ASUS have got some new gaming laptops in their Zephyrus lineup, including what appears to
be the first 14 inch machine with up to RTX 2060 graphics, so let’s see what they’ve
got coming up at CES 2020!
Let’s start off with the all new Zephyrus G14, as I found this the most interesting.
This is a 14 inch gaming laptop available with up to AMD Ryzen 7 4800H CPU, so 8 cores
and 16 threads, and up to Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics, which I’m pretty sure makes this
the most powerful 14 inch gaming laptop, of course pending new CES announcements still
to come.
It’s under 1.8cm thick and apparently weighs in at 1.6kg, or 3.5 pounds, so I’m really
interested to test this one out and see just how hot it gets. Could it be that AMD’s
7nm processors are so efficient that even with a 2060 in this smaller chassis it still
performs well? You’ll want to make sure you’re subscribed for my upcoming testing
and review. From the press release it sounds like the 2060 might only run up to 65 watts
rather than the usual 80 or 90 we typically see in thicker machines, but again I want
to test that out and see how it goes.
To help assist that cooling, ASUS have used their ErgoLift hinge design that we’ve seen
in some of their other laptops. Basically it raises the back of the laptop up off of
the desk when you open the lid, allowing more air to get in underneath so it can breathe,
and also giving a slight incline to the keyboard. It looks like it’s got a few ventilation
holes for air intake too.
Air gets exhausted below the screen as a result of the lift design, but rather than directing
the air onto the screen the vents face up to try and avoid this which I think is the
first time I’ve seen that. There are also some air vents cut into the bottom bezel to
help heat escape rather than heating up the screen, and apparently they still managed
to fit the same size fans that the 15 inch Zephyrus uses.
ASUS also say that their software will dynamically adjust power limits based on the thermals,
so it definitely sounds like they have had a lot of thermal obstacles to overcome getting
this level of hardware into a 14 inch machine, but it’s good to hear they’ve considered
these things.
The G14 is available in moonlight white, or eclipse grey, and I’ve got clips from both
scattered throughout the video.
The lid of the G14 is quite interesting, normally it just looks like this, however you have
the option of getting the AniMe Matrix display. With this there are 1,215 individual mini
LEDs within the lid, each of which can be controlled between 256 levels of brightness,
allowing for some pretty cool effects, such as text, animated gifs, not jifs, fight me,
and more. Some of the examples they gave were the lid lighting up when it’s closed to
notify you about a new message, show the time or battery charge level for example. This
optional feature apparently won’t be available until March, however I believe the G14 will
be available sooner, though I wasn’t given a concrete date.
ASUS say they have made sure they balanced the number of mini LEDs to minimize heat and
power requirements, but we’ll see once they’re available for testing.
The lid was otherwise made out of aluminium, while the keyboard deck uses a magnesium-alloy,
so overall it feels pretty solid. The keyboard layout is similar to others from ASUS, though
no numpad with this smaller 14 inch design. There are two front facing tweeters on the
left and right below the keyboard, and a couple of speakers underneath.
Interestingly, its available with either 1080p 120Hz or 60Hz screen, or a 1440p 60Hz option
which they say is for content creation, but I’m just over here hoping we see more 1440p
gaming laptops, ideally with higher refresh rates though. It’s also available with adaptive
sync which is a nice bonus. Like many other recent premium ROG gaming laptops, there’s
no camera built in with the G14.
Otherwise for the rest of the specs we’re looking at WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5, up to 32GB
of memory at DDR4-3200 speeds, M.2 slots wasn’t specified but given the size I’d assume
one.
On the left from the back there’s an air exhaust vent, power input, HDMI 2.0b output,
USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port with DisplayPort 1.4 support and a 3.5mm audio combo jack.
On the right from the front there’s a second USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, however there’s
no Thunderbolt 3 here, two USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports, another air exhaust, and a Kensington
lock.
ASUS are claiming more than 10 hours of battery life, which could be down to the efficient
7nm processor. They didn’t specify the battery size, but it comes with a 180 watt power brick
which looked slimmer than most others, and it has the option of Type-C charging, another
nice bonus.
The power button is above the keyboard, and it’s got a fingerprint scanner integrated
within. ASUS are doing something interesting here, when you press the power button to wake
it, it apparently briefly caches the fingerprint then uses it to log in when Windows is ready,
all just so you don’t have to touch the button a second time. Maximum lazy mode activate,
I guess.
That’s all I’ve got on the new G14 for now, next let’s check out the new G15. Based
on the name you’d think this is just a larger 15 inch version, but that’s not the case.
I was told to think of this as the successor to the previous Zephyrus G GA502.
Like the G14 though, we still get up to 8 cores and 16 threads with the new Ryzen 7
4800H CPU and Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics, and due to that platform upgrade we can now go
to DDR4-3200 speeds. Just for reference last gen Ryzen capped us at 2400. There’s no
1440p option here, but 144Hz or 240Hz with FreeSync are available at 1080p. The G15 also
makes use of Type-C charging, and the WiFi is upgraded to version 6.
There didn’t seem to be too much more to it compared to the GA502, the design was very
similar, same brushed metal lid but plastic interior and base, but it’s got a nice all
round spec boost.
ASUS also seem to be renaming existing Zephyrus products to try and reduce confusion within
their own lineup. I noticed what appeared to be the Zephyrus S GX701 being listed as
the S17, so asked about it. I was told that it’s the same laptop but with a name change,
to fall more in line with the others. I think they’re still keeping the Zephyrus G, M
and S product classes, then add on the screen size to the name so you can easily know more
about it. I suppose for the same reason that’s why the G15 wasn’t just called the GA503.
ASUS also have a 17.3” 240Hz external monitor, but what I found interesting was the detachable
tripod that it comes with, allowing you to mount it above your normal laptop screen.
The screen also has a 7800mAh battery, so you could use the whole setup without wall
power too.
I only had time to cover the gaming laptops from ASUS at CES 2020, they’ll still be
there for a few days, so let me know if I get the time would you want me to go back
and check out the creator stuff like the studiobooks, vivobooks and zenbooks? Let me know, and if
you’re new to the channel make sure you’re subscribed for the rest of my CES 2020 coverage.