Back in 2020, the original ROG Zephyrus G14 stood out as a 14-inch gaming laptop; a segment that wasn’t focused much by other laptop makers. Fast forward to today, we have quite a number of alternatives now, including the 2024 iteration of the ROG Zephyrus G14 in this review.
Sporting a sleeker chassis without the flashy AniMe Matrix display on the lid anymore, the latest Zephyrus G14 looks less like a gaming laptop and more like a…well, conventional laptop. Personally, I quite like this minimalist design language, which also shows the “evolution” of the machine that put the 14-inch gaming laptop in the spotlight.
But given the premium positioning of the Zephyrus G14, you do have to pay quite a bit of money for the laptop, which is its biggest drawback, in my opinion.
What It Is
| Display | 14-inch 3K ROG Nebula OLED (2880 x 1800), 120Hz |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS (8C/16T, up to 5.2GHz) |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 6GB GDDR6 |
| RAM | 16GB LPDDR5X 6400MHz |
| Storage | 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Camera | 1080p IR (Windows Hello) |
| Battery | 73Wh |
| Dimensions | 311 x 220 x 15.9~16.3 mm |
| Weight | 1.5kg |
| Audio | 4-speaker system |
| Ports | 1x USB-C 4.0 (DisplayPort/power delivery) 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (DisplayPort) 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 1x HDMI 2.1 1x microSD card slot |
| Price | RM8,299 |
On paper, the ROG Zephyrus G14 is a reasonably powerful gaming laptop. The Ryzen 9 8945HS is a capable processor, and while the RTX 4050 isn’t a particularly beefy GPU, it can still deliver playable frame rates in AAA titles; more on this in the next section of the review.
The ROG Nebula display of the Zephyrus G14 is also worth a mention here. It is the first time the OLED panel is offered on an ROG laptop, and it’s a stunning screen to look at with bright, vibrant colours, 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space, and good colour accuracy with Delta E<1 value.
The Good Stuff
Since the ROG Zephyrus G14 is a gaming laptop, let’s start with performance first. On paper, the RTX 4050 may not sound very impressive, but it’s actually more than capable at providing a pleasant gaming experience. Judge for yourself with these game benchmarks:
| Games (max settings @ 2880 x 1800) | Average FPS |
| Borderlands 3 (DX11) | 39.28 |
| Control (DX11) | 39.26 |
| Witcher 3 v4.04 (DLSS, HairWorks disabled) | 45.84 |
As for the Ryzen 9 8945HS processor under the hood of the Zephyrus G14, I put the chip through its paces in Cinebench. Churning out 17,073 points and 1,784 points in the multi-core and single-core tests respectively, these are very respectable figures.
What’s even more impressive is the system noise of the Zephyrus G14. While the fans are definitely audible when the gaming laptop is under heavy load, it does not get to the point where it is annoying. Basically, it does not sound like a vacuum cleaner on full blast, and it’s practically silent when I’m using the laptop for productivity tasks.
And then there’s the Zephyrus G14’s 14-inch 2880 x 1800 ROG Nebula display, which is very, very nice. This being an OLED panel, it can produce vivid colours with true, deep blacks. The 120Hz refresh rate provides great motion clarity too, and I love the screen’s 16:10 aspect ratio; the extra vertical screen real estate even makes the laptop ideal for productivity tasks.
Speaking of productivity, I’m impressed with the battery life of the Zephyrus G14. With the power plan set to battery saver and the display dimmed to a comfortable level, the laptop’s 73Wh battery can get me about six hours of use on a single charge, which involves a ton of web browsing, word processing, and light photo editing.
However, it’s worth noting that the review unit I received has seen some heavy usage; the usable capacity of the battery has been reduced to about 70Wh already. With that in mind, expect to get better battery life with a brand new unit of the laptop.
The Bad Stuff
There’s really only one drawback to the ROG Zephyrus G14: cost. Priced at RM8,299 for this RTX 4050 base model, the performance to cost ratio of the gaming laptop is not particularly great. After all, there are other 14-inch gaming laptops that offer a more powerful GPU for less money.
That being said, sheer raw performance is not the Zephyrus G14’s best selling point to me. Instead, it is the whole feature set of the laptop. From its thin and light design, portability, to the stunning ROG Nebula display, you’re paying a premium for the G14 for all of these features.
Is It Worth It?
If you want the absolute best performance for your money in a 14-inch form factor, the ROG Zephyrus G14 doesn’t exactly offer that. But what it does offer is a sleek design, a fantastic OLED display, and a portable design with solid build quality.
While there are more alternatives in the compact gaming laptop segment now, the Zephyrus G14 remains one of the most premium options in the market. It may not offer the best performance for the money, but it continues to be a fantastic gaming laptop with a premium appeal.