ASUS Zephyrus G14 Laptop Review - Balance of Design and Functionality
Laptop Specifications
2021 ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 GA401QM and GA401QE
Processor - AMD Cezanne, Ryzen 7 5800HS or Ryzen 9 5900HS, 8C/16T
Graphics Card - AMD Radeon Vega + Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop 6GB (60W, up to 80W with Dynamic Boost) on 401QM model, AMD Radeon Vega + Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti Laptop 4GB (60W, up to 75W with Dynamic Boost) on 401QE model
Screen - QHD 2560 x 1440 px, IPS, matte,120Hz panel or 14 inch, matte, FHD 1920 x 1080 px IPS, matte, 144Hz panel
Memory - 16 GB DDR4-3200 (8 GB onboard, 1x DIMM, up to 40 GB) or 32 GB DDR4-3200 (16 GB onboard, 1x DIMM, up to 48 GB)
Storage - 1 TB NVMe SSD (1x M.2 PCI x4 slot)
Connectivity - WiFi 6 (Mediatek MT7921) 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.0 Ports - 2x USB-A 3.2, 1x USB-C gen 2 with DP1.4 and charging, 1x USB-C gen 2 data-only, HDMI 2.0b, headphone/mic, Kensington Lock
Battery - 76 Wh, 180 W power adapter, USB-C charging up to 100W
Dimensions - 324 mm or 12.75” (w) x 222 mm or 8.74” (d) x 19.9 mm or .78” (h)
Weight - 1.7 kg (3.75 lbs) with Anime Matrix display, 1.64 kg (3.65 lbs) without Anime Matrix display, 59 kg (1.3 lbs) power brick and cables
Other - White backlit keyboard, 4x speakers, no webcam, finger sensor in the power button
2022 ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402
Processor - AMD Rembrandt, Ryzen 9 6900HS, 8C/16T
Graphics Card - Radeon 680M + AMD Radeon RX 6800S 8 GB (up to 105W with Smartshift) for GA402RK model, Radeon 680M + AMD Radeon RX 6700S 8 GB (up to 100W with Smartshift) for GA402RJ model with MUX and Adaptive Sync
Screen - QHD+ 120Hz 3ms response, 500-nits, 100% DCI-P3, Pantone validated or FHD+ 144Hz 3ms response, 400-nits, 100% sRGB, Pantone validated.
Memory - 32 GB DDR5-4800 (16 GB onboard, 1x DIMM, up to 48 GB) on 402RK model, 16 GB DDR5-4800 (8 GB onboard, 1x DIMM, up to 40 GB) on 402RJ model Storage - 1 TB SSD (Micron 2450 – 1x M.2 PCIe 4.0 slot)
Connectivity - WiFi 6E (Mediatek MT7922) 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.2 Ports - HDMI 2.0b, 1x USB-C gen 2 with data, DP and charging, audio jack, Kensington Lock, 2x USB-A 3.2, 1x USB-C gen2 with data&DP, UHS-II micro SD card reader
Battery - 76 Wh, 240 W power adapter, USB-C charging up to 100W
Dimensions- 312 mm or 12.28” (w) x 227 mm or 8.93 (d) x 18.5-19.5 mm or .73-.78” (h)
Weight - 1.7 kg (3.75 lbs) with Anime Matrix display, 1.65 kg (3.66 lbs) without Anime Matrix display. 73 kg (1.6 lbs) power brick and cables
Other - White or RGB keyboard, HD webcam with IR, quad speakers, optional updated Anime Matrix Display, updated cooling module with a vapor chamber and liquid metal compound.
Review
I bought this Laptop back in August 2021, I have been using it daily for a variety of uses like working, gaming and video editing and I wanted to write a review on it as I think it will help anyone who is looking at the 2022 model or similar models and laptops. When buying this laptop I was looking for a 14” Laptop. I needed a new laptop as my previous laptop type device (Surface pro 4) was pretty much dying on me all the time, I also wanted to be able to do some light gaming which not having to sit upstairs in my office where my main PC is, another reason for buying a new laptop is that I wanted to do more writing and writing does not come easy for when trying to do it on the phone where as having a laptop with a decent keyboard helps me write a lot better and much quicker.
There were not many 14” gaming laptops out and the two that were available in stores in the UK were he Razor Blade 14 and the Asus Zephyrus G14. I ended up choosing the G14 as there is quite a big price difference the two laptops and although the Blade 14 is much more power boasting a 3080ti the price was well over my budget. The G14 came just within budget but the two options were priced higher than similar laptops which have 15 inch screens. So there is a premium to be paid for having the 14” size however I think 14” screen are the perfect size for me, I have always felt that 15” or bigger are just too big to lug around and 13” just feels a little too small and did not quite have enough power for my requirements. I have also heard great things about the new 14” Alienware gaming laptop however it was not available when I was buying this laptop so I was not able to look into it myself but one to consider when looking at 14 inch gaming laptops.
I do really like the design, it comes in two colours, black and white, I ordered the black one as it was the only option and I received a white one, I would have liked the black one but the white one looks so nice on the outside. The Keyboard and surrounding area is silver matte and its a nice non reflective surface which helps when typing so that its not distracting you from looking away from the screen. One part of the exterior design that I do no like is the black bezels around the screen, not sure why they did not match it with the white or silver, one plus for having the black bezel is when watching something in the dark it looks nicer as there is not so much reflection on the bezel however for me personally I am not watching a lot of stuff in the dark, in fact all the time I have used the laptop I have only watching something in the dark once.
One thing in the design is the LED wall on the back of the screen is something I did not care for when I first bought the laptop, however it has grown on me, I do not like any of the pictures provided however you are able to use your own pictures / gifs and I think its pretty cool now, I currently have a picture of Snorlax on mine and what is great about it is that I can showcase my gaming personality when I want to and then when I want to be in work mode, its very easy to turn of the LED wall and then the design is very slick and does not look like a gaming laptop which allows you to use the laptop for work as well as gaming. Another thing I personally love in the design is that you can easily login with the placing your finger on the power button as it also doubles as a fingerprint reader and its not perfect but 99% of the time it works seamlessly.
Another part of the design I really like is the Ergolift Hinge, its just help with a much better typing experience because the keyboard is at an angle which helps with quicker typing. Having said that the keyboard is not perfect, the keys are just a tiny touch too squishy for my liking but even with that slight gripe, the keyboard is still a great keyboard, keys are nicely spaced out, the keys are nice and flat, it feels really nice to type on this keyboard. The 2021 version does not include RGB but its nicely backlit, however the 2022 version is RGB if you are into that. One thing that would be a nice edition when it comes to the Ergolift Hinge (if its possible) is that the screen does not open to 180 degrees which is a slight pain because I am quite tall and when I am working with the laptop on my lap, I am looking at the screen at a slight top view angle instead of head on. The viewing angle on the screen allows for this not to impact me much and I generally don’t work with the laptop on my lap that often but it is something to consider when buying this laptop.
A little niggle I have with this laptop is that when trying to open the laptop with one hand, I can’t open it as there is no indent on the edge of the screen or body to be able to put my finger in and get enough leverage to open the screen up. Another thing to mention about the laptop when it is closed you are unable to see the charging light so you don’t know when it has been fully charged which gets really annoying because I do not like the laptop out on charge as I have two very young kids who like to touch everything. Also one thing that will put off many who buys the 2021 version is that there is no webcam however this has been rectified in the 2022 version.
As this is a 14” laptop this laptop feel pretty light for a gaming laptop weighing in at 1.7 Kg and that would be heavy by standard 13-14 inch laptops but for gaming laptops it’s not that bad and I think that has to do with the lower tdp the device has which means the lesser requirement for heavy cooling solutions and also the fact that it is smaller than 15-17 inch laptops which is always going to make it lighter than bigger laptops.
So let’s talk performance and I am not going to show any FPS numbers doing this as I think without having a proper testing procedure and other laptops to compare it to but I will say that for a 14” inch laptop that has a 3060, it runs most current games to an playable level or better. It is not going to deliver amazing results and it is not going to beat the razer with the 3070 however the razer is also significantly more expensive. One thing I did want to mention is the heat when gaming, it gets hot. For most of the games I played I did not feel it as I was using an XBOX controller connected through Bluetooth however when playing any FPS game I like to use keyboard and mouse and the laptop gaming keyboard does get hot, it is not unbearable but probably not recommended for long periods. One cool thing when
I always feel screens are quite subjective unless you are looking for a colour accurate screen and if that is something you are looking for then this one is not colour accurate but I don’t have the equipment to check the exact accuracy. The screen that came with my version of the laptop is a 1080 144hz screen and it is a nice screen, its quite vibrant and looks nice in my opinion and the fast refresh rate is a great plus, however the way I play would work much better with a higher resolution screen with a lower refresh rate on this particular laptop. I would much more recommend getting the 120hz version which has QHD screen instead of the 144hz because you really need to tone down the graphics to get a higher frame per second, but I prefer playing with better graphics which rarely gets the fps above 60hz on this device.
One cool thing I love doing as the CPU in this laptop has a built in graphic processing unit which you can use for most non-gaming and save quite a bit in battery usage, I haven’t fully tested the exact saving you make however in my limited experience I extended the battery life about at least a couple hours if not more. Battery life for my usage which is mid-heavy usage ranged around 5 to 6 hours but this increased slightly when using the APU, the only thing I do no like about the experience using the APU is having to go through ASUS bloatware called Armory Crate switch from the GPU to APU and visa versa.
Ok so if you have read this far then you need to know the biggest issue which I and several other have had with the G14 2021 edition. The issue is that the Wifi just randomly stops working, you can switch the Wifi on and off in the taskbar options or control panel however for some reason no Wifi networks can be found and the only way to fix this issue hard reset the laptop by holding the power button down until the laptop turns off. Now the Wifi works perfectly after the hard reset and it has only happened to me a couple times so not a big issue however it is a little annoying to have to fix such an issue in the first place. As I have not used the 2022 edition I don’t if the issue has been fixed however more than likely it has been fixed.
So to summarise, the laptop is not perfect and does have a couple niggles such as being unable to open the laptop with one hand and quite a big black bezel at the bottom of the screen, however I feel the G14 has a nice balance of beautiful design and great functionality as the laptop certain looks beautiful in white but also having the option of using the APU or GPU when required, plus being able to play games at a reasonable level and also being able to video edit on a 14” inch laptop is pretty great. Having the power of a 3060 in the smallest size that I can personally practically handle. I have always felt that 13” inch laptops are just too small and 15” inch laptops were fine but always a little bit bulkier than I would like, so that is where the perfect but obvious size comes in and that is the 14” inch laptop and for gaming laptops 14” inch laptops are a pretty new concept, not sure why it took so long but we have them now and they are great. One thing you should take account of is the quality of life upgrades you get in the 2022 edition, like the built in webcam, SD card reader and RGB keyboard.
Hopefully you liked the review and it helped toward buying this laptop or not buying the laptop. Were you looking to buy this laptop? Did you like the review? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or on Instagram, Twitter or Tiktok. Also if you like this article or want to see more reviews then follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Tiktok to see more and also to know when new articles are published.
