Slim, lightweight, and OLED: Both Asus gaming laptops are now available at significant discounts.

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Slim, lightweight, and OLED: Both Asus gaming laptops are now available at significant discounts.

When you think of OLED screens, thin and light, and the best gaming laptops, you probably think of expensive ones. And honestly, that's not a mistake. But that doesn't mean you can't find a super-portable power bargain with a great display, and these two Asus laptops prove it.

They are the Asus Zephyrus G14 and the Asus Zephyrus G16. These are two laptops we have reviewed (with higher specs, which we will discuss later) and two laptops we rate very highly. Portable power has come a long way, and we feel that these two models simply outperform the others.

Sophisticated, classy, yet with ample gaming horsepower, these two models are a great bargain at the prices listed below. The real question is, if you're looking to buy a laptop now and want something that performs well enough but doesn't make you feel like a gamer from every angle, which one should you choose?

The 14-inch laptop is, for many, the sweet spot when it comes to portable power. It's easy to throw in a bag, use on a flight, or bring to a meeting without raising eyebrows about who brought a gaming laptop to a business meeting.

This Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a very small, very thin, and very light gaming laptop with an amazing chassis; with an 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU, there is no shortage of processor performance. And while 32 GB of RAM is desirable, 16 GB of fast LPDDR5X 6400 RAM is plenty for most applications.

We reviewed the RTX 4070 version and found it powerful enough, but admit that the RTX 4060 is a lesser GPU. Still, thanks to DLSS 3, it will deliver great gaming performance wrapped up in a chassis that seems too small to accommodate the gaming components. It is a 65W TGP version with a 25W dynamic boost, which can be pushed up to 90W TGP in graphics-intensive scenarios by shifting power from the CPU to the GPU.

With the help of DLSS3, it is enough to enjoy the latest games. The OLED display is just the bee's knees, and at $1,300 at Best Buy, this little Asus may be a lot of money for an RTX 4060 machine, but given the excellent chassis, great screen, and very capable specs, it's a small laptop that's excellent in every way. It's a bargain.

Ah, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16. here's a little secret: I was really hoping that Asus would forget that they sent me this beautiful product and not ask me to send it back. I was really hoping that Asus would forget about sending me this beautiful product and not ask me to return it, because it had almost everything I was looking for in a gaming laptop.

A word of caution. My review model came equipped with an RTX 4090, which was far too much GPU for the cooling system of this very sleek and thin lappy. This model, however, uses an RTX 4070 instead (the 105W TGP version), which is not the most powerful of Nvidia's midrange laptop GPUs, but without throttling or fan noise to spoil the party, great gaming performance should be more than enough.

The best thing about the G16 is its courtesy. Courtesy. When I put it in my backpack to carry to the office, I was reminded of how far behind most gaming laptops are in comparison. It simply feels like it's ahead of the curve, like a laptop from a different generation than the rest of the notebooks.

And again, I need to wax lyrical about the screen. This is a 2560 x 1600 OLED unit, very suitable for gaming and everyday use; the Core Ultra 9 185H is the fastest CPU out there, at least fast enough, although this model, like the G14 above, has 16GB of DDR5.

It is with a heavy heart that I gave my review unit a 79, and with a more sensible GPU it would have been knocking on the door of a 90. It's a more balanced machine, albeit with less RAM and GPU performance. And at $1,650 at Best Buy, it's an absolute steal.

So you've got two attractive gaming laptops at a reasonable price: the 14-inch G14 is a great one, but personally I'd choose the G16. But you're you, and whichever you choose, you'll have a laptop that looks and feels like a million bucks, and a machine you can be really proud of.

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