The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) is a gaming laptop that marries high-end performance with a sleek, portable design. Released in early 2024, this laptop has garnered attention for its impressive specifications and features, making it a strong contender in the gaming laptop market.
The Zephyrus G16 is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU and an NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU, ensuring top-tier performance for both gaming and productivity tasks. The laptop features a 16-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2560×1600 and a 240Hz refresh rate. This combination provides vibrant colors and deep blacks, enhancing both gaming and media consumption experiences. The display also supports Nvidia G-Sync and Dolby Vision HDR, offering smooth gameplay and high dynamic range content viewing.
In performance benchmarks, the Zephyrus G16 shines. It achieves 125 fps at 1080p and 85 fps at 1600p in the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark with the highest settings. In the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark with ray tracing ultra settings, it records 41 fps at 1080p and 24 fps at 1600p. These results highlight the laptop’s capability to handle demanding games, although it occasionally lags behind competitors like the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i in some tests.
The Zephyrus G16 also excels in productivity tasks. It scored 2,525 points for single-core and 14,588 points for multi-core in Geekbench 6.2 tests. The 2TB SSD achieved a file transfer speed of 1,894.24 Mbps in a 25GB file transfer test, placing it third among its peers. In the Handbrake test, which involves transcoding a 4K video file to 1080p, the laptop completed the task in 3:52 minutes, slightly behind some competitors but still impressive.
One of the key highlights of the Zephyrus G16 is its design. Weighing around 4.08 pounds, it is notably thin and light for a gaming laptop. The large, responsive touchpad and comfortable keyboard enhance its usability. However, the keyboard placement is somewhat constrained by the large speakers on either side. These speakers, enhanced with Dolby Atmos, deliver rich sound quality, making them suitable for both gaming and media.
The laptop’s cooling system is effective, keeping the CPU and GPU temperatures within reasonable limits during stress tests. However, the fans can get quite loud in Turbo mode, which is typical for high-performance gaming laptops. During a stress test with Metro Exodus benchmark using the RTX preset, the CPU’s performance cores ran at an average of 3.42 GHz, and the GPU clocked at 1.39 GHz.
The Zephyrus G16 includes a 1080p webcam that offers good color and clarity for video calls. The microphone array supports various modes and includes AI noise cancellation, ensuring clear audio capture. The webcam, however, lacks a physical shutter, which might be a concern for privacy-conscious users.
Overall, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) is an excellent choice for gamers and content creators looking for a powerful, portable machine with a top-notch display. While it may not always match the performance of bulkier gaming laptops, its combination of portability, design, and performance makes it a compelling option.
For more detailed insights, you can refer to the full reviews on Windows Central and PC Gamer.