Gaming laptops are becoming more common these days, and the ASUS ROG Zephyrus line are some of the top of their portable gaming solutions. This week, we’re looking at the Zephyrus G14 2022 (GA402) model which offers an updated spec with new AMD internals, a new refined, exterior and improved display.
The Zephyrus line for ASUS is their premium line, offering a svelte design, with refined exteriors, premium materials and of course gaming awesomeness built-in.
For the 2022 model, ASUS has included updates to the latest AMD CPU/GPU and of course refinements to the chassis, cooling and small touches here and there. It’s a powerful setup which departs from the usual Intel/Nvidia setup and I’ve been keen to test out the latest from AMD.
Ranging from $2800 upwards in Australia, the Zephyrus G14 2022 (GA402) can be found in a number of specs at various Australian retailers.
I spent two weeks with the Zephyrus G14, and here’s how it went.
Hardware and Design
The new ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 is a good looking machine in grey, with your eye immediately drawn to the many holes in the lid. These holes of course make up the AniMe matrix display on the lid.
Introduced in last year’s model, the AniMe display has been updated to now have 14,969 CNC drilled holes. The AniMe display can display animations, notifications, text and other effects. You can use the pre-installed options, download more from their online store or even supply your own image or text to scroll. It certainly looks cool, and is easy to configure through the Armoury Crate software.
The exterior is gamer centric, and when opening the clamshell you see the traditional layout, though there’s touches of the gamer aesthetic with the hexagonal power button, as well as RGB backlit keyboard.
The keyboard itself is large and quite comfortable to type on, though the backlight isn’t quite as bright as I’d like by default. You can of course modify the lighting in the Armoury Crate, including selecting various RGB options, or just increase the brightness. The Trackpad is large and responsive, with support for multi-touch gestures to help navigate in Windows as well as in games.
I also appreciate the separate keys at the top of the keyboard for fast access to volume, mic mute and of course the Armoury Crate software – though I’d like the option to customise this last key in future models.
Above the keyboard deck is the large 14” 2560×1600 resolution display, which is now using a 16:10 aspect ratio. The display is bright, with excellent colour representation and the new aspect ratio offers minimal bezels on each side with the top and bottom bezels significantly reduced from last years model. The 120Hz refresh is definitely appreciated when gaming, and the brightness is excellent, though tends to be a bit low still if you happen to work or play on it outside.
ASUS has included an IR enabled 720p resolution web-cam in the Zephyrus G14 which fits in the top bezel and is compatible with Windows Hello face login which is great for fast access. The webcam quality leaves a little to be desired with it simply ok for basic web-conferencing, but it really could do with an update to a 1080p model. There’s also no privacy shutter on the webcam, so beware of that.
I’d also love to see the fingerprint sensor enabled power key return on the next G14. I found Windows Hello having issues with my glasses so a dual biometric login option would be appreciated.
There’s plenty of connectivity on-board with the Zephyrus G14 with dual USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a USB-C port and microSD card slot on the right, with a HDMI out, USB-C port and headphone jack on the right. The USB-C port on the right supports Power Delivery (PD) which means it can charge your laptop, though at a slower rate than the supplied barrel connector power supply.
Wirelessly you can connect to a lot with Bluetooth 5.2 and Wifie 6E support on-board.
Sound is excellent on the G14, with quad speakers blasting out a great quality sound and you can also plug in a wired headset if you’d like.
Performance
The ROG Zephyrus G14 is one of ASUS’ most popular gaming laptops, and has been updated for 2022 with the latest AMD internals. This includes an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor with 32GB RAM and a 1TB Gen 4 PCI-e M.2 SSD for storage with an 8GB Radeon RX 6800S graphics card.
The performance of the laptop is great, but you can control just how much power you use, which can also dictate how cool it gets. There are different performance profiles which can be defined by the Armoury Crate software, with the Performance mode showing off how well the AMD CPU/GPU setup runs.
As you’d expect from the performance profile there’s some heat involved and some noise as the fans spin up for cooling. If you’d like it to run quietly though it’s easy to switch to a silent running option though it obviously reduces performance, but not in a hugely noticeable way.
On the cooling front, ASUS has incorporated a vapour chamber and their Liquid Metal solution for the AMD architecture in the Zephyrus G14. Liquid Metal cooling uses a gallium based liquid metal (hence the name) to minimise any possible gaps between the CPU and the heatsink – which provides an improved thermal pathway and hence better cooling.
In practice it works extremely well, but these internal components aren’t the only cooling mechanisms used. ASUS also uses a raised keyboard deck to lift it from the desk for better airflow to the vents underneath and behind.
Overall, it works extremely well, with the laptop running relatively quietly and cool enough to use on your lap when on Silent mode, but you can pull out all the stops on that turbo mode, though that can get rather toasty.
Gaming
There’s a lot to like about the Zephyrus G14 for gaming. I’m not the most high-end gamer, with my preferences tending towards chill games like No Man’s Sky and The Planet Crafter – both of which run flawlessly. But I’m also partial to a bit of fun with Forza Horizon 5 and open world adventure game like Cyberpunk 2077 (It’s a great visual test) and Tomb Raider.
They all handled excellently, with most settings set to High or Ultra and I experienced some great gameplay with high frame rates and little to no signs of stuttering.
Battery
The Zephyrus G14 comes with a 76Wh battery which is charged by the supplied 240W power supply – or USB-C PD.
In terms of use, I ran almost 7-8 hours on average doing work and casual web surfing, which included watching videos and just generally using it. It’s a decent battery life from a laptop that offers quite a bit of performance when required.
Of course as a gaming laptop the big question is how it handles once it’s let loose with a few games. Using it on battery with a few games does draw a fair bit of power depending on the game you fire up. Using Cyberpunk 2077, Tomb Raider and Planet Crafter I could drain the battery in a little over an hour just on battery.
The battery will drain, however this is where the excellent fast charging option comes to the fore. The supplied charger is excellent, charging up to 50% capacity on the battery in just 30 minutes. It takes a little over an hour to charge to full, which is still excellent when you need to get a full charge. You also have the option for 100W charging via USB-C if you have the charger.
Overall, you get a decent amount of battery life on the Zephyrus G14 for everyday use and expectedly, it drops when you push it into performance mode while gaming.
Software
The Zephyrus G14 comes with Windows 11, though it comes with Windows 10 pre-installed and you’ll be offered an update to Windows 11 during the setup process. The update process takes a while, but once it’s installed the laptop is ready to rock.
I found no bloatware in the form of McAfee or Norton pre-installed, with Windows Security running that side of things – a big plus in my book.
There are some predefined apps included in the default image such as the Microsoft Xbox app – but with a free month of GamePass for PC on offer when you use it it’s a pretty decent option to have around on a gaming laptop.
ASUS has installed their software on here, but these are tools you’ll need to take full advantage of all the hardware features on the laptop like the AniMe display on the lid, the Aura RGB keyboard, and utilities including the Dolby Access app & more.
The software load on the Zephyrus G14 is pretty good as a whole and shows it’s ready to game almost straight out of the box.
Should you buy it?
The Zephyrus G14 is one of the more popular options for gaming laptops on the market, with ASUS counting it as their ‘Most Popular Gaming laptop’ – and it’s easy to see why.
The laptop has a comfortable keyboard with a large, responsive trackpad and a big, bright display that’s now in 16:10 aspect ratio. There’s plenty of power to spare, and while the battery could be better while gaming, it’s perfectly respectable while you’re doing day-to-day work.
Of course there’s room for improvement on the 720p web cam, but it is an IR based sensor, so you get the fast, touchless login with Windows Hello which is a big plus.
About the only knock I have for the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 GA402 is the lack of availability with most major retailers not listing it. You can find it listed, and in stock at independent retailers in Australia on StaticIce – and if you’re in the market for a great quality gaming laptop, I’d encourage you to make the effort.
