As a professional designer/ creator who also loves to play AAA games, I have always admired the Apple MacBook Pro for its productivity and creator-centric features. However, even with the latest M3 chips, it still fails to cater to my gaming needs. So, when the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 was announced at CES2024, I was super excited to get my hands on it.
The new Zephyrus G16 is a beautiful gaming laptop that starts at $3,299.00. It features a machined metal chassis and can house Intels Core Ultra 9 processors, RTX 4090 GPU, and a Nebula HDR OLED display. It looks nothing like a traditional gaming laptop, and instead, much more like a MacBook Pro.
I’ve been using the G16 for a few weeks now, playing games and doing my usual productivity and content creation tasks, and it has impressed me. It’s almost the perfect hybrid of a gaming and creator laptop, but there are a few issues like battery life that keep it from being the holy grail.
Nevertheless, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is an exciting example of what gaming laptops can be and how they can cater to both gamers and content creators.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 Review
Let’s start by discussing the design of the new G16 laptop from Asus. There’s no denying that the designers took inspiration from Apple, but they added a few of their own touches to differentiate it. The G16 is a beautiful machine, with a sturdy, precision CNC-machined aluminum alloy build that measures only 1.78cm at its thickest and 1.62cm at its smallest point. Despite its slim profile, it’s slightly heavy, weighing in at 1.85Kg.
I am in love with the Eclipse Grey colorway(cough, cough: Space Grey) but Asus’s anodisation process is much better at repelling fingerprints and smudges. I’ve been using the G16 for two weeks without wiping it, and it still looks great. There’s also a Platinum White colorway that harkens back to the OG Zephyrus G14. The etched ROG branding and typefaces on the lid look elegant and don’t scream “gamer.”
While MacBooks are clean, uninterrupted metal slabs, Asus still retains its unique style, so the G16 has a few flourishes that you can’t overlook. For starters, there’s the new Slash Lighting Array on the top lid. This takes Asus’s Anime Matrix display from the past and condenses it into a thin diagonal strip that looks simply amazing. You can customize the lighting to your liking, but while it looks very cool, it can quickly become tedious with its constant flashing.
One weak spot in the build is the new Stealth Hinge of the display; it’s just too loose. Even slight movements of the laptop can cause it to fall almost all the way back on itself. I haven’t seen a hinge on a laptop this loose in ages. I’m not sure what’s going on here, as it’s almost the opposite of the exceptionally rigid body. I hope mine was used and abused by previous reviewers because I’ve never seen this loose a hinge on an Asus laptop.
The Asus G16 has an impressive range of ports for gamers, including dual USB-C ports with display output and one that supports Thunderbolt 4 with DisplayPort 2.1. There are also two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio combo jack, and a full-size SD Card reader which is great for content creators. However, the laptop still uses a proprietary DC port for charging, unlike the MacBook Pro, which is a shame. Nevertheless, the variety of ports on the G16 more than makes up for this.
When you open the lid, you’ll see a large keyboard deck with a new 6-speaker sound system that sounds amazing due to the inclusion of subwoofers for more bass. The keyboard also has some tweaks, including 12% larger keycaps with 1.7mm of travel and a lifetime of 20 million presses. Typing on this keyboard feels great, with keys that are deep and responsive to your strokes.
However, the G16 doesn’t come with per-key RGB lighting, which is a little unusual for a premium machine. Instead, all the keys share the same colors. Nonetheless, the lighting is bright enough, and the legends are visible even in darker conditions. You also get a row of four buttons above the keyboard that can be assigned to different functions in the Armoury Crate.
I was pleasantly surprised by the new touchpad on the Asus gaming laptop. It’s much larger than traditional trackpads, measuring about 14cm across and 10cm deep, which makes it easier to use. Although it’s smooth and responsive, I found that the lack of feedback when pressing or tapping on the touchpad was a downside. It’s a significant improvement from previous models, but there’s still room for improvement.
The laptop has a 16-inch IPS-level panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, which is great for professional photo and video work. The bezels are minimal, and the IPS panel has 100% coverage of DCI-P3 color space, making it perfect for color-sensitive work. The WQXGA resolution of 2560 x 1600, along with a 240Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time, makes for a smooth gaming experience.
The glossy display does boost colors, but it can result in reflections and glare. Although the laptop claims to support Dolby Vision HDR, Windows didn’t even recognise the display as HDR capable, so I’m not sure what’s going on there. Regardless, the display looks great when watching movies or playing games and working on documents. Clarity is excellent with good contrast and vibrant colors.
The laptop includes some useful tools for work, such as a 1080p webcam that supports Windows Hello and an AI-powered microphone array for video conferencing. However, the effect isn’t that great, especially when dealing with loud background noise in a cafe, for example where it can cause a fair amount of distortion in your voice.
Asus makes a point of boasting about the special, glass covered power button in the top right but it’s actually quite pointless. Unlike previous Zephyrus G laptops where the power button doubled as a fingerprint reader for biometrics, this doesn’t. It doesn’t even have backlighting to let you know when the laptop is on or charging.
Performance and gaming
The Zephyrus G16 is available in a variety of configurations, all of which feature the latest generation of Intel Core Ultra 7 and 9 processors, with a maximum of 32GB DDR5 memory, fast NVMe M.2 drives, and Nvidia RTX 40-series graphics.
The model I’m reviewing is a near-entry-level version that comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, which has 24MB cache, 16 cores, and 22 threads, with a maximum clock speed of 4.8Ghz. These new chips also include Intel Arc graphics and AI Boost Neural Processing Units. Intel claims better power efficiency though I didn’t see that in my battery tests but more on that later.
The laptop has 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM soldered onto the board, which means that it cannot be replaced with more memory in the future. Additionally, it comes with a 1TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD, which provides ample storage for Call of Duty Warzone. The graphics card is an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, with a maximum power draw of 100W. While this may seem like a low TDP, given the slim design of the G16, we should be grateful for the power it provides.
It’s worth noting that the G16 laptop comes with NVIDIA Studio Driver pre-installed, which suggests that it’s more of a content creation tool than a gaming device. However, using Game Ready Drivers for gaming may offer slightly better performance, but it won’t make a significant difference. Since most users spend more time working than gaming, the Studio drivers are more suitable for professional tools such as DaVinci Resolve, CapCut, and Adobe Creative Suite, which are widely supported on the G16.
The G16 performs well in standard benchmarks, although its CPU scores are slightly slower than those of a similarly spec’d i7-13700H laptop. However, in practice, the G16 feels just as fast as a desktop i5-13600K, even in more demanding tasks like gaming and video editing. The laptop is smooth and snappy when moving around Windows and applications.
In terms of gaming, the G16 delivers excellent performance, with AAA titles running at ultra graphical settings over 60fps in the laptop’s native QHD resolution. Furthermore, games that support Nvidia DLSS 3 and Frame Generation offer even better performance without any significant overhead. However, if users want to push the 240Hz display to the limit, they may need to reduce the graphical settings to low, which mainly applies to some esports titles like Overwatch 2 and Valorant.
The G16’s performance in games is truly impressive, and most users won’t require anything more than a high-powered RTX 4060 or 4070. Although the higher-tier cards offer a significant premium, they don’t deliver much performance gain.
In terms of thermals, the G16’s Asus refined cooling system is excellent. Using a combination of improved Arc Flow Fans set in a triple fan design, liquid metal thermal paste and improved heat pipes, this skinny laptop remains cool under fire. The CPU averages a consistent 65-70C while gaming and a max of 85C under intense CPU loads, like rendering tasks. During long gaming sessions, the GPU maintains a temperature high of 80-85C, though I’ve seen as low as mid 60’s depending on the game and the settings. For such a thin laptop, that’s not too shabby.
Most importantly, fan noise isn’t a terrible, painful whine of a jet engine straining to take off an Aircraft Carrier in the middle of a hurricane. I’m genuinely impressed with modern gaming laptops’ ability to stay decently quiet when running on their default performance mode. It’s only when you turn the laptop to Turbo mode that things get distractingly noisy, and honestly, the slight performance gains aren’t worth the exponential increase in noise.
Battery life on the G16 is also reasonable, given the hardware on board. I recorded just under 6 hours of light productivity use out of its 90WHr battery. If you want to game, then you are looking at an hour or so, but that also depends on the game you’re playing. Ray tracing will crush the battery in no time but some chill Indie game will last longer.
I’m sure you can squeeze some more game time out of it by fiddling with resolutions and game settings but, yeah, gaming on battery isn’t really a thing. It’s shocking to me that a laptop with such a substantial battery can’t outlast a handheld like the ROG Ally or Lenovo Legion Go while gaming. Yes, the G16 has significantly more powerful hardware to deal with, but with Apple’s MacBooks lasting upwards of 16 hours on a charge without degradation in performance, there’s precedent.
On the plus side, the G16 supports fast charging and will go from 0-50% in just 30 minutes of charging using the bundled charger. That’s impressive, but I would personally prefer a longer-lasting battery.
Verdict
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is a top-performing gaming laptop that is expected to be one of the best options available in 2024. Its sleek design allows it to fit in perfectly in a boardroom setting while still being powerful enough to handle competitive gaming sessions. As someone who works as a product and content creator, I find the G16’s color-accurate display and Nvidia Studio support extremely useful for working with photos and videos.
The starting price of $3,300 is fair given the laptop’s exceptional performance and features, but if budget is a concern, the Asus TUF A16 Advantage Edition is a good alternative. Compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $4200, the G16 is a great value for money. However, one drawback of the G16 is its weaker battery life, which may not be suitable for professionals who require long-lasting battery performance.
Apple’s silicon technology is known for its efficiency, performance, and battery life, making it hard to beat in this regard. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a laptop that can handle both work and gaming, while looking like a MacBook doppelgänger, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is one of, if not the best option right now.
