Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 review: A rip-roaring laptop for gamers

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About two months ago, we tested the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, a compact 14-inch laptop that packs a serious punch in the performance department, making it a suitable machine for either gaming or content creation. It wasn’t cheap, but it was very good. Now it’s time to check out its big sibling, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16.

The concept is the same, but in a larger format. It’s a solidly built laptop that offers blazing fast gaming performance and a premium OLED display behind a glossy glass surface. You also get a sober, low-profile keyboard that’s comfortable to type on for hours at a time and a touchpad designed for creative work with a large surface area, fine precision, and multi-touch gestures. While it’s on the more expensive end, we feel it’s well worth the cost.

Looking for more options? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best gaming laptops available right now.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Performance, keyboard

If you like the look of a traditional gaming laptop, you’re in luck. You’re getting RGB backlighting in the keyboard as well as a diode strip in the screen that, although it only glows white, can be set to cycle light shows or sync with the computer’s audio.

You’re getting really good gaming features from both hardware and software. Performance is quite good thanks to the efficient cooling system inside the big chassis. The cooling pumps more air and is a bit noisy as a result, but it delivers high and stable frame rates even in demanding games.

You can also get the ROG Zephyrus G16 with either 4080 or 4090 graphics, if you really want to break all the graphics barriers, run dual monitors, or plug in a 4k monitor. But 4070 is good enough for this monitor and for someone like me, who isn’t a notorious fps maxer. Hitting 60 fps in most games is good enough.

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Display

The ROG Zephyrus G16 has a fast, colorful 16-inch OLED display. It doesn’t have a touchscreen (not unusual for gaming laptops) and the 2560×1600 resolution is more than enough. It does have a whopping 240Hz frame rate, a lightning fast response time, and support for Nvidia G-Sync for optimized fluidity in games. It is, after all, a Republic Of Gamers computer and it definitely lives up to that name.

The screen is also great for productivity and creative work, with a wide panel color gamut and preset color profiles for SRGB, DCI-P3, and display P3. It’s certified for Vesa Display HDR 500 True Black as well, which means you can rely on great dynamics with lots of nuance in light and dark areas. This is great if you’re editing video or photos, for example, and a Delta E value for color accuracy of less than one means you can trust the tones in images.

As an entertainment machine, the Asus ROG will deliver thanks to the display’s good HDR capabilities. But if you’re going to stream a film or just surf a little between sessions, you may want to set the computer to “Silent” mode, which reduces the worst fan cooling speeds. You do this either in the Armoury Crate control program or with the hotkey on the keyboard.

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Audio, webcam

The speakers produce rich sounds with the Dolby Audio support and high volume. There’s a surprising amount of bass, but there’s a lack of intensity in the treble, so it may not be suitable for all types of media. Large upward-facing speaker grilles on either side of the keyboard mean Asus has opted out of a numeric keypad, which didn’t fit.

On the sides is a respectable set of external ports, two USB-C, one of which is Thunderbolt 4 with support for most things, and the other is USB 3 with DisplayPort support. You also get two fast USB-A, an HDMI port, and an analogue headset port. Here you’ll also find an SD card reader.

The 1080p webcam feels surprisingly cheap in an otherwise top-tier computer. It produces a low-contrast image with a 30Hz lag. It’s fine for a video meeting, but not for professional streaming. At least you’ll get support for AI-powered Windows Studio effects for automatic framing, background blurring, and eye contact correction. You’re also getting good microphones, for which you can set up audio pickup and noise reduction in detail in the Armoury Crate feature.

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

This review was translated from Swedish to English and originally appeared on pcforalla.se.