Republic of Players—this stands for gaming laptops at Asus. In terms of the brand new ROG Zephyrus G16 (and in addition the smaller G14), then again, the producer has altered its way quite, aiming to talk to additional sorts of consumers. To take action, it makes use of a flatter and extra sublime case design, however this boundaries what elements will also be put in. The result’s a high-end gaming/multimedia hybrid pc which may be attention-grabbing for content material creators or, typically, customers who’re at the hunt for a classy and strong software. Actually, the brand new Zephyrus G16 could also be the one 2024 gaming pc from Asus so far that makes use of a brand new Meteor Lake processor from Intel. The smaller ROG Zephyrus G14 (assessment will probably be revealed quickly), then again, makes use of the brand new Ryzen 8000 processors from AMD.
Our check model of the ROG Zephyrus G16 GU605M is not the high-end variant, as apart from its new Core Extremely 7 155H, it’s supplied with the GeForce RTX 4070 Pc. As well as, it now options an OLED show from Samsung which has a 240-Hz refresh charge and helps G-Sync for the primary time. Moreover, the pc has 16 GB RAM and a 1-TB SSD put in. The brand new G16 is to be had to buy from February fifteenth with costs ranging from US$2,899.99; we will be able to’t but identify an MRSP for our check configuration.
Asus’ new Zephyrus G16 options a chic aluminium unibody case and in the beginning look, you might be in an instant reminded of units just like the Razer Blade 16 or the Apple MacBook Professional 16. When dealing with the pc, there is not any doubt that it is a true top class software. Our check software is the dark-gray model (Eclipse Grey) and all over the preview tournament on the finish of closing , we additionally had an opportunity to check out the white variant (Platinum White). The white fashion is rather less of a fingerprint magnet however in flip, the dark-gray fashion is a bit more inconspicuous. We additionally incorporated a couple of footage of the white variant in our picture gallery.
Asus has forgone the in depth dot-matrix show at the lid of the brand new fashion and in flip, it includes a skinny diagonal white mild strip (Slash Lights) consisting of 28 mini LEDs and seven other zones. It may be programmed (for instance, as a notification mild) or on the other hand, it may be utterly deactivated if you do not to attract an excessive amount of consideration to the software. Excluding the keyboard, there are not any additional illuminated parts.
The software’s construct and steadiness are astounding and the keyboard nearly cannot be pressed in in any respect—even the usage of loads of power. Creaking noises also are overseas to the Zephyrus. The skinny show lid is a bit more versatile however we famous no problems right here, both. Alternatively, the brand new hinge design limits the pc’s most opening attitude to 135 levels. The lid can simply be opened with one hand however for our style, the hinge may just do with being set slightly extra tightly, because it wobbles moderately somewhat whilst you alter the attitude.
The brand new ROG Zephyrus G16 is likely one of the maximum compact fashions in our comparability box and along with the Imaginative and prescient 16 Professional and the MacBook Professional, its 16.4 mm make it one of the crucial thinnest fashions, too. Alternatively, it will have to even be famous that our check software is the thinnest model of the variety, because the TFT fashions and Vapor-Chamber fashions are slightly thicker. It’s light-weight as smartly, weighing 1.8 kg; the 200-watt energy provide provides an extra 583 grams onto the scales.
The again is totally taken up by means of the cooling, which is why the ports are unfold out between each side of the pc. Asus now makes use of a brand new oblong energy provide connector which has been positioned at the again left of the case. The software options the entire necessary connections, as apart from USB-C, it additionally has USB-A, a complete HDMI output and a card reader. Each USB-C ports enhance Energy Supply at as much as 100 watts and the only at the left helps Thunderbolt 4. It simply does not have an Ethernet connection—if required, you’ll have to use a USB adapter.
The G16 has a full-featured card reader at the proper aspect, wherein inserted playing cards jut out by means of about 1.2 cm. Together with our reference card (Angelbird AV Professional V60), it accomplished switch charges of round 80-90 MB/s, that means the check software got here out close to the ground.
Asus has forgone Wi-Fi 7 besides, the AX211 module from Intel remains to be an up-to-date WLAN adapter that helps Bluetooth 5.3 in addition to Wi-Fi 6E. At the side of our reference router from Asus, its switch charges have been superb and solid and all over our check length, we had no problems surrounding sign high quality.
The 1080p webcam put in into the higher show body takes first rate pictures in excellent lighting fixtures prerequisites and it additionally helps purposes like facial monitoring and comfortable center of attention. It options an extra IR digicam for facial reputation by the use of Home windows Hi.
Excluding the visual screws, two additional ones are hidden underneath glued-on rubber covers. This makes getting access to the elements unnecessarily tricky. Alternatively, you’ll’t truly stand up to a lot at the inside of anyway, because the RAM is now soldered on. At the turn aspect, there are two slots for SSDs and if desired, the WLAN module and battery will also be swapped out. You’ll be able to additionally get admission to the enthusiasts to wash them.
The G16 includes a backlit keyboard (one RGB zone, 3 depth ranges) and not using a devoted quantity pad. The structure is not anything else out of the abnormal however you do must get used to the single-line Input key in addition to the small arrow keys—this is not preferrred for a gaming pc. The keyboard itself is, then again, extraordinarily at ease and its keys have a beneficiant raise of one.7 mm. It’s moderately quiet in on a regular basis use and you’ll simply use it to jot down longer texts.
The pc’s new touchpad is terribly massive, measuring 15 x 9.9 cm (37 % larger than sooner than) with a 16:10 ratio. It feels nice to function due to its clean floor, and its clicking noise is good and muffled, giving it a top of the range really feel.
The brand new ROG Zephyrus G16 is the primary pc to have a 16-inch OLED panel that helps G-Sync. Moreover, its refresh charge is 240 Hz and subjectively, the reflective Samsung panel’s image high quality is simply astounding: Content material is razor-sharp and hues glance tremendous vibrant. Because of its rapid reaction instances, the OLED could also be highest for gaming. Asus hasn’t put in a brightness sensor.
In SDR mode, it has a median brightness of 420 cd/m², which is a great outcome. As is standard for OLED, it has a black price of 0, resulting in an especially excessive distinction ratio. Asus has mentioned a most HDR brightness of 500 cd/m², while we measured a height of 455 cd/m². On this facet, the Samsung panel cannot moderately stay alongside of different OLED screens and particularly the mini LED panel put in into Apple’s MacBook Professional 16 (max. 1,600 cd/m²). Additionally, we need to proceed to critique Home windows’ HDR implementation, because it must be activated manually and therefore, the colour profiles do not paintings proper anymore. This lately impacts all Home windows units. Because of the OLED panel’s construct, it does not be afflicted by any halo results.
The Armoury-Crate instrument will provide you with other colour profiles to make a choice from, which we analyzed the usage of the pro CalMAN instrument (X-Ceremony i1 Pro2). The pre-selected profile Local is excellent for on a regular basis use, however the colours are slightly too oversaturated. To verify the most efficient colour accuracy, you will have to opt for the profile Show P3. Grey tones might nonetheless display some deviations (however with no colour tint), then again, its colour accuracy in comparison to the P3 reference is already superb and all colours display deviations underneath the necessary price of three.
We moreover calibrated the show ourselves—with blended effects. Even though we have been ready to strengthen grayscale deviations ever so quite, this led to higher colour deviations and all-in-all, it did not truly strengthen the placement. This is the reason we don’t seem to be making the corresponding profile to be had for obtain. The show covers the P3 colour house in its entirety, but it surely additionally includes a very correct sRGB mode, when you wish to edit pictures or movies within the smaller colour house.
Usually, the brand new OLED panel runs the usage of PWM at a frequency of 960 Hz however at brightness ranges over 60 %, it uses less-harmful DC dimming (at 240 Hz). As quickly because the brightness falls underneath this stage, a caution pops up mentioning that DC dimming is now not to be had. As used to be already the case on different OLED laptops from Asus, you get the risk to dim the show the usage of instrument which helps you to proceed to make use of DC dimming. We’d simply need to see this keep an eye on being blended with the common brightness keep an eye on to be able to maximize convenience.
The Zephyrus G16 does truly smartly out of doors or even on sunny days, you’ll use it smartly—so long as you keep out of direct daylight. Its viewing-angle steadiness is excellent and most effective massive deviations from the middle result in a slight blue shimmer being noticeable, however that is standard for OLED panels.
Inside its Armoury-Crate instrument, Asus provides plenty of power profiles in addition to a handbook mode that permits you to in my view set the GPU/CPU efficiency. We put in combination the power profiles’ values within the following desk. It will have to be famous, then again, that those values most effective rely for the configurations that includes the 4070/4060/4050 Pc that are fitted with typical warmth pipes and 3 enthusiasts. The extra tough fashions with the RTX 4080/4090 Pc, then again, have a Vapor-Chamber cooling device with two enthusiasts, which is why the processor and GPU devour extra energy (in all profiles).
After a number of assessments, we determined to run the next benchmarks and measurements the usage of efficiency mode. Even though it’s possible you’ll now not get the utmost efficiency, the enthusiasts stay bearable when taking part in video games, as noise emissions from about 48 dB(A) are exhausting to tolerate. Because of its nice audio system, you’ll even escape with taking part in with out headphones with efficiency mode chosen. Even so, in case you require the utmost efficiency imaginable, then you’ll simply transfer modes with the rush of a button (then again, turbo is most effective to be had when attached to the mains). Right through easy duties, you will have to make a choice quiet mode, as another way, the enthusiasts can virtually at all times be heard.
We already took a take a look at the brand new Meteor-Lake-gen Core Extremely 7 155H in our research article. With energy limits of 70/50 watts, the processor does smartly—however there is not any genuine distinction to the previous Raptor-Lake chips such because the Core i7-13700H and this additionally does not exchange when you choose turbo mode. Its single-core efficiency is quite weaker, then again, and we’re already taking a look ahead to seeing how Meteor Lake fares towards the brand new Ryzen-8000 CPUs. All-in-all, its multi-core efficiency stays very consistent in overall. In battery use, the CPU efficiency stays consistent. Additional CPU benchmarks will also be discovered right here.
Subjectively, the pc plays smartly—most effective all over graphics switching (e.g. booting up video games) does it hold quite all over the MUX transfer, however that is utterly standard. The contest accomplished extra issues within the artificial assessments, then again, you will not most likely realize the variation in on a regular basis use. Its reminiscence benchmark effects have been superb, however its RAM cannot be expanded and 16 GB on a high-end software is just now not sufficient. All fashions will have to have 32 GB as same old.
In our standardized latency check (browsing the internet, 4K YouTube playback, CPU load), the check software with the present BIOS model confirmed slight boundaries when the usage of real-time audio programs.
The brand new G16 has two M.2-2280 slots that are attached by the use of PCIe 4.0. The 1-TB model of the Western Virtual SN560 is put in into our check software and despite the fact that it delivered excellent switch charges of as much as 5 GB/s, it is not one of the crucial quickest drives available on the market. No less than its efficiency stays consistent even underneath everlasting load. Ex-works, customers have 855 GB unfastened to make use of. Additional SSD benchmarks will also be discovered right here.
The GeForce RTX 4070 Pc has 8 GB RAM and in efficiency mode, it runs at a most of 80 watts. To be able to get admission to its complete efficiency of as much as 105 watts, you’ve to make a choice turbo mode. The Zephyrus G16 includes a MUX transfer with Complicated Optimus, so switching to the dGPU does not require you to restart the device. The brand new Meteor-Lake processors’ Arc iGPU displays significantly advanced efficiency in comparison to the previous Iris Xe Graphics G7, however because the G16 has a devoted Nvidia GPU, this is not all too necessary.
Its benchmark effects have been k and you want to succeed in somewhat higher efficiency the usage of turbo mode (this could additionally shut the distance to the comparability units). Underneath everlasting load, the GPU is most effective allowed to devour 42 watts, which is why the GPU efficiency finally ends up being 27 % decrease. Additional GPU benchmarks will also be discovered right here.
Although the brand new ROG Zephyrus G16 is now not a hardcore gaming pc, its gaming efficiency naturally stays a vital facet—and the brand new fashion without a doubt did not disappoint. The RTX 4070 Pc‘s efficiency, along with that of the Meteor-Lake processor, is greater than sufficient to run present video games easily. Together with the nice OLED panel, this pc provides an peculiar gaming enjoy. Best extraordinarily not easy video games or ray tracing may require the usage of upscaling applied sciences, if those are supported by means of the sport. As well as, its gaming efficiency stays utterly solid even all over longer periods.
We additionally famous the have an effect on the other power modes have on a number of video games with QHD answer and most main points. As you’ll see, there are some variations, however they’re certainly not large. Even in quiet mode, you’ll normally nonetheless run them moderately smartly (particularly in case you decrease the answer quite or use DLSS)—in follow, you will have to simply check out loads of other settings.
As prior to now discussed, the fashions with the RTX 4050/4060/4070 Pc use a standard warmth pipe cooling unit with a 3rd case fan. This fan sucks in recent air by the use of the ground and directs it towards the GPU. The issue is, then again, that this small fan runs very rapid with a excessive rotation velocity, which results in it being lovely noticeable. Usually, the brand new Zephyrus G16 is certainly not a silent pc—even all over on a regular basis duties—because the enthusiasts spring into motion in no time. That is even the case when the usage of quiet mode. Underneath load, it in no time hits about 46 dB(A) with efficiency mode in use, which is obviously audible however nonetheless tolerable. In flip, from round 48 dB(A), the enthusiasts’ noise emissions get moderately uncomfortable as there’s an extra buzzing noise provide, leading to us now not having the ability to counsel the usage of turbo mode (max. 52.4 dB(A)). The next desk displays a abstract of the noise emissions the usage of the other power profiles. We did not observe any further digital noises coming from our check software. Those check effects aren’t consultant of the fashions with the RTX 4080/4090 Pc which use two enthusiasts together with a Vapor Chamber. We will be able to attempt to check any such fashions once imaginable.
Regardless of its skinny case, the Zephyrus G16’s temperature effects are excellent. Right through easy duties, the software slightly will get heat. Underneath load, we measured as much as 50 °C at the most sensible of the bottom unit, however most effective within the house above the keyboard. The keyboard itself stays so much cooler and poses no boundaries when running the pc. At the backside, we measured temperatures between ~45-48 °C, so you should not position it onto your thighs on this case.
Right through the tension check, the CPU balanced out at 30 watts and the GPU at 65 watts, which is precisely what’s mentioned by means of Asus on the subject of the profile efficiency. In quiet mode, we famous 30/45 watts and in turbo mode, we measured 35+85 watts.
Asus has put in a legitimate device with 6 modules (4x woofers at 2 watts each and every + 2x tweeters at 2 watts each and every) into the ROG Zephyrus G16. The consequences are nice and about at the similar stage because the MacBook Professional 16 which is lately nonetheless the only to overcome. Multimedia competition such because the superb Lenovo Yoga Professional 9 16 may also be crushed by means of Asus on the subject of this. The sound could be very tough and spatial, and the modules can get very loud with out distorting an excessive amount of. Which means that even the usage of efficiency mode, you’ll simply nonetheless play sound throughout the audio system. All-in-all, an excellent efficiency.
The pc’s energy intake measurements are much less of a marvel, despite the fact that the check software benefitted vastly from its darkish same old wallpaper all over the idle measurements specifically. As is standard for OLED shows, intake varies relying on which content material is depicted, with mild photographs the usage of up extra energy. Whilst gaming, we famous 120 watts and all over the tension check, it hit 170 watts for a brief time frame—this then balanced out briefly at 165 watts. Because of this, we will be able to safely say that the 200-watt energy provide is greater than tough sufficient; configurations with the RTX 4080/4090 Pc come delivered with a extra tough 240-watt energy provide.
The Asus pc is provided with a big 90-Wh battery and its runtimes are superb in overall in comparison to the Home windows comparability units—most effective the MacBook Professional 16 got here a ways forward. Inside the Armoury Crate instrument, it’s set that the refresh charge is decreased to 60 Hz in battery mode, which is why we’re the usage of those values for the comparability (we will be able to upload the values at 240 Hz in a while). Right through the WLAN check—which regularly is not optimum for OLED panels because of loads of shiny web pages—we famous runtimes of 07:15 hours at 150 cd/m² (57 % of its most brightness) and 05:45 hours at complete brightness. Right through the video check at 150 cd/m², its result of simply over 11 hours have been significantly better. It kind of feels that the brand new Arc iGPU (or its video decoder) runs very successfully on this facet, as the opposite Meteor-Lake check units’ excellent runtimes additionally totally stand out within the video check (for instance the Zenbook 14 OLED or the Spectre x360 14—opinions coming quickly). In case you play an HDR video at most brightness, its runtimes are about 7.5 hours, however that is naturally additionally to do with its restricted HDR brightness. One complete price takes 112 mins with the software switched on, wherein 60 % of its capability is to be had after about 35 mins and 80 % is to be had after 50 mins.
Asus has tweaked its idea surrounding the brand new ROG Zephyrus G16, now aiming to draw a much broader target audience. In our eyes, this has been a good fortune at the producer’s aspect, as its new 2024 fashion is an especially top of the range, compact and light-weight 16-inch pc with an aluminum case, spectacular audio system, nice enter units and an attractive OLED panel. The latter cannot moderately reside as much as the contest on the subject of its HDR features, as its most brightness is proscribed. Even so, movies and video games glance nice at the 240-Hz OLED display and avid gamers will probably be happy with its fast reaction instances and G-Sync enhance. Moreover, Asus stays one of the crucial most effective producers to supply a instrument resolution that dims the show with out achieving probably dangerous PWM spaces.
Its elements’ efficiency is excellent, too, despite the fact that the brand new Meteor-Lake processor does not truly be offering any larger efficiency in comparison to its previous Raptor-Lake counterpart—plus, its single-core efficiency is in fact even worse. The brand new cell processors’ exact energy—the brand new Arc iGPU—does not carry a lot to the desk on this case, as a devoted Nvidia GPU is put in into the software.
A top of the range and light-weight aluminum case, nice OLED show and superb audio system: Because of its tough {hardware}, the brand new ROG Zephyrus G16 can in fact nonetheless depict present video games, however Asus’ 2024 fashion edges extra within the course of top of the range multimedia. So, even supposing you don’t have any gaming ambitions in any respect, it is nonetheless value looking on the new Zephyrus G16.
Our largest factor lies within the pc’s cooling, because the G16 most effective stays in reality silent within the rarest of instances, plus, its further device fan sadly has an excessively excessive rotation velocity. It is usually a disgrace that most effective the 2 variations with the RTX 4080/4090 Pc have the benefit of extra tough Vapor-Chamber cooling, which results in a fully other fan habits and the CPU having the ability to take advantage of upper energy limits. The software’s soldered-on RAM is every other downside—particularly whilst you imagine that our check pattern most effective has 16 GB put in. For a beginning value of virtually US$3,000, Asus will have to truly set up 32 GB RAM as same old.
The brand new ROG Zephyrus G16’s largest competitor is indubitably the Razer Blade 16 and our assessment of the brand new 2024 variant (which additionally includes a Samsung OLED) will probably be revealed quickly. In terms of multimedia units, the Lenovo Yoga Professional 9i 16 or the Apple MacBook Professional 16 are its largest opponents, despite the fact that, those units most effective be offering restricted gaming features.
The brand new ROG Zephyrus G16 is to be had from 02/15/2024 and person configurations are already indexed. Costs get started from US$2,899.99.
Allow 48h for review and removal.