ultra-book and contributes to the longevity of the battery. The laptop’s battery, another real plus of this laptop, can actually run 12 hours because of the laptop’s overall design. A front facing camera gives one the ability to participate in Zoom meetings, produce You Tube videos, etc. without an additional camera. You can even log in with facial recognition and it works every time. Just about everything that is on larger, much higher priced laptops is equipped on this model: Asus ZenBook 14” Laptop Q408UG.

Modern interface technology is all here too. I have an HDMI port, not one (1) but two (2) Thunderbolt ™ 3 USB-C ®, a USB Type-A, a MicroSD card reader, and just in case I still need it – an audio jack. The laptop does not have a touch screen or use a pencil which to some prospective buyers might be a detriment. But for those that are energy conscious it is Energy Star Certified and is backed by Asus with a 1-Year Warranty on both Parts and Labor.

I really love this little laptop. It is so easy to tuck under my arm or into a satchel and go wherever work takes me. With it I have the ability to do just about whatever it is that I need to produce for a client. When I think back to traveling by car or air with a 25 -35 lb. laptop in a roller case, I cannot now believe that I have something this nice to take with me that can do all the things that I needed older laptops to do for me while away on the job-- either for the day or for a week. I really appreciate that it and its charging cord hardly weigh anything!

If you are researching a computer for a new graduate, needing one that you can transport to and from work, or just need a new home computer, you should really look at this one because it is capable of doing a lot and buying it will give you many computing opportunities for a very reasonable and great price.

Asus ZenBook Q408UG is an affordable slim powerful notebook pc with no compromise on build quality or performance. This laptop has 14-inch full HD frameless Nano edge display that provides

great picture quality. AMD Ryzen 5 processor with GeForce MX450 is good for everyday work with multitasking.

What is in the box: Asus ZenBook notebook pc, 65 W USB C power adapter, Manual/warranty sheets.

Measurement & Weight: It measures 12.6 x 8.25 x 0.62 inches (32 x 21 x 1.59cm) and weighs 2.95 pounds (1.34kg).

Display: 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080)

Color: Light Grey

Design: This 14-inch NanoEdge display has a thin bezel with ASUS logo on the front. Due to its thin bezel on all four sides the videos are more impressive. Brushed silver on the top edge and large track pad is good. Asus used the ErgoLift hinge where the bottom of the laptop lifts up at a slight angle when opened fully. This is a great design to open the laptop in one hand and very useful for typing both ergonomically (optimal typing position) and for air flow/heat expulsion, enhanced audio performance. Notebook quality looks attractive with its ultra-tough aluminum alloy(military-grade) for the price point and is light weight and durable to withstand harsh environments and accidental drops.

Windows 10 was preinstalled and upon initial boot and with few questions like country and keyboard selection it asked to login to my Microsoft account and once done, it started downloading firmware and updating windows. With Wi-Fi 6(11AX) it

Charger/Ports: On the left side of the laptop, you have the HDMI port, 2 USB Type-C ports. You can also use any of the USB C ports to charge the laptop battery using a 65W power adapter. On the right side, one USB Type A port, MicroSD card reader, 3.5mm audio jack. Compared to previous gen, this notebook uses no proprietary cable for charging and uses USB- C easy charge for quick charge

Battery: It is advertised that include lithium-ion polymer battery will last up to 12 hours and in my testing, it was pretty close to 11 hours of video playback under minimal brightness without the need to charge or connect to power source. Very impressive.

Keyboard and Trackpad: Zenbook has a great full functionality keyboard with right amount of key travel during typing. Has dedicated hotkeys for instant access. Got a large Touchpad and is surprisingly good and has a tactile click when pressed.

Harmon Kardon sound speakers delivers good audio experience with loud sound and minimal distortion. Compared to other laptops at this price range, this delivers ultimate sound audio experience with the built-in speakers and microphone for the online meetings.

Camera/Face Login: Features an advanced IR front facing camera great for all video calls and online meetings. Also, face login is fast when using Windows Hello.

Performance: Comes with Windows installed, this notepad has Ryzen 5- 5500U AMD processor, GeForce MX450 NVIDIA graphics card, 256gb SSD storage, VRAM 2GB, RAM of 8GB LPDDR4X delivers good performance for this ultraportable form factor. No issues with browsing multiple tabs, playing online games, watching videos and no lag during testing.

Pros:

+Ultra Portable,

+Military grade durability,

+Great Battery life (approx. 9.8 - 10 hours);

+ Wi-Fi 6 for smooth video chats and large file transfer

+ Large Track Pad

+ Face Login

+ Harmon Kardon Audio

+ Dedicated hotkeys.

Cons:

-Not effective Keyboard backlight.

Bottomline: This is a great slim ultra-portable notepad with all the ports required for anyone to achieve excellent performance. High quality built, audio, display, screen size and battery life. If you are in the market for a notebook that delivers better performance and not looking for a gaming configuration and need a laptop for everyday use, then you will not be disappointed at the price point it offers.

Highly recommend for its performance, price and compact size over other brands in the market.

I was looking for a notebook that was both attractive and could withstand the occasional drop. The Asus Zenbook 14 is just such a device. It's smaller in footprint than my old unit yet has a wider screen that's both brighter and clearer regardless of the fact that both are 1080p resolution. What attracted me to it was the ability to upgrade the storage capacity by adding a MicroSDXC card of up to 1TB. That coupled with the inclusion of a full size USB and HDMI port rather than just USB-C (there's 2 of those as well) meaning I don't have worry about losing the adapters. The long battery life is impressive; they claim 12hrs, with normal usage, I squeezed about 9.5hrs. I could see how you might be able to reach the claimed number if you ran it on full battery saver mode with the backlit keyboard off. I love having a full width keyboard with semi-soft press buttons, my fingers are quite long and need the space. The backlighting doesn't offer just one or two settings, but 3 which is great because when I'm catching up with work in bed while it's pitch black, it's nice to not have the keyboard outshining the screen! This computer has 2 graphics processors, a Radeon processor embedded in the AMD Ryzen 5 chipset and a separate Nvidia GeForce MX450 which really enhances game play and refresh rates. Asus recommends plugging in the computer to make full use of the graphics processors. It has a quick boot up thanks to the 256GB SSD and the super quick face recognition. I clocked it at about a second quicker than my old pc. The only thing I don't much like is the way the screen opens and folds slightly under the base, it's a great feature to haveand props up the keyboard on a flat surface, however it pokes my legs quite a bit when on my lap.

A notebook pc is useful when the form factor provides both the necessary and the desired specs, but also follows through with claims. I am quite a bit more comfortable using this Asus Zenbook and may be a little more productive as a result.

First of all this laptop looks and feels amazing to use! Build Quality is excellent and very premium at this price point mouse HP's or Lenovo's still use plastic. This one is all aluminum and a stunning silver color which I personally love! Specs, It's packing a Ryzen 5 5500U (6C/12T) CPU that completely crushes Intel Core i5-1135G7 in multi-core performance due to have those extra two cores, it even beats the i7-1165G7 at times! 8GB RAM LPDDR4X at 4266MHz, Unfortunately the RAM is not upgradable but 8GB is plenty as this just a school laptop can even do some light gaming. GPU- This laptop has a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX450 2GB which is about about as good as mobile GeForce GTX 1050. So therefore you can do some light gaming, Genshin Impact on high runs flawlessly at 50-60FPS very playable (plugged in). Keyboard is very pleasant to type on, the silver keys are kind of a downside but I go used to them, just have the backlight turned off during the day and on at night it gets the job done. Trackpad is glass and definitely one of the better Windows trackpads I've used, still far from MacBook trackpads (only thing I like about MacBook's lol) I'm a Windows guy. Screen is beautiful and very portable, 14" 1080p and 100% sRGB color gamut. This laptop is so compact it smaller than a 13.3" MacBook Pro mid 2012 (non-retina) and fits nicely in a incase MacBook Pro 13" sleeve! Battery life is nuts, all the laptop I've had in the past would be drained of all 100% in 2-4 hours, but not this one, ASUS advertises 12 hours. Well I get around 9-11 hours with full brightness, keyboard backlight off and doing school work (not really utilizing the MX450 GPU. It also helps if you disable the MX450 in device manager to get about 45 minutes more of battery life! Also I went with ASUS this time because I've had HP and in the past and all of them had problems within 1 week! And they were just plain awful of an experience for me. So far this laptop has served me well for the 12 days I've had it and I hope that continues. I would highly recommend this laptop for school if you are in engineering and need a dedicated GPU that doesn't go into the bulkiness of a fully-fledged gaming laptop unless it's a ROG Zephyrus G14. This model is also the only one to have a headphone jack oddly enough. I also recommend this if you need a thin and elegant laptop for your business. Usually I see business' sourcing laptops from HP, Dell and Lenovo. I think they should give ASUS a try!

I like the product, I think it’s just too early to give you a complete feedback

This little laptop is great, full alloy chassis, face unlock, backlit display, and a dedicated graphics card!

I havnt found a laptop that can beat it!

It came with windows 10 not 11, which is a plus as windows 11 is still very buggy

The only 2 cons are the system really gets hot while playing games, and the screen has slight blemishes from pressure on the bezels when the screen is black.

The G14 is a great laptop! Runs games and editing hadn’t been so much better with this laptop. Though first day I bought and opened up the box the screen had a line on the display screen. Which I was kind of disappointed in having bought a $1,300 laptop and dealing with a hardware issue. But other then just that issue the laptop is great if it isn’t dealt with a problem like mine had.

I did a decent amount of research before buying this laptop. I knew right away I did not want something bigger than 14 inches. In fact, for me in particular, 14 inches is the ideal size to provide portability, comfort and an optimal viewing experience.

I wasn't looking for a heavy duty editing or gaming laptop. I do some gaming on the side and some use of the Adobe services/platforms but this was mainly for my job. This was a good buy.

Here are the pros:

-light and portable

-fast

-eye-turning

-easy to use

-finger print login access as you turn it on

-graphics card performance under heavy use

-quality of screen

-Black design with the lighting works well (compared to the white design)

Cons:

-Fan noise (it can get loud)

-Graphics can be weird (when I use a video conference service, the quality of the images is distorted, it looks as if I'm watching a VHS home video)

-It sometimes does not know which is the main display when connected to second/third monitor (for example, it might show that display 1 is the main display but taskbar and icons are showing in a different display) for this the connection needs to be reset to fix

-USB hubs should be either on the back or the left side of a gaming laptop-- this one has two in the right side

-Screen brightness when on battery is low

-No camera (not an issue for me, just noting it)

I use this with a USB dock, having three monitors connected to it, and am happy to say it does the job. It outperforms an i7 even though this device was not listed as compatible. Again, the only issue is some graphics problems when using video conferencing. But other than that, this thing performs great. I throw somewhat heavy work at it on a daily basis and I feel confident working knowing the device is not going to let me down.

The pricing itself was a bit of an issue, now in retrospect, because I bought this when new models came out. It seems I could have waited a week to buy a newer device for cheaper and with better performance. But that's life, I suppose.

It is the fastest, coolest laptop I have ever owned, and the AniMe Matrix lights are my favorite part. Turns heads for sure wherever I go.

Make sure you update the drivers though (fairly easy to do, it comes with a built-in ASUS app for that). The other negative reviews about this crashing are honestly unfair. You should have some basic knowledge about how to use/maintain a computer - look elsewhere if you are still figuring out the difference between a keyboard and a USB stick.

Great PC! Unfortunately I bought it at the wrong time. The 2021 RTX3060-5900HS was coming out. I returned this PC for no reason other than I'm waiting for the newer version. From all the reviews the performance is not overwhelming between the 2020 and the 2021 version. I'm holding out for the better screen (2K), only because I'm particular on clarity. If you really want this PC, wait for the discounted price, ASUS is now selling it for $1699.00.

I haven’t had any issues with the laptop so far. Runs everything smoothly and has a good battery life. Plays my games well. Fan noise is noticeable when playing a graphically intense game. Lack of webcam is a downside, but at least I know the government isn’t watching.

This product has been working very well for me from the very first day I bought it.

When this laptop worked it was very nice. We bought this for my son for college. It is light and has great battery life. For after classes you get a gamer-ready laptop without the bling that says your're a gamer.

Unfortunately, the amount of blue screens on this is unacceptable. We looked at reddit and updated the firmware, etc. and the problem continued to persist. You can read about USB not working without a reboot. Can you imagine being in your online class and getting a random blue screen?

If not for that, I would give this 5 stars.... when it works.

We returned it and are now trying the lower model.

Great laptop! I use this for video editing and gaming, and it does it's job fantastically!

I've owned a few gaming laptops over the years and the new Zephyrus G15 comes closest to hitting that perfect balance of performance, design, and portability. The model as reviewed here foregoes some high-end upgrades and has a few small quirks, but the design is eye-catching and the overall package is essentially unmatched by any other laptop. Nvidia's new 30-series GPUs offer incredible performance and value, but there are certainly some trade-offs to be aware of with the 3070 in such a small machine. Likewise, you'll want to temper your expectations if you're upgrading from a laptop with a 20-series GPU.

=== DESIGN ===

- This particular configuration is only available in the Eclipse Grey color, which I actually prefer over white. The color maintains a sleek, professional look allowing you to use the laptop in any setting without attracting too much attention. The holographic microdots on the laptop's lid add just enough flare so as to not be over-the-top.

- When closed, the laptop measures 14" wide by 9.6" deep, and less than 1" thick. At just over 4 pounds, it is very portable and should fit in most backpacks and travel bags.

- There are a decent amount of ports available, though I would have preferred more. On the left, there's the power port, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, one USB Type-A port, two USB Type-C ports, and a headphone jack. On the right, there's one USB Type-A port, a microSD card slot, and a Kensington lock slot.

- The power port on the left side is oddly placed right in the center of the laptop rather than towards the back. As a result, the power cord runs along the length of the laptop, which looks awkward and sometimes covers the left exhaust vent.

- The power brick is surprisingly compact for a gaming laptop. You will need it for the laptop to run at full power, but the machine can also be charged via USB-C with any 100w adapter. Just be aware that the CPU and GPU will not run at full speed when the laptop is being powered via USB-C.

- Build quality is excellent, with minimal flex and no squeaking. Most of the machine is a soft-touch plastic, which is great for keeping weight to a minimum. The hinge is very smooth and can be lifted with one hand. As you raise the display, the base of the laptop begins to raise at a slight angle to improve airflow. I haven't noticed any significant wobble with the display raised.

- Overall: The Eclipse Grey color is great and I appreciate the understated yet modern design of the laptop. The power port positioning is an awkward choice, and I wish there were a couple of additional USB-C ports especially on the right side. Build quality seems top-notch and I'm confident it will last a long time.

=== DISPLAY, KEYBOARD, TRACKPAD, & AUDIO ===

- A key selling point for me was the 165Hz 1440p (QHD) display, which ASUS claims covers 100% of the DCI-P3 -- meaning it can show a ton of colors and display them very accurately. I absolutely love the resolution and pixel density of this display, and colors are indeed rich and vibrant. I find that contrast is a bit lacking and there is some visible wash-out as you tilt the display very far back. There is also a bit of light bleed along the top edge of my display, but it's hardly noticeable except on black loading screens. The 165Hz refresh rate means that games look incredibly smooth with no tearing or choppiness.

- The keyboard is very spacious and comfortable. It has a nice amount of travel and it takes a satisfying amount of force to depress the keys. It has just the right amount of "clickiness" that you would expect in a gaming keyboard. Given the 15.6" form factor, I'm glad ASUS omitted the 10-key pad. The keyboard is RGB-lit, though the entire keyboard can only display one color at a time (there are not multiple RGB zones to control). The RGB brightness is sufficient, though I've certainly seen brighter RGB keyboards.

- The trackpad is a joy to use. It is very large, soft, and easy to click. It works perfectly with gestures and is extremely responsive.

- The speakers on the G15 really surprised me. MacBook speakers aside, these could be the best sounding speakers I've heard on a Windows laptop. I usually expect to hear a lot of distortion at medium and high volumes on laptop speakers, but not with the G15. Mids and highs are well balanced with a nice amount of "oomph" in the lows. The included Dolby Access app provides some pretty good preset audio profiles as well as an equalizer for custom settings.

- Overall: Minor gripes aside, ASUS has nailed the basic aspects of a 15-inch gaming laptop with arguably the best display available in the segment. The keyboard, trackpad, and speakers also live up to the hype.

=== PERFORMANCE, COOLING, & UPGRADES ===

- Long story short: you won't have any problems playing modern AAA games on this laptop. The graphics performance in this machine rivals that of a high-end desktop with a 2080 from just a couple of years ago. Just don't buy this laptop -- or ANY gaming laptop -- expecting to get the same performance from the 3070 Laptop GPU that you would get from the full-powered desktop 3070. Due to thermal restrictions and the laws of physics, the 30-series GPUs in laptops use a LOT less power than their desktop counterparts, so performance will never be equal. Regardless, the most impressive aspect of the 3070 in the G15 is its value. Just a couple of years ago, a laptop with this type of performance would have cost much more money.

- Time Spy benchmark: 9408. Cinebench R23 multicore: 11548. Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing Medium, DLSS Balanced, 1440p): 50 fps average. Gears 5 (Ultra preset, 1440p): 80 fps average. Red Dead Redemption 2 (High preset, 1440p): 45 fps average. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (High preset, DLSS enabled, 1440p): 65 fps average. You get the idea. This laptop can handle these demanding games quite easily, and the performance only gets better if you're willing to fine-tune each game's settings.

- Reducing the resolution in games to 1080p results in noticeable performance gains, but you obviously sacrifice a bit of clarity. That is one drawback to the 1440p display: it looks brilliant, but it requires a lot of GPU power to process such a high resolution.

- So much of your performance will be dependent on the settings you choose in the ASUS Armoury Crate program. There are presets for Silent, Performance, and Turbo. "Turbo" gives you the best performance and cooling, but the fans get obnoxiously loud if you're not wearing headphones. "Performance" is a good middle-ground with less fan noise, but you will sacrifice a bit of CPU and GPU power (the clock speeds of the GPU will not boost as high as quickly). You will have to spend some time in this program to tweak the performance settings to your liking.

- The laptop stays surprisingly cool, but that definitely comes at a cost of loud fans during intense gameplay. Luckily, the fans are hardly noticeable when using the laptop for routine work and web browsing. On Turbo mode, most games push the GPU temp to about 67 to 70°C, and the CPU to over 80°C.

- Battery life is pretty great lasting over 8 hours with standard web browsing and day-to-day tasks (screen at half brightness). Obviously, gaming is going to result in much shorter battery life.

- There is an extra M.2 NVMe slot to add an additional SSD for more storage. 8GB of RAM are soldered onto the board, with another 8GB SODIMM in the memory slot. You can swap out that 8GB DIMM for 16GB (for a total of 24GB of RAM), but that's the most RAM you can get.

- Overall: Performance out of the box is outstanding and should satisfy most gamers looking for a portable gaming laptop. Just do your research and know what you're buying. Cooling is great, but it comes at the cost of loud fans that will have to be closely monitored through the ASUS software.

=== SOFTWARE AND OTHER THOUGHTS ===

- A fingerprint reader is built into the power button for logon via Windows Hello, but the reader is very unreliable. I'd say it fails to scan my fingerprint at least half the time, prompting me to enter my PIN or password.

- There is no webcam on this laptop, which seems like poor timing on the part of ASUS given how the world has changed over the past year.

- The ASUS Armoury Crate software is essential for tweaking the performance and cooling of this laptop, but it is very clunky and confusing to use. Luckily there is a button above the keyboard that you can use to switch between your cooling/performance presets.

=== OVERALL ===

From a cost/performance/value perspective, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 checks all of the boxes -- especially this particular configuration. ASUS offers the laptop with a beefier GPU (the 3080) and some additional RAM for hundreds of dollars more, but in my opinion, this model with the 3070 is the sweet spot. Gamers just need to manage their expectations and understand that they are not getting a full-fledged, desktop-class 3070 in this laptop. Those upgrading from a laptop with a 10-series GPU will be blown away. Those coming from a 20-series laptop might not see as big of a jump, but you are getting a lot more performance for your money this generation. A few minor gripes aside, this is likely THE gaming to get right now. With the beautiful display and raw performance offered, nothing else seems to come close to matching its value.

This laptop is a great example of a balance between a portable laptop on the go and a great powerful beast for gaming/ heavy workloads. The thing it isn't perfect with possible major flaws. Like your first love in school with your girlfriend/boyfriend, you may find great things but uncover the bad after being deeply together after a while. Ill list the Pros and Cons since there is a lot to cover.

Pros:

1. The design is good with a great metal feel on the lid and a trackpad that is similar to the Microsoft Surface. The device is very portable and the charger is really compact with not a lot of weight. I usually carry my laptop to worksites once a week and it is barely noticeable.

2. Great battery life. Able to get around 6 hours on ASUS silent mode with mix office work and Teams conferencing.

3. Great gaming performance all around. Time Spy hits average 9723 while Firestrike hits 22359 benchmark score. These scores in comparison is about 12% slower than an RTX 2080 desktop with an i9. For gaming with an external monitor I was able to get 90 FPS average on Ultra 1080P with GTA 5, COD Warzone at max setting 1080P no raytracing was averaging about 80 FPS, FF15 with hairworks off on ultra 1080P was getting about 88 FPS average. That is great results for a 4 lbs. laptop as most laptops can't even come close to these results.

4. The built in 2k screen is fast and colors are almost as accurate as my external 4k monitor. Still needs to be calibrated for actual color work related tasks but for most gamers this should be a fine great panel.

5. Low power draw is something that people really don't mention since I guess people just don't pay for electricity? This laptop has an average power draw of about 130 Watts when gaming which makes it very attractive for people who don't want to spend a lot on utilities for people who want to be more environmentally conscious. Could also be a good option for hash mining if you live in an area that has low electric costs but I can't confirm since I don't mine.

Cons:

1. When using it as a workstation connected to 2 monitors with the lid closed, the device will go to Sleep when pushing the CPU/GPU which indicates an overheat. The temps seem to be fine when I monitor (hits around 87 C on CPU and 82 on GPU) but it seems that there is something that is baking inside that forces it to sleep. I was able to remedy this issue by using a cooling pad and adjusting the laptop fan curve to be a lot higher that what it supposed to be. This is a disappointing one since with the Dell and HP I used to own, I would just have to use a cooling pad in the workstation area and it would work with no issues.

2. Speakers are alright. It has good sound but sometimes on bass, it will have a very light pop noise. Kind of annoying for an expensive laptop of this caliber.

3. I know this doesn't have a webcam but it is annoying to lug a webcam around to when using it for Teams conferencing. Yes I know most laptop webcams suck but it's better than no webcam and ASUS could have change the game by adding a good webcam similar to my work loaned Microsoft Surface. The kicker is that ASUS feature their "amazing noise canceling" mic which is decent but not a replacement for a dedicated mic. What's the point of adding a mic to the laptop if there's no webcam.....

4. Minor issue of one 8 RAM module being soldered to the mainboard which means max upgrade is 24 GB of RAM (16 GB dual channel + 8 GB single channel). For an enthusiast gaming laptop, this is slightly disappointing and will dissuade some customers who need 32 GB of dual channel RAM for heavy workloads.

Overall this is a good portable laptop with great performance in which to be honest will fit with the majority of people use case. There is a much darker picture I have to paint though. Questionable QC is my concern since I actually exchanged the laptop with the same model. The previous laptop had random blue screen issues when on battery power and had a really bad blown out right speaker that would pop and scratch during certain noises. Since this laptop is a new design for ASUS, I would recommend to test every feature of this laptop since there is a chance of possible defects. Since I tested what I could on this second laptop and seems to be fine, I will be keeping this for many years to come.

The pairing of a top-end AMD CPU with a high-performing NVidia GPU has finally come. ASUS has been selling midrange and high-end gaming laptops under their “Republic of Gamers,” or ROG, line for the last 15 years, and the Zephyrus G15 is a model that has been around for some time with evolutionary updates each hardware generation. The latest version of this popular laptop brings a few design changes that result in a sleeker, smaller machine that doesn’t skimp on performance and makes few sacrifices to get there. This year’s ROG Zephyrus G15 is easily the best gaming laptop I’ve ever used, and it may be one of the best laptops available today.

- Unboxing & Setup

Being one of ASUS’ top laptop offerings, the packaging impresses with a mechanism that raises the laptop as you open the box. A handful information cards are all that accompany the laptop and power adapter, leaving most of the setup and instructions on the G15 itself. ASUS loaded Windows 10 Home for this machine instead of Pro, which is a little disappointing for a high-end offering but the choice won’t impact most users. Completing initial setup without a Microsoft account is tricky - remember to skip connecting to the Internet during the process if you don’t want to use one. The power button integrates a fingerprint reader for Windows Hello login; a nice substitute for face detection as the laptop lacks a webcam.

Once up and running, ASUS’ “Armoury Crate” software offers control over the system’s performance and helps switch between battery and AC power modes for the graphics processors. It stays mostly out of the way and doesn’t seem too bloated, with the usual Windows promos and an ASUS support helper being the only other notable preinstalled applications.

- Build Quality & Connectivity

The ROG Zephyrus G15 is one of the nicest laptops I’ve held. It’s extremely svelte for a 15.6” laptop and feels solid, but not overly weighty. Despite its plastic chassis, the machine feels great with no keyboard flex nor wobble in its display hinge. The metal lid is gorgeous and provides welcome rigidity to the screen, with the perforated motif giving a premium touch. The keyboard and Windows Precision-enabled trackpad are solid, but there is some room for improvement in the quality of the keycaps as the plastic does feel a little rough.

Connectivity options are fairly good. Two USB-A ports accompany two USB-C ones that both support DisplayPort off the NVidia GPU alongside a full-size HDMI 2.0 port, which means you can in fact run triple screens off the laptop. Both USB-C ports also support Power Delivery, meaning you can charge with a high-power USB-C charger instead of through the included DC barrel plug. A Gigabit ethernet port and combination headphone-microphone jack round out the available ports. A microSD card reader is integrated into the laptop, which is convenient if a little odd as full-size SD is more versatile. WiFi and Bluetooth are both strong, offering up range and signal strength matching my desktop’s powered dual-antenna solution.

- Performance

Once the laptop’s on AC power and full the full performance mode is enabled, the 80-watt (100 during boost) RTX 3070 Max-Q delivers incredible graphics power for this size. The GPU lets nearly all modern games run with High or Ultra settings at the screen’s native 1440p with high framerates. After a few days of testing I found no game performed any worse at the same settings as my main desktop with an RTX 2080, and the benchmarks I ran showed both GPUs within a couple percentage points across the board. Ray traced titles, DX11 games, Vulkan games, even VR games on a high-res HMD were all equally performant between the two systems, and I would be hard-pressed to tell which machine was powering my experience on an external display.

The dedicated GPU makes for a great gaming laptop on its own, but the trick up the ROG Zephyrus G15’s sleeve is the integrated Vega 8 GPU on the Ryzen 5900HS. On battery, ASUS’ Armoury Crate disables the 3070 entirely and lets the machine run on just the integrated GPU. The Vega 8 boosts up to nearly 2GHz frequency, which delivers graphics performance not far removed from desktop APUs such as the 3400G. Smooth framerates are achievable with lower graphics settings, letting you untether from an AC outlet for less-demanding games or eSports titles. Battery life takes only a modest hit when pushing the integrated GPU to its limits.

The AMD Ryzen 5900HS is an 8-core, 16-thread powerhouse that sips energy - the 35-watt chip puts out desktop-level performance not far removed from the Ryzen 3800X. In synthetic benchmarks it consistently outperformed my desktop’s 5600X (6-core, 12-thread) by a few percent in multi-threaded performance, leaving my desktop winning only in single-threaded applications. Regardless, the single-thread power on tap is plenty for modern gaming, and the extra cores available make the Zephyrus G15 a viable mobile streaming solution. On test streams my viewers reported not a single stutter nor noticeable frame drop while playing both CPU and GPU-demanding titles like Hitman 2 and Cyberpunk 2077.

Make no mistake, this laptop can be a desktop replacement. I didn’t feel the CPU nor GPU were obviously bottlenecking the other, leaving it to a game’s settings and optimization to make either run out of steam. The system’s 16GB of dual-channel RAM and speedy NVMe disk (though only PCIe 3.0 x2) keep the system snappy and load times short.

- Thermals & Noise

New for this generation of Zephyrus laptops is ASUS’ choice to move away from traditional thermal compounds and move to liquid metal. This ensures the most efficient heat transfer from the two processors to the heat pipes, resulting in much smoother temperature changes as they heat up. Thermal paste tends to break down over time, sometimes as quickly as a few months, while liquid metal will retain its thermal conductivity for years without issue.

As a result of this change, the G15 maintains some of the best thermal performance I’ve ever seen in a gaming laptop. At no point in testing did the CPU breach 85C, and the GPU never exceeded 70C, even while stressing both to their limits simultaneously. ASUS’ cooling solution uses six copper heat pipes to whisk heat away from the processors, exhausted by two fans that blow out the sides and at the base of the screen. At full bore these fans are not overbearing, but in “Silent” mode the heat pipes alone absorb enough heat away from the CPU that the fans almost never run. Further helping keep things cool is the “Max-Q” design that raises the back edge of the laptop when the hinge is open, creating a gap of air underneath the machine to get more cool air across the processors.

- Screen & Sound

Backing up the high performing RTX 3070 is the best screen I’ve seen on a laptop this side of Cupertino. The DCI-P3 certified, 165Hz IPS display is a stunner. Not only are colors incredibly accurate and vibrant, but the screen exhibits hardly any ghosting and gets more than bright enough for indoor use. While not HDR-capable, the brightness and color gamut make up the difference. This is a great screen for media editing, and with a 1440p resolution it borders on “retina” level sharpness at normal viewing distances.

The speakers bring one of the only letdowns I’ve come across with the G15 thus far. A four speaker array with integrated subwoofers does a bit to overcome the “tinny” audio that laptops are known for, but anything resembling a deep bass hit gets reproduced with a “whump” sound that’s completely out of place. Of course, headphones are an expected occurrence with a gaming laptop, but I found that sound from the audio jack was on the quiet side and I had trouble getting my headphones loud enough to be usable in a noisy environment. I recommend using USB or bluetooth headphones.

- Battery Life & Upgradeability

Off-charger with the RTX 3070 disabled, I saw about 7 hours battery life in my testing which is quite good for a gaming laptop. If you’re looking to carry light you can use a USB Type-C charger to recharge using Power Delivery instead of using the 200W power adapter. It took a little under 2 hours to recharge from empty using the AC adapter, and about 6 to recharge through a 65W USB-C PD one.

Removing the G15’s lower panel reveals the only user-upgradeable internals on the laptop. Two M.2 slots allow for larger, faster SSD storage to be installed, and a single SODIMM slot allows swapping the included 8GB model out for a larger one to give the system either 24GB or 40GB of RAM. The other 8GB is soldered to the mainboard, which means any upgrade will cause the system to lose its dual-channel memory mode and significantly reduce both CPU and integrated GPU performance. While 16GB should be plenty of RAM for gaming now, some games are already using close to this and it may not be long before 16GB is the new minimum with 32GB recommended.

- Bottom Line

A stunner through and through, I find little to criticize on the ROG Zephyrus G15. It really does feel like it’s the best of both worlds - a competent mobile solution with good battery life and an excellent gaming performer - without compromising what’s important in either. It’s destined to be my daily driver from here forward until a better machine comes along, but barring more powerful processors or a RAM upgrade there’s nothing I can think of that comes up short in real-world use. Perhaps it could be priced a little lower, and a webcam would have been nice, but that’s about it. If you want to take desktop power with you in a reasonably-sized chassis, then the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 comes highly recommended!

I have owned the laptop for just around 4 days now and these are my early impressions…spoiler: they’re pretty great.

Overall build quality is excellent and it comes in a space grey color. It is constructed from a mix of aluminum and plastic. The top lid itself is a nice aluminum, while the rest of the body is plastic. While the materials aren’t premium, it does allow the machine to be more economically friendly as well as lighter, which is a plus in my book. It is prone to smudges and light wear, so keep that in mind. I think it will be fairly durable, but it won’t look new for long (you can actually see the smudges in my photos-I didn't clean the laptop to help show this - it does clean easily though).

The hinge is the best in the business. It is Asus’s ergolift hinge. There is rubber feat on the bottom of the display which lifts the bottom of the laptop at an angle. This has two benefits: first it allows for proper heat flow into the intake vents on the bottom of the laptop. And lastly it allows the keyboard to be positioned at a more comfortable typing angle. The hinge allows the lid to be a one hand open and rotates 180 degrees, allowing the screen to lay flat on the desk. It’s also very firm, so when opening or closing, there is perfect resistance. It is really, really nice.

The Display is a 15.6” LED matte display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 and it has a refresh rate of 165Hz! This display is excellent and it easily has one of the best panels I’ve tested. Colors are very accurate (see calibration results below) and contrast is nice as well. Viewing off-axis is good, but not great. There is some minor color washout as you move past 120 degrees off-axis, but it is minor and still looks nice.

sRGB – 100%

NTSC – 86%

AdobeRGB -89%

P3 -95%

The keyboard is as close to perfect as I can think of…not only is it angled thanks to the ergolift hinge, but it’s properly spaced out, the layout is perfect, it is backlit and has excellent travel. My only personal nitpick is the feel of the keycaps themselves. It has a rubberized feel to it. I prefer a nice plastic keycap myself. Again, personal preferences.

One thing to note: there is a LOT of heat that comes through the keyboard itself and it can be a slight discomfort over time. It was something I most definitely noticed, even during normal use. Below I have included thermal readings to illuminate this.

The touchpad is a slight negative as well…It is VERY large, which is a good thing, sort of. The palm rejection in Windows isn’t anywhere near as good as the Mac side of things and my cursor constantly drifts. I always disable touch to tap feature in windows, so nothing gets activated, but it could be a problem for some, if that feature is left on. The trackpad is constructed from glass and is a windows precision trackpad and it feels wonderful. Palm rejection aside, it is an excellent trackpad. It’s as close to a macbook trackpad I have seen, even down to the click mechanism (by this, I mean the auditory sound produced, not the actual force touch side of things).

The speakers are nice. They’re not MacBook Pro 16 levels of greatness (nothing is) but they’re better than about 90% of the laptops out there. The mids are great, the highs are good, but tend to falter and the lows are boomy and leave a lot to be desired. They don’t get overly loud either at around 81db’s. The placement is perfect as they are adjacent the keyboard and we have stereo separation too, which every device should strive for.

Okay, let’s discuss the internals. This particular model came with:

o AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS 3.3ghz 8-core Processor

o Nvidia RTX 3070 Max-Q 8gb Graphics Card

o 16gb’s DDR4 RAM (8gb’s soldered on motherboard & 8gb Stick -upgradeable to 32gb stick)

o 1tb m.2 Solid-State Drive

CPU performance is excellent - geekbench results below. Normal tasks won’t move the meter in terms of stressing this machine. Editing 4k video stressed it slightly but it still handled it without any issues. This is easily capable of editing video up to 4k as well as photo editing.

Geekbench 5 numbers:

1461 single core & 7363 multi-core performance

GPU performance is exceptionally good. I have only used the built-in screen for testing so far. And I have tested a few games at 1440p resolution at high settings. I plan on testing more games as well as running 4k tests as well, but I’ll save that for the video review. Below are my numbers so far:

o Wolfenstein: New Colossus = 99fps

o Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order = 53fps

o Ori & the Will of Whisps = 79fps

There is several fan presets you can cycle through with a simple touch of a button (fan icon on keyboard). I usually utilize the “silent” mode when doing basic computing and switch to “performance” mode when gaming or editing. The fans in silent mode are exactly that: silent (38.0db’s). During gaming or editing, they were on full blast and were 46.9db’s loud.

A tremendous amount of heat is given off during gaming. Below is my temperature readings after just 30 minutes of gaming:

WASD – 101 F

Top middle keyboard – 118 F

Top right Keyboard – 78 F

Bottom Left Keyboard – 89 F

Spacebar – 109 F

Bottom Right Keyboard – 97 F

Left Wrist Area – 86.3 F

Trackpad – 81 F

Right Wrist Area – 87 F

Screen – 92 F

Port Selection is almost perfect. While I don’t like proprietary power plugs, I understand it’s necessary here, so you have to accept that. Otherwise we have an HDMI port, Ethernet port, 2 USB type C ports, 2 USB type A ports and a micro SD card slot.

Battery life is very poor. Yes, this is a gaming laptop, but still worse than I expected. For my reviews, I usually do a battery range, so I test the lowest demanding settings to get the longest life possible as well as stressing the laptop completely (editing/gaming) giving me the shortest battery life under high demand.

While gaming at max brightness, fans on performance mode and a light backlight to the keyboard I got 83 minutes of battery life.

While having the screen at minimum brightness, no backlit keyboard, fans on silent and web-surfing and word-processing, I was able to get 4 hours and 37 minutes.

Total recharge time was impressive at 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Okay the major negatives on this laptop:

o No web-camera. This is bad, especially right now, in the day and age we live in. The web-camera used to be something not many people cared about (including myself), but it has become essential. Not having a web-camera in 2021 is a bad move on Asus’s part.

o The lack of a full-size SD card slot is such a misstep. This is a powerful laptop, capable of editing, and to omit it is a bit shameful on Asus’s part. This is a gaming laptop, yes, but it’s an editing monster too.

o The display doesn’t have touch integrated. This isn’t a big deal for me, even though I’ve been an advocate for touch displays, and is probably a cost saving on asus’s part. It is something to consider though if you just have to have a touchscreen.

o The Fingerprint reader is bad. It is built into the power button and it just doesn’t work for me. I work with my hands a lot and wash my hands regularly, so it could just be me, however none of my other devices have given me this much trouble. It plain doesn’t work for me.

Overall this a beast of a laptop. Whether you plan on using it for gaming or video editing, or both, you’re going to very, very happy with this. It is priced appropriately at $1799. With the impeccable quality and high-refresh rate of the screen, the incredible processing power, the amazing RTX 3070 gpu (desktop counterparts are impossible to buy right now), the wonderful keyboard and the state of the art hinge make this a recommended buy. It will be my daily driver for a while. It's great.

I've tested and returned many gaming laptops over the past 6 months and this is by far my favorite. Asus really knocked it out of the park with this one. Highly recommended, especially if you can get it at the $1549 sale price.

My other favorite was the Legion 5 Pro, but I've found that when you hook the Zephyrus G15 up to an external monitor through DisplayPort (this bypasses Nvidia Optimus), you can almost match (and sometimes surpass) the Legion 5 Pro's higher wattage GPU in performance.

There unfortunately is no "perfect" gaming laptop, but this thing checks A LOT of boxes. First of all, it's actually portable (as I feel a laptop should be). It's surprisingly thin and light for having such high-end components, yet feels very sturdy still with the magnesium alloy body. Even the charging brick is a bit smaller than most gaming laptops and the cable is flexible. They definitely designed this thing with students in mind. It fits in a backpack easily and one-handed lifting is also easy.

Next, the premium design features are much appreciated. The giant trackpad is the best I've ever used. The keyboard has basic RGB and feels amazing to type on. I'm a huge fan of centered keyboards and trackpads too. Speakers were unexpectedly great as well. I'd say probably the best I've heard besides Macbook speakers. Also the hinge design is very low-profile and the back of the lid has a cool reflective finish. And it's not a fingerprint magnet like Razer! Speaking of fingerprints, you also get a fingerprint sensor which can log you in as soon as you press the power button.

The screen is great. About 350 nits of brightness which is plenty for me. Color accuracy is awesome. QHD looks beautiful and sharp.

Fan noise is very manageable and you get custom fan curves. Silent mode actually runs silent, even when doing heavy tasks, which is much appreciated (great for classrooms/cafes!).

The Armoury Crate software has some cool and unique features not found in other laptops. I especially enjoy the iGPU mode, which can automatically switch off the RTX 3070 when on battery power, granting you insanely good battery life without having to tweak anything (8 to 10+ hours). You also get control over fans, color settings, and some wattage/overclock settings.

Gaming performance is fantastic. The GPU dynamically ranges around 80W-100W while the 8-core Ryzen 9 5900HS sores in CPU-bound tasks. You can toy with settings to adjust your performance. Manual mode can get you a TimeSpy score of over 10,000. Turbo mode gets you in the high 9,000s. This translates to pretty much being able to run any AAA game right now at high-ultra settings with great fps. Especially when DLSS is available.

Temperatures are great but this can vary for each user. During heavy load, the liquid metal seems to do a great job at keeping the CPU within reasonable levels (yes it is ok for Ryzen CPUs to go over 90C) and GPU stays at a good temp under 79C.

The "major" con of this laptop is that only one stick of RAM is swappable (side note: you can swap this stick for faster RAM and still get a performance boost). So you're stuck with 16GB, or you can upgrade to 24GB, or 40GB. And yes, when getting more RAM the first 16GB utilized will still run in dual channel, but when your CPU utilizes any more than that, it runs in single channel for the extra (some lost performance). 16GB does not bother me. It is plenty for AAA gaming, and I've edited 4k videos on it with no lagging or anything.

The other weird con is the lack of a webcam. I will say that the Asus Link software works pretty well allowing you to use your iPhone or Android phone as your computer's webcam though.

Conclusion: Asus somehow fit a ton of performance in a small, quiet, and very portable package without a ton of sacrifices. And that is just downright impressive. This thing packs a serious punch for gaming, productivity, school, or whatever you decide to throw at it.

Honestly if you are looking for the best of the best on a laptop at the time of this review, this laptop has it all. Currently this laptop runs everything faster and smoother than my tower PC. This Laptop has 1TB storage which by today's standard is average since applications and games are getting bigger, but don't get me wrong the SSD makes everything load fast unlike a regular hard drive. When it comes to the CPU, oh boy, that one is a beefy one. Inside this monster of a machine is a Ryzen 9 5900HS which is arguably one of the top multi use CPU for gaming, streaming, editing and rendering on the go. On the GPU side you have a 3070 with 8GB of GDDR6 which is plenty to run games on 2K smoothly or to get higher frame rates. One side note for you streamers looking for a laptop, this is a good laptop to stream with using the NVEC encoder, but with games that require a lot of GPU, the frame rate will take a hit. Once you are on the laptop you can use the ASUS ROG app that will let you see your temps, fan speeds, battery mode color of the keyboard etc... In the app you can change several things to your liking, it is easy to use for beginners and for more experienced people. Honestly with all the Nvidia card shortages going on I would highly recommend this laptop. I have been playing Valheim and Valorant and experience is smooth as butter. The only complaint i would have is the matte finish. As a gamer once you have a long and intense sessions of gaming, your hands tend to get sweaty and oily and leaves marks on the surface of the laptop. It would of been nice if they had a polished metal finish but that is mostly nitpicking.

Its a solid gaming laptop the problem is its design the vents are blowing hot air to the Screen. Heat can destroy anything so i dont think this laptop will be good for the long run. But overall the speed and graphics im speechless i got mine without a screen backlight bleed. I dont know why rog made such a design like this that can destroy your screen in the long run

The best cost-benefit on the market for performance. For those looking for excellent processing power, Ryzen is the best choice. I compared a lot with other options like Razer Blade 14 (Ryzen too) and 15, and Intel of 15" can't even be equal to Ryzen (The 14 I discarded because of the impossibility of upgrading that I would like.). As for RTX 3070, Zephyrus does not provide a great TDP power, it will hardly exceed 100W. So my tip is, if you're looking for power and at the same time a visually more discreet notebook, this is an excellent option. If you are looking for even better graphics power, I recommend a 3070 with 120W or more, as is the case with the Alienware M15 R4. I will not mention 3080 as it is already in another price range (and 3080 for this model it is not worth it, precisely because of the TDP limit).

A detail is that this model sold here, despite coming with 16gb, it comes with 8gb soldered and a 8gb memory. And not with 16gb soldered like other GA503 series.

This brand never disappoints and if you are patient often times you can save a reasonable amount of money. Nothing is perfect with any product which is why 4 stars and not 5.

Great computer for what I needed it for(school work and light gaming). I was able to upgrade the SSD to 500gb with no issues. The only thing is that I wish that the battery lasted longer. With heavy use it doesn't last as long as it did when I first got it. Otherwise great device and I'm happy with my purchase.

I purchased the ASUS - VivoBook. I did not know what to expect as far as would it suit my needs. I have since been using it these past few weeks and it is wonderful. It is easy to use, the screen is clear and so far no problems.

Both 2 of these. One for my son who is in high school and the other for my daughter who is in college. Both love them and the laptops work quickly. There is enough speed and memory that you can have multiple windows open with out having any issues. Definitely glad I went with an Asus instead of another brand.

Good laptop. I just returned because didn’t like the screen resolution. Anything else nice laptop

great laptop for school, fan is a little loud but this laptop gets the job done!

Excellent choice of laptop. Weightless laptop, touch screen and working so good. Fast even downloading a load of docu.

Design is cool, price is commendable as well as its quality.

Battery stays charged for a good amount of time, lightweight, lots of storage, LOVE IT!

I love this laptop but I hesitate to give it 5 stars for the reason below:

Pro:

- Very light, at 2.65- it can easily be carried around everywhere. Solid built.

- Backlight keyboard lighting - beware, when there is enough light, the light needs to be dimmed out or completely turn off, otherwise it’s hard to see the marking on the keyboard keys. And when it’s really dark, the light needs to be put in max – which probably will eat up the battery.

- A big trackpad that makes it easy to navigate around. BUT depending on where you place your wrist when typing, this could be a nuisance because you might accidentally press the trackpad which happens to me all the time.

- A very quick load up – as soon as you turn the computer on, the screen quickly opens up. Having a 256 SSD is probably the reason why. And based on the information from Asus, the SSD hard drive is expendable. However, with cloud storage and portable hard drive, most people are probably quite satisfied with the 256 GB storage.

- Stunning 4K video I found on youtube.

- 3D IR Camera that can be set up to recognize your face and log you on to the computer automatically just by scanning your face

Con:

- Keyboard stops working – have to restart before it finally works. Not sure what was the reason. This happens quite often after putting the computer to sleep. I recovered the computer to the previous version and re-install the update again and have not experienced the keyboard issue. So this might be a software issue, but this is one of the reasons for the 4 stars.

- At price point around $700, this is not exactly the cheapest laptop. You can definitely get a lower priced laptop but might have to compromise on speed and performance.

- Speaker Bluetooth connection could be a challenge. I was able to connect my Beat Solo Pro easily but not the Adidas, even though it said the paired was made. But this could be an issue with the Adidas headphone.

- With 8 GB RAM that is not expandable, you are stuck BUT so far, this thing is lightning fast. For what I used it so far: browsing internet, watching videos on youtube and Netflix or typing, I am pretty happy with the speed

- The sound coming out of the computer speaker is not exactly the loudest, but listening it using my Beat Solo Pro is a different story: it’s loud and full of bass.

IF you are looking for a “budget” computer and not ready to pay $1000 for MacBook, this laptop is a very compatible substitute.

The Zenbook 14 is thin and light with an overall attractive design. The metal chassis gives it a premium feel and the keys are pleasant to type on. The backlighting on the keys are very dim and only useable in a completely dark room. That said, the key cap labels can be difficult to read in certain lighting conditions because of the glare that reflects off the keys. The camera and microphone are average and does the job for video conferencing. I was surprised to see that there was virtually no bloatware to remove and the set-up was minimal. It's very fast at this price point and you can also do some moderate gaming thanks to the discrete NVIDIA graphics. One downside is the small SSD at only 256 GB. I am happy with this purchase, especially with a nice discount. In fact, I bought two of them.

The main problems I have been seeing from other reviews are the max fan problem and the "invisible keys".

Well, I have only experience the max fan issue once and it never came back. But for those who keep experiencing this issue here is a fix: (1.go to device manager

2.choose universal serial bus controllers

3. Right-click on the AMD USB 3.10 eXtensible Host controller and choose properties

4. Choose power management

5. Uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”.)

And the solution for the "invisible keys" is just to get a keyboard cover. Here is the link: https://amzn.to/35fHTyJ

I really like this laptop and didn't want to return it because it has potential. Even though you can't upgrade the ram, you can still upgrade the SSD. Not upgrading ram shouldn't be a compromise unless you're going to do heavy multitasking and video editing. Other than that it already has a fast processor and the ram usage within apps is fine. (ITS ENOUGH RAM)

Please remember to keep updating your GPU for the latest drivers and best gameplay. It runs Fortnite, GTA v, 2k20, and other games pretty well.

It has one of the best color accuracy's in laptops, especially for its price, (it's 100% srgb)

This is a nice little laptop at a good price point. It is perfect for a home use laptop for browsing internet, watching shows, checking emails, etc.

Construction: This is a very solidly build laptop. There is no flexing, bending or creaking with this. The full HD matte finish screen sits inside extremely thin bezels which give it a great look. The backlit keyboard feels very good to type on. It is a very short keystroke, but feels solid when typing. The mouse pad is very responsive and has a nice feel to it. I used this for several hours at a time and it never got too hot to have on my lap.

Features: I really like the facial recognition camera on this. Combined with the AMD Ryzen 5 4500 Processor and SSD this thing boots up extremely fast. Wifi connection is solid, but bluetooth gave me some glitches. If you are looking to pair bluetooth headphones to this, you need to make sure that they are running the same version of bluetooth as the Zenbook, or they won't work properly. Graphics are good for media streaming, but this will not pull off any hardcore gaming at all. There is one USB 2.0, one USB 3.0, one HDMI, one USCB C, one micro SD card slot, and one headphone jack. One thing that knocks this down to a 4 star for me is that it utilizes a dedicated charging plug. I would really like to see this utilize USB C charging, but it's not a deal breaker. Since the screen size is not the largest, I can easily connect to a larger monitor with and HDMI. I do also have to say that the battery life on this is great. I can get about 8-9 hours on this before needing to plug it in.

Overall Value: I think at the price point of this Zenbook, it is an incredible value that has it's place as an everyday home use laptop.

Overall I'm very happy with this laptop purchase. In my current situation, I would probably buy it again, but there are a few caveats that I'll mention in a moment, but first the pros.

PROS

- Speed

- Price

- Size

I'm totally impressed with the speed of this laptop, especially at this price-point. I'd researched the processor before buying it and made my purchase largely based on this factor, and I haven't been disappointed. It easily out-performs more expensive laptops. I routinely have several spreadsheets, several documents, as many as several dozen tabs on the internet, and a raster or vector graphics editor all open at the same time and it handles the load just fine. And it's small and lightweight.

CONS

- Keyboard

My only complaint is that the keyboard is unreadable in many lighting situations. Gray text on gray keys with soft gray-blue back-lighting just doesn't work in many of the lighting situations I've found myself in. It looked great in the store, and even now as I'm looking down at the keys it's hard to believe that the distinctly dark gray writing on the keys could blend in with the light gray backgrounds -- then I shift the keyboard to a 45' angel and suddenly the keys are almost entirely blank. Turning the backlighting off in brighter environments helps a bit by increasing the contrast between the dark and light grays.

The only other caveats would be that the 14" screen is harder to read than the 15.6" I'm used to, and there's no 10-key pad, which I knew when I bought it. On the other hand, whenever possible I use it with an external keyboard, mouse and monitor. When that's not practical though, I just wear my reading glasses and then twist the keyboard around a lot to see where the keys are.

I like to play DOTA 2 and have had no problems playing it on this computer. I have also played GTA V to good graphics. It was certainly a great deal, it is very light as a 200 sheet notebook. Great job from ASUS. I just want to add more ram.

I purchased this laptop in early December 2020 for online learning. The computer provided to me couldn't handle zoom and chrome running at the same time. I was looking for an affordable machine that could handle school with ease and could do some light gaming. This laptop is just that, even though it has some issues.

Pros:

It has the best CPU and GPU combination below $1000. The AMD Ryzen 4500U delivers exceptional performance. It never stutters even when I have multiple apps open. The MX350 offers an entry level gaming experience. It's stronger than the integrated gpu and handles light games flawlessly. Fortnite easily runs at a stable 60 fps and if you leave it on unlimited fps it fluctuates between 90 and 55 FPS. Minecraft runs smoothly at 60 fps when the render distance is set to 20. The school experience is good as well. The mic quality is clear but a little bit on the quieter side. The camera is definitely not winning any awards but it's usable. Zoom runs smoothly thanks to the CPU. Speakers are loud but tend to get a little tinny at max volume. The touchpad is buttery smooth. The 14” 1080p screen is matte so you won't have to worry about reflections, offers 104% srgb rating, and gets decently bright. The fan is quiet and only turns on when i'm pushing the cpu (such as zoom with 8+ chrome tabs open). The only time it gets to full blast is during gaming. The laptop does get toasty during gaming so I don't recommend gaming on your lap. Battery life has been good. I usually finish 5 hours of school with 20-30% of battery left. The laptop is light and feels solidly constructed. I haven't had any wifi or bluetooth issues so it seems good in that department as well. This laptop also has a great port selection.

Cons:

2 things I wished that were different were the ram and ssd. The ssd can be upgraded so that's not really an issue more like a hassle. The ram on the other hand is soldered onto the motherboard so it cannot be upgraded or replaced. The first major issue is the keyboard. The keyboard itself is satisfying to type on and has backlighting. The issue is that the keyboard's color combo is grey on white when the backlighting is on and grey on clear when it's off. This combo makes it impossible to see during certain lighting conditions. The backlight is also very weak. The highest level for this backlight is the weakest on almost every laptop on the market. The next issues are ones that I think shouldn't be overlooked and that is the auto sleep/wake function and the max fan issue. When i first got this laptop it would randomly not go to sleep when I closed the lid and would also turn on even when the lid was closed. Sometimes when i would open the laptop the fan would go to max speed and wouldn't stop until i powered off the laptop completely. I don't know why it does this but I found a fix only to the fan issue.

Solutions:

For the fan issue you have to change what the power button does. To change what the power button does go to settings, click on system, click on power & sleep, to the right or the bottom it will say additional power settings click on that - on the top left it will say change what the power buttons do- then change sleep to hibernate on both the battery and plugged in columns, try it out, then change it back to sleep and it should fix the issue.

The sleep/hibernate issue went away by itself but if i find anything i'll post it here.

Conclusion:

This laptop is a really good buy if you can get past the issues. Although having the MX350 card is nice, people who won't be gaming or video editing won't take full advantage of it. For those people I recommended the Lenovo Yoga 6 2 in 1. Although it does have a smaller screen and a bad touchpad, it's better in almost every other department. It has no real issues, has a stronger cpu, better speakers, its a 2 in 1, and gets exceptional battery life. Due to how odd the issues are I can't recommended this laptop to people who are not that familiar with computers. But for those of y'all that like to have some extra power in a light thin body, this laptop is for you.

Worked well for almost a month, until it didn’t, the driver for the adapters: intel(r) wifi 6 ax200 160mhz started to state that this device cannot start(code10), the requested operation was unsuccessful, I tried to follow the steps online on my phone like uninstalling and installing again , after many diagnosis’s and restarts it still has the same problem, even reversing/uninstalling an update or a desperate use of safe mode for anything to work failed, later I did a whole system reset and the error is still there and I can’t input anything online either from there as the WiFi section didn’t exist anymore due to the driver. I’m confused, driver is still there, can’t use it, the computer functionality due to that faulty drive is stopped and there is nothing i can do anymore...

It was an awesome laptop(built so beautifully!), but with an annoying defect. I’ve found many other people who had the same problem on forums.

It does not go to sleep properly in most cases when I..

A. Close the lid. B. Click the Go to sleep option.

I had no problem with sleep function with my previous laptop from Asus.

I found my laptop burning in my bag multiple times.

This laptop is amazing! An insane battery life and very good cooling, as well as the top Ryzen processor, an NVIDIA 3060 GPU, and 32GB of RAM in DUAL CHANNEL make this computer an absolute beast.

There are a few minor issues that are easily resolvable, mainly the computer starts with full brightness (which dramatically drains battery life, just turn it down to a more reasonable level and you'll get the full 11hrs.), and after the most recent Windows update the drivers for the fingerprint scanner were outdated and inoperable, but updating it in settings took care of that problem.

There was one more thing that surprised me when I first turned the computer on: it comes with the AniMe LED Matrix installed, even though it isn't listed as having it. This was a very pleasant surprise, well done ASUS.

Is it worth the $2000 price tag? Yes, the processor-RAM combination means that you can do pretty much anything for work, as well as the 3060GPU making it possible to play any game on the market with ease. Also 1TB SSD is always nice.

Quite a good laptop; the one gigabyte of storage in the specifications is a typo, it does have one terabyte. Sturdily built, great design, good keyboard, and a nice screen, and the internals can speak for themselves.

The laptop is fast and well designed, it is advertised that you can charge it via USB-C, but that it is not true, you have to use the power brick that comes with the laptop, only USB-C charging is just marketing

This gaming laptop is a sleeping beast! In good hands, this beast can wake up and smash all competitors. Let me be clear with you - I have read all reviews and FAQ's on every possible sites. I truly believe that my review will help you decide to buy this model! All links, recommendation or references for other products are my honest opinion (it is not promotion or advertisement) and serving for purely informative purposes only.

//OVERALL

I have bought this laptop in July 2021 and picked up at the beginning of August 2021, so all information is valid on that date. I am pretty sure if you're going to buy the same model, my review will be useful for you. But, please, double check everything before buying!

//PACKAGING

Pretty massive package including 1) laptop itself, 2) charger, 3) paperwork, 4) two replaceable bumpers for customization. It does NOT include any USB cables, mouse, keyboard, external camera, bag or anything else.

//LOOK

It looks amazing. Also, I wouldn't say that it is super heavy. I can easily hold it in one hand. Sure, it looks thick but when I tried to put it in my bag for 15" laptops when I hold my MacBook 15", it fitted pretty good. So, please, don't be afraid of the size of this laptop. The other thing is charger. This thing is MASSIVE. If you ever see MacBook laptop charger, charger for this laptop is twice bigger and heavier. So If you think to carry this laptop in your backpack - be ready for a workout.

//OS

Despite ASUS website, this laptop comes with Windows 10 HOME EDITION (NOT PRO). You can upgrade to Pro version for extra cost, though.

//CPU and CHIPSET

Based on CPU-Z app, here are CPU and CHIPSET specs:

Number of cores 8 (max 8)

Number of threads 16 (max 16)

Manufacturer AuthenticAMD

Name AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX

Codename Cezanne

Specification AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics

Package Socket FP6

CPUID F.0.0

Extended CPUID 19.50

Core Stepping CZN-A0

Technology 7 nm

TDP Limit 45.0 Watts

Core Speed 3243.4 MHz

Multiplier x Bus Speed 32.5 x 99.8 MHz

Base frequency (cores) 99.8 MHz

Base frequency (ext.) 99.8 MHz

Northbridge AMD Ryzen SOC rev. 00

Southbridge AMD Carrizo FCH rev. 51

//GPU

This laptop has two GPU - Dedicated and Integrated.

Here are specs of INTEGRATED GPU:

Name AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics

Board Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Cores 512

ROP Units 8

Memory size 512 MB

Here are specs of DEDICATED GPU:

Name AMD Radeon RX 6800M

Board Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Codename Navi 22

Cores 2560

ROP Units 32

Technology 7 nm

Memory type GDDR6

Memory size 12272 MB

Driver version 27.20.15002.9006

WDDM Model 2.7

// MUX switch

MUX is a technology, simply means that laptop can switch between Integrated and Dedicated GPU's. It DOES NOT mean that Dedicated GPU is disabled or something like that. In this particular laptop video signal can be displayed in two ways:

1) When using laptop screen. In this case, video signal after Dedicated GPU goes through Integrated GPU. Because Integrated GPU is slower than dedicated one, it cost you 10-15% FPS in the game.

2) When using Display port. In this case, video signal from a Dedicated GPU (AMD Radeon RX 6800M) goes directly to the display. That means, that using the external monitor, you will see 10-15% more FPS than playing on your laptop screen.

I would recommend reading the official ASUS answer about this case. It is published here: https://twitter.com/JarrodsTech/status/1403162485390077954

//RAM

Here are stock RAM specs:

Manufacturer: Micron

Amazon link - https://www.amazon.com/Micron-MTA8ATF1G64HZ-3G2J1/dp/B084GQRGMW

Brand name - Micron MTA8ATF1G64HZ-3G2J1

FULL SPECS:

Memory Type DDR4

Memory Size 18 GBytes (2X8 Gb).

Channels Dual

Memory Frequency 1596.8 MHz (1:16)

CAS# latency (CL) 22.0

RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 22

RAS# Precharge (tRP) 22

Cycle Time (tRAS) 52

Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 74

Command Rate (CR) 1T

Uncore Frequency 1596.8 MHz

Speaking of upgrading RAM you can find many question about slow memory in this laptop. First, I would say that is not exactly right. Here is ASUS statement about it: "The ROG Strix G Advantage Edition uses the fastest 8GB memory sticks available, and performs extremely well, especially considering its aggressive price point of 1649 USD in the USA. DRAM chipmakers have shifted production, and as a result, the only 8GB memory sticks available today and going forward will be single rank x16. This is a PC industry-level transition and not limited to any one model or brand. Older memory sticks can perform 5-10% better depending on the chips used and their configuration (x8). The performance difference depends on the game and graphics settings, but is generally smaller for newer titles that use more efficient memory management mechanisms. The memory in the StrixG Advantage Edition is fully upgradeable, so anyone interested in getting the most out of their ROG StrixG Advantage Edition and has access to an older 8+8GB memory kit or a 16+16GB memory kit can get a couple of extra FPS by swapping their memory".

Here is a link where you can read it: https://twitter.com/JarrodsTech/status/1403162485390077954

I would like to say that I use this laptop for resource intensive tasks, including game streaming. So I decided to upgrade my RAM. I think that the best product overall is Crucial 32GB Kit (16GBx2) DDR4 3200 MT/s (PC4-25600) CL22 DR x8 Unbuffered SODIMM 260-Pin Memory - CT2K16G4SFD832A. And that is the product I bought for myself.

Here is my new RAM specs:

Manufacturer: Crutial

Memory Type DDR4

Memory Size 32 GBytes

Channels Dual

Memory Frequency 1596.8 MHz (1:16)

CAS# latency (CL) 22.0

RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 22

RAS# Precharge (tRP) 22

Cycle Time (tRAS) 52

Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 74

Command Rate (CR) 1T

Uncore Frequency 1596.8 MHz

As you can see, all parameters are identical (despite capacity of cause). So as I told you before I wouldn't say, that stock memory is bad or slow. Also, I wouldn't upgrade the RAM if I need this laptop only for gaming (without streaming). I think that stock memory is more than enough for this kind of purposes.

IMPORTANT: Based on information from ASUS official website and from my SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2021 - the maximum RAM you can install in this laptop is 32Gb. I have read about technical possibility to install 64Gb but I can't either deny or confirm this information, not to mention I haven't seen any 64Gb RAM tests in this laptop. Overall, if you need so, I would stick with 32Gb which is more than enough basically for every possible task.

//STORAGE

Here are SSD specs (I did NOT upgrade SSD, so if you buy this laptop this one is what you get):

INTEL SSDPEKNU512GZ

Type Fixed, SSD

Bus Type NVMe (17)

Capacity 512 GB

Controller NVM Express (NVMe) Controller at bus 6, device 0, function 0

Link Speed PCI-E 4x @ 8.0 GT/s\

Link for product (oficcial INTEL website): https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204107/intel-ssd-670p-series-512gb-m-2-80mm-pcie-3-0-x4-3d4-qlc/specifications.html

My honest opinion, this SSD is very good and more than enough, speaking of speed. I ran some tests using CrystalDiskMark 8. In all tests, reading speed was about 3500 Mb/s and writing speed was about 1600 Mb/s. If you don't want to expand the storage capacity and 512 GB is enough for your needs, then I wouldn't recommend upgrading SSD.

If you want to upgrade this SSD, be advised of the following FACTS:

1) This laptop DOES NOT support GEN. 4 of NVMe (based on the information from SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2021 and ASUS website). That means that though you can physically install GEN. 4 of NVMe in this laptop (because it is universal M.2 port) you WILL NOT get full speed from your GEN. 4 SSD. Instead of increasing SSD speed, I would consider thinking about increasing the total capacity.

2) This laptop has two M.2 slots. One is occupied with stock SSD. Second one is empty.

3) There is no hardware limitation of SSD you can plug-in. Despite ASUS website which claimed that you can upgrade SSD up to 1 Tb - you can buy as big SSD as you want. The problem here is the modern market of SSD's. As far as I know, the biggest M.2 SSD right now is Rocket Q 8TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD Solid State Drive (SB-RKTQ-8TB). It cost about $2000.

If you want to upgrade SSD, I think that the best option right now is Crucial P5 2TB PCIe M.2 2280SS SSD (2TB M.2 SSD • PCIe NVMe Gen 3 • 3400 MB/s Read, 3000 MB/s Write). It is faster and bigger and relatively chip. If one day I decided to upgrade my SSD, I would definitely think about this option.

//MISCELLANEOUS

It looks amazing! First the RGB light is magnificent! Feature: if you put the laptop in sleeping mode, RGB light will be flashing red color and it looks like heartbeat of sleeping beast! I would recommend buying a keyboard cover to protect the laptop from liquid and coffee leaks. Also, it will protect the keyboard buttons from abrasion. Also, I would recommend buying a cooling pad. It will reduce inner temperature of CPU and GPU for couple degrees and protect your arms from heat (if you will hold your arms close to ventilation holes - it could burn). Both of these products I bought for myself.

//CONCLUSION

There are no doubts that this laptop is the best gaming laptop (speaking of comparison of the price/quality and price/power) you can buy right now. I can't recommend it enough!!! I haven't experienced any problem with the quality of manufacturing, random rebooting, with display or something else. You can easily upgrade this laptop following detailed guides by ASUS itself. If you think about buying it - JUST DO IT!

P.S. I physically posses this laptop and if you want me to run any tests or answer any question - please leave a comment to my review. I am happy to help you!

Presentation

The ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition comes in slightly flashy package, with swappable accent trim, a mostly plastic case and a front oriented light bar & 4-zone, keyboard backlighting arrangement. Absent are a web-cam, a finger print reader and any type of ‘soft-touch’ surface treatment you’d likely find on a higher cost, boutique model. Ventilation is seriously directed out of the back of the unit, aided by a big complex of bottom panel openings and left & right intakes, located on either chassis side, up near the screen hinge positions. This is an important facet of this machine as most of the IO ports are located on the rear… so make sure any USB dongles or such have plenty of length to their cables or those ‘modules’ will get a constant blast of hot air.

Overall, I am pretty impressed with the 2021 Strix G15 platform. Coming from a 2019 vintage Zephyrus and knowing how the previous gen Strix machines can come of a tad bit ‘gamey’, this year’s models have a more understated and stealthier presentation. Not monochrome mind you, just toned down.

The display may seem a bit of overkill, at 300 Hz, but the resulting image @ 1080p is pretty amazing. It is bright in its 300ish Nit’s rating (give or take…) and the contrast rendering, uniformity and detail are right up there with most all the Asus serious gaming laptops I’ve encountered. Could it be brighter? Certainly. I didn’t find myself wanting for more once I got to playing several gaming titles. It looks great. And really, who really expects to be competitive on a 15.6-inch screen?

The multi-speaker arrangement in this model is also right up there with other, strong performing Asus laptops. The fans on this machine are well tamed (more on that later…) and gaming in Performance mode on the G15 Advantage is doable with just the internal speakers. Again, not competitively, but casually… it works just fine. There is bass and easily adjustable mid-range and treble gain. Straight out of the box, I found the sound profile to be a bit crispy, but the speaker drivers need to be used for more time before I make a final assessment and the Dolby app assigned to the equalizer tasks is good.

So, about those fans. I’ve reviewed, demo’d, toyed with and purchased & returned my fair share of gaming tops over the past 24 months and one thing that still blows my mind is how poorly most companies do ‘fan profiles and skip the hard work to reduce or eliminate pure tones or pitchy sound in their fan designs. The fans are pretty much undetectable in day-to-day mundane tasks and simple productivity activities. And when you game, the fans produced a well control ‘white noise’ character that I personally find more than just tolerable. So, kudos to the Asus team for all that went into the fan complex, the cooling system and the use of liquid metal. Besides the utter beastly performance of this machine and the mind-blowing battery life, the noise abatement efforts are right up there in the top three facets of why I think this machine is the one to get and the one to beat.

The keyboard is good, not what I would call great, but not junk either. I preferring mechanical keyboards lately but the Strix G15 Advantage keyboard is still good. That said, the trackpad is top-shelf. It’s smooth just the way I prefer and is the perfect size. The simplest description is that it just feels Premium.

Initial Setup

Now for some of the more painful aspects of getting this rig up and running. The initial setup.

Word to wise and those in a hurry; when first booting up this machine and personalizing Windows, let all the Asus configuration stuff happen first before going into Windows Update and forcing those installations. I didn’t on my first attempt and all havoc broke out. What resulted was a machine that froze up and needed to be factory, re-imaged - which was a good test of that process – but still unpleasant. Gong back to square one was simple enough and that process worked without a hitch. So, my recommendation is, make sure Armoury Crate, MyAsus AI (the support utility) and all the complimentary pieces are up & running [including the Ryzen/Radeon Software package) before you jump into focusing on obtaining all the latest Windows Updates. I’m not referring to the Store App UWP’s, those will and need to be updated and should do so automatically. Just stay out of the Windows (action center) System settings until everything Asus is up-to-date.

And also make sure to update the system BIOS that may be available at the time…

Repeat Setup

Once the Strix G15 Advantage was set up and I was loading Steam and Blizzard came folders, I started to experience something else that was odd; the sleep mode. One thing I’ve noticed on all the Ryzen based laptops I’ve had my hands on over the past 12 months or so, is that their Power Profiles are no where near the level of complexity of their Intel counterparts. (See attached photo). What is strange and forced me to do a second, entire Windows setup to makes sure the problem was consistent, was how the Strix G15 Advantage won’t go into sleep mode via the Windows Start Menu button. It will sleep on its own via the Power Plan timers but when I attempt to force a menu activated sleep, it simply returns to the Login In/Lock Screen. The same thing occurs when I attempt to us the dedicated “Z” (sleep) function key. Doesn’t make sense to me why this is happening but I believe it is a result of the modified AMD structured Power Plan manifests and/or something funky with the BIOS/Drivers.

Performance

Now onto the good stuff…

This machine is super quick. Opening applications, messing around in Windows, browsing the web, opening up files; everything is just quick as can be. None of the vastly more expensive gaming machines in the $2000+ category I’ve tried in the last 12 months can hold a candle to this Advantage beast. It smokes everything! And it also does it with nearly imperceivable cooling performance. Now that’s why we want Ryzen, right? I’d also like to mention that contrary to reputable review ‘venues’, the Strix G15 Advantage doesn’t have an Intel Wi-Fi module. It has a MediaTek module and it IS Wi-Fi 6 Certified. No other laptop I’ve experienced holds onto and stays right up there with my rated broad-band speed at a distance of ~50 feet, through walls and a door way, like this machine can. Who needs Intel? Who needs Killer? On wired connections, my average yielded speeds are round about 480 Mbit/sec and the Strix G15 Advantage hung in there – consistently – at around 450 wirelessly, no matter what else is going on in my home network environment. So, hats off to MediaTek and Asus!

A few words about the software environment. Armouy Crate use to be a real pain but it has gotten much better in 2021 (as experienced on my 2019 Zephyrus…) but on this all-AMD platform, it works really well and I haven’t noticed anything in the way of rogue Win Reliability Error events that were once all too common just a few years back. A-Crate is also pretty straightforward for all the commonly used controls, including turning off that annoying start up ROG Sound and enabling the three-stage, Battery Saver mode for those that primarily use their laptops plugged in. I’ve read complaints about no Mux switch... but honestly… there’s no practical, material benefit to it for most people in this all-AMD environment. Cinebench R23 scores consistently come in well above 14000 points for multi-core rendering and around 1500 for single thread. That multi-core score level is twice the performance of my 2019 Zephyrus.

Ryzen FTW!

Gaming Performance

Moving on to gaming, I’ve demo’d a varied set of titles: L4D, MW Remastered, Insurgency Sandstorm and CoD Cold War. All were played at max or very high, game-controlled quality settings and all looked and played absolutely beautifully. Rendering was smooth and detailed, with no stutter or lock ups and the IPS-like panel popped great color gradation and dynamic range. For those that are admittedly buying the Strix G15 Advantage for gaming as their primary use case … get the 1080p configuration.

Summary

Overall, I am completely thrilled with the Strix G15 Advantage. It has that Asus build quality that is not easily equaled – even by many more expensive competitors; the bling is subtle yet fun; the audio system blows away most other laptops out there; the on-battery duration IS truly around 10 hours doing more day-to-day things and the cooling system/fan profiles are something to truly marvel. I’m sold on the ‘Advantage’ program and believe it foretells great things to come – if these first gen models are any indication. This is truly a multi-purpose gaming laptop for those not needing critically important aspects such as high-end color accuracy or fine detail, as they relate to content creation. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been through a bunch of gaming notebooks and this is the first one that ‘ticks’ all my requirements, exceeded my expectations AND blows my mind in terms of raw performance – all at the same time. At this point, for this amount of money, nothing even comes close to the feature set and performance level of the Strix G15 Advantage.

Pros:

Top tier Asus build quality

Awesome non-reflective screen with minimal light bleed

Fantastic cooling system and well tamed fan profiles – even when gaming

Full fidelity speakers that do produce bass and can be used while gaming casually

Just enough lighting bling to satisfy most

Solid selection of ports and ideal port placement

Stellar 10+ hour battery life for everything, non-gaming

Best Wi-Fi 6 I’ve experienced to-date

Notables:

Make sure to let the initial setup process complete for all Asus related software & utilities before jumping in and forcing Windows Updates

Cons:

Skimpy Power Plan profiles and strange Sleep Mode behavior

AMD has been on a roll ever since the Ryzen CPUs came out and they are not done yet. Giving Nvidia a serious challenge is next and this product is the proof. You can buy a faster system but it will cost you quite a bit more and the difference may not even be noticeable except in certain situations. If you install faster memory you should be on par with, and in some cases, exceed the best out there from what I have read and seen.

When I requested this laptop my research about it began. This was going to be one killer gaming laptop and after I had mine up and running I wasn’t disappointed. However, when it became available at Best Buy some unfavorable reviews started to appear stating some pretty serious problems like dead GPUs. With some reviews, it seemed to me that maybe those people didn't read the specs closely enough and didn’t understand how the CPU+GPU and high performance GPU work together automatically to distribute the load based on demand. I held off posting my review until I could research these issues farther. I have had no problems with my system as of yet.

I’m not going to state numbers of frame rates and other specs. There’s plenty of that by professional reviewers with stacks of laptops to compare to on YouTube and on the web. I’m sure anyone reading this likely knows this already. So I’m going to focus on other things.

On the positive side:

It has a bright 300hz FHD screen with 100% sRGB (99% in my testing, see photo) and looks absolutely stunning.

Games, Benchmarks and other programs that can utilize the RX 6800M GPU flat out scream!

Extremely long battery life with proper settings.

Very Good sounding speakers for a laptop.

Keyboard has a very good feel. Keys for changing performance settings among other things.

Good heat dissipation and fans don’t get too loud unless running at full speed and from what I can gather they are a little quieter than most gaming laptops at any price.

Has an infrared sensor to keep the gaming section of the keyboard from getting too warm.

Good looking gaming laptop in general. Red corner has changeable silver and gray pieces too.

Lots of settings to easily customize for the screen, sound, performance and looks.

The negatives:

Everyone agrees that the stock RAM is slower than what it should have come with and that installing faster RAM will give up to a 10% or better performance increase depending on the game.

Lack of a MUX switch to lock in the RX 6800M for exclusive use can render certain games and benchmark software useless.

One pro reviewer on YT stated that you must upgrade the RAM and use an external monitor via the display port to get the most out of this system. I cannot verify his assessment beyond memory as stated earlier.

USB C / display port is the only way to be able to use the RX 6800M exclusively.

Lacks a webcam.

According to some reviewers on here they got a DOA Laptop, DOA GPU or GPU dies after use with one blaming it on liquid metal being applied wrong. From the photos they posted they may be right. A bad early batch? I don’t know. But it is possible. No company is immune to this.

Other observations:

Lacks an SD or microSD slot.

Power port on the back and not the side. Big power brick and short thick cable to handle the higher wattage.

There’s also an Ethernet Port, HDMI, USB C and USB C type A port on the back.

Two USB C type A ports and headphone-microphone port are on the left side and there are no ports on the right side.

Customizable 4 zone RGB backlit keyboard and RGB trim around the front.

The lid and frame around the keyboard are aluminum. The rest is plastic.

Solid build quality overall.

Shows fingerprints easily.

Boot sword clashing sound can be annoying but you can disable it in the Amoury Crate.

Lots of options for the keyboard lighting but I never found a way to disable the lighting around the front.

In My experience this is an outstanding Gaming laptop for the price. I also installed Photoshop and Lightroom on it and they rocked! You have options to use the RX 6800X GPU to speed them up and boy will it!! Comparing this to my 2018 vintage Acer Nitro 5 (Corei5 8300H & Nvidia 1050ti) and 2017 vintage Lenovo IdeaCentre (Ryzen 7 1700 Radeion & RX560) is about as what you would think.. No contest. This blows them away. At least 3 to 4 times faster from what I can tell. Keep in mind the 300hz screen the others lack makes a big difference too.

My machine was easy to set up, typical Windows 10, and hasn’t crashed a single time. No WiFi problems either. When I calibrated the screen with my datacolor Spyder X Pro I had to disable ASUS Smart Display Control in startup to get it to calibrate and check the color palette. This had no effect on GPU performance but would keep the screen color consistent after calibration. And even with it disabled, going to certain screens like Windows Settings at the Start screen, would cause the colors to change. There is an ICC Color Profile for the LCD panel that you can always use as default if you need to undo changes. From what I could find out Sharp makes the LCD panel.

I think this laptop is an outstanding value despite a few shortcomings and some negative reviews.

I highly recommend it!

I’m not much of a type to write reviews – specially with products having many of them already. But there’s a few reasons why I feel inclined to do so; price to performance of this laptop is insane, hardware “quality” for the price, and overall accessibility.

Lets state the biggest selling point here; the price of this laptop will get you performance between a high wattage RTX 3070 and an RTX 3080 laptop, STOCK. Have a hundred bucks or so of extra cash? Spend it on a x8 3200mhz ram upgrade and you’ll easily get 9-14% performance increase without an issue (see attached photo’s)

I mean, how insane is that? You’re spending under $1,700 on a gaming laptop that has performance on par with a lot of spec-comparable laptops at the $2,500+ range.

The question is then – where did Asus penny pinch to get the price so low? Honestly, it’s difficult for me to answer that because there’s not too many tradeoffs. But I’ll try my best and list them below.

*Zoned RGB keyboard, rather than per-key RGB

*Lack luster port selection

*Nearly all plastic-design (except the top lid on the screen)

*Screen performance is fantastic, but doesn’t compare in color of other DCI-P3 100% laptops out there. I know the Dell XPS 9700 (4K) is not a gaming laptop, but this my reference point as it’s the best screen on the laptop market in terms of color reproduction/accuracy and brightness.

That’s it. Those are the only real “downsides” to this laptop. Yes it’s a mostly plastic build, but it’s solid; no cracking, no creaking, no bending when picking up the laptop to put in my bag, SOLID. The screen may not have the best color that’s currently out there, BUT, you can still get 100% sRGB if you calibrate it a bit. Heck, it’s still pretty decent out of the box.

I upgraded the memory to x8 3200mhz Kingston Fury Impact 64GB RAM – and without any configuration changes at all, my 3D Mark scores jumped up about 12% on average. This is mind boggling to me.

The 1080p resolution on this laptop is perfect for the size. I personally don’t think QHD on a laptop is necessary unless it’s on a bigger 17” screen. With that said, you’ll be getting fantastic FPS in most competitive games. I get 240+ in high settings in League of Legends, 300+ in Counter Strike, 150+ in Battlefield V, and 150+ in Fornite on all Epic settings (no Ray Tracing on).

As you can see form the photo’s – I’ve skinned the laptop to make it look substantially more understated. I understand many people enjoy the look of the laptop in it’s default state but I want to be able to use this thing in my office without drawing too much attention.

All in all – this is a no brainer purchase. But my suggestion is to not buy used and buy directly from Best Buy. That way – if you do happen to get a dud, a return or exchange shouldn’t be an issue.

I bought this laptop open-box after watching many reviews on Youtube. Initially, I was a bit spooked after reading several negative reviews on open-box purchases of this laptop, but thankfully my unit works fine and I can vouch for the many positive qualities of the laptop. For context, this is my second gaming laptop (my first gaming laptop is a mid-tier Acer Predator Helios purchased in 2018) and 5 other non-gaming laptops purchased between 2008-2019. Also, take note that in the pictures, I placed dark tape on the non-RGB lights and on/off button which is just personal preference. But anyway, on to the pros and cons:

Pros:

1) RGB: It really is a sight to behold. It's bright, has full range of lighting (I think?), and has many different modes. The keyboard is divided into 4 zones and it has lighting under the laptop as well which is cool. I'm not a huge RGB fanatic so I tend to just leave it in on in bright yellow.

2) Performance and Price: I have played Assassin's Creed Valhalla (averages around 70-80 fps max settings at 1080p on Silent) and Overwatch (buttery smooth, probably between 100-200 fps at max settings 1080p). I think there are many videos on Youtube that can give a better comparative perspective on the performance (which basically show that the 6800m graphics card of this laptop performs somewhere between the mobile versions of the GTX 3070 and 3080), but based on gameplay on my unit, the gaming performance is great. Considering the price, it feels like a steal!

3) Keyboard: A pleasure to type on. I've had 6 laptops bought in the past (including a ThinkPad) and I think the ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition gave me one of the best typing experiences. It has excellent tactile feel and great responsiveness, the keys are perfectly spaced-out, and it feels as good as a Thinkpad (in my humble opinion).

4) Screen and Speakers: Excellent for watching movies and videos. Speakers don't sound "cheap". No complaints.

Cons:

1) Stutters: Sometimes it stutters as I am task-switching between gaming/watching a video/using an app in fullscreen. I hope its not an issue with my open-box unit alone. I suspect this has something to do with software settings in Smartshift but I can't be too sure. I hope AMD updates can fix this issue.

2) Display settings: Probably also an AMD software issue. Basically, I can't create custom display profiles as easily as I used to using Intel's Graphics settings. AMD's Radeon Software display settings just seems a bit...clunkier

3) Overheating: This laptop can reach the 90s Celsius in gaming sometimes though I didn't feel the heat on the keyboard nor did I experience thermal throttling. I am considering a laptop cooler to alleviate this.

4) No Webcam: Not a deal breaker for me since I don't use one, but do take note if one requires a webcam.

Conclusion:

Despite several (possibly software-related and fixable) inconveniences, the ROG Strix G15 was a great purchase and I would highly recommend it for those looking for a value-for-money, mid-to-high tier gaming laptop.

Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Series G513QY-212.SG15 Gaming Laptop

Rating: 5-Stars

Title: Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Series G513QY-212.SG15 Gaming Laptop

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*****Review*****

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking for an AMD gaming laptop that is amazing for its price to performance? Well, look no further ladies and gentlemen. This Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Series comes with an eight core Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Radeon RX 6800M, 16GB DDR4 memory, 512GB SSD, 300Hz screen (3ms response) and some nifty AMD software features that will boost your gaming experience.

When it comes down to the gaming potential for this laptop I was honestly not disappointed. To sum up what I tested; you shouldn’t have any problem throwing your library of AAA games at this Strix. All the games I tested were tested at the native resolution (1920x1080) and everything maxed out. Just to name some of the games I tested:

Red Dead Redemption 2 - 94fps~

Counter-Strike GO - 252fps~

Witcher 3 - 115fps~

Metro Exodus - 54fps~

Borderlands 3 - 95 fps~

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla - 83fps~

I normally also play my games with a pair of gaming headphones but because I wanted to test out the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Series speaker capabilities; here’s my take on it. The gaming laptop already comes with Dolby Access software installed so you can toggle between set profiles such as movies, games, music and voice. My preference for all around usability was the games profile; I mean lets be real it’s a gaming laptop afterall… I also preferred this profile because it gave the best lows in my opinion. Overall I have no complaints on the speakers as they provided enough “oomph” during my gaming sessions and were also loud enough to where I didn’t hear the fans.

I am sure the question then comes up of how is the cooling since you’re able to throw your library of AAA games at it? The Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Series comes with an advanced cooling vapor chamber which is supposed to improve cooling and lower surface temperatures. During my gaming session I can’t complain because Asus’ cooling vapor chamber system here actually works; during my gaming sessions my CPU temperatures were mainly kept below 80 degrees celsius. On top of that there’s also a special IR sensor that is supposed to monitor temperatures on the keyboard surface to keep your palms and hands cool during long gaming sessions. Again I didn’t encounter any issues with heat on the keyboard surface during my gaming sessions and was able to remain comfortable throughout.

Now you’re probably thinking with all this gaming potential and the ability to keep things cool thanks to the advanced cooling vapor chamber; how is the overall battery life? So in my opinion where this laptop really shines bright is the battery life. On average daily use I was hitting about a solid 9 hours of runtime. Because this is a gaming laptop, I really wanted to test the battery while I was gaming. On average I can run a AAA game at comfortable frames for about an hour where the frames will then diminish as expected when the battery percentage drops. All in all I am impressed with the overall battery performance; solid in my books.

Overall the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Series is a great gaming laptop. If you’re into the whole “flashy gaming” look; Asus has you covered here with RGB customizability. In addition if you aren’t too happy with the armor caps you are more than welcome to swap them around to match your taste. The build quality of the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Series looks very nice and feels pretty sturdy. I don’t really have too many complaints for this laptop in my own personal preference and usage because overall I will be using this as a gaming machine as opposed to something like work where I require a webcam (yes this model doesn’t come with a webcam). So my final conclusion is that if you’re looking for the best bang (performance) for your buck, that is an all AMD system with great gaming performance, good cooling and excellent battery life; this Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Series gaming laptop is for you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*****Quick Features & Specs*****

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows 10 brings back the Start Menu from Windows 7 and introduces new features, like the Edge Web browser that lets you markup Web pages on your screen

The 1920 x 1080 resolution with 100% sRGB color gamut boasts impressive color and clarity. Game with ultra fast 300hz refresh rate and 3ms response time.

Take on anything with up to the latest AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX CPU made with cutting-edge 7nm fabrication technology, activate up to 8 cores and 16 threads to handle demanding work.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800M GPU maximizes speed and power efficiency for brilliant gaming performance. Liquid metal thermal compound allows clocks up to 2660MHz and enables GPU power up to 180W with SmartShift technology

Get up to a 10% performance improvement thanks to AMD SmartShift. Using a hardware boosting interface and machine learning algorithms, SmartShift quickly moves power between the CPU and GPU, optimizing performance on the fly for games, 3D rendering, video editing, and other workloads.

Enjoy higher frame rates in many games thanks to AMD Smart Access Memory

Substantial high-bandwidth RAM to smoothly run your games and photo- and video-editing applications, as well as multiple programs and browser tabs all at once.

Save files fast and store more data. With massive amounts of storage and advanced communication power, PCI-e SSDs are great for major gaming applications, multiple servers, daily backups, and more.

Illuminate your life in RGB. A redesigned light bar increases the density of LEDs to create a more refined underglow beneath the chassis. Personalize your Aura Sync settings to set the ideal gaming mood across an entire ecosystem of compatible devices.

Add a pop of personality to your chassis with Customizable Armor Caps. Two additional color options come in the box and swap out effortlessly, letting you switch up your style anytime.

Allows you to enjoy comfortable and accurate typing, even in dim lighting. Also able to customize or change to one's preference.

Heat dissipation is faster and more efficient with our advanced vapor chamber, which improves cooling performance and lowers surface temperatures.

A special IR sensor monitors the temperature of the keyboard, so power and cooling can automatically adjust to keep your fingers cool and comfortable during marathon gaming sessions.

Two-Way AI Noise Cancelation clarifies upstream and downstream audio, filtering out unwanted noise to make voice communication clearer.

Thin and light design with DVD/CD drive omitted for improved portability. 4-cell lithium-ion battery.

Connect to an HDTV or high-def monitor to set up two screens side by side or just see more of the big picture.

Flexible, dual-band connectivity w/ greater reliability thanks to two data streams and antennas. Connect to a Wi-Fi router to experience GB Wi-Fi speeds nearly 3X faster vs. standard Wi-Fi 5 w/ improved responsiveness for even more devices.

Hook up next-gen devices via the USB 3.2 Type-C with DisplayPort 1.4 and USB Power Delivery. Three Type-A USB 3.2 ports are ready for your favorite gaming gear, while HDMI 2.0b lets you connect a 4K monitor or TV at up to 60Hz

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*****What's in the box*****

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Series G513QY-212.SG15 Gaming Laptop

Customizable Armor Caps (x3 total; red pre-installed)

AC Adapter

Various Documents

Hey just made this for benchmarks I recorded. I got this open box for $1,401 and was completely unused with all original wrap on it. Some notes to get the best performance turn on max fan settings in "manual mode", connect a ONLY A USB-C to display port cable from the back of the laptop to monitor DIRECTLY, if you hook this up to a display link docking station you will see significantly lower speeds (8000 timespy vs 11000 total timespy), and a ram upgrade is needed as well to achieve max performance. Using USB-C is the only way to directly connect to the 6800m directly, using a HDMI cable to that port passes the 6800m through the integrated graphics and slows the speed.

Timespy benchmarks - 1080P

1st pic - Fan turbo - No external display

2nd pic - Fan max manual - No external display

3rd pic - Fan turbo - External display (USB-C to Display port)

4th pic - Fana max manual - External display (USB-C to Display port)

The ASUS - ROG (Republic of Gamers) Strix G15 Advantage Edition is a great looking piece of kit, from the moment you open the box. The laptop is 'presented' to you like some kind of trophy as you open the box. At 5.29lbs, this laptop does have some heft to it.

As for the machine itself, it took quite some time to get it set up, the usual Windows 10 configuration, which with all the flashing lights on the laptop, infuriated my son, as he wanted to get stuck in and personalize it for himself. After the initial set up, he had fun setting the Aura Creator up to get the laptop looking just how he wanted it. The RGB backlit keyboard with dedicated WASD key highlights is almost infinitely customizable, along with the C shaped light bar along the front edge and 1/3 of the sides.

The screen is nice and bright, colorful, it is NOT touchscreen, no matter how hard you press it. My son's desktop PC is touchscreen so this took a moment to adjust for him. Its a 1920x1080 (full HD screen) at a nice 15.6" diameter with a 300hz refresh rate and 3ms response time.

We tested this laptop out with two key games, Roblox for him and Call of Duty Warzone for me. I tend to prefer dedicated game consoles, my son prefers gaming PCs. With Roblox, everything ran as expected, until we got into some intense multiplayer action, when there appeared to be some interpolation on the screen, the graphics effectively 'scrolled' to refresh down the screen. Not the end of the world, but not what I was expecting from a dedicated gaming laptop. Similar situation with Call of Duty even during the opening video, the interpolation was there, causing an almost scrolling refresh of the graphics as the animation continued. Need to delve deeper into the settings to find the optimal set up for both types of games and demands on the machine.

The SSD is kind of small (at 512GB), especially when considering most game downloads these days exceed 100GB, so either an external storage solution, or upgrading the internal drive to a much larger one will be needed. I don't understand why companies who are designing for gamers, and know the typical download size of a game are making the drives so relatively small. Same is happening with consoles too. It has 16GB RAM on board, but that really needs to be upgraded as well, to increase performance.

I've read that several people have had issues with the Radeon 6800M GPU, either not switching, or even being DOA. I haven't found that to be an issue, yet, but having only had the laptop a week, only time will tell. So far so good, I haven't had a similar experience.

AMD Smartshift aims to increase performance by as much as 10% by using a hardware boosting interface that shifts power between the CPU and GPU, but in all honesty, I didn't notice any significant increase in performance during gameplay.

The sound is very impressive, I must say. The intro start up sound takes you aback and grabs your attention. The laptop has Dolby Atmos compatibility, with dedicated headphones (not included). The battery is a 4-cell Lithion-Ion Polymer and has 'decent' life to it, but don't expect to game all day on a single charge.

As mentioned, there are many other features of this laptop including a 'vapor chamber' that offers better and faster heat dissipation, an IR sensor that monitors the temperature of the keyboard, so that the cooling can adjust to keep the keyboard as cool as possible, it has two-way noise cancellation that helps filter out unwanted noise during voice communication, has a HDMI out to enable you to expand to a High Definition monitor or TV, a multitude of connectivity options including USB 3.2 Type C and 3 USB Type A 3.2 ports. The machine is also WiFi 6 certified with two data streams and two antennas for improved responsiveness. It also has swappable 'armor cap', (the red bar on the top left of the laptop) - there are two other caps, a silver and a graphite one buried under the packaging in the box.

Overall, I've been happy with the ASUS ROG STRIX G15 Advantage Laptop in the short time I've owned it. Could it be better? Sure. Is it a decent laptop? Absolutely, it provides a great platform to build on, with a lot of nice features, great aesthetics and a substantial overall feel.

Using this to replace my desktop gaming setup during the graphis card shortage so I can play new releases. So far this has run everything I’ve thrown at it with ease. Absoutely fantastic. Its crazy how powerful this laptop is while being so thin. Battery life has been fantastic and great to use for light task. Gaming plugged in gets you max power just expect it to get a little warm to the touch but nothing major. Would for sure buy again!

This laptop has been nothing short of amazing incredible speed and power packed into something so small so far no complaints i’m loving this laptop and would totally reccomend to all of my friends looking for a new laptop !!!

This is the review of the QHD 2560 x 1440 resolution screen model (GA401QM-211.ZG14B), there are more in-depth reviews under the nearly identical FHD 1920 x 1080 resolution screen model (GA401QM-211.ZG14).

I wanted something with a capable graphics card for 3D CAD design and a nice looking screen. The aforementioned FHD model may be better suited for gaming (lesser resolution means less strain on the graphics card during action, plus it has smoother 144Hz refresh rate) but the display model at Best Buy looked very washed out when compared to anything else in the price range. In contrary the QHD 120Hz screen in this particular model is really beautiful.

About the infamous fan noise: it is fine even in the highest turbo setting (available only when the charger is plugged in, on battery mode performance is the highest setting). Yes, it is audible but it’s silky smooth not the rattling type like a window air conditioner or a room fan.

Playing Fortnite in performance mode without battery saver at a vivid 80% screen brightness the battery lasts a bit over an hour and a half. Netflix with same settings runs for about eight hours on a full charge.

The panel gets quite toasty over the rear exhaust vents, I can not endure resting my fingers there for longer than a few seconds… It is more of an observation after reading all the negative press on this subject. The top keys remain perfectly fine temperature wise.

There is no built-in webcam and I’m okay with that. I’d rather use an external one with a physical shutter, wouldn’t risk closing one of those stick-on shutters between the screen and the keyboard.

I find not having an ethernet port a bit more pressing issue, downloading content over wifi takes forever. Like forever-forever. USB-C to ethernet dongles go for around $20, I wish Asus included one.

I was toying with the idea of getting a G15 or M16 instead for the larger screen and built-in ethernet port, however there appeared to be more reviews citing blown pixels and other quality issues compared to the G14.

Recommended to watch for novice users about backing up factory image right out the box, search:

‘DO THIS before using your new laptop’

It runs great and love the Rog booting screen. So far I like everything about this laptop except couple things. First of all, this laptop does not have Anime Matrix on it probably with this price we dont get it. So if anyone is expecting Anime Matrix for lid cover LED light animation, please get more expensive one. Second is this WiFi adaptor cannot connect to WiFi 5 right away. So you may have to change properties for network adaptor to 802.11n from 802.11ac. Finally, it is getting pretty hot while using for regular basis and there is a way to turn off some options to prevent less heat. Other than this small beast has more pros than cons.

Great computer, been running Xbox Game Pass games without issues. But dang the fans are absurd! My desk is in my bedroom and I had it just downloading some games overnight and the fans were so loud they woke me up. I would be alright with it while gaming but thermal issues while just doing basic tasks is a turn off. Tried a bunch of things, checking emails, word, etc and found the fan noise to be a major turnoff.

I was very excited for this laptop I've been looking at it for a long time. (I recently just returned the rog16 because of keyboard problems and some high-pitched noises coming from the computer.)

This laptop runs the games I play perfectly no lag at all with or without the charger plugged in. I really only play D2R and rogue company.. The computer gets very hot probably due to its small factor because my 7-year-old laptop doesn't get nearly as hot. But the biggest problem I have with this computer is every time I try watching videos I hear a weird speaker noise kind of like somebody blowing into a microphone. It's not all the time but it does happened during most videos. The longer videos they are the more it happens.

Due to that I may return this laptop and not get another Asus product again. So far 2/2 products I bought from them had some kind of issue..

This laptop will take everything you throw at it with ease. As well as

play high end VR with the oculus quest 1 or 2. Ive tried bone works,

blade and sorcery, half life Alyx and the forest all ran great and looked great. Be sure to put your headset to 120hz and up the bit rate and resolution. I have also tried Horizon zero dawn on steam which also plays great. All and all a great laptop with a lot of power.

Zephyrus 14 is a good model, It may be the only model that is less than 4lb and has 3060 graphics cards at the same time.

However, what I received was a failed individual.

When I plugged it in for the first time, the charging light and two other indicator lights were on. But the power button does not work at all. The screen did not light up, and there was no ROG shown, totally black. I tried to remove the power cord and plug it in again or other methods many times.

I found information that static electricity may cause this situation. Need to fully discharge the motherboard, which means I have to remove the power cord and battery, and then press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. However, Zephyrus's battery is built-in, and I cannot perform these operations.

It finally turned on successfully suddenly and unexpectedly.

In the next week, after I shut it down, there is a half chance that I won't be able to use the power button to power on again in normal way. I have to press and hold the power button for a few seconds to completely power off it in some way, and then turn it on.

After I did some research, some forums offered some experience:

1. Turn off the windows fast boot option

2. Update the latest graphics card driver

3. Update the motherboard driver

However, none of above works.

I wanted to replace for a new one, but best buy does not have this option. In the end, I returned the product, and the FedEx package cost me $8 extra.

I really like this model, but the black screen at startup seems to be very common in forums. I hope the manufacturer will reply me the reason for the black screen, so that I will be confident to buy the same one again, or I will buy another laptop.

I really want to like this laptop but I've owned it for about 2 weeks now and it's crashed more times than I can count. It kicks me out of games and apps constantly. Folders minimize for no reason. Narrator pulls up randomly. Outlook properties don't show (see pic). I've uninstalled/reinstalled with no remedy. This thing just has issue after issue. It's one of the most expensive laptops on the market and either the quirks are from switching from 2 different GPUs or this is just a dud. FYI...I follow the correct process to connect/disconnect the eGPU. Just disappointing because I travel for work and want a portable gaming rig. I was so excited about this but it's been a flop. This will be returned.

I can't help but feel like a beta tester. By itself, the laptop is awesome. But for $3,300....Its clunky to use in combination with the XG dock. I wonder why Asus didnt go with Intel/thunderbolt option, but rather this proprietary plug that is only compatible with these 2 units? I would gladly buy the XG dock separately, if it was compatible with other laptops. I don't have a lot of confidence that Asus will further develop this model or eve use the same plug, thus making the XG dock obsolete in 1 year. At least with other eGPUs you can upgrade the GPU when new models are out

For now i am giving it a 3 out 5 stars. Reason is that the internal GPU (1650) card was faulty and would not show up in device manager or on the Nvidia app saying no graphics card detected. I went to the Asus support chat and they gave me a work around and that didn't work - I had to completely re-install windows and the driver showed up, The other is the external GPU be careful when un plugging it after your tell the computer to detach, When i did this there are two clamps on GPU adaptor (going to the computer) you have to really push in to get it out and sometimes that doesnt work and it ended up bending the two clamps and it made it hard to put back in. I did return it and i hope this one doesnt have that many issues, Once i get the new device and it doesnt repeat what happened i would give this a 5 out 5

As for gaming on both the 1650 and the 3080 it does a great job on AAA titles - now there is the competition with the Razer 14 with a 3070 already built in so you don need to have external device....just sayinng

Simply the best mobile PC gaming solution I can think of. I've waited years for a solution like this. I can't wait to see how this product line evolves over time. Count me in!

Instead of carrying around and maintaining two different devices, I wanted to be able to draw on the same device that I also did CAD on. This was one of two devices that I thought could do the job. I bought this and the Surface Book 3 with a quadro graphics card. The X13 outperformed the other one and was $1000 cheaper.

This was an incredible value for what it does. I give it a 4.5/5 because the webcam is only 720p, and the screen does not get very bright.

Lots of problems with the GPU dock. Had a stuck latch, returned it to BB. New unit had busted USB ports. I did an RMA for it since it would _normally_ be something covered under warranty. The ASUS repair center was literally unable to repair and test it, so they're sending it back?! It's like they don't realize they make docks, so they have no way to warranty them.

So: expect problems with the GPU dock and no help from ASUS about it. Skip this generation. It's unfortunate because the laptop is quite good on its own.

Would not turn on out of the box, even after plugging in power and letting it charge. The battery and lightbulb LED on the side turned on but the display didn't. After holding/pressing the power button many times for 10 minutes it finally turned on. Upon first usage of the eGPU, I got a blue screen. Powered off then I had the first issue again of it not turning on immediately. Not worth the hassle or price especially if it won't reliably turn on when commanded to. Wish it had the newer 3050Ti internal gpu with this 32GB RAM model as well. Too bad the RAM isn't upgradable either. Returned.

5 bsod (blue screen of death) so far

Over 10 crash and restarts under idle

At least 3 fail to boots

Xg mobile is only running at 120watts not the 150 as advertised

Customer service is incompetent and says there is no level 2 techs capable of assisting with these issues. This is all while plugged in the xg mobile.

Plan to return if issues arent fixed before return period

Great computer, bad quality control. Came with a warped screen, will be returning.

I was first introduced to the product by the Youtube reviews of the 2020 14 inch model, which this is based on.

Its mostly good value for what you get, but falls flat in a few key areas. I assume you already know what's good about it, so I'm just going to describe the bad.

The SSD is a little small. Not as large as I'd like for games, but you do have an extra M.2 slot for upgrades.

Partially soldered RAM means if you'll have to run it in asynchronous dual channel mode if you want more than 16.

Under load, it gets uncomforatable hot on the top center, both on top and bottom. If you have it on your lap, you wont want your legs in the center for that reason, so you'll probably want to put your legs to the side, and that'll just block the intake vents. So basically it will need to be on a table for gaming. And the fans are extremely whiny. Even my ANC headphones couldn't make it ignorable.

I was willing to get over those earlier problems when I bought it, but what finally made me return it was the lid. The thing is creaky, and bent in the middle. Its clear this wasn't intentional because the bend isn't symmetrical on both sides.

The plastic around the screen feels cheap and creaks, and was already starting to come off the metal backplate when I got it.

Not only that, but applying even slight pressure to the lid permanently deformed the metal backplate. On the bright side, it means you can straighten out the curve, which I did in that last picture. The first two shows how it flattens when pushed down.

I wouldn't trust it to last with even a moderate amount of daily carry, particularly not in a backpack. ASUS really should've made that backplate thicker. Evem reinforcing it with plastic underneath would've been fine.

Should probably be a 5 on stars, it seems all laptops can have some sort of issue. You probably already know the pros, so I'll cover the issues I notice. One the screen I have also has light bleed on the top right area (the screen colors do look nice compared to other screens like my 2021 4k 7 series Samsung TV) , screen does have a curve to it at the top looking down the side and looks like a bit of a bend at that point. flexing it a bit doesn't help just moves the light bleed (they should have used metal for the backside). keyboard does get hot, the bar above it is almost hard to touch when it is really going, not really an issue for casual use but still warm there. My speakers seem fine but I'm not going to go past what I expect for loudness, did push it but not all the way. Some other trouble shooting led to me doing a fresh install of windows (delete partitions). I still get a AMD driver crash (can go awhile) when running a USB camera and my TV over HDMI for Zoom with OBS running to control the camera settings. Still crashing with all updates. Trying other settings and ways around it (also had a game running on the TV black out also), hoping there will be a driver fix for the problem. Had to turn on battery saving mode and make sure all the other controls for power (AMD, Armoury, Nvidia) were turned down to get the long battery life, or else it was going fast with only YouTube running.

I have bought 1 of this and have tried 4 of the 3070 version. All of them have disappointing QC issues. All had the speakers popping issues at high volumes. Some had creaking on the bottom casing, some had screen bezel that is not fully flush to the screen or peeling. Most had light bleed that is acceptable at certain price range but not for the price these are selling at. GPU and iGPU switching can sometimes be glitchy and not function correctly. Ran all the updates so far and nothing has fixed some of the random glitches. Specs are great for these but the hardware QC issues is just not acceptable for this price. I would think most of the glitches and the speaker can be resolved over time with updates but I have tried different ones since January and till now all the issues still persist. Now the price of the 3070 model went up $50. I guess if your okay with the flawed device then go ahead buy it. I am just very dissatisfied with Asus for pushing out products that has bad QC and over time still not addressing the issues. I also bought the 2021 G14 and that has better QC and it’s more portable and better battery life, but the panel response time still not great. Ghosting still pretty noticeable. I suggest buying the G14 instead if your okay with the form factor and the specs. If you buying G15, it will be a lottery. By the way Asus tech support is terrible, don’t depend on them to resolve any issues that is too technical.

Other than the fact that the speaker is not well-optimized (this seems to be a common issue with this line of product) -- it sounds blown up after a certain threshold of volume -- and that there are quite a lot of bloatware that comes with the device (excluding essential ones), this is a very good gaming laptop.

The laptop also seems to get warm after a period of usage, even though the workload was not intense. However, some serious tweaking using the AMOURY CRATE might alleviate the issue.

However, for the build quality and its amazing track pad & screen, I would say that this laptop is worth the price.

A bit about me: I am a software developer and casual gamer. Previous to this machine I did all my gaming on a PS3 and am thus new to the PC gaming plethora of options.

Why I choose this Laptop: I like the idea of working on the go post pandemic and thus battery life and a slim form factor seemed important to me. On top of that I wanted a system that would last which means specs that are either relatively future proof or upgrade-able. The system had to be capable of some gaming so that I could play the games from the last decade that I have missed and wanted to play but at the same time does not get too hot or too loud.

This laptop: This laptop fills many of the wants listed above. Only half the ram is upgrade-able but 16GB seems like plenty to me as most applications do not use more than 8 which leaves a further 8 for docker images and the like to run. I have added a second 2TB m.2 for a total of 2.5TB of memory, plenty for installing my small library of games. The GPU is capable of playing games at high settings for many of the tittles I have tried but gets pretty loud to combat this I often play games a medium to low at 1080o resolution which seems to keep the fans to 70% or so which is loud but not too in your face. That said the 2k resolution on this system seems like overkill as does the 165Hz refresh rate but this could simply be my PC gaming noob showing.

pros: -slim, powerful, great IO, great software for altering fan speeds and lighting, long battery life

cons: Gets loud/hot while gaming, no webcam, track pad is a bit too big for me, track pad is a little squishy feeling as is the keyboard, screen could is not bight enough for working outside much

so yea my unit, ordered mid April 2021 has a defective speaker. The rest of the computer is fine. You hear what sounds like a blown out speaker. It can't handle low frequencies. Yes, updating drivers and using the included Dolby access app will re-EQ the sound so you don't notice it, but it comes at the cost of volume. This is a hardware issue. If we weren't in covid and BB actually had backup stock, I would return it tomorrow, but these things sell out so fast, I don't wanna be w/o a machine for a month or 2. Also my fear is the replacement unit will have a similar issue.

After doing a lot of research on new laptops, this was my first choice for replacing my old Sony Vaio, Asus had a great reputation for quality and service, and my Asus tablets were very good. There is still a shortage of chips and delays for many products, so waiting a few months for this toarrive was not unusual. When I received it, opened it and powered up, I noticed a terrible popping and distortion from the speakers, and after updating windows, all drivers and bios. It was still there. Asus tech had me try a few more things and even 2 restores, and after 3 days it was slightly improved, but not 100% as it should be. Some people may have been ok to accept the speakers being iffy, but the deal breaker was that there was bleed through on the top of the screen in a peculiar spot. I found the screen bezel was warped. I'm sure from rushed production, but not acceptable for a machine in that price range. No replacement was available, and after searching the web specifically for failures, found that this was a complaint several had on first or second shipment. I will have to move up one step and try the G15 above this one or wait to see if the Legion with Ryzen 7 5800 or 9 5900 is out soon. If I decide to give this model another shot I'll update my review.