When I first left Vox Media in 2020, I decided to treat myself to a gaming laptop – something compact that I could take on the go, but with enough power to play demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077which remains an excellent benchmark for performance. I decided on 2020 Asus Zephyrus G14and honestly, it quickly became my favorite. Now on mine modern last day at Vox Media (editor’s note: What hellRoss?), I’m buying another gaming laptop and this time… yes, I’m going for the 2024 version of the Zephyrus G14. It’s not because I refuse to get to know the competition, it’s just that they need to try harder for my money.
You can get it on sale for $1,199.99 (was $1,599.99) from Best buy for Black Friday. I’m not saying this is the right laptop for this type of utilize You — at least not necessarily — but I’ll tell you why I was looking for such a laptop.
Each person has a specification that matters above all else, and for me it’s size. I like to be on the road as often as possible, and to put it bluntly, I want the smallest size I can find for traveling. At this point, a 14-inch laptop falls somewhere between “fits comfortably in most backpacks” and “probably has a decent graphics card.” This version of the Zephyrus G14 should have more than enough performance to handle PC games that are also aimed at the PlayStation 5 / Xbox Series DDR5 and 1 TB memory. If there was a 12-inch laptop with an RTX card, I might be writing about a different machine, but in terms of value, the G14 strikes the right balance.
As for the screen, the Zephyrus G14 has a resolution of 2880 x 1800, i.e plenty keen considering the actual screen size, and more importantly, it’s OLED and anyone who’s upgraded to an OLED Switch, Steam Deck OLED, or OLED TV or monitor can tell you it’s pretty good.
Of course, I can’t definitively vouch for something that hasn’t arrived yet – I just ordered it this morning – so my enthusiasm comes from a combination of past experience and trust in other reviewers. Meaning: PC Mag, Computer gamerAND Wire everyone gave it very positive reviews and the main issue was battery life – it basically is Thin when you don’t play and you get exhausted quickly when you do something demanding. It can be charged via USB-C, but for larger tasks you’ll have to utilize a proprietary charger. Edge notes that this year’s G14 suffers from excess heat, which was also the case with the 2020 model, but I’ll take that.
That means no, I won’t play Shadow of Erdtree from your laptop on any flight – at least for no more than about an hour. But me Power utilize it for YouTube, browsing, and work while I’m in transit, and when I get to my destination, I know I’ll have more than enough power to play whatever I want. All of these trade-offs are legitimate concerns and could be a deal-breaker for many. But for what I need and why $1,200G14 looks like a winner.
