The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 first launched the year before. We praised it for its 14-inch screen (then uncommon among gaming laptops) and Nvidia GeForce 20-Series RTX power AMD Ryzen processing for the most affordable cost.
The new G14 for 2021 G14 (starts with $1,549.99) is based on the same layout but boosts the performance to RTX 30 Series and the latest Ryzen 500 chips.
The $1,999 model we tested comes with a 1440p screen and 32GB of memory. So the price increase of our test model isn’t as good of a deal as the original G14. However, the entry-level configuration (which has the RTX 3060) is a great value.
Additionally, there’s market for gaming laptops with 14 inches has grown. 14-inch models are popping up from the majority of the regular brands (the Razer Blade 14 is our top choice) and make this G14 less of a unicorn. However, this model is still an excellent choice.
It’s All About the Internals
This original Zephyrus G14 was one of the first gaming laptops because of its mix of performance and size, and the latter remains the same. The exterior design remains the same since this is primarily an upgrade of the components, so we’re not going to spend much time looking at that aspect.
We should also note that we have also looked at a different model of this laptop, called the G14 Alan Walker Edition (geared towards people who love Alan Walker, the European electronic music superstar) however, we will focus here on this regular version for the primary review and performance tests. This is the best laptop for nursing students.
The basics are still vital but let’s look at these. The laptop is 0.7 and 12.75 and 8.7 inches. It weighs 3.5 pounds, making it larger than the standard gaming laptop.
The high-end materials and the fashionable white and silver look make this laptop look. This model also comes with an AniMe Matrix lid, which we’ve previously reviewed as an alternative to the G14. G14. The lid is covered with an array of LEDs that you can modify by using effects and images.
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The size of the original G14 was unique when it was first introduced. However, 14-inch gaming computers are becoming more commonplace in the years since. The Razer Blade 14 and the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE are roughly in line with their thickness and dimensions.
However, it’s the G14 is the one that is the lightest. At the same time, you think that the G14 does not stand as the only one in its class, but it’s still among the top gaming laptops, which is a great choice for those who want mobility.
Video callers who are frequent remote may want to consider a different model. (Asus believed that streamers and gamers who are hardcore would like to have their high-performance webcam to keep the bezels as thin.)
Component Check: The Newest Heat From AMD and Nvidia
Now, let’s look at the features and components of our review model. There are a variety of flavors of the GeForce 30 Series RTX; however, our test unit costs $1,999.
You get the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS processor with 32GB of memory, and it comes with the GeForce RTX3060 graphics card and one TB of SSD. The display also has a native resolution of 2,560-by-1,440 pixels and a 120Hz peak refresh rate. This is the best laptop for working from home.
It’s important to note that we loved the initial G14 in part due to its value. However, the cost of this model is much more expensive. The move to the RTX 30-Series is part of this.
However, the amount of memory has also gone up by 32GB from 16GB, and the display’s resolution was increased to 1440p, up from 1080p. This new screen is clear and stunning; additionally, it’s great for gaming and entertainment, provided you have the power to make it even higher-resolution.
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This doesn’t mean that this upgrade isn’t worth the cost; however, the price has pushed the G14 to the top class of gaming laptops instead of the mid-range, which means that the “value” aspect may dissolve somewhat with this particular model.
Many G14 RTX 30 Series models are equally expensive as this one; as of writing, one model from Best Buy was priced at $1,549.99 for the exact processor with GPU, storage, and CPU as the one we tested; however, it comes equipped with 16GB of RAM and an HD (1080p) display which is a far cry from those of the first G14 we tried.
Performance Testing: Blazing-Fast Processing and 60fps Gaming (Asus ROG Zephyrus)
To assess the latest components, we put the latest G14 through our series of tests for benchmarks and then put the results in the top laptops in the market. You can find their names and specifications on the following table…
Productivity Tests
The primary benchmark for the UL’s PCMark 10 simulates a variety of real-world productivity and content-creation workflows to evaluate the overall performance of office-related tasks like word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and videoconferencing.
We also use PCMark 10’s Full System Drive test to determine the load duration and the speed of a laptop’s storage.
Three benchmarks are focused on the CPU and employ all the available threads and cores to assess a computer’s capability to handle high-end processor-intensive tasks. Maxon’s Cinebench R23 uses the business’s Cinema 4D engine to render complex scenes.
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At the same time, Primate Labs’ Geekbench 5.4 Pro emulates the most popular applications ranging from PDF rendering to speech recognition and machine learning.
In addition, we utilize the free video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K resolution to 1080p (lower time frames are more efficient).
The final test for productivity was Puget Systems’ PugetBench for Photoshop that utilizes Photoshop’s Creative Cloud version 22 of Adobe’s famous image editor to assess the performance of a computer for multimedia and content creation applications.
It’s an automatic extension that can perform various common and GPU-accelerated Photoshop functions, ranging from opening the image, rotating it, resizing it, and saving images to applying gradient fills masks and filters.
The new G14 is the most powerful laptop in this class. It’s not the best in PCMark; however, it has the highest results in the more challenging stress tests of processors and multimedia. The margins aren’t that big.
However, it’s enough to be aware that this laptop can provide faster editing capabilities than many gaming laptops and will not be left hanging when you’re in a pinch. The everyday use of the laptop is easy as it offers fast storage and eight cores with 16 threads prepared to take on any task you can throw at the machine.
Graphics and Gaming Tests (Asus ROG Zephyrus)
We test Windows PCs’ graphics using two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from the UL’s 3DMark, Night Raid (more moderately suitable for laptops with integrated graphics) and Time Spy (more demanding, ideal for gaming systems equipped with integrated GPUs).
Two tests are also running using an open-source Cross-platform GPU test GFXBench 5, which stresses both low-level tasks like texturing and the high-level, gaming-like rendering of images.
Aztec Ruins 1440p and the 1080p Car Chase tests were rendered offscreen to accommodate various display resolutions such as exercise graphics and compute shaders employing an OpenGL programming interface and hardware tessellation respectively. In GFXBench, the higher the number of frames in a second (fps) more, the more efficient.
Additionally, we conduct three real-life games using the game’s in-game benchmarks for F1 2021 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Rainbow Six Siege. These are simulations of action-adventure games that are open-world and Esports-based competitive shooters, respectively.
Valhalla, as well as Siege, are both run two times (Valhalla with Ultra and Medium quality; Siege with Ultra and Low quality), and F1 2021 is run twice at the highest settings, first using Nvidia’s performance-enhancing DLSS anti-aliasing feature disabled, and then the second time with it turned switched on. The tests are all run at 1080p resolution. However, we’ll run additional tests at the laptop’s native resolution to provide anecdotal data on a 1440p or 4K display.
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In contrast to the processor, the G14’s GPU isn’t at the top of the list, and that’s not normal. Between the RTX 3060, that’s in a larger laptop, and Blade14’s RTX 3070, and it’s not the most powerful GPU in the market on paper.
The performance in testing synthetics is in a good place, and it’s plenty powerful to handle 3D games and other tasks. In isolation, the cost isn’t great for this amount of raw GPU power.
The real-world gaming tests are the same, but it does give an extremely clear view of what kind of performance you can expect from gaming.
For a highly demanding AAA game like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the medium-quality settings look more realistic in 60fps; however, the game is stunning at these settings, which is a great thing for a laptop of this size.
The G14 can also make excellent utilization of its ultra-refresh (120Hz) screen, shown in Rainbow Six Siege, and the F1 results demonstrate how much boost DLSS can give for a system that is on the edge of 60fps.
Naturally, the tests are at 1080p, in contrast with the laptop’s default resolution of 1440p. We conducted all of the same tests at 1440p, too, and as you’d anticipate, the frame rates dropped dramatically.
Main Thing
For medium and ultra Quality, Valhalla decreased to 52fps and 36fps. Meanwhile, when we tested Low and Ultra, Siege went down to 114fps and 156fps.
In the end, F1 2021 dropped to 43 frames per second with TAA turned on and 60fps when DLSS is on. This is a significant drop on the average and, in games like Valhalla, this could mean the difference between keeping 60fps or experiencing slow gameplay.
It is possible to run lower-demanding games with native resolution and give frame rates an increase on more demanding games by lowering the resolution to 1080p.
The cost is quite high for this level of performance. However, the similarity to Blade 14’s performance is also evident, despite its (on-paper) better GPU and the higher cost.
In contrast, it’s Alienware. It is a lot less expensive and is a more efficient machine due to its bigger chassis that allows more efficient thermals.
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