Zephyrus G14 (2020)

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 can be difficult to recommend due to a list of common and concerning issues. These ranging from buggy software, poor QC, instant death from two power sources (such as using a USB-C monitor / hub), broken keycaps, and more.

While not perfect, this laptop isn’t entirely flawed. For example, the thermal system keeps the chips below the thermal throttling point rather confidently - likely due to the inclusion of powerful, high-speed fans. Check below for more specific information.

Performance

The Ryzen 9 4900HS CPU used in the top spec of this laptop performs about the same as both the Ryzen 7 4800H and the Ryzen 7 4800HS ¹ at the expense of costing substantially more.

Because of the G14’s form factor there is something which should be noted by potential buyers, the ‘Max-Q’ variant GPUs used in this laptop perform substantially worse than their normal or ‘Max-P’ counterparts. For example, the 65W 2060 Max-Q performs about the same if not slightly worse than a 1660Ti Max-P in a cheaper laptop ² such as the Lenovo Legion 5 15” or HP OMEN 15 (2020). However these are 15” laptops instead of 14”, which is why they are able to use these more powerful cards.

Thermals

Internals and Upgradeability

It can be seen that on the G14 there is what seems like poor airflow due to the bottom cover of the laptop being restrictive, however the laptop still manages to achieve it’s rated TDP under load fairly well, so thermals aren’t a major issue with this model.

The G14 has severe limitations when it comes to upgradeability.

RAM

There is only one SODIMM slot so you are limited in upgradability.

This also means that the maximum amount of memory you can have in dual channel mode will be capped to 16GB or 32GB depending on the model.

Storage

You must replace the one and only M.2 PCIe NVME slot to get more storage; there are no other storage slots.

Display

The G14’s 120Hz panel has an average combined G2G response time of ~20ms+ (~25 crisp fps), this is not ideal for certain fast-paced gaming as it introduces ghosting.

Below is the result of Jarrod’s Tech’s ³ screen response time testing for the G14:

Aside from that, the 1080P 120Hz panel has decent color accuracy and brightness with around 95% of sRGB coverage and over 300 nits of brightness.

Other Issues

Software

Asus Armory Crate is a buggy mess that causes many issues. (see ASUS page for more details) Each update seemingly being one step forwards, two steps back. Thankfully Zippy / Aredden has made replacement software for the G14 available here.

Keyboard

Keys, just like some of ASUS’ other laptops, don’t work when pressed at an angle and will only work when pressed firmly in the dead center. ⁴ Light keystrokes of all types tend to cause registration problems. This issue is highly noticeable while gaming as getting a keypress not being registered could be a deal breaker for most people.

Power Delivery deaths

There is a fatal flaw with the G14 where plugging in a PD-Enabled USB-C accessory, such as a monitor, while the laptop is also plugged in to AC Power can, and in many cases will, fry the motherboard making it impossible to repair without replacement.

This can even be done unintentionally if a USB-C charger is plugged into the non-PD enabled USB-C port.

References

Footnotes

Contributors