[REVIEW] ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 – King of 14″Gaming Powerhouse

When come to thin and light gaming laptops, there are left few options in the market like Razer Blade 14 and the ROG Zephyrus G14 that we will be reviewing today.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is a 14″ high-end gaming laptop. It’s as portable as a mainstream notebook while offering some of the best performance in this size.

ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402R Specification

  • Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (16MB Cache, up to 4.7GHz, 8 Core, 16 Thread)
  • Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6700S 8GB GDDR6 / AMD Radeon RX 6800S 8GB GDDR6
  • Memory: 8GB DDR5 4800MHz x2 (Dual Channel) / 16GB DDR5 4800MHz x2 (Dual Channel)
  • Display: 14″ WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600), 16:10, 120Hz, 3ms, IPS-level Panel, 100% DCI-P3 Color Gamut, Adaptive Sync, PANTONE Validated
  • Storage: 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD
  • Ports: 2x USB A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x USB A 2.0, 2x USB C 3.2 Gen 2, 1x HDMI 2.1 TDMS, 3.5mm Audio Combo Port, and 1x microSD (UHS-II)
  • Camera: 720p HD IR Webcam
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.2
  • Security: TPM, BIOS Administrator Password, and User Password Protection
  • Battery: 76Wh 4 cells Li-ion Battery
  • Dimension: 31.2 x 22.7 x 1.95 cm @ 1.72kg/3.79lbs
  • Colors: Eclipse Gray / White AniMe Matrix
  • Price: RM 8,499 / RM 9,999

Design

My impression of gaming laptops is chunky, thick, and has terrible battery life. The ROG Zephyrus G14 changed my thought; it is a slim-designed yet low-key gaming laptop that manages to provide serious gaming power.

The first thing that caught my eye is the micro-dots LED that does some cool customized images or animation which is what ASUS called; AniMe Matrix. It’s much sharper now compared to the previous generation and it also comes with mini games like Slot Machine, Shoot’em Up, and Whack-A-Mole.

Features ErgoLife hinge design that draws cool air inside from the bottom and expelled through the sides including the bottom of the screen. The screen can even lean back flat.

The 16:10 screen has quite narrow bezels and still manages to house an HD camera with IR capability that supports Windows Hello. However, for some reason, ASUS axed out the fingerprint sensor.

Quad speaker, two down firing at the bottom corner and two top firing below the screen. They are loud with decent mid and low. It also features THX Spatial Audio that enables THX audio processing and customizes the speaker’s sound profile.

The overall slim chassis is made of aluminum, magnesium alloy, and polycarbonate which not only made it light but gives it strength.

Keyboard & Trackpad

Keyboard has slightly moved upwards while the glass-covered surface trackpad is 50% larger than last year’s model. This allows space for a more ample armrest area.

There’s RGB backlighting underneath that can be customized with ASUS’s Armoury Crate app. The app allows you to do things like cycle and strobe through different colors. As for the typing experience, I find it’s tactile and give firm feedback with each press. At the same time, it’s quite silent without those mushy feelings.

Ports & Connectivity

It has most of the modern ports and the latest connectivity including USB C 3.2 Gen2 (support DisplayPort & Power Delivery), HDMI 2.0, 3.5mm audio combo port, USH-ii microSD card reader, and enhanced Wi-Fi 6E with Bluetooth 5.2.

Display

The display is taller with a 16:10 aspect ratio and features a smooth 120Hz refresh rate at WQXGA resolution.

Adaptive Sync is still present which prevents tearing and ghosting in fast-paced games. No GSync since it is equipped with AMD Radeon GPU.

The IPS panel delivers 100% DCI-P3 color space and 500 nits max peak brightness. It is also PANTONE validated that can be a great display for photo and video editing since it has a very powerful internal.

Performance

In Malaysia, we are only getting one CPU variant which is the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS. The new AMD 6000 series CPU is based on the new Zen3+ cores that have advanced power management that increases overall endurance while using less power compared to its predecessor.

The ROG Zephyrus G14 is paired with 8GB or 16GB DDR5 4800MHx soldered onboard plus an extra spare SO-DIMM that can be bumped up to 48GB of memory. ASUS decided to use the 1TB MICRON 2450 PCIe 4 Gen for the storage and it was only able to score sub 3,500MB/s on both read and write sequential speeds.

ASUS offers four power profiles that can be selected through its Armoury Crate control app.

  • Silent – Limits CPU and GPU speeds and power, hence the quieter fan noise
  • Performance – This is more of a balanced profile with standard CPU and GPU speeds and performance.
  • Turbo** – As the name explained, the CPU and GPU get turbo boosted with the increase in speeds and performance.
  • Manual** – With this profile, it will have the ability to custom tweak the CPU L1 and L2 power levers and GPU’s clock speed. It will also create custom fan profiles based on temperature limits.

**Turbo and Manual models are only available with the laptop tethered to the wall and meant for gaming and other demanding loads.

If you are here for the benchmark test result, here you go;

For gaming, the ROG Zephyrus G14 sports an AMD Radeon RX6800S with 8GB of GDDR6 that is positioned slightly above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070.

It gets a consistent frame rate of around 60 fps or above at Ultra settings on triple AAA titles games like Apex Legend and Shadow of Tomb Raider. It could be topped to the ceiling with 120Hz when you opt for medium settings.

It can get very toasty and loud when it’s under load, especially in a such compact build design.

Battery Life

The compact design doesn’t compromise on battery life, instead, it can deliver more than 10 hours on a single charge if you using it as a mainstream ultrabook.

Gaming with this laptop at the highest performance possible would definitely devour the battery. Fortunately, the 100W power brick is able to top up the 76Whr to 60% at just 40 minutes or full at 100 minutes.

Where to buy

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ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402R
  • Design
  • Build
  • Display
  • Performance
  • Battery
4.6

Verdict

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2022’s specs offering is capable of an editing machine, which is ideal for those who want creative freedom alongside gaming power. The astoundingly lightweight gaming laptop provides the finest performance for the best of both worlds.