Recently, I wrote a piece pouring all the love over the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED. In the headline, I claimed it was my favorite laptop of the year. In retrospect, that was a bit of a fib.
What I should have probably written is that Asus’s OLED wonder is my favorite “non-gaming laptop of the year.” Because if I’m being entirely honest, my actual favorite gaming laptop of the year is ROG Zephyrus G14. But hey, it’s still another Asus laptop, so the company will probably forgive my rapidly switching takes.
When it came to the Zenook, it was all about that screen. The S 13 is no powerhouse, but the impeccable, infinite blacks it serves up meant I quickly ditched watching content on my iPad Pro (2021) shortly after Asus lent me its lovely little laptop.
To do a complete 180, my affection for Asus’ other laptop is all about the power. Holy smokes the Zephyrus G14 is a monster.
In our gaming frame rate tests, it blew every title apart in the best possible way.
Holy smokes the Zephyrus G14 is a monster"
Whether playing at the G14’s native (just above 1440p resolution — the actual pixel count is 2,560 x 1,600 owing to the screen’s 16:10 aspect ratio) or 1080p, it smashed through some of the best PC games with ease.
Asus’ 14-inch monster ran Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at a “casual” 117 frames per second, while average measurements in Rockstar’s incredible Red Dead Redemption 2 clocked in at 97 fps. To put that into context, the (still excellent) Razer Blade 14 (2023) handed in results of 102 fps and 73 fps in both titles. When it comes to any gaming laptop released over the last 12 months, the ROG Zephyrus G14 is the beardiest of GOATs.
A dream machine
Granted, the specific unit I reviewed cost a wallet-smashing $3,299/£3,399 upon release. But hey, what do you expect in terms of costs when a laptop packs an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU? Speedy frame rates will set you back a lot of bucks when it comes to the best gaming laptops, folks.
I say this as someone in the extremely privileged position of owning a desktop that can run the previously mentioned RDR2 at a completely locked 120 frames per second at 4K. And yes, I did need to sell my spleen to afford one of the best gaming PCs on Earth.
I only mention this not to boast — my battered bank balance weeps a little more every day — but just to provide some context of how highly I rate the Zephyrus G14. Outside of my absurdly powerful PC, most of the best gaming experiences I had in 2023 were on the G14. Well, with the expectation of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on PS5. A game so good, Insomniac Games had every right to label it Marvelous Spider-Man 2.
The Steam Deck OLED is my favorite piece of tech over the last calendar year, but it was a photo finish between that and the ROG Zephyrus G14"
The Steam Deck OLED is my favorite piece of technology I’ve gone hands-on with over the last calendar year, but it was a photo finish between that and the ROG Zephyrus G14 when it came to claiming the biggest piece of my heart. And the main reason why, despite the massive cost discrepancy between both devices? The G14’s sensational screen.
Don’t get me wrong, the Deck OLED’s immaculate panel is "Lionel Messi-good" to shove in a sports analogy because footbal — sorry “soccer,” for any American reading this — is the thing that brings me the most joy on this planet. But hot dang is the Zephrus' screen also brilliant.
My stance when it comes to screen tech is usually “OLED or GTFO”. Not so in the G14’s case. Its mini-LED display is so good (thanks to its thousands of dimming zones), black levels on Asus’ awesome laptop are incredibly close to being as good as the best OLED TVs.
As someone who has an unhealthy obsession regarding screen tech, I can’t think of a higher compliment I could pay the ROG Zephyrus G14.
