Since the launch of the Zephyrus G14 series in 2020, it has been considered the benchmark for a compact powerhouse among Windows laptops. Starting with the well-built and stylish chassis to the best specifications, it offers everything you can expect from a 14-inch gaming laptop. Our device is equipped with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU paired with the RTX 4080 laptop GPU. This is supported by 32 GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 1 TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD.

We used the Eclipse Gray variant of the Zephyrus G14 as our primary computer for work and play. This is our review of the Asus Rog Zephyrus G14 after using it as our primary computer for work and play for over two weeks. Let us get started.

ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023): Design and Build

The Zephyrus G14 is built like a tank. It has a magnesium alloy case that feels and looks premium. The metal parts stand out better in the Eclipse Gray color variant than in the Moonlight White variant, which is our personal favorite. The Zephyrus G14 is only 19.5 mm thick, which is quite slim for a gaming laptop of this caliber, and it only weighs about 1.72 kg. The Zephyrus G14 does not flex or creak at any point. Its compact size allows it to fit in all kinds of backpacks, and Asus also includes a good-looking ROG brand laptop bag for easy transport.

As for the design, the entire notebook is in a matte shade. Whether metal or plastic, everything looks clean and is very resistant to fingerprints. We really like the hinge used for the display. It raises the bottom of the Zephyrus G14 to allow for better air circulation and tilts the keyboard into a comfortable position for typing. The hinge even allows the laptop to be opened with just one hand, and it opens flat to a full 180-degree angle.

There are vents on the bottom, back, and sides of the Zephyrus G14 to help with the cooling process, as this notebook gets very hot thanks to the extremely powerful Ryzen 9 processor. The sides are also where all of the laptop’s ports are located. Our only criticism is that the ports are too close together, which makes it difficult to use many accessories at the same time.

The Zephyrus G14 has something special on the lid, because why not? It is the Anime Matrix. The Anime Matrix is an array of LEDs that form different patterns and designs depending on software input. It’s a fun thing and fits well with the gamer aesthetic, but we soon got tired of it. We would have liked to see a cleaner design on the lid that would have added to the minimal look of the laptop, but only the base variant of the Zephyrus G14 does not have Anime Matrix.

Finally, you’ll find the Republic of Gamers logo on the lid, a ROG Zephyrus logo under the display, and some stickers on the keyboard deck. Overall, the Zephyrus G14 is well-made and has a high-quality design, even though it is a hefty gaming notebook.

ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023): Display and Audio

Our unit of the Zephyrus G14 features a 14-inch QHD+ IPS display with a resolution of 2560 x 1600px due to the 16:10 aspect ratio. The taller aspect ratio proved to be very useful when reading documents, and it also offers a bit more space when gaming and watching movies. Asus calls it the ROG Nebula Display, and it has a high refresh rate of 165 Hz, making everything from scrolling to gaming a smooth experience. Although the top variant of the Zephyrus G14 comes with a mini LED display.

Thanks to the QHD resolution on a 14-inch panel, the display is razor-sharp. The colors are accurate as this display is Pantone-validated and features a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. For gaming, the Zephyrus G14’s display offers a 165 Hz refresh rate, a 3 ms response time, and G-Sync support that reduces tearing and ghosting during fast-paced gameplay. Although the display supports Dolby Vision HDR, it can only operate up to a peak brightness of 500nits. However, we did not experience any issues with the Zephyrus G14 display, whether indoors or outdoors.

Watching videos in Dolby Vision HDR on Netflix was a pleasant experience on this beautiful display. Even games like Death Stranding, Spiderman Miles Morales, Red Dead Redemption 2, etc., looked absolutely fantastic. During our UFO test, we did not notice any ghosting or tearing on the Zephyrus G14 display. Overall, ROG has delivered a top-notch display for the Zephyrus G14.

The Zephyrus G14 is no slouch in the audio department either. The quad speakers paired with Dolby Atmos support make for an immersive experience in any scenario. The speakers get really loud and reproduce clear dialogues when watching movies or TV shows. They are among the best speakers we have ever heard in a Windows laptop and could have easily rivaled the Macbook Pros of this world if the bass response had been a bit better. But nonetheless, the speakers on the ROG Zephyrus G14 will not disappoint; whether you are gaming or watching content, the stereo separation is good enough to keep you glued to your content, and we were even able to distinguish where enemies were coming from based on the gunshots while playing CS: GO.

Even the 3.5 mm combo jack is suitable for high-impedance headphones and speakers. Overall, we really like the Zephyrus G14’s display, and we are thrilled with the device’s speakers. But 14-inch is considered too small by some people in the PC gaming community when it comes to a comfortable gaming experience. In this case, you can opt for the Zephyrus G16, which comes with a 16-inch display.

ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023): Performance

Our unit of the Zephyrus G14 is powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor, which has a maximum boost clock speed of 5.2 GHz as well as 8 cores and 16 threads. This is one of the most powerful chipsets available for laptops, and it certainly performs accordingly. In our Cinebench R20 test, the Zephyrus G14 not only completed the test in just two minutes but also scored 6346 points at 4 GHz and a temperature of around 85 degrees Celsius. This puts it right in the league of the AMD Threadripper and workstation CPUs like the Intel Xeon Platinum. Even the integrated Radeon 780M GPU that the Ryzen 9 is equipped with is capable of running most AAA titles at playable frame rates.

On the graphics side, our Zephyrus G14 is equipped with the NVIDIA RTX 4080 laptop GPU with 12GB of GDDR6 memory, a maximum TDP of 125W, and a maximum clock speed of 1715MHz. The GPU is overclocked by default to achieve the above values, it is called ROG Boost. If you combine the most powerful laptop CPU with the most powerful laptop GPU and then add a Samsung PCIe Gen4 m.2 SSD along with 32GB dual channel (you can only upgrade a RAM stick) DDR5-4800 RAM, the performance will be bombastic, of course.

But what we really like about the ROG Zephyrus G14 is the fact that despite these powerful components, ROG has managed to keep the system relatively cool, with temperatures no higher than 90 degrees Celsius at peak load. This is thanks to ROG Intelligent Cooling with a vapor chamber that covers more than 50% of the motherboard and uses liquid metal as a coolant instead of traditional thermal paste.

The vents we mentioned in the design segment actually help a lot with heat dissipation, but yes, the side vents can blow hot air to the cables and even your hand if you are using an external mouse. The chassis heats up on the bottom, and the rear vents blow hot air onto the screen, which is not good in the long run. Finally, we did not notice any performance bottlenecks, neither while gaming nor during other tasks. The combination of CPU and GPU works well with the other components, so it is overall a good experience on the performance side.

The following table shows the average FPS and render times we tested for games and creative work.

All games were played with the maximum settings and a resolution of 1440p.

1. Cyberpunk 2077 – 85 fps on average with DLSS on Ultra.
2. Red Dead Redemption 2 – 90 fps on average.
3. Shadow of the Tomb Raider – 145 fps on average with Ray Tracing on High.
4. GTA V – 80 fps on average.
5. Spiderman Miles Morales – 85 fps on average with DLSS on Ultra.
6. Death Stranding – 90 fps on average./li>

A 3-minute, 60-frame-per-second 4K footage was completed in Premiere Pro with simple text edits and color corrections in 1 minute and 10 seconds. That’s the quintessential good performance of the Zephyrus G14. Remember to plug it in with the included 240-watt power supply to get the full performance of the components.

In addition to all of this, the Zephyrus G14 comes with a MUX switch, which in theory, should offer better GPU performance since it connects directly to the display rather than going through the CPU first. This allows for full use of the RTX 4080 if needed. There is also support for NVIDIA Advanced Optimus, which quickly detects which GPU is needed for the content being displayed. It switches between the Radeon 780M and RTX 4080 depending on the content being displayed to manage power consumption and thermal efficiency better. You will not notice the difference in performance unless you switch between multiple demanding applications on a daily basis.

We mainly used the notebook for gaming and video editing. We had no problems in everyday use, neither when playing demanding games nor when editing 4K videos with the Zephyrus G14. All in all, the ROG Zephyrus G14 is an impressive device in a compact case. Depending on your budget, you can get different specs, ranging from a Ryzen 7 with RTX 4050 combo to Ryzen 9 with RTX 4080.

ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023): Keyboard and I/O

The Zephyrus G14 has a chiclet-style keyboard with 1-zone RGB backlighting. The entire keyboard lights up in the same color, but you can customize the effects and colors via the Armory Crate app. As for typing, the keyboard is clicky and responsive. You can type very fast with it because the actuation point between the keys and the sensor is very low, but the keys have enough travel.

For gaming, the keyboard is fine, but a bit more travel would have been better, as the short travel can also lead to accidental key presses. On the top, there are 4 customizable keys, which by default are assigned with volume control, muting the microphone, and opening the Armory Crate application. However, you can assign any function of the Armory Crate application to these 4 keys. Overall, the keyboard is well-divided and does not feel cramped when playing or typing. But yes, a full-size keyboard is always good to have on a gaming laptop.

The trackpad of the Zephyrus G14 is very spacious and feels good in the hand. The trackpad is responsive and supports Windows Precision drivers so that you can use all gestures. The entire trackpad is clickable, so you can press anywhere to trigger a left click. We do not think many people will really use the trackpad, though, since it’s obviously a gaming laptop, and it’s always better to use an external mouse for gaming.

For security, the Zephyrus G14 is equipped with a 1080p webcam and support for Windows Hello with the help of some IR sensors. The system works flawlessly and can even recognize your face in the dark. The webcam itself is not that good. It’s fine for normal meetings and video conferencing, but do not expect it to deliver high-quality images and videos for your streaming sessions. The 3 microphones are pretty decent, though. Still, a dedicated webcam is always the better choice.

I/O and Ports

On the left side:

• 1x Type C USB 4 (40Gbps) with support for DisplayPort 1.4 and up to 100W power for charging.
• 1 x HDMI 2.1 (discrete GPU) (Supports up to a 4K 120Hz display).
• 1 x Audio combo jack.
• 1 x Barrel-type charging port.

On the right side:

• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with DisplayPort and G-Sync support.
• 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports.
• 1x card reader (microSD) (UHS-II).

As for connectivity, the Zephyrus G14 supports WiFi 6E, but there is no Ethernet port on the laptop. A strange decision, but WiFi speeds are actually quite good, yet a wired connection is always more stable for online multiplayer gaming. Aside from that, the Zephyrus G14 offers Bluetooth 5.2 support for all your Bluetooth accessories. That’s about it.

ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023): Battery and Charging

The Zephyrus G14 ships with a 76-WHr battery that lasted for about 4 hours in our test while keeping the display at 50% brightness. We only surfed the web and worked on some documents during this time. When playing with the battery, the battery performance drops significantly. ROG supplies a large 240-watt adapter with the Zephyrus G14, which takes about 2 hours and 30 minutes to charge the laptop. However, this adapter comes with a 16 amp plug, so you may need to purchase a converter for it. The adapter also uses a traditional barrel connector to charge the laptop, but you can also use the USB Type-C connector on the left to charge the laptop. The USB Type-C port supports up to 100W of power and can be useful for charging the Zephyrus G14 in many situations.

A bit more battery life would be ideal for remote work, but considering the powerful components, we keep our expectations in check.

ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023): Software

with a lifetime license of Windows 11 Home, along with Microsoft Office. You can even get XBOX Gamepass For PC for free for 3 months with the laptop. Windows 11 on the Zephyrus G14 is snappy, but we did see some bugs where items on the screen would freeze, but none of the buttons or mouse clicks would work. Other than that, we did not notice any performance or fluidity issues with the laptop. Management of RAM is good, and 32 GB is more than enough to handle everyday tasks as well as games.

ASUS has pre-installed some applications like Armory Crate, Aura Creator, Dolby Access, MyAsus, etc. Although you can remove most of them, we would suggest keeping them. Otherwise, you might run into warranty issues. In particular, the ROG Armory Crate application is very important. It has several performance profiles to improve airflow and other aspects of the laptop to boost performance. You can adjust the RGB settings, anime matrix settings, customize the macro keys and also monitor the performance and heat generation of the components. It is an all-in-one software for any ASUS laptop. Overall, the Zephyrus G14’s software is good, but it’s no different than any other ASUS laptop on the market.

ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023) Review: Verdict

The Zephyrus G14 is a very good gaming laptop. We honestly do not have much to criticize about the Zephyrus G14, except for the fact that the laptop gets warm and you can not hold it on your lap. Battery life could have been a bit better, and the size of the 14-inch screen can be a limiting factor for some people. But other than that, the ROG Zephyrus G14 does not disappoint for the price you pay.

The base variant with a Ryzen 7 and RTX 4050 starts at ₹1,49,990 and goes up to a Ryzen 9 with RTX 4080, which costs around ₹2,66,990. Depending on your needs, you can choose the specifications of your laptop. Our device is the top-end variant, and all our opinions are based on it. In this price range, there is the Lenovo Legion Pro series, the Acer Predator series, the MSI Stealth series, and the Dell Alienware M series. But the Zephyrus G14 is the only model with a 14-inch display and a compact chassis. So if you want a bigger gaming notebook, you have a lot of choices, but if you want a compact and powerful gaming notebook, the Zephyrus G14 is the one for you.

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