Review: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 featuring AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS

by Tarinder Sandhu on 1 April 2020, 14:01

Tags: ASUSTeK (TPE:2357), AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaejw3

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Conclusion

If you're in the market for a high-quality gaming laptop this year that's capable in all areas, the AMD Ryzen Mobile 4000 series deserves serious attention.

AMD is understandably bullish about the prospects for its latest slew of mobile processors powered by the Zen 2 CPU architecture and Vega graphics.

Offered in 15W, 35W or 45W TDPs to fit into a wide range of laptops, one star of the show is the R9 4900HS, which fits in eight cores, 16 threads inside a package that's frugal enough to be used in thin-and-light gaming laptops.

That is exactly what Asus does with the ROG Zephyrus G14 - a 1.6kg machine housing a 14in FHD screen, RTX 2060 MQ graphics, 1TB SSD, and a decent amount of memory. CPU performance leads the pack, gaming numbers play well with the adaptive-framerate screen, and battery life is simply excellent.

That's not to say the laptop is perfect. There's no webcam, the chassis, though well-built, continually vibrates from the cooling fans, there's no fast-charge, and while the screen is perfectly serviceable for gaming, lacks the punch and vibrancy of some.

Yet we come away positive for AMD's ambitions in the mobile space. It has proved that it can mix class-leading CPU performance with superb battery life. If you're in the market for a high-quality gaming laptop this year that's capable in all areas, the AMD Ryzen Mobile 4000 series deserves serious attention.

The Good
  
The Bad
Superb CPU performance
Excellent battery life
Solid connectivity
Wonderfully portable
Decent trackpad
  
Chassis vibrates at most times
Fans on at all times
No webcam



Asus Zephyrus G14 (R9 4900HS)

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TBC.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.


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HEXUS Forums :: 15 Comments

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Posted by LSG501 - Mon 30 Mar 2020 14:52
Been waiting on a review for a laptop with an AMD 4xxx mobile chip.

Looks positive in all honesty (ignoring case issues, which is not down to AMD) and personally I see no webcam as a plus :P
Posted by [GSV]Trig - Mon 30 Mar 2020 15:22
No webcam seems an odd one, although I suspect gamers don't really use them as its all about the Twitch these days..
Posted by philehidiot - Mon 30 Mar 2020 15:46
[GSV
Trig;304]No webcam seems an odd one, although I suspect gamers don't really use them as its all about the Twitch these days..

I personally prefer to cover them up. Just put a slider on if you want privacy. I can't see how the BOM was reduced significantly without a webcam and the potential lost market is huge.
Posted by ohmaheid - Mon 30 Mar 2020 15:56
philehidiot
[GSV
Trig;304]No webcam seems an odd one, although I suspect gamers don't really use them as its all about the Twitch these days..

I personally prefer to cover them up. Just put a slider on if you want privacy. I can't see how the BOM was reduced significantly without a webcam and the potential lost market is huge.

Given that the quality of built-in webcams is usually pretty dire…Most people who use a webcam a lot, usually get a better quality external one. I can't see it being a deal-breaker.
Posted by ohmaheid - Mon 30 Mar 2020 16:01
It would also help if Hexus did a value comparison. i.e. a table with the current prices of all the laptops in the review.

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