The Asus ROG Zephyrus is one of the nicest laptops I've tested recently, but it was almost ruined by an unnecessary RTX 4090.

The Zephyrus G14 is a great laptop because it is very good in several respects. The laptop has a machined magnesium aluminum lid and the finish is excellent. Its understated appearance and pristine cut design are beyond reproach. The unit I have for review does not have the AniMe matrix LEDs found on some products, but that suits my black heart perfectly.

There is still some plastic on the underside of this laptop, and there is some deflection in the plastic where the vents for the cooling solution are, but otherwise it is a nice little machine that feels sturdy enough.

Again, "small" is the key word here. This is a 14-inch laptop with an incredibly small footprint considering it has the most powerful mobile GPU available (I note this ominously here). However, I appreciate a laptop of this size very much. I can stuff it in my backpack without thinking twice, or take it with me on an international trip and it won't be a piece of luggage. That's a big reason I like the 2022 G14 so much. The underside looks a little different on the new 2023 model, but it is generally almost identical to last year's.

The G14 is also packed with useful ports: a microSD card reader, four USB ports, and even an HDMI 2.1 port.

Open the G14 and you are greeted by one of the most beautiful screens we have seen in years, courtesy of Mini LED technology, and now is the perfect time for such a screen technology to be deployed. Asus calls it ROG Nebula HDR. 165 Hz, 3 ms. Mini LED 1600p panel with 600 nits brightness and 504 dimming zones. It is also extremely gorgeous.

With this Mini LED, everything pops. Everything. I dove into Horizon Zero Dawn, only to walk around for the thrill of seeing things, and I lost myself in PCMark's gaming battery test. This screen reminded me of when I bought my OLED TV. From games to shows, it makes you want to experience all the great blacks, deep colors, and brightness that is right in front of you.

Navigation on the G14 desktop is easy. The trackpad is responsive and takes up most of the space under the compact keyboard. The keyboard takes up the full width of the laptop, with each key spaced out. This sounds trivial, but it is by no means. Compared to a tightly packed keyboard, there are far fewer typos. You have to give up the numeric keypad for that, but I'm fine with this kind of compact device.

The centerpiece of this laptop, and many others today, is the AMD Ryzen 7 7940HS. This Ryzen chip is the first of its kind we have seen in a small form factor. This Ryzen chip is comparable to Intel's best-in-class chips we've tested, but more importantly, it comes with Radeon 780M graphics.

Boost rating is up to 5.2 GHz, but it often runs at around 4.6 GHz under load. The average chip power consumption is about 45W, but the G14 keeps the chip below 90°C at all times.

So I am a fan of the chassis, screen, keyboard, trackpad, and CPU. Now, let's ruin the fun by talking about the GPU.

This machine does not need the RTX 4090. It's not for this machine; instead of the RTX 4090 melting down the entire system, Asus has limited the power consumption of this card to a mere 125W. This is 50W lower than other RTX 4090 gaming laptops we have tested. However, if the G14 has to run an RTX 4090 of around 85W, one wonders if it is really suitable for this type of graphics chip.

There is a huge performance gap between the G14 and the larger RTX 4090 laptops we tested. Sometimes faster than some RTX 4080 laptops, sometimes losing to them.

However, I just don't see the benefit of packing a top-end GPU that can't run without limiting power to the point of losing to a gaming laptop with a lower-end GPU. I'm running this device in full turbo mode, but it would definitely be better to lower the fan speed a bit for better acoustics. [You'll need $3,300 to get this RTX 4090-powered G14, nearly $1,000 more than the $2,500 RTX 4080 version. Sure, the lower-end model doesn't have a Mini LED screen, which makes me weep inside, but I do like the traditional IPS screen that Asus has used on its G14 models so far. Performance won't be too far off since it's powered by the RTX 4080 instead of this clunky monstrosity. We would also consider the even less expensive RTX 4070 model.

At least the device still delivers respectable battery life for the epic GPU packed inside: 74 minutes in PCMark's gaming battery test, not the longest battery life, but far from the shortest. A 76 WHr battery in a laptop of this size is perfectly acceptable, if not quite good.

I'm kind of stumped because I really think the new G14 is a great device in so many ways. It is rather this exact specification that I cannot vouch for, and it is all due to the RTX 4090. Otherwise, it's just an unnecessary bolt-on to an otherwise incredibly well put together gaming laptop.

It's a shame that you have to give up the Mini LED screen to get a more suitable GPU, and if that's a deal-breaker for you, look at the Acer Predator Helios 16 as a greater alternative. However, if you are only looking for a 14" laptop, I think the G14 has plenty to offer and would recommend buying it if you have the right GPU.