Asus’s new laptop is a solid MacBook alternative that’s better in several ways

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• While technically a gaming laptop, the new ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 may actually do more for the professional user than the average gamer.
• Its long battery life, feature-packed keyboard, and OLED display allow users to tackle the workday with ease and comfort.
• However, the laptop comes stuffed with bloatware that takes up a lot of storage space, and there are concerns with operating temperature.

Let me ask you a question: when does a gaming laptop stop being a gaming laptop? I think the answer is when the hardware is the least impressive thing about it. That’s the case with the seemingly MacBook-inspired ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14. After a couple of weeks of testing, I honestly forgot it came with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. Every other aspect of the laptop was more enthralling. Its performance was the furthest thing from my mind.

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I specifically mentioned MacBooks because the Zephyrus 14 really looks like one. Not only is it a shiny silver, but the display is reminiscent of what you’d find on a MacBook Pro. It’s a 2K resolution (2,880 x 1,800 pixels) OLED screen surrounded by thick black bezels. The dark borders serve as a contrast, making colors on the screen seem more vibrant. Additionally, the keyboard is also reminiscent of one you’d find on an Apple laptop.

If you’re a frequent reader, you know how much I appreciate comfortable keyboards. Well, I’m happy to say that this device definitely has one.

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Each key has a slight indentation that guides your fingers towards the center, and most also have a nice springy feel. Putting the two together results in a typing experience that is quite easy on the hands. The M keys at the top don’t have the same haptic feedback; they’re mushier by comparison because ASUS didn’t expect them to get as much action. But on these four is where you’ll find the laptop’s audio controls, the stand out being M4 which launches the Armoury Crate app that configures the RGB lights.

The Function keys need to be called out as well, as ASUS made several interesting choices here. F5, for example causes the internal fans to go into turbo mode. As a side note, the placement of the fans themselves result in a design tradeoff. They’re located at the bottom of the laptop instead of the rear or sides to ensure the laptop is thin — and with this model measuring less than an inch thick, they succeeded. However, the tradeoff is that this also causes the heat to get trapped without a whole lot of ventilation, leading to a computer that can quickly get hot. It is, for this reason, that I recommend you get a laptop cooling pad to keep temperatures low.

F10 is also interesting since it offers a quick way to completely disable the touchpad, which is useful for people who prefer using your standard mouse and keyboard combo. 

With the OLED display and all the lights throughout the body, one would assume the battery doesn’t last very long. Surprisingly, that is not the case as the Zephyrus G14 has one of the best batteries I have ever seen on a laptop. Actually, the only other device that outperforms it in my experience is the Acer Chromebook Spin 714.

I performed my usual test of playing a nonstop YouTube livestream at 720p and 50 percent brightness. The Zephyrus G14 lasted 10 hours straight. Most laptops, from what I’ve seen, tap out at six hours. I was genuinely surprised at this longevity. Gaming laptops are known to be power-hungry as well, so I wasn’t expecting much, but I was happily proven wrong.

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Under the hood is an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor alongside the GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card mentioned earlier. I found the CPU to be more impressive when I ran both through benchmarking tests. On Cinebench R23, the Ryzen 9 earned a score of 16,107, putting it among the upper echelon of processors and well above the average Intel Core i9-9880H. The GPU didn’t fare as well by comparison. The discrepancy between the two tells me the laptop is great at handling a variety of workloads from internet browsing to more video editing, but may struggle with gaming.

There is one other major consideration with the Zephyrus G14 besides the heating. It has a lot of bloatware. The SSD is packed with several apps that are easy to forget. Granted, some are useful. Armoury Crate controls the RGB lights; GeForce Experience manages your library of games. But, the onboard assistant? Not so much. At least, I didn’t find myself looking for it.

ZDNET’s buying advice

ASUS’ ROG Zephyrus G14 is a fantastic laptop for a lot of people. Geeky users like myself will appreciate the customizable RGB lighting and the hardware pairing is still great at gaming. Professionals will appreciate the stylish design as well as the long battery life. 

If I had to pick one group that would like it more, I’d guess it would be the professionals crew. The RTX 4060 GPU is at the low end of the series so its performance will disappoint gamers looking for raw power. Plus, the bloatware cuts too much into the SSD, limiting the amount of big files you can have at a time. 

Also: Lenovo’s latest ThinkPad has new features that will make professionals jump for joy

Prices for the model start at $1600 with my review unit in particular costing $1,900, which is certainly not cheap. Additionally, there isn’t much you can do to lower the price tag as the rest of the customization options add to the laptop. The bottom line is that the Zephyrus is worth the price, but if you want something cheaper, I recommend checking out ZDNET’s list of the best budget gaming laptops for recommendations.