Customer Ratings & Reviews

It’s truly remarkable that this laptop is the size it is for the amount of power it contains. Yes it does get hot above the keyboard but you aren’t touching that area. And yes the fans can get loud if you go into turbo mode. Besides that they are normal sounding fans. Not overly annoying. The screen and speakers are phenomenal. Battery life is good in silent mode. Standardly bad on high graphics games when trying to game without it plugged. About a hour to a hour and a half. Couldn’t be happier that I got this for less than 2900$ with open box. Said on the box it was due to residue which I could only even find on the track pad and was able to clean it with a screen cleaner. Now if I didn’t get this open box and paid full price at 3300$ I would be more hesistant to give it 5 stars due to value ratio of the 4080 model having 1tb less ssd and being 700$ cheaper.

I liked the laptop, and the design, except the lid was too flimsy and I hated the slash. The one I received had a slit bend in the lid and would not lay completely flat. I returned it for the new Blade 16 OLED 4080. A couple hundred more but the blade build quality is better and stiffer. The blade 4080 performs much better than this 4090 with full 175w capabilities and the same battery life. The G16 4090 was hitting around 17900 in timespy, and the blade 16 4080 cranks out consistent 19000-19300 runs. The blade is heavier but that’s fine. The G16 speakers are incredible, slightly better than the blade 16 OLED speakers.

I've been looking forward to the new Zephyrus G16 since it was announced at CES earlier this year. At first glance, it appears to be the equivalent of a MacBook Pro in the form of a Windows laptop. I also own a 16" MacBook Pro (M1 Pro model), so for the past week, I've been able to use them both side-by-side and see the good and bad of both machines. Bottom line: the Zephyrus G16 is a beautiful and powerful machine that will satisfy both creators and gamers, but it comes with some very notable tradeoffs including heat, fan noise, performance, and some areas of questionable build quality. === DESIGN & BUILD QUALITY (4 Stars) === - This G16 model is the "Eclipse Gray" color which I personally prefer over the other "Platinum White" color. The color is a bit darker than a Space Gray MacBook Pro. It does attract a few fingerprints, but they wipe away very easily. - Unlike every other ROG laptop I've used, this body of this new G16 is almost entirely aluminum, which gives it a very premium feeling. There is hardly any plastic to be found outside of the keyboard. Notably, the edge of the laptop near the trackpad is rounded, so there are no sharp edges that will cut into wrists while typing. - The laptop measures 13.9" wide by 9.7" deep, and just over a half inch thick. This model weighs about 4.3 pounds. If you've ever held or used a modern 16" MacBook Pro, you will know what to expect -- the dimensions of the G16 are almost identical. - There are a decent number of ports available. On the left, there's the new "ASUS Slim" power port, an HDMI 2.1 port, a Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port, a USB-A 3.2 port, and 3.5mm jack. On the right, there's a full size UHS II SD card reader, another USB-A 3.2 port, and a USB-C 3.2 port. There is no Ethernet port on this laptop. - For its 2024 models, ASUS introduced its new, proprietary "ASUS Slim" power port. I like that the plug is reversible similar to USB-C, but I was hoping that ASUS would also be able to reduce the size of the actual power brick. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. The included 240W power brick is still pretty bulky, and you'll need to find room for it in your bag if you want to get the most power out of this laptop while traveling. You can also power and charge the laptop via USB-C, but the laptop can only draw up to 100W of power via USB-C, which will limit performance. - The new “Slash Lighting” array on the cover is neat, but I’m indifferent towards it. You can select tons of different flashing patterns, but when you’re using the laptop, you can’t actually see the lights. But if you’re a fan of minimalist decorative lighting, you’ll like the new Slash light. - There are a couple of things about the G16's build quality that concern me. First, the hinge of the display does not feel very tight. As such, the display is a bit wobbly when it is touched. If you pick up the laptop while it is open, there is a very good chance that the display will fall further backwards due to the looseness of the hinge. Secondly, there are significant "creaking" and "popping" noises that come from the machine's bottom cover whenever there is any amount of pressure applied to the bottom of the laptop. In day-to-day use, the issue is most noticeable when using the laptop on my lap or picking it up to move it. The simple movements of my lap or changes in pressure to the bottom cover when moving the laptop are enough to cause very audible creaking/popping/flexing noises. I've tried tightening the screws on the bottom cover and I've made sure that the bottom cover is properly seated. But the noises persist, and it can definitely be annoying. I attempted to contact ASUS about these build quality issues before I posted this review, but I did not receive a response. === DISPLAY, KEYBOARD, TRACKPAD, & AUDIO (5 Stars) === - The star of this laptop is unquestionably the beautiful 16:10 2560x1600 OLED display. I thought the 16” MacBook Pro had reached the pinnacle of laptop displays, but I was wrong. The OLED panel in the G16 is a sight to behold with perfect black levels and rich, deep colors. Viewing angles are perfect from every direction. While only rated for 500 nits, the display gets eye-searingly bright. The 240Hz refresh rate and G-SYNC support mean that games look incredibly smooth with no tearing or choppiness. Creators and gamers alike will love this OLED panel, I’m sure. - The keyboard seems similar to past ROG Zephyrus laptops that I’ve used. Keys have 1.7mm of travel and the key caps are very large and nicely spaced. The keyboard is RGB-lit, though the entire keyboard can only display one color at a time (there are not multiple RGB zones to control). - The trackpad is among the best I’ve ever used on a Windows laptop. It is very large and made of smooth glass. It appears to be a 16:10 aspect ratio to match the laptop’s display. Gestures work perfectly. My only complaint is that the trackpad is not haptic like the one on a MacBook Pro. Rather, the G16 trackpad is a traditional “diving board” mechanism that is easily pressed at the bottom but can’t be pressed at the top. It would be nice if the entire surface was clickable like a MacBook. - Likewise, the speakers are probably the best I’ve used in any Windows laptop. They are just a small step below the quality of the 16” MacBook Pro speakers. Bass is rich and deep and there is practically no distortion at higher volumes. === PERFORMANCE, COOLING, & UPGRADES (4 Stars) === - The Intel Core Ultra 9 processor is powerful, but it’s a significant step down from the Core i9 processors offered in other ROG laptops. Intel’s Ultra processors are designed for thin and light laptops to minimize heat and maximize battery life. As such, there are some performance compromises. In TimeSpy, the highest CPU score I was able to achieve was 11,939, which is about 15% lower than a Core i9-13900H. - The following benchmarks were conducted with the “Turbo” setting selected in ASUS Armoury Crate: Time Spy benchmark: 16,424 (graphics score 17,874). The Last of Us Part1 (High preset, DLSS set to Quality): 70 fps average. God of War (Ultra preset; DLSS Quality): 87 fps average. Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing ultra, DLSS Quality & frame gen): 90 fps average. Dead Space (Ultra preset, DLSS Quality): 88 fps average. So yes, you run practically any game at high or ultra settings. - Compared to other laptops with the same specs, these benchmarks are a bit lower. This is mainly due to the lower-powered RTX 4090 in the G16, which can only draw a maximum of 115W. Other, thicker laptops with a 4080 or 4090 can draw more power and deliver better performance. I didn’t get a chance to test a 4080 model of the G16, but I have to imagine the performance difference between the 4080 and 4090 in these G16 models is minimal. - When under full load, this is probably the hottest laptop I’ve ever used. If you touch the bottom of the laptop or the area right above the keyboard while gaming, you might regret it. No joke: it’s like touching a hot stove top. I saw the CPU get as hot as 93 degrees Celsius, while the GPU seems to top out at a more reasonable 80 degrees. But the thin form factor and aluminum design of the G16 make for a VERY hot laptop. - Similarly, if you get annoyed by fan noise, this is NOT the laptop for you. The fans aren’t very noticeable when doing simple tasks such as web browsing or light photo editing. But once you set the laptop to “Turbo” mode and start gaming or doing more intense creative tasks, you’d better grab a pair of headphones: the fans get as loud as 49 to 50 dB, and the fan noise is relatively high-pitched. I am still playing around with the fan curves in the Armoury Crate “manual” mode to find a good balance of performance and fan noise. - Battery life is decent for such a thin and powerful machine, but it’s going to be LARGELY dependent on how you use this laptop. I was able to get about 6 hours of use with standard web browsing and day-to-day tasks (screen at half brightness). I decided to really test the battery’s limits by playing The Last of Us on Performance mode – and the battery was dead within 1 hour. So if you want to game while traveling, don’t forget the power adapter. - The included 2 TB SSD offers tons of space and is very fast, with read speeds upwards of 7,000 MB/s and write speeds of 6,500 MB/s. There is one extra M.2 slot if you want to add more storage. - 32GB of DDR5 RAM are soldered onto the board. As such, you can’t add or upgrade the RAM, so I’m glad ASUS decided to include 32GB rather than 16GB. The RAM clock speed is 7500 MHz. === SOFTWARE AND OTHER THOUGHTS === - There is a decent 1080p webcam (Windows Hello-capable) on the bezel above the screen. It’s not the best quality but gets the job done. This is a big improvement compared to the unreliable fingerprint readers in older ASUS models. - The included Wi-Fi card is capable of Wi-Fi 6E. I was hoping ASUS would include a Wi-Fi 7 card as that technology is is rolling out very rapidly. - The ASUS Armoury Crate and MyASUS apps are essential for tweaking the performance and cooling of this laptop and performing updates, but they just seem bloated and confusing, with basic options hidden behind layers of menus. === OVERALL === The Zephyrus G16 aims to please both creators and gamers with its sleek design, stunning OLED display, and powerful performance. However, it also has some major drawbacks, such as excessive heat, loud fan noise, and lower performance compared to other laptops with similar specs. Additionally, some aspects of the build quality, such as excessive heat, loud fan noise, and lower performance compared to other laptops with similar specs. Additionally, some aspects of the build quality, such as the loose hinge and the creaky bottom cover, may annoy some users and detract from the premium feeling of the laptop. Overall, the Zephyrus G16 is a beautiful and capable machine, but it comes with some tradeoffs that may not be worth it for everyone.

Man this laptop is a BEAST! To give context, i am a senior in college majoring in graphic design. I do alot of my work with things like Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects. I am also a big gamer and basically getting all around performance was the main reason i wanted this laptop. The laptop surpassed all my expectations, it runs games really smoothly and the Amoled screen is gorgeous (i havent had any issues with the screen even though i know some people have). Its such a lightweight laptop and its honestly insane how far gaming laptops have come because this literally looks and feels like a typical laptop that wouldnt be meant for games. I got the 4090 version of this laptop so it lasts me a long time and can continue to be fast when i start working and for leisure activites and let me tell you it does not dissapoint. Although, i will admit when i first got it i was kind of dissapointed with FPS and temps but uninstalling armoury crate and installing g helper fixed this issue. Overall if your a student or someone who works and plays a decent chunk of games and loves portability in a light package this is definitely the laptop for you. Ive had it for around a week now and i seriously couldnt be happier. OH! I also forgot to mention, the battery life is pretty decent, i had class all day and was able to get around 6-7 hours of use which is insane for an intel machine.

From a creators perspective, 3d and video work was smooth and fantastic,... when plugged in, the fans do spin up and become audible when exporting video or when manipulating 3d objects in real time in Blender and ESPECIALLY when rendering a quick animation (or the occasional gaming), but was not as loud as the the 4070 or the 4080 model. But when on the go, doing the same workloads I could get ~2 hours max before the gpu is disabled by the system, then the igpu as the downclocked cpu is not up to the task as well when under battery. Heavy workloads start to get choppy and unreliable especially in 3d applications like Blender, and when editing 2k footage. The laptop got audible on the train and warm to my lap when exporting or working on 3d applications but was able to get 1.5 hours of work in before the battery hit the 25% mark from a 100% charge. In conclusion, I would recommend this laptop for SHORT mobile workloads (1-2 hours tops), and its power, weight and size are its highest positives. As a desktop replacement, when plugged in and attached to an monitor, its a beast for its size, but it does get audible and the heat I felt above the keyboard, it made me worry about damage to the fantastic oled screen when running in turbo mode WHILE the screen is closed. WOuld only recommend as desktop replacement, for medium workloads.

I’m giving this laptop five stars because it has a better screen, better performance and is 3 lbs lighter than the laptop it is replacing. Gaming on the laptop is great, battery performance is good…but out of the box was another story. Out of the box, I was unable to play games on the device and the performance was less than stelar. I factory reset it, installed Windows 11 Pro, updated the ASUS and Nvidia drivers first, then started loading Windows patches and other software (e.g. browsers, security, anti-virus, etc.). While it did take a little work, I am very happy with this laptop. Anyone would be hard pressed to find a Windows based laptop, with the performance specs of this one, and less than 4 pounds.

Upgrading from previous zephryus that had a 3070. Love the oled screen, threw in a 4tb samsung 990 pro in the second slot. I use for work and play. I like it because it’s s light and I can easily throw it in my backpack and go anywhere with it. 32 gb of ram runs way better than my old 16 gb. I just mainly play call of duty on extreme settings and runs it just fine.

Got this machine because it had the specs I need, thundrebolt 4 port, great video card. Runs super fast, windows 11 sucks though, you cannot defeat windows update and they wrecked a lot of features recently regarding power management and sleep states. This thing won't sleep correctly, just screen turns off. Also this things gets warm and loud, not good for audio. DPC latency out the wazoo from WDF01000.sys (Windows Driver Framework), toskrnl.exe (Windows Kernel)ACPI.sys (Power management), all basic funditons that shouldn't blast huge latency spikes but do, The way this laptop manages internal storage is a cause of this and so is the high power draw from the video card. You cannont undervolt this and you cannot customize much in the bios. IF this had more flexibility it and didn't have the latency issues with windows, it would be solid for almost anything. Battery life is trash. Trying to work on music away from the house less than 1.5 hours and it goes down. ASUS should have just tried a little harder and made this thing compete.

Performance: The fan was surprisingly quiet, and the speakers really impressed me with their clarity, great mids, and bass, rivaling MacBook Pro 16, sometimes even surpassing it. The Core Ultra chip didn't quite deliver the power I expected, especially for gaming, leaving me wanting more in terms of performance during intense gameplay sessions or when tackling demanding tasks like coding, web design, or running simple machine-learning tasks. General web browsing performance was smooth when plugged in, but I noticed occasional stuttering and overall sluggishness when running on battery saver mode. This detracted from my overall user experience and highlighted the need for optimization in power management settings. Gaming and Battery Life: Gaming performance was so-so, with the GPU and CPU delivering decent but not outstanding results. While the laptop managed to handle most games, it struggled with more demanding titles, leading to occasional frame drops and lag. You're looking at roughly equivalent performance to a higher wattage (150w) 4080 laptop. Additionally, battery life lasted around 5 1/2 hours with battery saver on and light use without tinkering with TDP settings, which was okay for casual browsing and productivity tasks but fell short of providing all-day usage without the need for a recharge. Plugged-In vs. Battery: When plugged in, the laptop performed wonderfully, with a beautiful display and delivering solid performance without any noticeable slowdowns or compromises. But, swap to battery power had me managing expectations for both performance and battery life, since the system scaled back to conserve energy. Unplugging led to performance reductions and shorter battery life beyond what I would've expected with a generation leap, even on battery saver. I'll also point out that it seems like ASUS is finally allowing passthrough charging with the USB C ports so thank you for that!! User Experience Examples: Example 1 - When I leave my laptop idle for extended periods, I just want instant responsiveness with minimal battery drain, much like my MacBook (you can leave those unplugged for a week and jump right back in). I to resume work without any delays or interruptions. But every time I left this sleeping for more than an hour or two, I had to wait 10-15 seconds before I could log in because the laptop was placed into hibernate automatically. And if I disable that feature, then Modern Standby would eat up 2-3% of the battery every hour. Example 2 - When I'm out and about. I don't want to worry about battery life or making constant adjustments to optimize performance. These challenges aren't ASUS' fault (they're using the best available off-the-shelf parts), but even the best parts available now lead to an experience that gets me worried about leaving my charger behind and highlight areas for improvement in future iterations. Comparison and Future Prospects: Compared to other options, this laptop falls short in some areas, such as the maximum RAM limit and overall performance on battery. Looking ahead, I'm excited for future iterations and how they could shine with improvements like a next-gen Core Ultra chip. If you need gaming on the go with thin-and-light being a must, want a beautiful screen+great speakers, there is nothing better available today. This is the best option bar none. But since ASUS is marketing this as part-creator device, this is not the best laptop for that use case, even compared to some other Windows laptops, and definitely not compared to Macs. Overall, temper those expectations a bit and you'll probably love what ASUS have managed to achieve in this year's Zephyrus G16.

This is one of the best laptops I have ever owned. I could really just compare it to a MacBook. RTX 4090 is a bit underpowered with 125 W TGP but I did a Vbios swap and managed to tweak it so that it can use up to 175 W. I only use up to 150 though to make sure it doesn’t burn down. Literally the only downside compared to MacBook is the battery life. With my best optimization settings, I can increase its battery life to about 8 to 9 hours but without it, it can only last about 5 to 6 hours. It does charge relatively fast so I can work around this. The design is also superb. The keyboard is amazing to type on the 240 Hz OLED screen looks absolutely stunning. The Zephyrus G16 is an extremely high-quality device. The price was OK with $600 off. Otherwise I would’ve bought the 4080 edition.

Although the laptop does get hot (expected while gaming) the oled screen is amazing. I travel frequently with this from hotel to hotel so having the slim body made sense for me. Also the built in speakers are great for streaming shows.

The new ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 has been much anticipated and I was watching the tech world with the first hands on during CES2024. I watched as many of those first glance videos as I could and it didn’t take long for me to decide that I had to get one. The form factor shaved off a bit of thickness and weight from previous year models and I was never a huge fan of all the LEDs on the top of the screen lid so the more subtle slash is much more appealing making this laptop something I would even take to a business meeting and after hours get my game on. The specs are outstanding. Sporting the newest Intel Ultra 9 CPU and a RTX4090 GPU gives it a ton of horsepower under the lid. Add 32GB of DDR5 ram and a 2TB NVME SSD you are tacking on some serious memory and storage. While the memory is soldered in as a compromise to get the thinner profile it does help offset that with an extra NVME slot so you can add additional storage for more gaming fun. The OLED screen is super crisp and the high refresh rate make for a super sharp display. I did run into a bit of tearing while watching Youtube videos at full screen but upgrading to the latest drivers corrected most of that. With HDR enabled the colors pop! While playing Tom Clancy’s Division 2, my favorite FPS game for years, with graphic settings at High and Ultra for most everything I got a wide variety of frame rates. They jumped all over the place but never below 60 frames per second while mostly running around 75-120 depending on the complexity of the graphics. I did notice a bit of performance throttling but all within expectations. When I connected to a 34” ultrawide monitor via HDMI while playing Division 2 I noticed that the frame rate held to only 60 frames per second, constantly. With same settings as before… High, Very High and Ultra High graphics. It wouldn’t budge above 61 FPS. Game play was smooth but somehow I expected more from a RTX4090. I’ll have to dig further to see if there are any settings I can make to the hardware to unleash the potential. I didn’t time battery life but gaming isn’t something I’d do on battery power. I’ll take the power brick with me for gaming but even my CAD workstation can’t go untethered for too long. Now for some of the not so good… fan noise during game play got pretty loud. It was noticeable and if not playing with a headset it my become annoying. The one thing that bothered me most was the temperatures. The fans were doing their best to keep the temps down and I can live with some of the fan noise but the thing that bothered me most was the skin temps. Either side of the keyboard and the space between the keyboard and the screen were too hot to touch with temps on that section between the keyboard and screen running at a high of 133 deg F, give or take a few decimals of degrees. Underneath the temps were pretty high too so it might be that the laptop isn’t really ready to be a laptop but a more like a very portable workstation. Once I exited the game temps dropped pretty quickly to around 100 deg F so just a tad over normal body temps. To help with the temps down I had to break out a tabletop laptop cooler which did help some but the cooler is not something I’d toss in my laptop bag. An observation of why temps might be so high with the lid open. As the lid comes up it partially blocks the heatpipe fan exhaust port that runs across the rear of the laptop. Maybe it just redirects it down more but it does seem to create an airflow restriction in my opinion. I did notice temps drop just a slight bit while playing with an external monitor and lid closed… but only slightly so this may not be as big of a deal as I would suspect. The price tag is a bit steep but you pay for the specs and performance and it’s actually competitively priced against similar spec’d units by the other guys. I’m a huge ASUS fan and always recommend laptops and components to my friends and family. Other than the temps and the somewhat disappointing frame rates (with acceptable game play) considering this is a 4090 I think ASUS is continuing to prove they are leaders of the pack. Hopefully new drivers will help with temps and frame rates.

OLED display is simply gorgeous. I can't go back to IPS after experiencing OLED. This laptop is impressively slim and the build quality is at par with Macbooks. Caveats- 4090 performance is lower by almost 25% as compared to other full power 4090 laptops. 32GB RAM is non-upgradeable, which can be a problem for memory intensive apps. To improve performance on battery, make the following changes- 1. Disable Hyperthreading via BIOS 2. Remove ASUS Armory crate and install Ghelper. Remove all ASUS background services. Use the silent profile and disable the nvidia gpu 3. Remove junk Windows services with Chris Titus' tool. This reduces power consumption to ~17W on battery. Still 5 W higher than a Macbook, but that's the tradeoff for using x86 laptops.

It's a great laptop. I also had an Asus laptop before this one, I decided to stick with the brand. At first I was a little nervous that it warms up a lot during games (not just warm, but hot enough that you can't hold your finger over the keys in the area of F5-F12 for longer than a second, but then I calmed down, realizing that this is how it should be with the 4090). Light, thin - it's amazing how they put all this power into it. The screen, the sound is great.

This laptop si super powerful and handles pretty much everything i throw at it. Eventhough its a gaming laptop I use it mainly for 3D modeling and design. It handles renderings pretty well for a laptop even at 4k. Also, it is very compact and thin. Im impressed how they have been able to fit every part in this. The downside It is pretty loud when its at full power.

After comparing this laptop with Dell XPS 16 and Galaxy Book 4 Ultra decided to buy this Zephyrus G16 instead. Bought version with maximum possible configuration. Really good laptop. Build quality and design are superb. Screen is great and so are the speakers. Performance is great. To remove bloatware and get clean system reinstalled Windows. If you are a heavy gamer this laptop isn't for you as it will overheat like crazy. But for everyday usage and light gaming this laptop is superb.

The zephrus G16 is a powerhouse of the computer. the only thing you have to be careful is the computer out the box is garbage. The Asus software that’s preloaded slows down the computer and it gets very hot, even sometimes within 5 min too hot to keep on your lap. The solution is to uninstall all of the Asus preloaded software and install G-helper. the laptop then becomes super quiet and super cool. and the battery life is extended by a lot. once plugged in the cpu will give you maximum power and when unplugged it will use igpu

Build quality is excellent, it is really impressive that a light and compact machine are able to pull off such performance. That said, this machine runs really hot despite low cpu utilization, the cpu boosts itself like there's no tomorrow, even after limiting cpu wattage you will still need a cooling pad to bring the cpu temperature down to 70s. A lot of issues with drivers and firmware too, from time to time the machine the laptop would fail to find audio, you have to reboot it to fix the issue. It also fails to switch between different performance modes from time to time and you have to toggle it back and forth. Overall a great machine but with a lot of minor driver issues.

Great laptop battery, OLED, light weight, 4090 GPU So really can't go wrong with this device

Great screen, portability, and build quality. Does get hot while gaming like most thin laptops. Does not reach gaming power of some others but I’ll take the incognito appearance any day