Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022) Review

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 is 14-inch gaming laptop features an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor paired with an AMD Radeon RX6700S graphics card.

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Design and Build

The design of the ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 is characterized by its elegant white finish adorned with a pleasing pattern. While it lacks the animated lid found in certain models, it remains visually striking and boasts a clean aesthetic. Personally, I appreciate the subtlety; I’m not a fan of gaming laptops that are overly flashy. According to ASUS’s website, you can also opt for a dark gray finish, which carries its own impressive charm.

In terms of build quality, this laptop shines with a rock-solid construction that exhibits very little, if any, flex in the chassis. It feels robust and reliable. Weighing in at just 1.65 kilograms, it’s remarkably portable, especially considering the substantial gaming power it packs. This means you can easily toss it into your bag and enjoy gaming on the go without feeling burdened by weight.

On the left side of the Zephyrus G14 2022, you’ll find the DC-in port for plugging in the laptop’s power supply. Next to it, there’s an HDMI 2.0b port, followed by a versatile USB 3.2 Gen 2 port that handles data transfer, charging, and display output. It’s worth noting that you can charge the laptop with up to a 100-watt USB power adapter using this port. Additionally, there’s a 3.5-millimeter microphone and headphone combo jack.

Moving over to the right side, you’ll notice a UHS-II microSD card reader, a new addition to this model. Next to it, there’s another USB port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2, which is primarily for data transfer and display output, as it doesn’t support charging.

User Upgradeability

Inside the ROG Zephyrus G14, there’s a unique memory setup. Eight gigabytes of RAM are soldered into the motherboard, making it non-upgradable. However, there’s an open SSD slot that allows you to add an additional 8 gigabytes of RAM, resulting in a total of 16 gigabytes. This configuration runs in dual-channel mode, and it features faster rank 8 RAM, which is a plus. If needed, you can max out this model at 24 gigabytes of RAM. There’s also another model available that includes 16 gigabytes soldered onto the motherboard, providing a total of 32 gigabytes. Theoretically, you can go even higher if necessary.

All	Read (MB/s)	Write (MB/s)
SEQ1M Q8T1	3615.89	3490.07
SEQ1M Q1T1	2294.11	3503.13
RND4K Q32T1	762.72	366.98
RND4K Q1T1	63.85	245.33

The PCIe Gen 4 SSD in the ROG Zephyrus G14 may not quite reach the typical Gen 4 speeds we’re accustomed to, as indicated in the read and write table. While we’d usually expect approximately double these speeds on a Gen 4 drive, this one delivers about half of that. However, in real-world usage, these speeds are still impressive, and you’re unlikely to notice a significant difference in performance.

On the connectivity front, this laptop features Wi-Fi 6c and Bluetooth 5.2, both of which perform as expected with reliable connections and ample range. During my week of testing, I encountered no issues in this regard, which is a positive sign.

Display and Speakers

One of the standout features of the Asus gaming laptop is its display, referred to as the Rog Nebula Display. The Rog Zephyrus G14 sports a 14-inch WQXGA display with a resolution of 2560 by 1600, which features a 16:10 aspect ratio. This aspect ratio is becoming a trend in gaming laptops, business laptops, and consumer laptops alike.

The shift to the 16:10 aspect ratio brings real benefits, allowing you to see more content on the display. This is particularly useful for productivity tasks such as working with word documents and spreadsheets, as the taller screen offers a more productive workspace. However, it’s worth noting that when consuming media optimized for the more common 16:9 aspect ratio, you may notice small black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. It’s a trade-off to consider depending on your usage.

Out of the box, the display on this laptop runs at a 60Hz refresh rate. To unlock the truly smooth scrolling and fluid gameplay that this high-quality display can deliver, you’ll need to go into the advanced display settings and switch it to 120Hz.

The display boasts a resolution of 2560 by 1600 and a brightness of 447 nits. While ASUS claims 500 nits, it’s still quite bright, and the anti-glare coating effectively minimizes glare and reflections, which is especially beneficial for gaming and productivity tasks.

You can expect deep blacks, excellent white points, decent contrast, and an impressive low delta E score of 0.97, indicating high color accuracy (scores below 2 are considered accurate). It offers full coverage of the color gamut with 100% sRGB, 87% Adobe RGB, 94% DCI-P3 wide color gamut, and 85% NTSC. This makes it ideal for tasks like photo editing in Lightroom or Photoshop, as well as video editing and color grading, where color accuracy is crucial.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 is equipped with quad speakers that deliver surprisingly punchy and high-quality audio. The sound output is impressive and has the ability to fill up a room quite nicely. What stands out is the bass, which is notably good, and the midrange frequencies are well-reproduced as well. Overall, for a laptop with quad speakers, the audio quality is top-notch.

IR Webcam

The ROG Zephyrus G14 now includes a front-facing webcam, a feature absent in previous models. This webcam offers a resolution of 720p and captures video at 30 frames per second. Additionally, it’s an IR webcam, enabling you to use facial recognition for Windows login.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The hinges on the Zephyrus G14 laptop are exceptionally good. You can easily open the lid with just one finger. The ergo lift hinge design provides a raised typing angle, enhancing your typing experience for added comfort. Additionally, it aids in maintaining good airflow within the laptop, contributing to its overall performance. The laptop also features a 180-degree hinge, allowing you to lay the screen flat for the best viewing angle in any situation.

The keyboard is a standout feature for me. With approximately 1.5 millimeters of key travel, it offers a satisfying tactile feedback, and I never felt like my fingers would bottom out. However, it’s worth noting that the white keys can sometimes blend in with the RGB backlighting, making it a bit challenging to differentiate between them. A slightly brighter RGB lighting would be a welcome improvement. The laptop also boasts a precision glass touchpad that’s highly responsive. Two-finger scrolling and various gestures work seamlessly, making it a pleasure to use.

Benchmarks and Performance

PCMARK 10	7,518
GEEKBENCH 5.3 (Single-Core)	1,599
GEEKBENCH 5.3 (Multi-core)	9,946
CINEBENCH R20	5,624
CINEBENCH R15	2,383 cb | 194.86 fps
CINEBENCH R23	Single-Core 1,505, Multi-Core 12,766
3DMARK Fire Strike	21,609
3DMARK Time Spy	8,496

The Zephyrus G14 offers three performance modes to suit your needs. In Silent Mode, the laptop operates almost silently, with hardly any fan noise, making it ideal for quiet work environments. Performance Mode strikes a balance between fan noise and performance, providing intermittent fan activity for better overall performance. Finally, in Turbo Mode the fans run constantly to deliver maximum performance.

This laptop is powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 6900 HS processor paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700S graphics card, and its performance is highly commendable. It handles everyday tasks such as Microsoft Office, email, web browsing, and media consumption (Netflix, Amazon, YouTube) with ease. The 14-inch display, which we’ll discuss shortly, enhances the media consumption experience. Even for more demanding tasks like 4K video editing with Premier Pro, this laptop performs admirably, and I have no complaints.

Gaming Performance

Games	QHD+ Turbo	QHD+ Perfromance
Cyberpunk 2077	63 FPS	54 FPS
FAR CRY 6	63 FPS	58 FPS
Doom: Eternal	120 FPS	99 FPS
FAR CRY 5	85 FPS	69 FPS
Red Dead Redemption 2	63 FPS	57 FPS

Gaming performance on the ROG Zephyrus G14 hits a sweet spot, particularly when in QHD Plus Turbo mode, outperforming the Performance mode in various popular titles. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Far Cry 6 deliver very playable frame rates and solid performance.

One notable feature is the MUX switch, allowing you to switch between the hybrid mode and discrete graphics mode. In hybrid mode, the laptop alternates between integrated and discrete graphics, while the discrete graphics mode exclusively uses the discrete GPU. When gaming on popular titles, setting it to QHD Plus Turbo with the discrete GPU provides approximately a 5% performance boost compared to hybrid mode.

The integrated graphics solution, the RDNA2 Radeon 680M, delivers impressive results, particularly in Full HD Plus gaming. It significantly outperforms last year’s Vega 8 integrated graphics and even surpasses the integrated Iris Xe graphics from the previous year. This demonstrates the impressive capabilities of the RDNA2 graphics.

Surface Temps and Fan Noise

When I run the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 to a Prime95 stress test to assess its thermal behavior under heavy load, I observed that the CPU with turbo boost reached a temperature of approximately 96 degrees Celsius on the core temperature. Remarkably, despite running hot, it managed to maintain good clock speeds with very minimal, if any, thermal throttling.

Regarding surface temperatures, even under heavy load, the laptop never became excessively hot to the point where it couldn’t be touched. It can get quite warm but remains within reasonable limits, thanks in part to the ergo lift hinge design, which promotes good airflow and efficient venting.

In terms of fan noise, the dual fans do become quite active, especially when the laptop is in turbo mode. They operate constantly and at a relatively high volume. However, in silent mode, as the name suggests, the fans are virtually silent, hardly kicking in at all. In performance mode, they activate intermittently when necessary, but it’s not a constant noise like in turbo mode. For tasks such as Microsoft Office, email, and web browsing, the laptop maintains a quiet operation, which is a positive feature.

Battery Performance

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022) (76 Wh)	12 hours 02 minutes
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2021) (76 Wh)	11 hours 21 minutes
Razer Blade 15 (2021) (80 Wh)	7 hours 35 minutes
MSI GE76 Raider (99.9 Wh)	6 hours 29 minutes

The ROG Zephyrus G14 is equipped with a 76-watt-hour battery, and in my continuous web browsing test over Wi-Fi, it delivered an impressive 12 hours and 2 minutes of battery life. Depending on your usage, you can expect between seven and eight hours of battery life. If you want to extend battery life further, consider switching from the 120Hz to the 60Hz refresh rate, which can provide an additional hour or two, depending on your tasks.

For longer gaming sessions, it’s advisable to keep the laptop plugged in, as you can expect around one to two hours of intensive gaming on battery power. Thankfully, the laptop comes with a 240-watt power adapter that takes roughly two hours to fully charge the laptop, which is quite reasonable. Additionally, you can use the USB cable, which supports up to 100 watts of charging capacity, to keep your laptop powered.

Conclusion

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 impresses with its significant upgrades over the previous model. With a 14-inch QHD Plus display, enhanced power efficiency, and an added 720p IR webcam, it offers improved functionality. The quad speakers provide surprisingly good audio quality, and the option for RAM and SSD upgrades enhances versatility. Despite concerns regarding SSD speeds and heating issues, its sleek design, robust performance, and exceptional battery life make it a compelling choice for both gaming enthusiasts and professionals seeking a powerful yet portable laptop.

89%

89%

Thin and Light Gaming Laptop

Highly recommend Zephyrus G14 (2022) if you're looking for a thin and light gaming laptop.

Pros

1. 14
2. Cleaner design and improved ergonomics
3. IR Webcam
4. Improved Power Efficiency
5. Upgradeable RAM and SSD
6. More Powerful than 2021 Model
7. Excellent Performance

Cons

1. SSD speeds should be faster (Gen 4)
2. Runs Hot Under Load
3. 720p Webcam (Should be 1080p)

• Design

  10
• Display

  10
• Ports

  9
• Hardware

  10
• Performance

  10
• Keyboard

  9
• Touchpad

  9
• Thermals and Fan Noise

  8
• Audio

  8
• Webcam / Mics

  8
• Battery Life

  8
• Price Value

  8