Customer Ratings & Reviews

It's hard to know what you're missing out on when compared to other laptops if you've never owned a gaming laptop of a similar caliber to the M16. If you get the M16 I guarantee there will be a lot you will be satisfied with a lot like me and others who have left their reviews here. It's still important, however, to contemplate what features you truly desire and then decide what laptop you're going to buy. You could be buying a Lenovo Legion 5 Pro instead of this, which has the same bright 16 inch screen, twice the storage and a higher wattage RTX 3070 for the same the price as this laptop. You could also get a Zephyrus G15 for the same price as this which has AMD and an RTX 3070 for the same price point. You could get an Eluktronics Mech laptop, which offers the best performance for the money. You should only be getting this laptop if you absolutely want it for it's specialties. In this case it would be the brighter taller display, combined with a slightly weaker performance and slightly better design than the Zephyrus G15. If you're looking for a pure monster gaming machine that is relatively portable, then there are better options for your money. I can also state some additional pros of this laptop. One of them being the excellent keyboard typing experience (though there is no prt scn key if you need that). The speakers being relatively good especially when compared to almost every other gaming laptop out there. The Armoury Crate software does offer some useful performance, cooling control, and battery saving options. Optimal laziness with the finger-print reader. The overall design being sleek, light, and not to gamery despite the ROG branding. The only downsides to this laptop I think really come down to value: what you're buying it for and when you compare it to other laptops. You could argue fan noise is problematic, but most gaming laptop fans blow and sound like a hurricane (which is good because the last thing you want is some weak fans on you thin and light gaming laptop).

The ROG M16 is one of the most premium choices available in terms of aesthetics and usability for under $2,000. I tried out the G14 (3060 variant), G15 (3070 variant), and this laptop (3060 variant) for a considerable amount of time before ultimately deciding on keeping this laptop. I am confident others in this market are debating among these three models, so I will try justifying my reasonings with what I really liked about the M16 over the other. Things I liked: 1. Finish: the M16 has a velvety/leathery finish on the chassis, keyboard, and trackpad that isn’t found on the other two laptops. Whereas the G14 and G15 is only a magnesium chassis that is colder to touch, the M16 feels more like soft carbon fiber which makes it more premium and improves the typing experience. 2. Screen: Easily the biggest factor for many people considering this laptop, the M16 has a bigger screen, yet the size of the laptop is identical to the G15. This means that the M16 is nearly bezeless. After using this laptop for a day, I wasn’t able to ignore the fat chin that is present on the G15. To make things even more attractive, the M16 screen registers about 550 nits in brightness (G14 and G15 only have 350 nits). What’s the real-world difference between these different brightnesses? I like studying in cafes by the windows. With the G14 and G15 on max brightness, I still had a less-than-pleasant time reading the screen. The M16 at 70% brightness reaches the max brightness of the G15. With the M16 at max brightness, I can see everything clearly even in the face of sunlight. Lastly, the M16 has much more accurate colors than the G14/G15. The G15 seems to have a slight green tint to every color, and I didn’t notice this until I started using the M16. 3. Webcam: the M16 separates itself from the G14 and G15 with a 720p webcam. I thought that I could live without a webcam, but I quickly realized how much I missed it when I couldn’t video chat with friends or use it for work needs. Buying an external webcam would not only cost more money but would also be cumbersome to plug in or put away. The webcam on the M16 is nothing special (bonus points had it been 1080p) but having a bad but convenient integrated webcam is magnitudes better than having a good but inconvenient external webcam. 4. Temperature: the M16 with the i9-11900h has lower temperatures (to my surprise) than the G14 and G15 with the Ryzen 9 5800. At idle and under CPU stress, the M16 managed to be about 5 degrees Celsius cooler. While this didn’t translate into a longer battery for the M16 (Intel chips still draw much more power than Ryzen), it did make for more comfortable gaming sessions. One of the reasons the temperature is lower is because the fans on the M16 seem to spin much louder than the G14 and G15. 5. Quality control: while my M16 didn’t have any significant issues that I experienced with the G15 (backlight bleeding, warped screen, chassis creaking), my M16 still has some slight chassis creaking that I don’t mind enough to return. Reading other people’s reviews, it seems that the M16 has better quality control than the G15. However, the G14 still has the best quality control of all three. 6. Speakers: the speakers of the M16 and G15 are identical in sound quality. They are superb for gaming laptops but not nearly as good as the ones found in the M1 Macbook. The G14 speakers sounded distorted and buzzed when at max volume which was very annoying. Things I didn’t like: 1. Battery life: I am noticing nearly 20% less battery in the M16 compared to the G15. This is attributed mainly to the intel chip drawing about 10 watts more than the Ryzen chip. While this was a tough pill to swallow as I am a student, I can compromise because the battery life still averages around 6 hours on full charge, and the M16 conveniently supports USB C charging. The battery life is not enough for me to give up its god-like screen and webcam. 2. Value: do not be mistaken, you are paying a massive premium for the portability, screen, and battery of the M16. My laptop with a 3060 costs as much as the 3070 G15. 3060 laptops with the same or higher TDP (wattage) in 2021 can be found for $1200. The M16 is suited for the person who is willing to pay for portability and battery. I would not recommend this machine to anybody who is looking for just a gaming computer. It can currently play any AAA title on 1080p high to max settings with about 60-100 fps, but you won’t be able to play on its native 1440p resolution. I would recommend waiting for the 3070 variant that comes out later if you want to tackle 1440p gaming.

So im going to be straight to the point here this thing performs amazingly well even for "last years" 11th gen cpu. Youll notice a lot of people talking about fan noise.. i thought no way it cant be that bad. It IS. When you play a game im not kidding you have to turn the great speakers up all the way to overcome it. When you dont have a headset you use of course and when you dont use a headset watch out because not only is it just a fan air rushing sound its a high pitched extremely annoying sound (coil whine i hear??) Seriously though its not tolerable and im very tolerant of things like this but it was just too much. Everything else about the computer i absolutely loved! From the nebula display to the components, the QC on this was perfect but those darn fans were an absolute killer!!! Thing is the cpu and gpu never even got that hot never crossed 85c on maxxed settings but the kicker is the fans make that loud piercing sound when there not even full tilt, once they reach full speed its insane its like standing in a wind tunnel. I tried to ignore all those reviews trust me lol its that bad. Shame.

I’ve been using this laptop for almost 2 years and it’s served me really well. Runs very smoothly and can handle some heavy load. However, due its sleek and thin design, this machine can get hot and LOUD. I messed around the different fan settings and even at low speeds, you can always hear them. Coming from a powerful quiet pc setup, this bothered me a lot at first, but you get used to it over time. The display is beautiful and crisp, absolutely stunning colors.

My first gaming laptop purchase. I’m completely satisfied with it’s performance. I’m already ok with 1080p display and 30 - 60 fps. Battery life is about 4 hours for regular use and drains fast when gaming so I suggest playing while it’s charging. It gets hot really fast and can be noisy but, I didn’t mind because I’m wearing earphones. I took a bunch of photos showing what it can do.

It was a tough decision between all gaming laptops available in the market. I was looking for a laptop that could last at least +7 years, as my old 2012 did. The 16inch @165Hz is excellent not just for gaming but also for productivity. With its thin bezel, this laptop will age well. The design is solid, which makes a 2020 Legion 5 look outdated. The i9-11900H has a superb performance as well as the RTX3060. At peak utilization, gets HOT but the fan does a great job of maintaining the temp, so it does not go to thermal throttle. Fans at 100% speed are noisy. You can undervolt the CPU down to -80mV and tweak the power usage using the ROG Armoury Crate as well as the GPU. The top center, where the status LEDs are, also gets hot but isn’t a big issue since you don’t really reach your hands up there. The mouse touchpad is nice and large. The keyboard is good, but the only downside are the tiny arrow keys. Keyboard backlight LEDs can be seen at certain angle, which sometimes distracts me a little bit. The weight and size are great compare to some other gaming laptops. A downside I see is the onboard memory that comes with this particular model GU603HM-211.ZM16, is just 8GB.

All around a great laptop. The panel is beautiful with only a slight light bleed, color, brightness is OLED like but it is fast and smooth. Keyboard is one zone RGB and has all the I/O you'll need. Mine had a good build quality with very slight creaking on bezel by the webcam area. Oh ya it has a WEBCAM! I personally don't care either way but it is nice just to have it. Wish they had the option to get the RTX3070 but they don't. RTX3060 is good and will handle most AAA titles. Also wish they can get this panel with the Ryzen chip instead of Intel, but I guess that is why they have the G15. Which let me add its a good laptop too, but the screen is not that bright and there is a lot different QC issues, I bought 4 and returned 4, all had some sort of speaker popping noise, creaking in the chassis and few other issues. I am picky but I am not dropping 1900 for a laptop with bad QC out of the box. Over all this is a great laptop that can handle anything you throw at it for work and play. Very little compromise on this gaming laptop for a reasonable price. Oh ya the LED indicator in the middle of the laptop doesn't reflect off the panel that will bother you, only if you turn the brightness complete down in a completely dimmed room. Other wise its not that noticeable

Most of the reviews are probably going to be focused on centered, and yes it's a beast. So I won't go into too much detail on that. I game on a larger 17" lenovo laptop and work on a 16" macbook pro. This machine hits the sweet spot between the two to where i'm comfortable replacing both with one laptop now. The Zephyrus has a very similar footprint to the 16" macbook pro, though is a tad bit thicker, but fits in all the cases I had for the macbook. it's also a tad bit heavier, but still portable enough to travel with. It has the same 2560x1600 resolution as the mbp, which since i've owned has spoiled me to the point to where i don't enjoy working on a 1080p 16:9 res screen. now I have that in addition to the 165hz and a matte finish, it's pretty much perfect... speakers aren't as good as the mbp but just as loud, and better than most gaming laptops i've owned. also apple's trackpads are hard to beat, but asus has made a good attempt in the zephyrus using an oversized glass surface, it's still really good. plenty of ports, no longer have to carry any dongles around. it supports 100W charging through its USB C ports, which means I can use my mbp charger.. do note that the laptop comes with a 230W charger. so if you're doing anything cpu/gpu intensive while on 100W usb, it probably won't charge the battery. works perfectly in my case where it's low-power during work, so i can keep my usb charger there and the main charger at home. speaking of low-power, the battery life is flexible enough to where if I'm just using it on the couch at home for web browsing and watching youtube, it will last me the entire evening without any trouble. but don't expect more than a couple hours of gaming at full power. sure it's got an rgb keyboard and a bit of glimmer on the lid, but with the keyboard lighting off or set to white, you wouldn't know it's a beast of a gaming laptop, and is very unassuming on my office desk. be ready to wipe this thing down A LOT if you have clammy hands like me, it's quite the fingerprint smudge magnet. it feels like it stays warm even in sleep mode, so i've been hesitant to have it sleep while it's in my bag. however it boots up so quick that shutting down completely has not bothered me much. so far, very happy with my purchase!

Loving it. I had the Asus ROG G14 for two weeks and it has very similar specs, GeForce 3060, Ryzen 9 (this has the Intel equiv. Core i9), 16GB ram, and it was a great machine...BUT it was lacking a few things I really wanted because this is my daily work/school/gaming PC, namely a Camera (need it for Zoom), SD Card (for drone and just moving files around easily), and finally little bit bigger screen for general work and gaming. This machine meets and exceeds what I was wanting. Has a micro SD card slot, camera, and 16" screen. Another great feature is the 16" screen is integrated into a 15" body, so size-wise this is still pretty portable, only weighs 3/4 lb. more than the G14. Screen res. is better than the G14 (1920x1080) to the M16 (2560x1600), and refresh rate G14 (120Hz) and M16 (165Hz). BTW, this fella gets warm when heavy esports gaming, so I picked up a nice cooling pad from right here on BB (see in pic). Also has a cool RGB keyboard (G14 has just white backlit), I think I like the black finish also compared to the white. White is nice, but black looks more professional IMHO. Now, I know this is a little more pricy, but I actually bought a customer return which was a GREAT deal. It was in "Excellent" condition according to Best Buy, and they were right. I'm typing this review using the M16, and it's a solid keyboard, really nice to type on. Anyway, that's it, I would say this will easily last someone 5 years if taken care of. I give it two thumbs up. :) - Steve

Wow just wow. Been 1 year and half. Excellent i9 core . Gaming is just awesome . Nvidia RTX 3060 for gaming blew me away. Asus have out done yourselves. And plus best buy employee who help me fine this great pc. Thank you.

Gaming enthusiasts have been anxiously anticipating the appearance of the new Asus M16 gaming laptops and speculating about their potential configurations. The wait is over and Asus has delivered their newest ROG (Republic of Gamers) laptop models, and I was extremely pleased to acquire one at the earliest possible opportunity. The new Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603HM-211.ZM16 is an absolutely outstanding machine. Its excellent specifications are matched with incredible performance. It is extremely fast and powerful and the graphics are stunning. I have purchased several Asus laptops over more than the past decade. I have been a fan of Asus laptops because they are typically very good, reliable machines. The M16 GU603HM-211.ZM16 is preloaded with Windows 10 Home Edition. After completing the Windows 10 setup process the user is prompted to sign into (or create) their MyAsus account which allows for automated product registration, as well as a system check for updates. The MyAsus app immediately offered a Bios update. The M16 is thin, compact and relatively lightweight. The black M16 case (a white case is also offered) is plastic with perforations on the top and a reflective, prismatic film that is aesthetically interesting. The top incorporates a unique “Ergolift” hinge design which has a cam shape that elevates the bottom of the laptop as the top is rotated open, ostensibly to provide additional space for air circulation under the laptop. The Ergolift hinge only provides additional elevation when the display panel is rotated beyond approximately 90°. The hinge is not full-width, and there is a fair amount of flex in the thin top case which necessitates using due care when opening and closing the lid, which appears to be somewhat delicate. The hinge allows 180° rotation of the case allowing the opened laptop to lay flat on a table. The bottom of the case also incorporates a full-width fixed rubber foot for airflow. There are cooling vents located on either side, the rear and bottom of the case. The M16 is equipped with two fans and six heat pipes to moderate operating temperatures. Thermals can be monitored via Armoury Crate, and system performance is likewise managed through that app to manage system thermals and battery consumption rate. The cooling vents located on the rear of the case direct heated airflow directly at the lower quadrant of the display panel. The potential effects of the heat exposure on the display panel is undetermined. I hope that Asus has thoroughly evaluated this issue. The case and palm-rest area below the keyboard and surrounding the very large, very responsive touch pad, is a soft-touch, rubbery material which has a tendency to show fingerprints and handprints. The keyboard has excellent feel and response. The key travel is ideal with just the right amount of resistance and rapid return. The keys are fairly quiet, as well. However, in an evident design concession to providing speaker grilles on both sides of the keyboard, there is no numeric (NumPad) adjacent to the keyboard. I miss the ancillary numeric keypad in general, but it is specifically useful with certain games, including Flight Simulator. There is an array of media keys above the keyboard, but there is no PrintScreen key. The keyboard has single zone RGB backlighting. The backlighting is good and entertaining, with a variety of colors, patterns and options available through Asus Armoury Crate. The M16 has a large, approximately 5-1/4” x 3-11/32” glass touchpad, which offers exceptionally smooth functionality. The Asus Armoury Crate app is a robust dashboard which provides a comprehensive array of real-time system performance data including CPU, Memory, Thermals, Fan speed, etc., and allows setting parameters for the screen, keyboard lighting, customized scenarios, and other system settings. The M16 provides a fingerprint sensor for biometric security, which is very cleverly integrated into the laptop’s power switch. Depressing the power button stores a fingerprint which is forwarded for authentication during the boot process. This very unique and cool feature is working very reliably. Only one fingerprint is stored, however. The M16 series are all Intel based machines, with a couple of i7 models and a variety of I9 based variants. The M16 GU603HM-211.ZM16, is a well-equipped, nicely configured mid-tier model. The CPU is an Intel, Tiger-Lake, 11th generation Core i9-11900H (8Core/16Thread), 2.5 GHz (with a maximum clock speed up to 4.9 GHz!!!) chip with 24MB Cache, installed with liquid metal for optimal heat conductance and dissipation from this powerful CPU. Intel lists the TDP (Thermal Design Power) at 45 Watts. The M16 series has NVIDIA GeForce RTX30 Series GPUs, ranging from the RTX3050 to the RTX3070. The M16 GU603HM-211.ZM16 is equipped with the RTX3060 which is based on the GA106 Ampere chip and comes with 6GB of GDDR6 graphics memory and 80 Watts TDP (95Watts with Dynamic Boost). The RTX3060 also boasts 2nd Generation Ray Tracing Cores and 3rd Generation Tensor Cores, which greatly speed up graphics computations and rendering. Some other M16 models are equipped with the RTX3070 GPU with 8 GB of memory. With the i9 powerhouse CPU and the superb RTX3060 GPU, the highlight of the M16 is the display. The M16 has a 16” panel mounted in a 15.6” frame. The M16 panel is a 16:10, AU Optronics WQHD 2560x1600 IPS, 165 Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time panel, 100% DCI-P3 with Adaptive Sync, Pantone Validated panel with Dolby Vision. This panel is ideally suited to gaming with its tall aspect ratio, fast refresh rate and response time, and absolutely outstanding color fidelity, and the Adaptive Sync which prevents stuttering and frame tearing. The display panel is phenomenal. It is a bright, clear, fast, almost flawless display that is a pleasure to look at. Game visuals and game performance are genuinely outstanding! The color rendition is incredible, and performance is likewise superb thanks to the combination of a powerful CPU, great GPU and fabulous display panel. Even the most resource intensive games ran flawlessly. From GTA V, to Call of Duty to Assassin’s Creed to Flight Simulator 2020, every game was smooth, fast and flawless. There was no lag, stutter, frame tearing or other performance deficits. Gameplay was incredibly smooth and responsive. The M16 provided the best gaming experience that I have encountered! Resultant from the 16” panel residing in a 15.6” frame, the bezels are incredibly thin. The bezels measure approximately 6/32” wide on the sides and approximately 12/32” wide on the top. The top bezel has the addition of a 720p, HD webcam at its center. Asus located three large LED indicators for Power, Charging and Disk Activity on the top, rear edge of the case, immediately below the display panel. This results in those LEDs being reflected on the screen, which is most noticeable when dark scenes are displayed. The M16 GU603HM-211.ZM16 has 8 GB of DDR4 memory soldered to the board, and another 8GB on a 3200 MHz DIMM. The system supports a maximum 40 GB of memory. Other M16 variants have different amounts of memory. The M16 GU603HM-211.ZM16 supports PCIe 4.0, however this model is equipped with a 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD. Some other M16 models are equipped with PCIe 4.0 SSDs ranging from 520GB to 2TB capacity. I do not understand the provision of the PCIe 3.0 SSD, when PCIe 4.0 provides double the bandwidth (64GB), double the Gigatransfer bit rate (32GT/s) and double the frequency (16GHz) and ensures the absolute fastest load times and performance of drive-speed dependent software. The types and quantities of ports for connectivity are fairly good, especially considering the thin form-factor of the M16. On the right side of the case there is one USB-A 3.2 Gen1 port and one MicroSD Card reader. On the left side of the case there is a barrel plug type DC power port for use with the 240 Watt, 20 Volt DC @ 12 Amp power supply, one HDMI 2.0b port, one RJ45 LAN port, one Thunderbolt 4 port, one USB-C 3.2 Gen2 Display/Power Delivery port, and one 3.5mm Audio jack. The left side of the case is congested, and the ports are near the front where USB cables and drives are most likely to be in the way. Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is supported as well as dual band Bluetooth 5.2. The M16 audio is outstanding. There are six speakers comprised of 2 tweeters and 4 woofers delivering Dolby Atmos audio with remarkable spatial qualities that really enhances the gaming experience. However, the audio volume levels are somewhat conservative. The M16 is powered by a 90 Wh, four cell Li-ion battery, with fast charging that recovers 50% of charge in 30 minutes. Although it is best to be plugged in when gaming, during other utilization, the excellent battery capacity and performance, and extremely rapid recharge is appreciated. It is interesting that Asus elected to make the M16 an Intel based system. Perhaps this was a strategic decision to make the M16 a more diversified, rather than single purpose system? In fact, the M16 is not only suitable for gaming (although it is certainly tailored to be a gaming “beast”). Resource demanding, graphics intensive creative applications including Adobe Creative Cloud applications and AutoCAD perform brilliantly on the M16. The M16 is extremely well suited to creative work and business productivity use as well as gaming. In summary, the Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603HM-211.ZM16 is the best, most robust laptop that I have experienced. It is outstanding in every respect and its suitability to all CPU and GPU demanding games and applications is extraordinarily impressive. I can unhesitatingly recommend the Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603HM-211.ZM16!

Still getting used to it since it's my first gaming laptop. Otherwise, I like how fast it runs, the colors, the screen is more matte than glossy. Though it does attract a lot of dust or handprint which I'm fine with. Here and there I get these glitches or display problems where everything displays in 3-4 rows consecutively or sometimes the screen flickers and or shakes. But eventually, it goes back to normal after a while. Also sometimes after walking away and wanting to turn the screen on I get a black screen but I found out with ppl who had this laptop I need to press shift+ ctrl+ window+ b to get back in. For now, I don't see the big deal but long run I don't know if it will become an issue. At least I have Geek squad insurance for 3 years.

Great Laptop one of the best performance I've seen there, it comes with a thunderbolt wich makes everything faster and easier for my video editing

An excellent laptop at an affordable price. I’ve had this system almost 2 years and I haven’t had any major problems. I’ve played modern games like PUBG and World of Warcraft. I also used it for editing content on Photoshop. Love the look, love the hardware, a great system for sure!

ASUS ROG 16 Specs: Processor: Intel Core i9 11th generation H series (Tiger Lake) RAM: 16 GB memory GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 6GB DDR 4 Storage: 1TB SSD Pcie v4.0 Display: WQHD (2560 x 1600) This Asus ROG 16 inches WQHD display with adaptive 156Hz refresh rate is a great gaming laptop; it is lightweight and performs surprisingly fast. Combining the 9th generation Intel core processor i9 H series (Tiger Lake) and Nvidea RTX 3060 provides an increased gaming experience besides handling the hefty workloads on PC. The prismatic film design in which colors barely shine through is sleek and modern even though the body is made of plastic, but it feels premium, and nothing is observed to be cheapy made. Thin bezels are remarkable, and the ergoLift hinge mechanism is smartly designed; when open the display, it would lift it further down and pushes the laptop up to allow better keyboard typing and better ventilation. Cooling system, I found that the hot air blows at the bottom part of the screen during a heavy gaming session. I checked that a couple of times, and it does nothing, but I wanted to share it in my review. However, I managed the fan speed on Asus Armoury Crate, but that compromised my CPU and GPU performance. Setup was straightforward, with few steps to finalize Windows 10 setup. The power button and fingerprint scanner are integrated, so both work together; I simply press and unlock your PC, which awesome. However, the integrated webcam is available for face recognition as an alternative method of unlocking the PC. Connectivity and availability of ports, this gaming laptop is powered by Wifi 6 that is all about speed in addition to Bluetooth v 5.2 1 HDMI v 2, Gigabit Ethernet LAN, 2 USB-A 3.2, and 2 USB type C, one of them is a thunderbolt, and one is power delivery, 3.5 audio jack, and micro sd card. Performance is outstanding, and at the time of writing this review, the regular use as an office laptop, it does work very well smooth and no lagging issue so far, but it stands out in gaming, the Core i9 H series processor and GPU RTX 3060 provide the next level of gaming, I play primarily 60Hz refresh rate online games, and for my one week of use, I honestly say this laptop handles high graphics specs easily and performs very very well and did not notice any delay or lag or screen tearing. I like the adaptive sync technology as GPU and display sync variable refresh rate based on what is on the screen even during gaming like in my Tom Clancy's The Division 2. The standards are 60 fps, but this drops to 35fps based on the graphics rendering need. Keyboard keys are well-spaced, and RGB lighting is awesome. The trackpad is large and smooth. Asus Armoury Crate is essential to manage and create scenario profiles for using and customizing the laptop, such as keyboard lighting and fan speed for better cooling as needed. This useful software can be accessed from the downloaded apps, or the dedicated button next to the volume controls onboard. Dolby is equipped for having high-quality audio and video, Dolby Atmos built-in speakers, and Dolby Vision for videos. The speakers sound outstanding, and the mic is not quite noise-canceling capable as when I tested it with my friends, they still hear noise around me; nevertheless, the mic offers a good quality of voice compared to what I have on other computers. Overall, this Asus laptop is really great for gaming and everyday use; it's lightweight, super-fast, Liquid metal cooling system, multiple connectivity ports, sleek design with powerful hardware that handles everything ranging from gaming to office work.

Had an ASUS ROG G531GT before this. Almost but not even two years after buying it, the charger port became loose from the motherboard in some way, which wasn't repairable unless I ordered a new motherboard that was the same price as the computer. I then bought an open-box ASUS ROG Zephyrus 14" G14. When it was delivered, the "Geek Squad IT" account was still on it, and Windows wasn't even activated on it, and when I took it to Geek Squad in person, they still weren't even able to even activate Windows, forcing me to return the laptop. Because i got it during a now-ended sale and thus lost the sales price, the staff offered to give me a great deal on this laptop, ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16, again open-box. It was hard saying no to a "Open Box-Excellent" laptop for $950 that is originally $1850 while not on sale, nothing else would get me the specs I wanted for that price and im not rich. Took it home and found only an MSI-brand charger in the box - a USB-C charger that technically charged it through the USB-C port but the voltage was technically 0.5v too low which is still risky. So I went back to Best Buy the same day, and the same guy just said "here, take the charger from the Zephyrus G14 you returned, its the same one as for the M16 and will work". Took his word for face value, went home, looked it up and found the charger (pictured) was the same voltage but lower wattage than what was needed (180W vs 240W), forcing me to buy another $90 charger from some random company in China because ASUS isn't even selling a direct replacement, despite giving this specific 240W charger its own fancy product page online. On to the actual laptop - the specs are great. Build quality seems a notch up, im less worried about things like the headphone and charger ports breaking so easily like on my last ASUS Rog. Windows 11 was a nice surprise. Its very fast performance wise, the screen is very very nice (not the absolute best but way better than any gaming laptop ive had thus far, and big!) and the fans on the side are mostly quiet and keep it cool. Haven't tried gaming yet since the correct laptop charger hasn't arrived yet (and gaming could push the wattage requirement of the laptop up), but I bet most games work great and I fully plan to play my Steam libary. Battery charges fast and can last 3-4 hours i think, not sure but its definitely so much better than my last laptop if not top-tier. But there have been several problems: 1) The screen came with damage, in the form of a blue smudge about 1-2 inches across the middle-top, that is only visible when the screen is powered but the color is black in that spot or the whole screen. So say, during a dark scene in a movie, it is rather noticeable. I would have returned the laptop because of it, but I think it can be repaired for free by my Accidental Coverage plan whenever I feel like it or if it gets worse. Turning the screen brightness down helps some too. Tried to take a photo of it, you can kind of see it but my phone messes up how the rest of screen actually looks. 2) I got this laptop in part for music production (i9, 16gb ram and 1tb hard drive is really good for these purposes), but on my preferred audio driver in my digital audio workstation (DAW), sooooo much electrical noise-interference is picked up in recordings when the laptop is plugged in. This didn't happen on my old laptop. Thankfully the battery lasts much longer on this laptop so i can plan charging the laptop in advance of recording sessions. 3) This was a problem on my old ASUS ROG too but its worse on this laptop - the RGB colors of the keyboard, as controlled by ASUS's ARMOURY CRATE app and its Aura Sync function, basically can't be controlled anymore. I'll select a setting I want, and it just wont change at all. Or sometimes it will change only after 5 minutes of waiting. but often not even that. It's really frustrating. 4) I've only noticed this once but it was for several hours on end - coil whine. At least I think that's what it was. A high-pitched, pitch-alternating sound emitting from in/near the charger port. It was only super noticeable when the room was quiet and the A/C wasn't on, but even then my ears could, like, sense it and it was so annoying. Really hope it doesn't come back. 5) Speakers are only okay, maybe bad - not the quietest but definitely not the loudest, same goes for audio quality. There is a significant amount of white noise emitting from the speakers whenever the laptop even senses audio (for example, if a browser tab is "muted", the white noise still emits from the speakers. It's only noticeable when you are in a quiet room, and less noticeable if the laptop is at full volume, but the noise is ALWAYS there. Maybe I was a fool to have stuck with ASUS ROG. This large lineup of laptops has great reviews and many people love it, but they always seem to have issues for me as discussed above. If you can get a crazy deal on an open-box, you're still gambling. The main reason I didn't return this one was because I was already so tired of dealing with Best Buy/Geek Squad and them continuously dropping the ball. I would recommend buying this laptop new or not at all, and be prepared for potential hardware issues especially.

Gamers are notoriously picky, and I feel it’s hard for gamers to find that ‘perfect’ laptop. Boy, does this one come close. I can’t imagine another laptop giving you the same value and performance. For perspective, we purchased a gaming laptop at the beginning of last summer. We were stuck home and needed a new computer, so we decided on a nice gaming laptop. We went with an ASUS ROG G15, it was rocking a AMD Ryzen 7 chipset with a NVIDIA GTX 1660 chipset. Needless to say, this has taken our experience to a new level. Build quality is what you would come to expect from ASUS. It feels premium, and unlike some other gaming laptops, the design here is subtle. I would have no problem taking this out at work and using in a meeting. The lid has a unique subtle chromatic effect. You do get the RGB lighting around the keyboard, but this can also be tweaked to fit your taste or situation. The area around the keyboard/trackpad is covered in a soft rubbery material. It can show some oils, but a quick wipe down clears it up. We had an older gaming laptop that had a similar finish that held up pretty well, but we wiped it down periodically. I love that the screen can fold all the way back so you can always find that sweet spot when viewing the screen. The screen itself feels thin and the bezels are super thin. It’s astonishing they could fit a 16” screen in such a small footprint. Going back to the keyboard/trackpad for a minute; I can honestly say that it is one of my favorite keyboards to use. I prefer it over my other wired and bluetooth keyboards. The only other keyboard I have enjoyed using this much was the one on my M1 MacBook Pro. The trackpad is also huge and super nice to use, but for gaming, I obviously prefer to go with a separate mouse. Performance is amazing. This thing rocks some very respectful specs. It has the new 11th gen i9-11900H processor with 16gb of RAM, 1TB of fast SSD, and a NVIDIA RTX 3060 graphics cards with 6gb of RAM. Needless to say, this laptop can handle any game you toss at it. As you can imagine, I am running games at max/ultra graphic settings and getting high frame rates. Even in long gaming sessions, I never noticed performance being throttled back because of thermal issues. The fans can get loud, but that is kind of expected in just about any gaming laptop. Fan noise is kind of the sacrifice we have come to expect from having portable gaming powerhouses. I played some Fortnite, Valorant, Borderlands 3, Witcher 3, Control, Minecraft, WoW, CoD, and Apex. I was able to run all of these games at the highest graphical setting with some of the NVIDIA RTX features on, and was hitting frame rates generally over 100 for most of the games with a couple coming into the 80s. Again, with highest settings, the RTX setting enabled, and zero throttling. I have no worries about running any game on this beast. Saying its future proof is difficult to say with any piece of gaming equipment since things change so quickly, but this is as close to that as I think you’re gonna get in a portable system. Battery life is respectful. I was able to use it at work and managed to get through most of my day without having to charge it. This was with email, using the browser, Teams conferences, Excel, and streaming some video. I’d say about 5-6 hours and I was still left with a little battery at the end of the day. NVIDIA and Asus do a great job of managing power when on battery. I didn’t game like this, but for work it’s definitely manageable. I can’t imagine finding another laptop that offers so much in such a great portable package. You get the new Tiger Lake Intel i9 processor, 16gb of RAM, 1TB of fast SSD storage, the amazing NVIDIA RTX 3060 graphics card, and you get to view that all that power through a beautiful 16” 2560 x 1440 WQXGA screen able to run at 165Hz. All this power and it still manages to keep the weight under 5 lbs. It’s just amazing. This is an easy recommendation for anyone looking at pushing their gaming experience higher. Definitely my favorite piece of tech this year.

Superb gaming laptop at a decent price. Runs everything with ease. Doesn’t overheat all crazy. I had to return the 1st one I ordered because of screen flickering from windows 11 and it would black screen when it went on sleep mode but I exchanged it for another one kept windows 10 and everything is fine. 1st picture: black screen after going to sleep mode required hardboot

A great laptop, with some minor issues that can be addressed by Asus updates! The screen: Monitor is fantastic, probably the best I have ever seen in any laptop monitor ever!! 16x10 aspect ratio!! Buys you more screen real estate for apps, especially helpful for programs like Adobe Premier, Adobe After Effects, and 3D software. This screen gets BRIGHT. You almost believe it is an OLED screen!! No screen tearing in games because of it’s high refresh rate. But, that big screen does probably drain your battery charge faster than a 16x9 panel might. The only thing I do not like about this screen is that for whatever reason, they decided to put the exhaust fans pointing directly at the bottom of the screen, and when you game it is blowing hot air directly at the bottom of the screen. Only time will tell if that heat while gaming, will affect the longevity of the screen, however there have been reports saying at full gaming load vs another Asus model released just prior to this, (g15) which shares the same chassis cooling design, but AMD based CPU, that they both have about the same heat at the bottom of the screen. Also, not an issue for me really, but there are 3 LED lights for the power state, drive activity, and network activity that are right under the screen, and reflect on the bottom of the screen. After a while using the laptop, I found it to not really be too noticeable. Gaming: The 3060 Graphics card is great for running most modern games. Even at native resolution, Doom Eternal and Wolfenstein The Old Blood ran fantastic. Doom Eternal, with most bells and whistles turned on ran at around 140 - 190 FPS. Keyboard / Trackpad Great keyboard. It just feels nice in the hand! Very comfortable. Feels premium in the hand. While I do like how this laptop looks, it is a fingerprint magnet, and because of this plastic like coating, I suspect long term this laptop will pick up lint. Same with the trackpad.. Really nice feel to it. One of the best I have ever used. Ports: I really wish the power adapter plug in was not on the side of the laptop, and at the back. As it stands, if you work with it plugged in at a desktop, it just gets in the way, and partially blocks vents, and also some of the ports. Not a deal breaker, but if you are going to use this as a desktop replacement, it would just be so much better had the connection just been on the back of the laptop. For those that know what Thunderbolt is, because this is an Intel based laptop, it has Thunderbolt for super fast connections. Most windows people will not make much use of out thunderbolt, but if you are a video content creator, and need to transfer files, thunderbolt provides very fast I/O. SSD: While it is great that this laptop does support PCI E 4.0, something only Intel machines in the last few months have supported, the SSD with this laptop is only a PCI E 3.0 SSD. For most people, they will not notice the difference. The SSD is still really fast, and the computer just boots faster than any laptop I have ever used. Read and write speeds are also just really fast. WiFi - I wish this was better, just ok. MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 Wireless LAMT7921N Card - not good range, slow speeds over same distances compared to intel AX200 card in my Asus ROG G14. I only have full speed if I am very close to my router. I will likely replace the MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 card, with the same intel AX200 card I have in the G14. Audio issues - related to the WiFi card, only while on battery, and in “silent” mode. There is some kind of audio crackling that only seems to happen while working on battery only, and while ARMORY CRATE (the asus software for controlling your CPU/GPU performance). It turns out a recent update has introduced audio issues. Users of this laptop have managed to pinpoint the audio crackling issues only happen while in the ARMORY CRATE “silent” mode, and are directly related the crackling (which happens on both the built in speakers, and also during headphone use, to the MediaTek WiFi card being put into a lower power mode, and it is what is creating the audio crackling. Other owner’s of the m16 have managed to fix this by modifying the windows 10 registry settings for the power state of the wifi card while in “silent” mode, however Asus should be able to fix this without owner’s having to do this. - Direct link to subreddit where people have identified audio crackling issues and temporary workarounds can be found at - reddit.com/r/ZephyrusM16/comments/oj2otl/audio_cracklingstatic_but_only_in_silent_mode_on/ Asus, please fix the audio issues caused by the mediaTek WiFi card. This is a known issue, and while workarounds exist, this should be easy to fix! Battery life: First of all, while Intel has made some strides in this department with the CPU chipset in this laptop, it still uses a lot more power than AMD Ryzen laptops. I would never game with this not plugged into an outlet, but I only get around 5-6 hours surfing the web and very basic computer usage. If you need a longer life battery, any of the new AMD Ryzen laptop models will squeak out more. Overall, this is a great laptop. The single best thing about it is the screen. QHD+, makes is a 16x10 screen, and not the usual 16x9 QHD, and it adds about .6” of vertical versus other QHD laptop models It is a real treat to work, and to game on. Add to that, it weighs less than 4.5lbs and you really have a pretty portable powerhouse.

This is my sixth Asus computer, third ROG and once again they did not disapoint. The display is amazing as is the sound from it's 6 speakers. The Intel I9 processor and 16GB of memory are an extremly fast combination that work very well and I still have the option to add another 32GB in the future if I wish. I gernerally max out the memory immediately but just don't see a need at this time. I highly recomend this computer, especially if it lasts as long as my last 2 that are still working perfectly years later only needing the batteries replaced and nothing else