Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom the Tech Chap, and you probably recognize this.
00:03This is the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, the 2023 model,
00:08and it is a very nice, thin and light gaming laptop.
00:10But what if you wanted something like this,
00:13but perhaps didn't want to spec it with a 4080 or 4090,
00:17and you wanted something a little bit thinner, sleeker, lighter,
00:20with new processors and better speakers, a better webcam,
00:23and also perhaps an OLED screen?
00:25Well, let me introduce you to the 2024 ROG Zephyrus G14.
00:30A fresh take, if you will, on the thin and light gaming laptop,
00:34and it is very nice.
00:35A full redesign, we've got the latest AMD Ryzen 8000 series processors,
00:40we also have up to an RTX 4070,
00:43and for the first time on any ROG gaming laptop, an OLED screen.
00:48Oh, and if 14 inches doesn't quite satisfy you,
00:50then we do also have its bigger brother, the G16.
00:53Very similar, albeit bigger OLED screen, up to 240 hertz rather than 120,
00:58Intel rather than AMD chips, higher-end GPU options with vapor chamber cooling,
01:02and also an SD card slot.
01:04That's the main stuff.
01:05But before we dive in, I have to show you the box ASUS sent this in,
01:09and with what is, without doubt,
01:10the best review guide slash product handbook I've ever seen.
01:23So ASUS have refreshed almost their entire ROG lineup here at CES.
01:39We've got the brand new G14, new G16,
01:42we've got new Strix Car flagship laptops,
01:44we've also got the new slightly more affordable TUF series of gaming laptops.
01:48So there's a lot of great new hardware, but I want to talk about these.
01:52What is interesting, though,
01:52is that these aren't actually direct replacements for these,
01:55the 2023 models of the G14, and in this case the M16.
01:59They will still be on sale, and it's more about giving you more options,
02:03because with this older G14 in particular,
02:05this can be specced with up to a 4080 or 4090.
02:08We have higher TGPs and also upgradable RAM and slightly beefier cooling,
02:13whereas this guy, with its slim new chassis, tops out with a 4070.
02:16You've got 50, 60, and 70 options depending on where you live,
02:19different SKUs for different regions.
02:21Although the G16 can be specced with up to a 4090,
02:24which is what I've got on here.
02:25Now, believe it or not, but this is the fifth generation G14,
02:29and it's also the first major design refresh we've had in two years.
02:33For starters, it's 2mm thinner and 200g lighter than last year,
02:37and actually the G16s are a whopping 450g lighter and 6mm thinner.
02:42We do still have the dark and the light versions of the new models,
02:46but unlike the painted plastic we had before,
02:48this is actually anodized aluminium.
02:50It's a full aluminium alloy chassis, which makes it feel a whole lot more premium.
02:55Although I have realized this G16, in its grey,
02:58next to the space black MacBook Pro, very similar looking laptops.
03:03Except this has an OLED screen and a 4090.
03:06On the lid, we have this new Anime Strike lighting strip,
03:09and the good news is all models of this new G14 get this lighting strip.
03:14It's not just an option for higher-end SKUs.
03:16And if you jump into the ROG Armoury crate,
03:18where you've got your usual performance modes and settings,
03:20you can customize and even create your own custom Anime Vision GIFs for this strike bar.
03:25Now on the inside, we have these new little speaker grills flanking the keyboard.
03:30And in fact, we have six speakers in total on this, including a force cancelling woofer.
03:34And I have to say, this sounds incredible.
03:36It's among the best speakers I've ever experienced on a laptop.
03:42Also, I don't think they could squeeze in a bigger trackpad into this chassis.
03:47It's a little bit bigger than before,
03:48and it's also now 16 by 10 aspect ratio, so it matches the screen.
03:52The keycaps are 12% larger, but with the same key gap,
03:55and also the same travel distance as before.
03:57We get a USB Type-C and a Type-A port on both sides,
04:00plus an HDMI 2.1, microSD card on this, although full-size on the G16.
04:05And we also have this new ASUS slim power jack, which replaces the old barrel DC power.
04:10It is reversible, as you'd hope,
04:12and ASUS tell me that they're actually adopting this on all their laptops
04:16that have over 150 watts of power use, because they say via Type-C,
04:20a 240 watt TDP laptop would lose about 10% of its energy going via a Type-C port.
04:26So it's a lot more efficient, and it also frees up a Type-C port
04:28for your other peripherals or connecting to an external monitor.
04:32But a bit more exciting than the ports,
04:33we have to talk about this brand spanking new OLED screen.
04:37So firstly, this plasticky protruding bezel is now thinner and flush with the display.
04:42It's also glossy rather than matte,
04:44which does bring out that lovely deep contrast you get with the OLED panel,
04:47but I do kind of miss how well this handled reflections.
04:52But the headline is ASUS have finally made the leap from Mini-LED to OLED.
04:56Why is it taking them so long?
04:58Well, apparently it's because they just couldn't get the panel,
05:00they couldn't manufacture or buy one for, you know,
05:02a reasonable price that didn't make this completely unaffordable,
05:04that also had the gaming features they wanted,
05:06like VRR, a high refresh rate, and high brightness.
05:09So this 2024 G14 has a 2880x1800 resolution,
05:14so that is 16x10, 120Hz refresh rate,
05:17although that is down from last year's 165.
05:20We get FreeSync VRR.
05:21Impressively, it is DisplayHDR 500 True Black certified,
05:25and I measured a peak of 520 nits in SDR and 820 in HDR,
05:30which is insane for an OLED panel, especially on a laptop.
05:33OLEDs offer infinitely better contrast,
05:36zero light bleed, better viewing angles,
05:37and also faster response times, as low as 1ms versus around 3ms.
05:41So for gaming, for watching movies,
05:43even for editing videos or working and using this more as a workstation laptop,
05:47this screen is absolutely stunning.
05:50And I think it's even more impressive on the G16,
05:52which obviously is larger, but it also boasts double the refresh rate,
05:56240Hz versus 120Hz.
05:58However, this actually has a slightly lower resolution compared to this,
06:01and of course it's bigger,
06:03so we're actually looking at about 188 pixels per inch on here versus about 242.
06:07So this is actually quite a bit sharper.
06:10So lovely new OLED screens, sleek new designs,
06:12but what hasn't changed is the graphics card.
06:15Because Nvidia haven't launched a new sort of super series
06:18of their mobile laptop GPUs yet,
06:20we have the same 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, etc from last year.
06:24So this guy tops out with a 4070, this with a 4090.
06:27But what is new on both are the processors.
06:30Now, this comes with the new AMD Ryzen 8000 series.
06:33This is the Intel's 14th Gen Meteor Lake,
06:36which does mean the performance boost over 2023 models for games
06:40will be limited to the CPU upgrade.
06:42Now, I would very much like to tell you how Intel and AMD compare,
06:46and also how much faster this is over last year's models,
06:48but unfortunately, I'm not allowed to test them.
06:50I did actually spend the whole day benchmarking these,
06:52but then Asus said, well, these are pre-production units
06:54and they're a little bit tuned for CES where they're being unveiled.
06:58So we can't show benchmarks just yet.
07:00So we'll have to revisit performance and also battery life in my full review.
07:03But what I can tell you is both Intel and AMD's new CPUs
07:06offer a big boost to their integrated graphics,
07:08which obviously isn't as important for laptops like these with dedicated GPUs.
07:12Although it does mean because they have MUX switches,
07:15which can go between integrated, hybrid, and dedicated graphics,
07:17when you're not gaming and not using the dedicated card,
07:20general performance will be better,
07:22and hopefully the battery life will be as well.
07:24And of course, the other big push is AI.
07:26With a new dedicated MPU,
07:28which is a lot more efficient for specific AI tasks,
07:30freeing up the GPU and the CPU.
07:32So for productivity tasks that have AI tools,
07:35it could be a fair bit quicker.
07:37These, as I say, are kind of like successors to last year's G14 and M16,
07:41but they're not replacements, as I say.
07:43And there are a couple of compromises.
07:44The main one being due to the slimmer chassis,
07:47they've actually incorporated lower TGP graphics cards.
07:51So I've got the 4060 in this guy,
07:54which has 125W TGP,
07:56whereas the 4060 in this is 90W.
07:58Also with the G16, well, again,
08:00this can be specced with up to a 4080 or 4090,
08:03like the M16.
08:04This maxes out with a 115W TGP for the 4090,
08:08versus 160W on last year's M16.
08:11Also that is mini-LED and can get brighter,
08:14also upgradable RAM.
08:15So interestingly, the 2023 models are still worth considering,
08:18but it's up to you whether you want the best highest-end performance
08:22or this slimmer, lighter, more refined, less gamery design, if you will,
08:26the OLED screens and also the new processors.
08:29So if you're after a kind of MacBook Pro,
08:32Windows gaming slash workstation laptop
08:34that also manages to pack in an OLED screen
08:36and up to a 4090 graphics card,
08:39then these G14 and G16s are definitely worth considering.
08:42If you've got any questions at all, drop a comment below.
08:44Also, I will leave pricing and availability for these guys
08:47in the description and also I'll pin a comment.
08:49And hopefully you found this video useful.
08:51If you did, a cheeky little like and subscribe would be lovely.
08:53And I will be back with full reviews
08:55where I can test the performance, the battery and everything else
08:57and really see how they compare in terms of value for money
09:00as soon as I possibly can.
09:01So I'll see you next time right here on The Tech Chap.