They Put a 4090 in a 14-inch Laptop - 2023 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Review and Guide
The 2023 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop is a standout option of the year. With GPU options ranging from Nvidia RTX 4050 all the way to RTX 4090, this tiny mighty machine is one of very few AMD CPU + Nvidia GPU options available this year. People have concerns with the RTX 4090 in a small laptop running at a "low" wattage of 125W, but how much will that actually affect performance?
This year's G14 features the first ever 14" Mini-LED Gaming Laptop display, (QHD 1600p 165Hz "Nebula HDR" display with 600+ nits of brightness), or a 500-nit IPS Nebula display in other models, and we get some of the only laptops with a Ryzen 7735HS and 7940HS. This laptop has something for everyone, but is it the best of 2023? Maybe the most balanced? We'll find out. @asusrog
We'll also compare it to other laptops like the Razer Blade 16, Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, Zephyrus M16, and ROG Flow X16.
I hope you enjoyed the video! If you did, please like and subscribe to help the channel out, so I can continue making videos like these (and hopefully put them out quicker).
Link to buy the 2023 Zephyrus G14 in the US: bit.ly/G14Asus
From Best Buy: bit.ly/BestBuyG14-2023
4050 Model: bit.ly/4050G14-BestBuy
4060 Model: bit.ly/4060G14-BestBuy
4070 Model: bit.ly/4070G14-BestBuy
4080 Model: bit.ly/4080G14-BestBuy
^Not affiliate links
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
00:37 Specs
1:40 Design
5:58 Keyboard & Trackpad
7:05 Quality Control
8:04 Mini-LED Display
10:58 Ports
12:30 Internals
13:56 Battery
16:09 Software
20:31 Speakers
21:36 CPU Performance
26:38 GPU Performance
32:36 Creator Benchmarks
35:38 Fan Noise
40:16 Thermals
41:58 Combined Wattage Scenarios
43:54 My Optimized Settings
46:18 Gaming Benchmarks
54:51 Final Thoughts
56:22 Legion Slim 5 Rant
58:19 Final Thoughts Continued
I have the RTX 4060 model and upgraded to 32GB RAM and 2TB storage. It's the best laptop I've ever owned.
does it have overheating issues? and can the battery last for at least 5-8 hours?
@@user-nh3rs9gu6s From my experience, no overheating issues. The battery life I’ve not tested extensively yet, but when turning on power saver mode (still 165Hz), it estimated around 6 hours. So I’d say with lighter use and putting it to 60Hz, you can probably get close to that. I will say, if you’re looking at battery life as a priority, there are some new Intel chips out which are great, so I’d look at those as well. But I have no complaints.
@@Zero.250 Adding 16, 16 is already soldered so if you added 32GB you'd have 48.
That's awesome man. Good for you. I'm in the same position - just bought the best laptop I've ever owned or almost seen. Know what it is, be grateful when we have it, cherish it once it's gone. No more, no less.
How do you go about replacing g the ssd if there's obky one slot for one? Any good tutorials online for a noob?
the format of which you put out this review is incredible sometimes the audiences wanna know not only the gist, but the full review of a laptop presenting specs, power input/output, and the most important thing is your own optimized setup for the audiences to take a look at great effort, waiting for more.
Really appreciate this comment, thank you!
Josh, an hour long review, just wow! Can't wait to hear all the details about this laptop. Also a new desk setup? What screen did you opt for?
Thank you! And yes, I’m running a Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED. I absolutely love it
@@JoshCravesTech Nice! I picked up the Alienware OLED. Same panel, but a 3 year burn in warranty and higher brightness in HDR per Monitors Unboxed following the patch. Great display, I'm blown away by it.
@@JoshCravesTech so nerdy man, just say if the laptop is good or not
@@user-mc8tx3nu1v lmao alright short summary: the laptop is good. Buy it.
Thanks for the review. You went over every aspect in great detail. it would be great if all other reviewers did the same
Love your nuanced take. Almost any reviewer I see shies away from the 4090 model, not recommending it; failing to recognize that these top of the line specs are exactly what you want in a small laptop given their efficiency. Especially after you undervolt and fps cap, it's beyond insane what you get in such a small package.
Literally! And with G-Helper you can undervolt your CPU and GPU so easily in this machine that's it basically just free extra performance and lower temps if desired with the press of a button.
Is there any real advantage in performance for taking anything more than the 4060? or 4070? For After Effects + Davinci Resolve etc...
@@eladbari yes, After Effects and Resolve will both see noticeable improvements in performance from a better GPU
@@eladbari If the task you're doing is GPU bound, it's going to be anywhere from 1.4x to 2x faster at the same wattage. I'd definitely check the GPU usage while using those programs to see when it's actually being used, so you can better predict the improvements you might see.
@@JoshCravesTech I just switched from a 2023 G14 4090 to an alienware X16 R1 4080 and I must say I thought the G14 got hot under load, but at least I could pickup the laptop, it would be VERY HOT but not "burn you" hot. Now the Alienware gets HOT! like BURN YOU hot on many parts of it, and still gets lower performances than the G14 did in Helldivers 2. Like what the hell is this huge chassis and massive fans for if the little G14 4090 is still outperforming while dissipating heat better? The 14 inch is just getting a little small for my aging eyes but I might very well go back to it from this Alienware.
In a class of its own! The best review, of the best laptop, made by the best reviewer. Keep it up @Josh, your level of quality, dedication and details makes you the best, never compromise bro :) I finished the first half, and can't wait to continue the rest of it !
Thank you so much!! Really appreciate the kind words 🙂
Hey good to see you brother! Love you videos man proud owner of a x16 flow thanks to you was looking at another one and might get this after I see the review!
That’s awesome to hear!! Yeah with this being on sale for the same price as the Flow X16 mini-LED model is (in the U.S. at least), it makes it hard to not choose the G14 lol. But I do love the Flow a ton still, it’s such an awesome machine.
Hey Josh! Thanks a lot for the review, it's great. Would you mind doing a full tutorial on "your optimized settings" ? It would be super helpful
There's not much people who would have any idea how much work it takes to put together a video like this! Wow!amazing job on every front. I'm actually looking to make the 4090 my main and selling the gt77. Getting tired of big laptops. I'm still getting through the video but did you try editing videos on this? If so how did it fare compared to some of the beefier Intel laptops? How's 32gb of ram? I plan on watching this entire hour long video.
Thank you sir! I'm always on the lookout for your videos as well. But yeah I edited this whole video on the G14 itself and it crushed it! It did such a good job that I didn't really notice a major difference in editing.
@@JoshCravesTech thanks for the response. Happy that you look at my content too. Though your videos are more detailed and well explained than anyone else out there. Best Buy has a big sale on the g14 now. It’s been tempting me. I have the 4080. If I go with the 4090, I’m going to say bye to my titan.
@@consumertechwarehouse9381 Your videos have definitely helped me with some purchase decisions, especially your display comparisons! I think I've almost bought from you on eBay a couple times too, lol. But yeah man, the 4090 is $500 off which is a VERY tempting price. And the upgrade to mini-LED is super nice. I don't think it gets quite as bright as the Titan's but the dimming zone switch makes it worth it to me, and it's still eye-blistering bright.
@@JoshCravesTech oh man. My eBay days are done for now. I got scammed big time there. But appreciate it. I might pull the trigger on the g14. I bought the 4080 just for testing but I really like it overall
@@consumertechwarehouse9381 sorry to hear that! It’s scary for sure with scammers. But yeah man go for it!
I thought i was set on the m16 after seeing your review on it but this was exactly what I needed to see. Great video man!
Nice, thank you!
Thanks for this I’ve been looking forward to this review.
Thanks for watching!
hands down the best laptop review i’ve seen this whole year. keep it on
Wow thank you so much! 🥲
Hi Josh! Very good review! I am considering this particular laptop. I have one question for you: have you tested the battery life on higher performance or only in silent mode? I was wondering if it can handle about 5 hours when you do creative work and want the best possible performance.
Hey Josh, wanted to say this was such a good review! It was honestly the best review I've seen on this laptop. Actually, it might have been the best laptop review I've seen on youtube! There's a lot of little things you do right, like when showing benchmark charts compared to other laptops you hightlight the laptops you're referencing which makes it much easier for my eyes to follow along without pausing. I find other people just go over it so quickly and I have to pause their videos much more often just so I can follow along. Had to subscribe! Also, I actually just ordered this 2023 4090 mini-led model. I was strongly debating between this one and the 2024 4070 OLED model. Even though it's mini-led I was concerned about it being a matte display and the colors looking more washed compared to an OLED display but from what I saw on your comparison of displays, it looked really good compared to the Zenbook OLED so that definitely is calming my OLED fomo lol. I'm very excited to get it and will be checking out your guide to G-Helper once I do! Keep the great videos coming and I'll continue watching and liking!
Really appreciate the compliment! Especially on the charts thing, cause that’s something I always struggled with too on other reviews, like I want to know what’s being referenced! But yes, even in person when I’m playing the same content side by side, the oled and mini-LED are so close that the average person would probably have no idea which was which if they didn’t already know.
@@JoshCravesTech Hey Josh, I finally got my 4090 G14 like two days ago. This guide really helped me to get set up with G-helper so thanks for that. For me it was a necessity to completely get rid of armoury crate because it was preventing my laptop from going to sleep for some reason. As soon as I got rid of it the sleep problem got fixed. Then I reinstalled it and the problem came back. It was weird. SO I got rid of it a second time and am solely using G-helper now. I also had some issues with the screen where there was a crap ton of blooming. I found that it always bloomed whenever I had the charger plugged in but looked absolutely beautiful without the charger. I running graphics solely through the 4090 and there was no issues with the screen whether or not I had the charger connected which pointed me it possibly being bad amd drivers. I had to uninstall Amd adrenalin and reinstall which which finally fixed that blooming issue. I even had trouble updating the bios. I'd try to install it through MyAsus and the PC would restart but it wouldn't boot into the bios installer. Not sure how I solved that issue but I think it started working fine after the adrenaline reinstall. If anyone ever comes across these issues, my tip would be to uninstall and reinstall amd adrenaline. Now everything is running smoothly and thanks to your G-Helper tutorial I was able to get G-Helper set up the way I like so thanks for that one too. My G14 finally works now without issues and I'm very happy with it. Also, you were right. The miniled screen is gorgeous. It looks much better in person than in videos.
@@fahim8931 That's awesome to hear! It's such a great laptop. I'm surprised the blooming issue with Adrenalin fixed itself for you! I am stuck using AMD driver 23.11.1 because anything after that causes extreme blooming in HDR. I'm not sure if AMD is aware of this issue unfortunately. I submitted a bug report though so hopefully something is fixed on a later driver from them.
@@JoshCravesTech Well after you said you were running 23 I checked and turns out I was running version 22. Windows automatically installed some version of amd software that now I don't think was even adrenalin. I removed it and installed adrenalin 24 and extreme blooming came back. I just found adrenalin 23 online and installed it so now I'm running 23.11.1 as well. I hope amd fixes this with the next version of adrenalin.
@@fahim8931 yeah Windows will do that, it’s annoying. But yeah hopefully AMD fixes it! I think if more people submit a bug report then maybe it’ll be on their radar sooner
this is the most detailed laptop review i have seen thats almost movie length😂
Lol, yeah if we hit 2 hours on one then I’m submitting to the Oscars
Crazy how I just thought of getting this laptop yesterday, and was hoping you would make a video of it
You manifested me getting it done finally, thank you 🤣
First simply awesome review. Lots of really great detail and hints. One question… is the mini led brighter than the standard panel when you have the dimming zones turned off?
great in-depth review!
Hi Josh. Thank you so much for this comprehensive review. Very few others have spent the time that you have to put this together, which is odd, because to me, this is an absolute unicorn. I bought my 4090 variant about 4 months ago (previously had the X13+3080 EGPU), and while I do miss the light-weight form factor of the X13, I too am in awe at the raw performance on offer in this compact package. I have been running the 175w vBios with some success, and while I trust in the thermal throttling keeping everything safe, I agree that perhaps it is pushing the limits a bit. I have a question if I may - I found that the best score I can achieve in Cinebench R23 is around 17,000 multi and 1,800 single. I'm thinking that this could well be because of the liquid metal application from the factory being less than ideal. I wondered what your thoughts are on this, whether it's worth the risk re-applying the liquid metal, and if you have any guidance on that? Thank you very much!
Love the long review. Would be very interested in either a write-up or video demonstration as to how one would go about flashing a vbios and achieving 150W. Along with other recommended power settings, how you would personally do it.
Yeah I’ll probably make a short video on it! I have a vbios walkthrough video already but I think I could make a shorter more concise video for the G14 on it.
Just watched and I learned a ton, thanks for pointing that previous video of yours out. Looking forward to any future content. The sale Best Buy currently has on the 4090 model is probably going to make me bite. @@JoshCravesTech
The video we all have been waiting for! 🙌
I really appreciate your review, an hour long and super detailed as well? Amazing! I’ll be waiting for your next video. btw will it be possible if you could review your Kali IN as well? I have a Kali LP-6 V2 and it’s alright would like to know if the IN is better in the mid-high. I saw them in the background and would be really interested to know your opinion on those monitors!
Thank you! I have the IN-8 V2 and I love them! I did a lot of A/B testing between them and the Yamaha HS8’s, which I had for a while too. I just chose the IN for how clear the mids are. The clarity is pretty crazy!
My god, excellent review of this laptop. Very detailed in every way, I would definitely buy this laptop (the 4060 version) in my country. Thank you for the passion making this video, cheers.
Thanks for watching!
As usual, great video analysis! Compliments!
Thanks for watching :)
Killin' it, man. Fantastic vid. Keep it up!
Thank you for supporting!! 🙏
Hey Josh, or should I say DrBob… thank you for such an amazing review. Best reviewer by far, you really put in the effort and I appreciate it
Haha, thank you!
Great Video! Hope 2024 G14 will have ebetter chasis as Legion Slim 5 14, also 14.5'' Screen would be nice.
If you guys want to keep the finish really clean, use a nano no buff car wax with carnauba. Apply with a q tip every few months after cleaning with isopropyl alcohol.
Yessss he's backkkk😭 such a long time ❤
wonderful review, so detailed
I bought a 4050 version of this, first one had a faulty gpu which got replaced by asus pretty quick, second one works great, love this lptop
Oh, glad they fixed it quickly!
Ok this is the most detailed review on Asus G14 i have seen to date, Appreciate your work dude.
Of course! Thanks for watching 🙂
this review is way too good for the amount of subscribers you have, I'm amazed that you have less than a million subs
Really appreciate that, thank you!
Great video!
Now this is a good review. Keep going and you will have a million subs
Thank you!!! 🙏
Comment for the algo. Love all your vids: super in-depth, helpful and unbiased. You deserve way more subs and I'm absolutely sure you're getting there. Keep up the great work!
Much appreciated!
Wow great video dude! Very thorough and unbiased, especially the Legion Slim 14" rant section. A LOT of reviewers this year placed it above the G14 this year for some reason despite all those reasons you listed. The deal breaker for me is the soldered RAM, and bulkier size/weight. I mean, that thing is basically closer to a 15" laptop chasis and at that point, why not just GET a 15" laptop 😂 btw, any idea on if the G-Helper would work with a 2021 G14? Awesome review man, just subbed
Thank you! And yes that Legion is basically a 15” laptop! But yeah G-Helper will absolutely work for your 2021 model!
@@JoshCravesTech ok then I look forward to your G-Helper video soon!
I mean for the size sure ... For the weight once you add in the charger the slim 5 14 it's actually lighter than the g14 and you can still make it 150-200 grams lighter with the c135/c140 charger that will still give you enough power for most gaming scenarios. Upgradability for both laptop is the same and honestly if you get the 32gb ram on the slim 5 14 it's upgradability is arguably better since it has an m.2 slot. G14 maxes out at 32gb ram anyways. I really do hate num pads and I also really like oled displays especially glossy ones. And with the g14/asus laptops being really overpriced in most places outside of the US that's why I picked it. G14 with 4050 for 863usd more than my slim 5 14 with 32gb ram 1tb SSD and a 4060. 2.2k USD is way too much for an rtx 4050 laptop. Maybe if I had unlimited budget the g14 would be a better laptop with the 4090 and mini led display. Imo the only places where the g14 just better is that it has usb 4, ram slot and better battery life. Slim 5 14 has 140w usb c charging allowing for better portability and also second m.2 slot. Honestly if I were to get anything above 4070 I'd definitely get a 15/16 inch laptop like M16 or legion 7. A 16 inch 4080 laptop with decent cooling will definitely beat the 4090 g14 which shows that the cooling is really inadequate.
Yeah i get what you mean but for me honestly I’ll take the 32gb option soldered with 2 m.2 slot over the ram. Cus I dont ever think i’ll be needing more than 32gb anytime soon anyways
@@zzz-vd5rp Yeah the Slim 5's charger is lighter, but the same argument can be made if you're on the go with a USB-C charger or something, then now the G14 is lighter again. And fits into a bag much more easily since it's dimensions are a good bit smaller. Like the other guy said, the Slim 5 is basically a small 15" laptop more than it is a 14" one. This is gonna sound annoying that I disagree but I still wouldn't count them as having the same upgradability, as I think most people would rather have the choice of upgrading their RAM versus storage. You can always swap out your M.2 for a single 4TB or even 8TB SSD and that's plenty of space for a G14, so the extra M.2 is cool in the Slim 5 but if you're someone who's editing video or other RAM-hungry tasks, having the option to add another 32GB stick for 48GB total or something is a GREAT option, especially in a few years when programs will inevitably eat more RAM. And since its DDR5, asynchronous RAM hardly matters. I do agree with you on glossy displays though, I prefer glossy personally! And same with the price. I wouldn't be able to justify the G14 if it were significantly higher in cost. But you can't ignore some other more significant factors like G-Sync, lower DPC latency, Advanced Optimus, and higher peak brightness. And no thunderbolt support?? In 2023??? Like that one is the most inexcusable to me. But I have to disagree again about the 16" 4080 scenario. I have two high-powered 4080 laptops on me that I'm testing and the G14 basically ties with them in performance in most cases, and surpasses them when higher VRAM comes into play. I mean just look at my graphs where the G14 even passes the 4090 M16 in some cases! So personally I'd rather have a more compact machine that performs like a full-powered 16" 4080 but in a much smaller form factor with other nice-to-haves like mini-LED, great fan tuning, GREAT battery life, better performance on battery and in silent mode, etc.
Really good content. Your videos helped me a lot in my, i gotta say, intense research into what laptop i should get.
Thank you!! Glad you find the videos useful
Thank you for this. Just got a 2023 g14 (4090) and this was a large part of that decision.
Outstanding review and testing.
Appreciate that, thank you!
Thank you for adding Ableton Live to the review, I think it's the first time I watch a review considering this tool 👏
10:15 I agree with your opinion Josh! Maybe I will consider oled screen if they put high PWM so it doesn't affect us who sensitive with flicker on screen. Nowadays oled screen on laptop still had PWM range between 240hz to 480hz. It will be okay if the PWM reach above 1000hz+
Yeah at certain brightness levels the PWM can be more noticeable on some displays and that’s a big concern in my book. I’m not super sensitive to it but I know many people are and it can be a major dealbreaker!
Josh - Crazy good review. Honestly, helped me solidify my choice of the G14 4080 over the Legion 5 14. The performance of the G14 is straight ridiculous for its size with almost zero compromise. Thanks!
You made a great choice my friend 👏
the compromise is high temps. if you can deal with that its fine, and the price is huge
@@schizofennec Honestly, temps aren’t an issue at all. Intense gaming with custom fans at a relatively low decibel has the CPU/GPU sitting at a steady 80c. Got it open box for $2199.
Excellent vid, Josh. Detailed and fun to listen. What vbios ended up your daily driver? The Scar16 one? Your reddit thread mentioned the 150w vbios only worked in benchmarks and not gaming. How did you get it working across the board?
Yeah, when I'm playing a demanding game like Cyberpunk and I want all the ray-tracing on, then I'll swap over to the 175w Scar 16 vbios. I actually played most of the game that way. It runs really well, I like it more than the 150w one because it actually tries to boost as much as it can in games. It does get a bit toasty though, so I usually raise the laptop a bit and limit the GPU clocks using G-Helper to somewhere around 1900MHz, which works great at keeping the wattage around 150w. 175w can work too but for long-term gaming you'd need a cooling pad or something to keep it going for that long.
I shed a tear at 49:46. This thing is a work of art!
It really is 🥲
@@JoshCravesTech Which laptop do you like better, g14 or g15 or g16 2022-2023 and why? It seems that the weight difference is not that big between them. But there is a difference in the screen - it is not clear how significant this is felt in use. for example, is there a difference in immersion during games or does it feel the same after getting used to it? Thank you.
@@e0236 The only G16 I’d even consider would be the 2024 model. The 2023 G16 is essentially a 2022 Zephyrus M16. You get “new” specs, but an old chassis and no major difference in performance or anything. The 2024 model received a huge upgrade to the design. The 2022 G15 is great, but in 2024 the choices are much better and it starts to lose desirability in comparison. I would honestly choose a 2023 Zephyrus M16 over a 2022 or 2023 G15/G16. The M16 got a redesign in 2023 with the 3-fan cooling and replaceable ram (I have a review on the channel). All that is considering that you’d want a 16”, but personally I think 14” is the sweet spot for portability. The G14 will give better battery life than all of those, and the fans run about the same, or at least they can easily be configured to run however you want them to thanks to G-Helper. While still giving you just as much performance as you want within thermal limits that you can set. I don’t think 14” takes away from immersion, but maybe for like the first week until you get used to it. I think the compact and lightweight design with extra battery life more than makes up for the loss of screen real estate. I can tell a pretty noticeable difference in weight even between the 2023 G14 and this year’s new slimmer/lighter G16. So it comes down to what you value - portability and battery life? Or screen real estate and possibly more TGP? Depending on the model you get.
I like this review! thank you man
Thanks for watching!
Hey Josh! Yours is the best CPU/GPU/Battery/Power draw review and overview I have seen. The GHelper usage & guide is a great touch. I am trying to find the best settings for the GPU, especially GPUT boost of up to 25W for the 4060 model. Does it boost GPU power draw from 100W to 125W? and should I set it to 5W because the extra power draw doesn't help? I wish Asus had set the GPU power draw to 105W by default not 125W and then there would be no tinkering necessary. Also, any guide to understand the GPU Max Offset etc settings better? Do I really need to tweak anything to get good power and efficiency?Thanks. Great review!
Yeah you could just throw the dynamic boost slider to 5. I’m not sure if it would even make a difference tbh because of Nvidia’s voltage limit. But yeah the core clock offset, just think of it like a “laptop GPU boost” slider almost. Like it’ll increase your GPU’s performance at the cost of stability. After around +200, things might start to glitch and crash. It won’t hurt anything but finding your limit is good to do since it’s basically free performance.
love your video, very impressive and helpful. BTW, do you use a laptop cooling pad? Would you make a review for it?
Thank you!! And I don’t use a laptop cooling pad! From what I’ve seen they only help temps maybe by a degree or so versus just lifting the laptop up a little bit. To me it’s not worth it for that added noise!
Great review!
Appreciate it!
Hey Josh, I'm not sure if it's a Canada exclusive but over here they also have a refreshed 3050 variant with 6gb VRAM (compared to the previous gen's 3050 4gb VRAM)! It comes in the Ryzen 7735 cpu
You’re the second one to mention this, apparently they have that configuration in India too. Did not know about that! So the G14 undoubtedly has the most GPU options available of any laptop in 2023, that’s crazy.
Under clocking that to be completely quite would still be amazing
amazing review, i'm sure it took a lot of time to put together.
Great video, really informative thanks! In the UK the 4080/4090 versions have a pretty big premium price wise over the 4070 - is it worth the extra or would the 4070 be good enough for 90% of the time?
The 4070 should be good for high settings on most games. Maybe Ultra with DLSS3/frame generation. It’s just that in a few years it will definitely be a bit behind with how games are using more vram. You’ll need to lower settings more or rely on DLSS improvements over time. The 4080/4080 is a good 30-40% jump in fps in most cases
@@JoshCravesTech great thanks very much for the feedback! Given the r7-7735/4060 combo is about 1200 GBP cheaper than the R9/4080 would the lower spec be decent enough for a few years with a view to upgrade to the next gen when it comes around and prices fall? Or just go for the R9/4080 combo and sell some body parts 🤣🤣
hi man nice job, can you review the mid-range laptops like legion 5 16" and tuf series?
Thank you for your awesome videos 2024 Zephyrus will announce next month We are waiting for your future reviews ❤️
Woooow, really didn't know how marvelous this laptop untill I enjoyed this detailed review, thanks mate, waiting for G-helper guid
Thank you!! G-Helper guide coming very soon :)
Hi Josh, you touched on it briefly in the video, but have you gone over possibly fixing the sleep issues on these laptops? Or is attempting that just a lost cause
Modern standby assist does fix it for the most part, but if you still want "sleep" over hibernating, then I have heard people were able to enable S3 sleep I think on this with success? www.reddit.com/r/ZephyrusG14/comments/16u1zdv/modern_standby_proper_fix_for_all_users/
This is pefect replacement for my old desktokp. I want something silent with performance.
@JoshCravesTech - did you ever complete/post the video about fixing the paste / liquid metal? Wanting to watch it and check my paste, about to go pick it up
Did you ever put out the clean up video on the Liquid Metal?
Hi Josh. Forgive my ignorance . Could you tell me what kind of paste you use on the VRMs???? 1M THKS. Great review, as ever.
I left the default paste on there (it’s a putty). However with other laptops I typically use Upsiren U6 thermal putty if I’m changing it out
Looking forward to your CPU thermal repaste video!
Just bought the G14 4090 because of this video. It has a 800€ discount in Germany. Still a lot of money but having such a portable device with this kind of power is insane. I will have that in addition to my Triton 17x.
I literally just ordered the 4090 version and seeing your comment makes me damn happy because I was terrified of what he could have said about the 4090 version.The 4080 has a 200 USD discount while the 4090 has a 500 USD discount. Seems like a no brainer.
Thanks for this!
Thank you for watching!
Great video! Quick question, do u think it's worth buying the 4090 model without the mini led screen?
I guess it would depend on the price difference! For me the mini-LED is a big selling point but the 4080 model does it have here in the US. So if I were able to get a 4080 model that had it I’d probably go for that and save some money
What a fantastic review, you just made me buy this
Props on the very comprehensive review! Oozes production value that's a timeline with countless cuts. But let me ask you... Are you made of money? Access to so much nice gear 😂
I’m made of credit cards and a dream lol
Great review, thanks. Unlike other reviewers you really explained why it gets such good performance, with an efficient CPU at low wattage, you divert more watts to the GPU than intel laptops. I've never heard any other reviewer mention that, and it also didn't occur to me. The performance in silent mode is also amazing. If there's a big sale on these in the UK after the 2024 model comes out I might go for one. The newer model looks slick but I can't really refuse all that performance of the 4090.
Thank you! Yeah a lot of reviewers go straight through specs, some benchmarks, and call it a day. That’s why I started making reviews in the first place, because a laptop review should offer much more than what we can just easily find ourselves on a spec sheet. But yes, the 4090 model will absolutely demolish the new ones that only top out at a 4070. It’s sad. And if they continue this trend for the 2025 G14 and so on, then the 2023 4090 model might still be ahead of those for a few years or more 🤣
@@JoshCravesTech Have you noticed stuttering in any games? I've heard that is a problem on some nvidia 4000 series laptops but the cause of it is unknown.
@@MyThingsRedux I don’t notice any stuttering personally. I think there was a driver update that fixed that problem IIRC
hey josh, amazing reveiw video man. im plaaning of purchasing the 4060 model and i have a vague knowledge about gaming laptops. i heard the thermals on the g14 2023 is very average and tends to exceed the 90's very frequently for the 4060 model. will this affect my laptop lifespan and will this be a major issue i need to worry about, or is the laptop designed to handle such temperatures.
There is a huge misconception about this laptop and the heat it produces. While it does run a little warmer than most its size, it is also the most powerful 14” laptop you can get, so of course it’s going to. The CPU/GPU are designed to boost to their thermal limit and dynamically throttle as needed in order to maintain good performance without “overheating”. The good thing is you have complete control over your thermals. Simply set a CPU or GPU temperature limit in G-Helper or Armoury Crate and it will dynamically adjust your performance to fit that. For example, if CPU temperatures in the 90’s are concerning for you (they’re fine in this range btw but I get why people wouldn’t want to see it there), just set a temp limit of 85C and you’ll probably find that you barely lose any performance from doing so. Either way, the laptop IS designed to handle those temps for years on end so it’s up to you how you want to run it!
Allright thanks, also will g-helper help when it comes down to the temps, im rly looking forward to the g-helper video soon@@JoshCravesTech
This is the best review I have seen so far for G14, heck even for any laptop. I have the 2021 model G14, while the performance has been great. It's riddled with random quality control issues. Firmwares, driver updates breaking stuff, Random stutters. I have had at least three occassions where it just refuses to turn on. I paid fucking $1500 for it, this should not happen at this price range. I also use a mac pro M2 professionaly(software engineer). Planning to buy either the Mac M2 pro or G14(4090). How does the performance compare to macs M2 or M3?
Great video! I have the same model as urs and I absolutely love it. But I have one issue that u didn’t mention which is with the PD power supply. ASUS said it support 100w PD power supply. So I tested a few 100w GaN chargers on my laptop but all of them caused battery draining no matter what mode it was on (eco, performance, or turbo). And I limited the wattage but it happened still. It’s a small issue but I kinda wish for using GaN charger for maxing the portability of this tiny beast. BTW I saw u using one chart from a Chinese self-media, do u usually follow Chinese media?
Thanks for watching! So yeah is it draining while gaming? What tasks are you doing? It shouldn’t be draining at all, it didn’t for me. However I will say it is DIFFICULT to find a 100W charger + 100W CABLE that work perfectly together to provide the full 100W of power to a laptop. I think I bought 3 cables all rated at “100W” from Amazon and 2 out of the 3 were only giving like 50-65W. So that could be why. I had to use HWinfo to measure my net charge rate and determine if it was actually getting the full wattage or not. Also the Chinese graph was just the only intuitive one I could find around GPU/Wattage/Performance. Just something I had found on Reddit! I have no idea about what’s happening over there lol
Ur welcome. I was doing only light tasks like web-browsing under PD power supply. I noticed the red light blinking and the battery changed from 80% to 79% then back to 80% (I set the charge limit to 80%). Its confusing that the battery-report record nothing which says the laptop was on AC all the time. For the 100W charger I brought a voltage monitor online and i tested the outputs of the chargers which did can go up to 98w. another simple way to test is charge to 82% or 83% , then set the battery charge limit to 80%, plugged in the PD and after while it will drop to 80%. but this will no happened on original power supply, it will stay on 82%. For the graph dont worry I just asked out of curiosity😜. Bez thats from a Chinese self-media who also focus on laptop review& also highly recommend G14 haha I thought u may know each other.@@JoshCravesTech
@@chentheawesome oh ok, yeah a voltage monitor will certainly help narrow down the issue lol. That is strange though. You are using the left USB-C port, correct? I’m not sure what it could be. I know the way PD works on the G14 is that it kind of puts the battery in a constant state of charge/disharge so that might explain why you see it go down just a percent or two and then back up. But if it continues to drop over time then something is off for sure
Hands down the best review I’ve seen for this laptop. Considering getting a 2023 g14 ryzen 9, rtx 4060,512 for 1600$ on best buy, is that a good deal considering the 2024 ones just came out?
$1600 in the U.S. for the 4060 model? Not a great deal if we’re talking USD. It’s been closer to $1100-$1200 on sale quite a few times
okay so im getting a laptop for music production and i was considering the zephyrus g16, m16, or the g14 and in your opinion which is all around better? graphics aren’t as important to in my case but cpu and storage are.?! any feedback would be great. also what is your opinion on the lenovo legion i7 and the hp omen? these are my final few picks and i’m very indecisive but you have great in-depth reviews.
All of them are amazing for music production. Intel will give a slight advantage in CPU load. Will that make a huge impact? Probably not. AMD is still great, and I typically prefer it myself. The G14 has the best battery life and best performance on battery of the bunch, so if portability and battery life are a priority for you then definitely go with that. That's that AMD efficiency. The 2023 G16 is kind of a scam. It's literally just a 2022 M16 with a different CPU. Not even worth looking at in my opinion. The 2024 is a completely different story though. Much more powerful, more efficient, new full-aluminum body, and OLED display. It's not out yet but it looks pretty cool. The M16 is the most powerful of the bunch, but not by a ton. You'll just have more screen space than the G14, that's about it. And depending on the model you get with either of those, you could get a mini-LED panel which is just a really nice display. The M16 also allows you to add a second SSD and upgrade both RAM slots in the future if that's important to you. I used to love my HP Omen I had, but they have fallen way behind in recent years. I wouldn't even consider them. Software is dull, hardware is held back, fans are always loud. The Legion is pretty good too, but I wouldn't recommend it for music production. It's bulkier, heavier, bigger charging brick, the CPU is powerful but it's not efficient at all and has terrible battery life. The display is much less vibrant too. To me it feels cheap in comparison. It has the most ports of the bunch, but they're slower Gen1 ports for some reason, which is crazy to me in 2024.
hi! i would recommend any laptop with recent CPU and GPU AND has upgradable RAM (preferrable any gaming laptop specs). I will not recommend a laptop with an 8GB ram soldered because it is too small for big projects of you're trying to orchestral or something. 16GB ram is good but once you add more instruments, it will eat a lot which will leave you about 20% free RAM (including pc ram usage). So just get one with upgradeable ram and you're good to go!
@@jamesliamfigueroa I somewhat agree. I think 16GB is still fine as long as you’re not running a ton of tracks. But I’m definitely more okay with soldered when it’s 16GB soldered and one open slot. Because 32GB is more than enough!
Another great review!👍 I will be going with the 4060 model, since my budget is around 1k
The 4060 model is still great and is going for a good price!
@@JoshCravesTech Yeah. Also it will be my first gaming laptop/pc so I'm pretty excited about it
Very helpful. How hot do you think the computer got when you were running those benchmarks in 1440p and balanced mode?
In the thermals section you can see how warm the GPU/CPU are in the different power modes, but if you're referring to the laptop body, it gets warmest above the keyboard, but WASD area usually stays pretty cool and the middle/right side does get a bit warm but not to the point of being uncomfortable.
Yup, I was referring to the laptop body. Thanks!@@JoshCravesTech
Razer 14 was nothing, but disappointment. Very loud under load, poor battery life, broken speakers and relatively poor graphic card's performance. Replaced with Lenovo 7 Slim, no turning back.
hey Josh, through a series of shipping errors and my impatience, I have ended up with both the Asus x16 2023 (4070) and the Asus g14 2023 (4090). I'm having a tough time deciding which to return. I got them both discounted (2200 for the x16 and 2700 for the g14). My use case is mostly gaming on the train during my work commute, and some light surfing and video watching at night. If you could only have one, which would you pick? Price is a consideration but not the deciding factor.
I’d pick the G14 4090 out of the two. I LOVE the X16, it’s my favorite laptop of all time as far as design and that glossy touchscreen display. But the 4090 G14 just blows it away in performance, and the portability for traveling and extra battery life is MUCH appreciated. You could game in silent mode on the G14 and still be getting better fps than the X16 in its turbo mode. If they had a Flow X16 with a 4080/4090 then this would be a tougher choice, but with it topping out at a 4070, it’s just not the best choice in 2023. Nvidia really gimped the 4070 unfortunately.
@@JoshCravesTechthank you, I think you just helped me make my decision!
Hey Josh, I feel like you can sell me a couch and I'll buy it. Although you sold me on the 2023 x16 Flow, I'm really liking this G14. Is having the 4090 that much more needed when editing videos with lots of effects? Also, it seems like editing music will be better with the intel processor especially using a lot of plugins. What's really pulling me with the G14 is the battery life, and the weight. In your experience is it very noticeable how much lighter it is vs the X16 Flow, and does it last much longer, or are they generally pretty close? For the x16, I really like the touch screen, tent mode, brightness, upgradeability. Just curious what you preferences would be if you were in my shoes. Thanks again for another wonderful and informative video.
Just got the G14 with the 4090 - only getting 16740 in Time Spy. You were not kidding about the screen - it looks amazing.
Nice! Is that your combined score? Running Turbo in G-Helper should help. Make sure the overclock is +50 and +100. Undervolt the CPU a little bit too. Ditching Armoury Crate just helps with everything really
@@JoshCravesTech yeah - combined score. Everything maxed out in manual mode in Armor Crate. I was bummed that there is no undervolt option in the bios. Will download G-helper tomorrow and give that a go.
I like the talk about silent mode, too many laptop reviewers glance over this and just game in the highest fan mode which is mega unrealistic imo. I often heard that the msi titan gt77 with the rtx 4090 has the absolute best silent mode. Maybe 10-15% perf. loss vs performance/turbo mode. Have you ever tried that laptop? Jarrods tech tested it and it stays around 38-39 db which is crazy.
Love this laptop. Hate the IO placement, barrel plug, and the texture on the palm rest (feels like construction paper) …. Great review!
Yeah, it's awesome! I can understand those gripes
@@JoshCravesTech all that said I still kept it. For now.
@@DummyMunny don’t blame you!
@Josh - Do you have any real-life estimation of what it would be like to edit in Davinci /After Effects with the 4070 or 4080 versions of the G14? The price+availability of the 4090 make it a bit harder to go for, and I wonder if it's a complete different beast than the 4070/80 in regards to your review here.... The miniLED is only in the 4090 which us a bummer, but d'you think we will notice a huge difference for video editing if it's on a 4070/80...?
The 4080 will be almost as good as the 4090 in Resolve! Maybe even indistinguishable. The 4070 will be noticeably slower. We’re talking 30-40% worse GPU performance AND lower vram
@@JoshCravesTech Many thanks, Josh! Guess it's cause of the CUDA cores count in the 4070. So, basically a 4080 version will be like a 4090 minus the miniLED. 1. How about battery life? Editing in a coffee shop without a charger- how long of a session can you edit for? 2. Wonder if a USB-C charger of..what? Say, 100W? - won't damage the G14's battery life in the long run?... 3. Seems Iike alternatives to this 2023 G14 are mostly based on an Intel chip (like Yoga Pro i9)- and have a 1.5 hour battery life. In that pace we better hurry and get the older 2023 G14 cause other options feel limited (I'd also live 64GB Ram btw...)
I wished they have a darker color for this version...great video, lots of details. Really appreciated this.
What would you say are the biggest pros and cons of the g14 2023 vs g16 2024? I’m planning on getting either on the 4090 variant but I’m just having a little trouble putting my foot down on it
G16 is a bit louder in silent mode. Has a bit of difficulty staying completely quiet, but when in game they’re both about the same level of noise. G16 is clearly more MacBook-like in its presentation and glossy oled display, but I always wish it just had one more level of brightness higher than it currently goes. That’s where the mini-LED g14 is nice, is that extra brightness. G14 is definitely more portable and lighter, but G16 is very thin and light as well. The extra screen space is very noticeable which may be a good or bad thing depending on how much you’re traveling. It’s not quite as portable. The speakers are night and day better on the G16, and they keyboard and trackpad are also slightly improved. I’m still trying to find out more info on the quirks of Intel Core Ultra because I keep seeing a big difference in cpu benchmarks between different units. My theory right now is that the binning is just largely variable between different units. Mine unfortunately does not perform as well as others I’ve seen. But idk, it’s hard to choose. If you want a portable, quiet, bright laptop, go with the G14. If you want a more MacBook experience, then the G16 is the way to go. That’s my best generalization for now until I finish benchmarks and all that
Hello! Will this laptop 14“ be updated soon? I am currently torn between a used Zephyrus G14 4080 laptop and a brand new ROG Strix 16 laptop (13650hx ➕ 4080). These two have similar prices. Can you give me some advice (will there be a huge difference in GPU performance)?
The performance difference between those two 4080’s would be the same difference as this G14 and like the Blade 16/Legion Pro 7i in the video. A little bit in some games, yes. Maybe 15%. But maybe less in others. Those are two very different size laptops with different purposes. The G14 will allow you much more portability and battery life over the Strix. But the Strix will give a little more CPU and GPU performance with cooler temperatures under load. I’m not sure what they’re going to do with the 2024 models yet though but I’d imagine they’ll be very expensive with no major increase in performance
Oddly, I have the same tendancy when picking up my laptops to head out somewhere or to just hang out at home. I have my M16 w/3070tTI for gaming and my newer(yet older model) G14 w/3060 which I recently picked up cheap with the intenention that I could thrash it and not worry about it. I tend to be much more cautious with my M16. But I almost always pick up my G14 even for gaming. It's just easier if that makes sense. Lighter, rests better in my lap and puts out less heat. The brick is much smaller as well. Probably going to sell both at somepoint and pick up a G14 w/40 series when they go on discount next year.
Yep it just happens like that and I can’t help it, lol. Didn’t expect it to be the one I grab for everything but here we are lol
I would like to get this new version instead of my 2021 version, but ever since mine stopped working randomly with no power, nor no power light on due to its motherboard (most likely) I don’t know if it’s a good choice to buy another g14
Amazing detailed review 👏. You have me sold on the G14, Do you think I should wait for the 2024 version of the G14 or get this year 4090 variant ?
With it being $500 off in the U.S., it’s hard to think we’ll see a better value in the 2024 models. We definitely will not see more performance, ESPECIALLY if they go back to AMD GPU’s. We might see a better chassis though or maybe dual upgradeable RAM. If you buy it somewhere that does a 30-day return policy, then you might be able to buy and wait it out then return if need be!
@@JoshCravesTech awesome thanks for the feedback, I'll go for this instead then.
@@JoshCravesTech Please can I have the name of the tool you use to display the GPU and CPU realtime wattage?
@@emmanuelosawaru4564 yes, it’s MSI Afterburner! And the one that shows the little graphs is called HWinfo.
@@JoshCravesTech Many thanks
Great video
Had the 4090 version as well but returned it due to dead pixels. Recently got a 4090 Pro 7i for like $2000-2100, somewhere in there. For the price, it could not be topped. The screen is decent for what it is. It's not super important to me becuase I have it docked to a LG C3 42" OLED and the Alienware aw3423dw QD-OLED. The main reason I even went the laptop route and sold my desktop (13700k - 4090 FE) is becuase of the portability these machines have and just how much power the 40 series cards have unlocked in such a small chassis. I'll probably never go back to a full desktop ever again. I need the extra power from the legion to fully drive those screens, so not super bummed about not keeping the g14. But, man I miss the battery life on that thing contrary to what the pro 7i gets.
Sorry to hear that! Nothing worse than a new machine and then spotting a dead pixel. Yeah I’ve been testing the 4090 and 4080 Pro 7i for a while too, and while I personally can’t deal with that screen, it seems like it fits your use case with those OLED monitors! Unfortunately there isn’t a single 4080/4090 laptop with decent battery life besides the G14, lol. Hopefully next year they don’t all go so crazy on these power-hungry CPU’s.
Great review and very in depth, but it definitely sounded like you were disappointed by Lenovo laptops in the past lol. -Not that I blame you, there are a lot of legion fanboys out there lmao- Funny that you mentioned USB 4 because it's yet another feature they took out of the newer laptops. I have a Legion 5 Pro from 2022 myself and it actually *does* have USB 4. Keep up the good work!
Thank you!! Yeah I never had an “amazing” experience with a Legion outside of the 2021 Legion 7 (LOVED that laptop but never got around to making a review), but I will recognize a good laptop and they’re not bad at all. But I will also gladly call out features that get taken away, or features that should’ve been implemented but just weren’t, no matter the manufacturer. I’m not here for all that 😂
@@JoshCravesTech Yeah they definitely dropped the ball this year while their competitors keep evolving. Gonna be interesting to see the laptops of 2024.
I have the amd rx 6700s g14 2022 model and upgraded to 24GB RAM and 1TB storage. It's the best laptop I've ever owned.
I just picked up a 4060 model on a pretty decent discount at Best Buy in the US. Did the usual SSD and RAM upgrades, installed G Helper etc. I'm using it to drive an AW3423DW external monitor via the left USB 4 port through a CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock. It works fine and switches to the dGPU to drive the monitor in games. I tried the right port and the NVIDIA control panel does see the G-Sync monitor, but the dock isn't fully supported, I see you had an external monitor connected but didn't discuss the performance in that mode at all, that I noticed anyway. Also, big issue I've noticed, mine most of the time will not wake from sleep. Doesn't respond to keyboard or power button inputs. I have to hold the power button down and force restart it. Google says it's a bug in BIOS 311 to 313 and to downgrade to 310 but I haven't tried that yet. Curious if anyone else has noticed the same issue?
Yeah the right USB-C port is not thunderbolt so it won’t fully support your dock. If you plug JUST the monitor in to your right USB-C port then it’s identical to running games in dGPU mode. If you plug a dock/monitor in the left port then it’s like running games in Optimus, which is generally okay too. Optimus isn’t as much of a bottleneck as it used to be. As for the sleep issue, there’s a couple fixes people posted on the G14 subreddit if you go on there and search “sleep” or “modern standby” then you should find it. Also sometimes if it only happens when you’re docked it CAN be the monitor that causes this, as odd as that sounds so I’d also check the Alienware forums if you don’t find a fix elsewhere.
Thanks, yeah the right port will at least drive the display port of the dock. I haven't noticed a big difference in frame rates (subjectively, not quantified) between the left and right so I leave it plugged into the left for the convenience of everything else working. Been doing some digging on the sleep issue. Nothing conclusive yet. I've seen some discussion on disabling hibernation including setting the PCI Express Link State Power Management to Off in Advanced Power settings. It's happened both docked and undocked so don't think it's the monitor.
@@biernutt9168 yeah Windows has done some work on their end to majorly improve Optimus performance which is awesome to see because a mux switch used to be a dealbreaker for a lot of people. But anyways, have you looked at this post? www.reddit.com/r/ZephyrusG14/s/qoottF2d4D
I was hoping for a comparison between this g14 4090 with mini led vs asus strix scar 16 with 4080 and mini led. I can get them both for similar price is there a big difference in performance due to the extra w on the scar? Really cant make my mind up prefer the small form factor for ease of use on the g14 but at the same time will be using it for gaming also . Would really appreciate some input. The scar has the intel 13980hx cpu compared to g14 amd 7940hs
I don’t remember but I think I showed the Legion 4080 (175W) in a few charts here. It might be in more charts on my Blade 16 review. That will essentially be the same as the Scar 4080 as far as performance. So they will be very much the same or similar enough to not tell a difference
Whats the best for upgrading the gbs from 16? Should i go 32, 48 or 64gbs. For better performance? For the 4060 model
32GB should be plenty for years to come. So if it has 16GB soldered, I’d just buy a 16GB stick for 32GB total. 48 GB would be okay too, but 64GB might be overkill.
Would you sugguest getting xg monile 4090 now i have the ally or get the g14? Purely on performance. Xgmobile is 150w and g14 125w... although in reddit you showed 150w bios no issue XD
Hmmm... Yeah so the 150W XG mobile is nice to have. I think it really comes down to if you want to keep the Ally or not above all else. I think the Ally is a great machine for someone who games on the go, but I like to use my laptop for many different things like video editing, content creation/consumption, so the Ally wouldn't work for me personally unless it was like an "extra" thing I had. I like to have everything "all-in-one" versus multiple pieces, but that's just me!
Thanks foor this video
Thanks for watching!
About the poor gpu performances on usb-c power delivery, does it affect only the 4090? Are 4060 and 4070 behaving better with their lower tdp?
It just depends on how they all run at 35W, which is about the GPU limit you get on USB-C. Looks like a Time Spy graphics score of 6500-7500 for the 4060 and 4070. Not terrible
Can you tell me the idle wattage on one zone, 100% brightness with and without the dGPU?
How is the 4090 G14 for 4k gaming? I have an oled TV and have been looking for a laptop that is portable and that I can hookup to my TV for 4k gaming. This g14 has checked all the boxes for me I'm just curious how it handles 4k gaming.
My G16 review that comes out in a couple days will have some good 4K benchmarks that include the G14! But yeah overall it does really well, especially if you throw in DLSS/frame gen