Customer Ratings & Reviews

I bought an open box excellent condition version of this laptop as no new one was available. Upon getting it all set up and my main games installed i went to benchmark and get an idea of how would would run. Jedi survivor took 15 minutes to get to the opening menu. I was gett 1 frame every 2 seconds. Co closed the game and tried to open invidia control panel to only be popped up with “a graphics card was jot detected. Turns out it has an intel arc 770. Many games wouldnt use the dang thing and would barely function and werent playable. Others would play but tell me the vram had only 128mb available despite the system using 2900mb at the moment. Great looking laptop and would love to keep it but it cant play games so has to go back. Will just go with an MSI and not worry about wasting more time.

The 2024 ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 is legitimately the best laptop I’ve ever owned. I can’t find anything that’s a dealbreaker (and I usually do with laptops, especially gaming laptops). This is an excellent refinement of the ROG Zephyrus line. I had the original G14 and while I loved it, there were still a lot of things that didn’t work for me. The display, the build quality, the lack of webcam were some of the things that stood out, despite being a stellar product. This solves all of that. We get the absolutely gorgeous OLED display that’s 240hz, color accurate and G-SYNC built in. While it’s not perfect, all of my quibbles are just that, quibbles. Performance-wise, the laptop is a beast, powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and the formidable GeForce RTX 4080 GPU. Whether I'm tackling the latest AAA titles or working on demanding productivity tasks, the G16 handles it all. Even at maxed-out settings and native resolution, the performance remains impressive, as evidenced by the solid frame rates achieved in titles like Baldur's Gate 3 and Palword. I threw Palworld in here because of the lack of optimization this game has being in early access. Its performance is rough across all devices so the fact that settings are maxed and I’m still getting above 60 fps is amazing. Maxed out Settings at Native Resolution(2560:1600), Asus Armoury Crate performance set to "Performance" (I did not see any significant improvement when set to Turbo other than the fans getting very loud) Baldur's Gate 3 Performance: Average 90 FPS Palword Performance: Average 65 FPS The industrial design of the G16 is nothing short of spectacular. It's sleek, stylish, lightweight, and drops all of the gaming laptop stylings that I find tacky. The keyboard is excellent, providing a comfortable typing experience, and the trackpad is responsive and precise although maybe a tad too large. On the downside, the Eclipse Gray finish is a fingerprint magnet, detracting from the laptop's otherwise beautiful appearance. I would definitely go with the white color if you can. Additionally, I wish the proprietary charger was USB-C like all my other devices, I understand that USB-C doesn’t have the kind of power throughput required for this device. It at least seems quite sturdy of a connection and doesn’t have a specific top side of the charger. The light bar does nothing for me and by default is on way too much, including when asleep just ending up being a waste of energy. The absence of a 10-key number pad was disappointing but it did leave room for those excellent speakers. While the Intel Ultra chips boast AI capabilities, their practical utility are so specific that you likely won’t ever be able to use them. Even as someone that works in AI, I still haven’t. Furthermore, achieving performance that fully utilizes the 240Hz display may require dialing down graphics settings in certain scenarios which is kind of a bummer but I’m glad it’s there anyway. Don’t let these quibbles dissuade you though! This is still a 5 star laptop and as someone who’s owned a lot of laptops and usually finds big issues and tradeoffs, I don’t see one here. It’s beautiful, lightweight, powerful, and cheap (relatively). If you are in the market for a gaming laptop, or just a powerhouse laptop, look no further than the new ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16. Pros: Incredible performance Industry leading industrial design Price can’t be beat OLED display is GORGEOUS with excellent color accuracy Speakers are crisp, loud, and have excellent separation Lots of RGB customization Excellent keyboard and trackpad Still has all the ports you need Cons: Eclipse Gray is a fingerprint magnet Proprietary charger versus USB-C (although that’s due to the limitations of USB-C and not ASUS’s fault) The light bar is pretty silly No 10-key number pad Hard to get performance that utilized the 240hz unless I drop the graphics settings down The Intel Ultra chips are gimmicky when it comes to AI

Ordered an open box excellent condition. When it came in the mail the box that it was shipped in was beat up and no dunnage in the box. Open it up and the screen flickered. I had to go to Best Buy where I just bought a new one and paid the difference. Had to wait for that one in the mail too. Showed up in the mail opened it up and the laptop wouldn’t boot due to not recognizing there was a hard drive. So had to go back to Best Buy again to get another replacement. If the third one shows up and has issues I will just return again and never buy Asus again. Will update after I receive the third one in the mail.

This review is a bit of a mess. TL;DR: It's a solid machine if you can get it for <2500. I would not have bought this for sticker price. 3/5 This laptop is too pricey. It's also a bit too thin and a couple hours too short on battery life. No choice for CPU with the 4080 and can only upgrade one stick of RAM. Tips: Download G-Helper and uninstall all of the Asus software you are comfortable with. I've heard too many storieIs of users being annoyed and inconvenienced by software. So I uninstall it. Highly recommend you google "new laptop g16/asus reddit" for threads on best practices for making user experience better. The actual review: Starting off, this laptop is an upgrade: Older laptop: Zephyrus G14 - AMD chip, 16gb ram and the 2060mq. I believe it was the 2020/2021 version. Cost me 1250 and played games at medium settings and the battery lasted about 6 hours. New/This laptop: Zephyrus G16 - Intel Ultra 9 chip with the 4080(mq?) and 32GB ram - cost me 2300 - Open-Box excellent with Best Buy Total Membership and taxes. Immediate comparison and use of this laptop for a week: Good: - the gaming performance. the difference is obviously night and day for me as I'm coming from not being able to run Cyberpunk 2077 to playing Cyberpunk with DLSS at near max settings (with RT) at ~100fps at 1200p. That's the only game I really have to play currently and it looks incredible. I might be biased to the performance because of that jump but I'm very happy with that. - the 16inch screen is immaculate. Just incredible and a joy to use. - the speakers. They're really good but I don't really use them. - build quality. It's basically a gaming macbook. - two m.2 slots. Not sure if this is an expected thing in 16" laptops, but I'm giving it a plus for this. I use one for Windows and gaming and the other for Linux and school. - The webcam and mic aren't bad and are nice to have. I enjoy fingerprint more than Windows Hello but camera seems to be more consistent albeit creepier. - the keyboard is nice but I'm still getting used to it. This is the one thing I almost bought a lenovo for. I type a lot. my biggest annoyances: - the trackpad - too big. Yes, it's smooth and nice and consistent...but my palm ends up hitting it randomly when I type so that's annoying. - the chip and GPU pairing. Not having a 4080 with the AMD AI chip is rude. - Intel is hot and not as power efficient. The two things that really matter in a laptop. - the RAM - from what I know and read, there seems to be little to no reason to upgrade one singular stick of RAM...so why does Asus give us the option? - too much bloat. Asus has unnecessary software and Windows is a mess. This feels stupid to dock the laptop for but considering the software that Asus has on the laptop can absolutely mess with your experience, there you go. Things I'm not too picky about: - The battery life. Obviously it's poor. It's a gaming laptop that is thin and light and is running software that isn't efficient on hardware that isn't efficient. It's a portable gaming machine that I also use to do homework and work. The way I use the machine, I always have an outlet where I am going. I would not get this laptop (or any gaming laptop) if you want Macbook levels of battery. You might be able to get ~7 hours from this. - the heat and noise. It's what you'd expect. It's actually better than what I'm used to. The cooling and lack of coil whine is really nice and I wear noise cancelling headphones so it's hard to say the noise bothers me. I also have the laptop at an angle when it's sitting so the heat hasn't been insane. My biggest why: - the thinness of the laptop - the thinness is something that companies seem to be obsessed with PRing on every year yet most people are okay with a slightly thicker laptop for better thermals and better performance. I don't get it. I'm okay with things being a little thiccc. Come on ASUS. The build quality, screen, thermals and performance of this laptop all surprised me and actually make me really enjoy my experience so far. My experience with this laptop would be a lot better if it wasn't as thin and the trackpad wasn't as big. I got this laptop because I wanted a nice screen with a machine that could pack a punch and also looked and felt premium. This laptop does that. I'll update as necessary.

Context: I was in the market for a laptop that was both capable of playing all the newest games with solid framerates while also not looking out of place at the office or library. The most important criteria to me was: Display Quality, GPU, Portability, and Design. Pros: I'm a huge fan of the form factor and design. In particular, I appreciate this laptop being able to pack all of the hardware and a 16-inch display into a device that is only 0.59-inch thick. This makes it easy to throw into my backpack and bring anywhere. The modern, minimal design with the slash lighting makes it so that I can use this for everyday tasks without the LEDs and bulky design being a distraction to those around me. The gaming is more than sufficient. I will say this: If you are looking for a machine to get the most out of your hardware, this laptop may not be for you. The hardware is toned down a bit due to the slim form factor. Personally, I appreciate that as I prioritize efficiency and portability over raw power. However, this laptop is not targeted for those aiming for maximum framerates. The OLED display is beautiful and I'm a huge fan, in general, of the quality of the displays I have seen from ASUS, lately. Cons: Despite the limitations placed on the hardware, this machine can still get incredibly hot when under heavy load. Gaming for even a short time will make the area near the top of the keyboard extremely uncomfortable to the touch. The fans can also get extremely load in these scenarios. I have had people around me joke about my laptop sounding like a jet engine. If you are the type to spend some time in Armoury Crate tweaking the fan curves, I'm certain you will find a profile that will give you minimal fan noise during everyday tasks while providing adequate cooling during gaming or other intensive tasks. Bottom line: If you are looking for a powerful machine that maintains a slim form factor, this is a strong contender. This laptop, along with perhaps the Lenovo Legion Slim series, are about as close to a thin and light gaming machine as you can get and is a strong candidate for those looking for a powerful productivity machine, as well.

I don't write reviews, but this laptop is the exception that's deserving of one. After using it for a few weeks, the ASUS- ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) is an absolute monster of a machine in a sleek package. Coming from a Razer Blade 15 with an NVIDIA GTX 1060 Max-Q I purchased in 2018, an "upgrade" is a bit of an understatement. From playing Battlefield 2042, Helldivers 2, Palworld, Apex Legends, to casual YouTube sessions and web browsing, this laptop has been cutting through everything like butter. Add in the amazing speakers that have deep bass that blow out any other laptop I have every owned, the GORGEOUS OLED display, the MacBook-like build quality, and the nice feeling keyboard with the HUGE glass touchpad, this laptop really is the jack of all trades on the market. I highly recommend purchasing the NVIDIA RTX 4080 model here, as you are more future proofed getting 32 GB of soldered on LPDDR5X RAM over the 16 GB of memory on the 4070 and lower models. Unfortunate, but you do get the better benefit of faster RAM as a result of this tradeoff. The RTX 4080 is the nice sweet spot in terms of pricing compared to the RTX 4090 model, which that one is about $600 more. In terms of weight, it is very easy to carry around in my backpack out and about. The charging brick is a decently sized at 240-watts, so keep that in mind if you are one who consistently takes your laptop everywhere with you, as it will add your total carrying weight. The USB-C ports on this laptop do support slower charging at 100-watts, so it's nice in a pinch if you're doing productivity work. As for battery life, I mainly use this plugged in for gaming, but it's been decent, about 5 hours or so with average use. I do use the Smart Charging feature from ASUS, which stops charging at 80% to extend the battery's capacity over time, so you would be able to get more if you prefer to charge it fully at 100%. Also, this laptop does get hot to the touch right above the middle area above the keyboard, and underneath towards the vents, so you'll want to avoid using this on your lap during intensive tasks. I do use a cooling pad with this laptop while gaming, which does help keep the thermals down a little bit. Despite the hot temperatures during gaming and other intensive tasks, which is expected in a slim and light laptop of this caliber, I haven't noticed the ROG Zephyrus G16 thermal throttle yet, which is very impressive to me for its size. Others seem to complain about the fan noise on the 4070 model and lower, but for the 4080 model here, which does have a vaper chamber cooling solution with two fans instead of the three-fan solution on the lower end 4070 and below, I have no complaints. It's noticeably quieter than my five-year-old Razer Blade 15 at full load. Of course, fan noise is subjective for everyone, but the fans are here to make sure your expensive $2,699.99 (before tax) investment doesn't fry the internals, so noise isn't an issue for me. Headphones, and the amazing speakers I mentioned earlier, will drown out the fan noise if it is an issue for you. For those on the fence about this laptop, as I was for a few weeks before purchase, just buy it. You will not be disappointed. ASUS has a winning formula right here and knocked it out of the park with this year's Zephryus lineup!

Got the product online use it for 3 hours and the laptop started having boot issues Would always suggest going for a shield product and avoid open box as in my case a very expensive laptop turn down to be broken in a very short time gives me that feeling that this has been a refurbished / rejected product

Overall Verdict: After a bit of tweaking this laptop is freaking awesome. The Good: The screen is gorgeous, the GPU crushes games, and the bloatware was surprisingly minimal. The build quality is simply amazing and it is fairly light (for a 16”). Also, the battery life is surprisingly good when using discrete graphics (it’s terrible when using performance settings, but that’s expected). The Bad: Asus Armoury Crate is garbage. Removing it and replacing it with an alternative made a noticeable improvement in performance and removed a micro stuttering issue that occurred when gaming. The Random: The bottom of the laptop is almost entirely covered with air intakes which makes finding a laptop stand tricky - and you’ll probably want one for the standoff space, because this thing can get toasty.

I feel like every time I get a brand new gaming laptop I say.. this is the best laptop ever! And this new Asus G16 definitely deserves that title. I’ve been using it everyday for a week as my main gaming setup, and I love it so much that I think it might become my main rig for work and play. The OLED screen is beautiful. Videos, Photos, Games all look amazing on this screen. If you’re looking for the best screen on a laptop, I have to say that this machine should be on your shortlist but The screen brightness is only 450 nits, its been plenty bright for me for most situations. I’m not the type to sit outside with a laptop, but if you plan on getting work or gaming done outside at a cafe or something, you might be disappointed with this screen. But 450nits is typical for an OLED screen, it’s just a trade off you have to compromise on. I think it’s to prevent burn in / damage. Speakers on this laptop are also very good! I’ll say that these are the second best speakers I’ve heard on a laptop. They get loud but have a full sound. Bass, and mids are rich and trebles are clean and crisp. I will happily use the built in speakers for music listening and movie watching and gaming. The fans do kick on quite loud while gaming so it’s nice to have a loud set of speakers in the machine to drown out the fans. I haven’t had any issues with overheating yet, the fans and cooling system on this machine keep the laptop running great and I’m pushing graphics to the highest in most of the games I’ve tested. Alan Wake 2 pretty much runs at full max settings. Ray tracing for some reason causes bad frame drops on that game but to my eyes it looks amazing without the setting on. Every game I own looks and plays amazing on this laptop. My short list of current games are Alan Wake 2, Fortnite, Rocket League, Helldivers 2 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. (An oldy, but I wanted to relive it on this beautiful OLED screen.) I can’t wait to try other games now and in the future. I am confident that this machine will run anything coming in the next 5 years. The RTX 4080, paired with the intel i9 and 32GB of ram is a powerful combination that will serve you well for years. This machine has an additional m.2 slot for expanding your storage which I immediately did. I installed a 2TB ssd and now I have 3 TB total for game storage. So cool! Hardware wise, this laptop is very premium. It’s mostly aluminum, the only thing that feels plastic is the bottom cover. You’ll need a T6 security driver to open it but those are easy to find. I could go on all day about this laptop, but if your here and your on the fence. I’m gonna say go ahead and buy it, I highly recommend it. This laptop is powerful enough to play just about every game available, and is also great for work if you’re a photo and video editor / content creator. And when you’re not working or gaming on this machine, you’ll love it for just kicking back on the couch or bed and watching a movie or video.

I think the G16 with the RTX 4080 is the sweet spot for performance and price at this tier of product. The 4090 is another $600 but the performance increase does not match the increase in price. I have only had the laptop for a few weeks so far but every game I am loading up on it performs great! The screen is incredible! This new OLED is hands down the best laptop screen I have ever used. It's fast, bright, color accurate, and the resolution is perfect for a screen that you sit 18 inches from. It is true what the reviewers all point out that the GPU is relatively underpowered in order to keep temps down but the vapor chamber cooling of the 4080/4090 tier does a great job of managing temps. However, even with the reduced total power available to the GPU/CPU, this laptop performed about 80% better than my 4 year old alienware M15 R2 which had an RTX 2080 Max-q and an intel 9980KH. The keyboard feels great and for my uses the palm rests are the perfect size around the rather large touchpad. Even under full load the laptop is much quieter than my old alienware and when doing everyday stuff like watching content and browsing it is completely silent. I haven't tested battery life yet. Connectivity is great and the size is good too. My alienware had great styling but it was bulky. This laptop is smaller and lighter. The speakers are as good as everyone says. Hands down the best speakers I have ever heard in a laptop. I wish the SSD was bigger than 1 TB for the price BUT there is a slot for another which is no big deal. The wifi seems extremely fast but it is mediatech which has a bad rep amongst reviewers. That being said, if you wanted to swap it out you can.

It has been a good while since I’ve updated my gaming laptop and I was excited to have a chance to pick up this latest ASUS ROG model as a replacement for my last ROG. If you’ve never had a laptop from this line, you have no idea what you are missing! Right out of the box you can tell it is a solid build. Asus integrated this slash pattern of LEDs on the lid that is very distinctive. From there you open up and find a practically borderless screen that is sharper and has more vivid color than I’ve found on any laptop. That brings me to the speed - oh, the speed! There’s been a lot of grumbling about specs for one of my favorite newly released games, and I was looking forward to cranking the levels up and seeing what would happen. It performed like a champ, holding on for highly complex simulations with no sweat at all. There are so many features and configurations you can make with this computer that I did find it a little overwhelming. Inside of the included Armoury crate is a total command center of functions and performance monitors and choose from. If there was only one weaker spot on this product it’s the audio speakers. I know not to expect too much from a laptop, but these were particularly underwhelming. Thankfully I don’t use them for much and play with a headset. All in all I would say this is a stellar laptop for gaming addicts and anyone that needs a lot of performance for their work.

Note, I used the built in copilot to help me write the review, its ai assisted my review in making it easier to read. AI took what I wanted to say and made it more presentable The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 2024 model not only meets but exceeds expectations. The build quality is on par with the MacBook Pro M2, yet ASUS takes it a step further with an even better keyboard and screen, surpassing even the esteemed Lenovo keyboards. Fan noise is virtually non-existent unless you're running intensive AAA games, making it impressively quiet during regular use. The Armoury Crate software provides excellent system management without hassle; contrary to other reviews, I found it to function flawlessly, particularly when sticking to default settings for optimal performance. The standout feature has to be its multiple CPUs, including an AI NPU from Intel that delivers astonishing speed, enhancing overall performance significantly. In conclusion, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 is not just a MacBook Pro alternative; it's a superior choice in terms of quality and value. I highly recommend this laptop for anyone looking for top-notch performance at a more affordable price. ASUS has truly outdone themselves with this model.

This laptop checkes many boxes on my wishlist: thin and portable, 32gb ram, oled display, high end gpu, clicky keyboard. I purchased it to become my primary coding pc and play games when at a hotel or away from home. It annihilates games. I'm giving it 5 stars even though it's not perfect. Some of the imperfections are opinion based and some are unavoidable due to form factor. First, i wish it had per key rgb and a numberpad on the side of the keyboard. 2nd, this laptop can get very hot due to its thinness and power so heat mitigation is a must. At home you can use a laptop cooler but lugging those around reduces portability. I added retractable feet to the laptop to increase airflow. This did the trick. I removed the stock drive and added two samsung 4tb nvme drives. Having that much space is awesome, but it took some finesse to fix overheating issues. I found thin nvme heatsinks to attach. Most normal nvme heatsinks are too thick to fit in the case properly.

Switched over from a MacBook Pro to this Asus with the 4080 GPU because let’s face it. Apple doesn’t care about gaming. I had a gaming desktop rig that I replaced with this laptop and have been very happy with his performance. Not only does it look and feel like my old MacBook Pro, it’s thinner and lighter. It’s fast enough to play all the games that I like to play at really high frame rates and the OLED screen is beautiful to play them on. They only cause this is sometimes it gets a little too hot to keep on my lap and it’s tough getting used to not having a haptic feedback trackpad. Overall, it’s a five stars and would highly recommend it.

About The ROG Zephyrus G16 is a high end gaming laptop brought to you by Asus. It boasts a 14-core Intel Ultra 9 processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card, 240Hz refresh rate, solid state hard drive, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM. Generous connectivity options are provided while keeping the laptop to a thin and lightweight design. Packaging and Contents The packaging has a nice appearance. Contents included the laptop, power adapter, and small instruction manuals. Note that Asus recommends that you charge the laptop for 3 hours prior to setting it up. General Specifications Screen Size: 16” OLED Screen Resolution: 2560 x 1600 @ 240Hz Processor: Intel Ultra 9 (14-core) Memory: 32GB DDR5 (2 16GB Sticks) Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (12GB of GDDR6X Video Memory) Storage: 1TB SSD Operating System: Windows 11 Home 64-bit. Audio: 6-speaker Dolby Atmos RGB Lighting: Backlit keyboard with customizable keyboard lighting. Slash lighting at cover. The touchpad mouse is the biggest laptop touchpad I have ever seen. It takes up half of the keyboard. Ports and Connections WiFi: Wireless AX (WiFi 6E) Bluetooth Headphone Jack HDMI Out: 1 (2.1) USB Type A: 2 (3.2) USB Type C: 2 (3.2) USB Type C: 1 Charging Thunderbolt 4: 1 Media Card Reader: SD Card Slot Reader Power: 330 Watts Camera: 1080p Differences from Best Buy’s Website There were a few things about the laptop that currently do not show up correctly on Best Buy’s website: Media Card Reader – There is a Media Card slot installed on the right side. Mic Input – Best Buy shows a Headphone jack and Mic input listed. There is a headphone jack. There is not a separate Mic input. The webcam does have its own microphone built-in. Audio Technology – Best Buy shows a “-“ for this model under Audio Technology. It will do Dolby Atmos. Gaming Experience The screen had a very sharp picture. It was really pretty stunning. The video while gaming had an enjoyable smooth movement. It didn’t have any lag or jitter. Excellent job here. I had one issue with a Steam game not loading. I will accredit the issue as a problem with the game and not with the computer. The other several games worked very well. Other Things I Noticed Features vs Size – Asus did a masterful job with providing a loaded laptop with a larger screen while creating a thinner, less bulky device. It looks good and works well. Mouse Pad – This was one of the few things that I did not like about the laptop. The mouse pad takes up half of the keyboard space. It actually makes it harder to type because it’s so big. This isn’t new for Asus, as my 2022 ROG laptop also has this. Asus Switch – Asus has a program to transfer your files from your other computers over to help you set up the new device. I have 3 other Asus laptops/ROG Ally that have been saved to this profile. I did not want the files brought over to this laptop, but it did it anyway. I told it to set up as a new PC, but it brought over folders, files, and shortcuts against my wishes. That could be improved by Asus. Heat – For gaming laptops, this can be a big issue. I was very impressed with how the laptop handled heat. It really did not get very warm for most anything that I did. The warmest temperature I experienced was while playing a game, Batman: Arkham Knight, but it wasn’t near at hot as my Alienware work laptop just performing normal day-to-day activities. This is a win for Asus. Fingerprints – The gray aluminum finish does show fingerprints. It’s not a huge deal though for me. Overall, this is an excellent gaming laptop. The video motion is smooth and the picture is stunning. It’s simply a higher end machine. While there were a few minor things that I mentioned I still believe that this product deserves 5 stars. I think that most people will find it to be a very solid gaming machine and should be happy with their selection. Asus continues to make good products. This is my third laptop from them, and they all three still work very well.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (GU605MZ) is capable of making you second guess the need for a gaming rig because this laptop packs a ton of power. Out of the box, you can see the beautiful design and feel the quality. There’s nothing cheap about this laptop on both the outside and the inside. From the time you start it up, you can see and hear the quality of the laptop. It was super smooth from setup to the first time I fired up a video. The power is there and there wasn’t a ton of noise to let you know it was being stressed either. The combination of the GeForce RTX 480 with the 240Hz refresh rate of the OLED screen presented beautiful colors while gaming, streaming, and more. To touch on the gaming a little more, I didn’t notice any lag or screen tearing either. I was really impressed with how smooth things were as well as how vivid the colors were. It really had me questioning if it was better than my ASUS gaming rig. That says a lot. There are three more things that came to light while I was gaming as well. The first was the noise level that the laptop produced while working hard. The fans were working, but it was really quiet. I turned up the volume a tad, but it was nothing compared to what I have had to do on other laptops that I have played games on. The second thing is the sound quality. I thought the sound was pretty crisp and I didn’t feel like it was muffled or inadequate at all. Like I said, the speakers are more than capable of making you forget about the noise level of the fans because they are producing brilliantly. The last thing is the battery. This is one knock that I have to throw out there. The battery went quick when I was gaming. This is where you can tell that the power of this laptop is really working hard. I didn’t time it to the exact minute, but I definitely didn’t get two hours worth of battery life. That was disappointing. I would certainly recommend gaming while plugged in when you can. The good part is that it charges at a pretty good pace too. In addition to the gorgeous display and great performance, this laptop has a really impressive keyboard and trackpad. The backlit keyboard is a wonderful touch and you can use the function keys to work through a number of options. You can also use the Aura Creator to create your own too. There are also keys for the brightness of the display, Armoury Crate, keyboard brightness, airplane mode, and more. They did a great job designing it. The trackpad is nice too. It’s very large and I had no issues with its responsiveness. I prefer a separate mouse, but it can certainly get the job done. Ultimately, there are only a few small things that keep the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 from being perfect. However, they aren’t enough for me to not recommend it for the gamers and high productivity users that want something portable. There’s just too much power and beauty for anyone to ignore.

Fans too noisy, even during simple tasks. Great screen, very thin. Personally I am preferring the 14” form factor these days for extra portability. (As I also have a desktop.) But if you want just one computer to do it all, this is a pretty good desktop replacemnt that is still light. If you want something smaller woty better battery life, try the G14, it also has an OLED screen. Its just not quite as powerful graphics wise.

Overall, it's a great device - Pros: - Build quality, although, the screen seems too delicate and bends when you open it, a Macbook Air has a better screen frame (speaking only about the chassis). - Performance; I do 3D modeling, and rendering (both GPU & CPU), and no matter what I use, it will run easily. - Hardware control (this helps with battery life, but there is a catch). - The screen; for media, for render, work, etc. Is one of the best options, just take care of it, at the end, it is an OLED panel. Cons: - Armory crate is always the problem with Asus, it can be buggy, sadly this can affect the rest of the device due to it trying to control hardware but there are also other software doing the same, and this can cause issues and cross between the configurations, especially with the GPU and the audio. That is not new, I have a 2019 Zephyrus GX701 and at the beginning, it was the same thing, speakers with crackling (software issue), profiles switching randomly affecting performance, etc. - Asus customer support is one of the worst services out there in my experience. I rather prefer to look over the internet and forums for solutions related to software issues. - The touchpad is good, but at this price, size, and quality, a haptic will be way better, it's a big area to move and select, but if you wanted to press an icon, option, etc. You need to reach the bottom of the touchpad to press and click. I do recommend this device, but if you buy it, the first thing to do is reset the device and start fresh, with more control over the hardware's drivers and configuration, by limiting Armory Crate control over your device.

Outstanding audio, with proper tuning can go toe to toe with a MacBook Pro 16. With Ghelper instead of armory crate, I could manage 6-9 hours of streaming videos, web browsing. Battery and performance felt in line with a mobile Ryzen from a few years ago. OLED screen was fantastic above 70% with minimal reflections. Below 70%, you start to see sand paper textures on grey and dark backgrounds. Fans were acceptable, however the air noise pushing against the frame can be audible at low loads with silent mode off. Unfortunately my unit had a rattling track pad and severe dpc latency with audio that would cause skips and buzzing that I did not have on the 2024 G14/2022 G15. Overall a good choice in contrast with options on the current market if you’re looking for a ultrabook with the exception of audio creation.

PROS + Gorgeous 240hz OLED panel + Super-slim, all aluminum shell that seeps quality, is solid, and lightweight for size + Super solid gaming chops with RTX 4080 Laptop GPU and Intel Ultra 9 185H CPU + Great full-sounding speakers with plenty of volume and impact + Very quiet operation in Silent and Performance modes + Huge and responsive trackpad + 32GB of memory and fast SSD + Plenty of I/O CONS - Sounds like a jet engine when in Turbo mode - Can’t fight physics, it outputs some real heat during stressful gaming sessions SO-SO * Armory Crate software has some useful features, but can feel a bit clunky * RTX 4080 has 115w TGP, so not full 175w TGP potential, but still plenty fast, especially given the size * Battery life is solid for all of the specs, but likely won’t last a full day of usage THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is targeted at gamers, but this is a multimedia powerhouse through and through. While it certainly possesses plenty of gaming chops, software, and the tools necessary to have a super solid portable gaming experience, where I think this laptop really excels above and beyond is being an all-around multimedia machine. It has the best screen I have ever seen on a laptop, rich speakers, a solid GPU & CPU for content creation and gaming, lots of I/O, fast memory, quiet operation, great portability, and a respectable battery life for the power. There is really no area where this laptop doesn’t excel. Being a thin and light laptop, that also is doubling as a portable workstation, it cannot outrun physics, and so does require a lot of cooling and fan power to operate in an efficient manner. But if you are looking for a jack of all trades that can do it all well, and are willing to pay a premium for it, this is a fantastic option. BUILD QUALITY At 0.59” thick, and weighing 4.3lbs, it is a very portable 16” laptop that houses a lot of powerful components in a slick package. The body is made of aluminum and has this gunmetal gray finish that looks and feels very premium. The body is rigid with no keyboard flex, creaking, or cheap feeling construction. The screen hinge feels great and can be opened with one finger easily, there is a bit of screen flex if you look for it, but no wobble or issues with screen construction of any form. In terms of lighting, the lightbar/slash on the back looks great when lit-up with its individual LEDs and custom light patterns, although you won’t really see it much during use, so I tended to leave it off to give the laptop a more understated look. The keyboard is a bit on the mushy side, but key travel is just about perfect for me. Overall the keyboard is very comfortable to use for long periods of time and I had no issues writing for several continuous hours on it without issue. The backlight is RGB, and can be fully controlled with lighting patterns as you would expect. If I had one nitpick with the keyboard, it would be that I wish the page up-down left-right buttons where a bit larger, as they are all half-key sized, but this really is a nitpick and not uncommon for a laptop of this size. Overall, the build quality on this laptop is top notch, and I honestly have no complaints at all. It is a premium laptop and it feels like it. Very well done. EVERYDAY USE Everyday usability is where I think this laptop really shines. This all starts with the 240hz OLED screen, which is absolutely gorgeous. It has a very wide color gamut, with perfect black levels and an infinite contrast ratio. It can get plenty bright, and everything from gaming to movies to daily browsing is a visual treat. I can’t speak for color accuracy, as I don’t have the equipment to measure this, but to my eye it looks highly color accurate, playing content that I have played many times on my calibrated monitors. It really is the best screen I have ever used on a laptop, and is buttery smooth with the 240hz refresh rate. Pairing with this are the 6 built-in Dolby Atmos speakers, which are surprisingly rich sounding for their size and the overall real estate within the laptop. They get quite loud, and at larger volumes have a good frequency presence from the low-end to the high-end. While I would definitely recommend a good pair of headphones for media consumption with any laptop, including this one, as that will still offer a better overall experience, the speakers in this are more than sufficient for casual sessions. You won’t get any real spatial audio presence from the Dolby Atmos capability of the speakers, but you do get a solid stereo presentation that is fully above average for most laptop speakers you will find. I should note that I did initially have some distortion issues with the speakers when I first got the laptop, but after a firmware and BIOS update, it all seems to have sorted out and I have not had any more issues since. Elsewhere on the laptop, you get plenty of I/O, with HDMI 2.1, USB-A, & USB-C ports, all of which mean you should be able to use this laptop without the need for an external dock, unless you need more peripherals. The charger that comes with the laptop does use a custom port, which is non-standard if you want to use the full-sized power brick, but you can also charge via USB-C, although at a slower-rate. If gaming, I would recommend using the included charger however to ensure you are getting the full power. GAMING Being a gaming laptop first and foremost, the main question I had getting this laptop was how it was going to perform with modern games, given it is a thin and light laptop first, and not the traditional bulky gaming laptops of old. The RTX 4080 laptop GPU has a 115w TGP, which is less than the 175w possible, but when combined with the Intel Ultra 9 185H CPU & 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM, is a very potent machine. I threw some of my favorite AAA games against it, and I was genuinely surprised how well it performed. With DLSS, Cyberpunk 2077 was playable with medium ray-tracing settings and Alan Wake 2 was playable with medium settings and path-tracing, yielding a better performance than almost any console can do today. While these games are some of the heaviest you can play today, the fact that this laptop was able to play them at playable framerates was really impressive.When I moved to less intensive games, like Resident Evil 4 and Spider-Man, the laptop excelled with high framerates in the 100’s and no real slowdown. Most of my time spent gaming with the laptop was in the “Turbo” mode while plugged-in, which results is a very loud fan and a lot of heat being pushed out the back of the laptop. In this mode I needed to use headphones to enjoy the games fully, but heat was kept well away from the key board and my hands, which meant I was never uncomfortable gaming on the machine. Playing in “Performance” mode was sufficient for lightweight games, and operated significantly quieter and cooler in operation. Battery life while gaming in any of these modes is not great, and you will definitely want to play any serious games while connected to power, unless you want to play on a shorter 1-2 hour timeframe. Overall, I was really impressed by the gaming performance of the laptop. It offers a serious experience, which is scalable depending on the games you play, and when coupled with the build quality and size of the laptop, feels a bit like magic at times, given it is often delivering a superior experience to most modern consoles while being significantly smaller and more power efficient. It isn’t a miracle worker, and you do still have a lot of heat and cooling needed to keep the laptop functioning well, but the machine is very effective with its vapor cooling system at removing heat from the system. If all you play is modern AAA games, I wouldn’t use this as my primary system unless I wanted an all-in-one machine I could take with me, but for non AAA gaming, or even games just a few years old, this machine should be able to handle them without a sweat. DLSS in particular is a real game changer for this machine, and really lets you leverage the higher refresh rate capabilities of the display.