“So according to the website GA402RK should have 16G on board so does it mean that I can upgrade to 32G of RAM? Or is it actually GA402RJ which I can only upgrade to 24G of RAM? But isn't GA402RJ only comes with 6700S? this is so confusing”
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Yes, very confusing, but after wondering about essentially your question for a while and doing research, I think I have a tentative answer. There are two core models that I'll call the Entry-level and Pro-level (plus a variant of the Pro that has the Anime dots graphics on the cover - we'll ignore that), The Pro has the 6800S discrete graphics, and seems to come with 16 GB soldered plus one DIMM slot that might potetially hold an 8 GB or a 16 GB or a 32 GB. The Entry has the 6700S discrete graphics, and seems to come with 8 GB soldered plus one DIMM slot that might potetially hold an 8 GB or a 16 GB or a 32 GB. what memory stick comes in the actual DIMM slot varies from sub-model to sub-model. There seems to be a tendency (by Asus) to put an 8 GB in the DIMM slot of the Entry models (for 16 GB total to start out with), and to put a 16 GB stick in the more expensive Pro models to give you 32 GB total to start out with. You can look online for a review of a Pro model with 32 GB and 6800S under the name Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402R Gaming Laptop Review: AMD Times Two - and by the way, they claim that the stock Micron SSD does Seq. Read at 3610 MB/s, and Seq. Write at 3453 MB/s. You can upgrade your 16 GB (say) Entry model to 24 GB by throwing away the 8 GB stick and putting in a 16 GB stick - but caveat that you are also discarding the dual-channel feature that needs 8 GB on each channel. Not sure how much that slows it down, cuz this is DDR5 memory (DDR5-4800 SO-DIMM) that is very fast, so perhaps it's fast enough such that what you lose by giving up dual-channel is not quite as bad as it would be with DDR4 memory? (that's my rank speculation and I really dunno). You can (I'm 99% sure) upgrade your 32 GB (say) Pro model to 48 GB by throwing away the 16 GB stick and putting in a 32 GB stick - but again caveat that you are also discarding the dual-channel feature by doing so. What makes me confident that you can add a 32 GB stick (to either type of model) is that I found a couple Asus-approved custom shops online that seem to only sell the Entry models, but they first soup them up before shipping to you. They will sell you a choice between (a total of) 16 GB or 24 GB or 40 GB. These have the 6700S graphics, so they are definitely the Entry models (upgraded per your decisio). That implies that the DIMM slot can take a 32 GB stick of RAM. And if the Entry can take a 32 GB stick then why wouldn't the Pro accept a 32 GB stick as well? One of the customizers sells different custom SSD sizes up to 8 TB, and the other sells custom SSDs only up to 2 TB but a choice of Samsung 970 EVO Plus or Samsung 980 PRO. The former is not really much different from the Micron that it comes with, but the 980 PRO is 50% faster on writes but twice as fast on reads. In other words, the Micron that it comes with is fast enough for most folks (and there's no extra M.2 slot apparently). So from these various sources I have culled what I'll call my "pretty good conjecture" as to the memory situation with the various Entry and Pro models (this Best Buy SKU is one of the Entry models). To be honest, I wish Asus would have just left the DIMM slot empty for the Pro models, cuz if I buy that I want to cram it full of memory. On the Entry models, I guess it's fine that they are stuffing an 8 GB stick in the DIMM slot since most Entry purchasers want 16 GB anyway, so might as well get a matched pair in dual-channel mode from the manufacturer. But the latter does create a dilemma for a purchaser like me who would like the Entry model - to "upgrade" the memory, or "not to upgrade," that is the Shakespearean question. Since giving it (say) 24 GB for the few times that I need more than 16 GB might slow it down for all applications due to loss of dual-channel memory. I'm hoping one of the online YouTube reviewers will take up this performance question for the Zephyrus G14.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.To update the answers to this question, we still don't know as of the end of April. We pretty much know for sure that the cheaper model has 8 GB soldered plus an 8 GB stick, But the question of whether the more expensive model with 6800S graphics also has 8 GB soldered plus an 8 GB stick, versus 16 GB soldered plus an empty DDR5 slot, hinges on whether or not it is a Best Buy typo when they tell us that the former is the case. It would (have made) much more sense for Best Buy to have offered 16 GB soldered on the pricier model, since most buyers would prefer to add another 16 GB stick later on to (at that point) bring it to dual-channel condition, But it might be the case that any memory upgrade breaks dual-channel for both models. We need to wait for feedback from an actual purchaser of the more expensive model who has attempted the upgrade (and/or tried to do the upgrade but instead returned the whole mess to Best Buy for their short-sightedness, as the case may be).
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Previous versions of the G14 with 32GB were not sold at Best Buy, so I honestly don't expect that to change. Looking at various online reviews, the version with Animatrix LEDs and 32GB seem to retail at around $2,499. Comparing the currently available G14 with the 6700S GPU at $1,649, I would expect the 6800S 32GB model (without Animatrix) to possibly retail at least at $1,999.
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