Customer reviews from bestbuy-ca
ASUS - ROG Zephyrus G14 14" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 7 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti - 512GB SSD - Eclipse Gray
Average customer rating
4.4
(45 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 45 reviews
5 Stars
26
4 Stars
14
3 Stars
2
2 Stars
2
1 Star
1
84%of customers recommend this product.
(
38 out of
45)
Customer Reviews for ASUS - ROG Zephyrus G14 14" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 7 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti - 512GB SSD - Eclipse Gray
Customer Rating
4
Lit Laptop with a Few Mods
on September 2, 2020
Posted by: Eugene
from North Vancouver, BC
I bought this laptop when it was on sale for back-to-school!
Prior to buying this, I checked so many reviews of the laptop as it was the first gaming laptop with almost-full CPU and GPU in 1.6 kg 14" form factor with proper cooling system. This is also the first laptop that has the AMD Ryzen 4800HS. So I could not wait to get it when it became available in Canada.
I got my unit on August 14, 2020 and this is a review after using it about 3 weeks.
Pros:
- This laptop is soo compact and light compared to other gaming laptops!
- Sleek design
- Amazing monitor; the monitor is never my priority when I look for a new laptop but I can now see how amazing Pantone-certified monitor is!
- Relatively quiet when used for light uses like watching Youtube, internet surfing, or word processing
- Speakers are loud and can play bass (not amazing)
- Long battery time (with light use, can last more than 8 hrs)
- Amazing keyboard; they are responsive yet can be typed quietly
- Can upgrade SSD & RAM
- This laptop is soo compact and light compared to other gaming laptops!
- Sleek design
- Amazing monitor; the monitor is never my priority when I look for a new laptop but I can now see how amazing Pantone-certified monitor is!
- Relatively quiet when used for light uses like watching Youtube, internet surfing, or word processing
- Speakers are loud and can play bass (not amazing)
- Long battery time (with light use, can last more than 8 hrs)
- Amazing keyboard; they are responsive yet can be typed quietly
- Can upgrade SSD & RAM
Cons:
- The laptop runs hot and loud under load when it is used freshly out of box (this can be modified by tweaking registry & power settings)
- Although the monitor is amazing, Asus Armoury Crate (a pre-installed program) has a feature called Gamevisual, that washes out the color. This can be solved by deleting Asus Armoury Crate but you will not be able to overclock the CPU or change the fan settings
- No web cam; I personally don't care but this can be an issue for some buyers especially now COVID-19 is still ongoing
- No "insert, home & end, page up & down" keys; this is very crucial if you are thinking of buying this laptop for programming or word processing
- No lan port for Ethernet cable
- Only single RAM can be replaced
- The laptop runs hot and loud under load when it is used freshly out of box (this can be modified by tweaking registry & power settings)
- Although the monitor is amazing, Asus Armoury Crate (a pre-installed program) has a feature called Gamevisual, that washes out the color. This can be solved by deleting Asus Armoury Crate but you will not be able to overclock the CPU or change the fan settings
- No web cam; I personally don't care but this can be an issue for some buyers especially now COVID-19 is still ongoing
- No "insert, home & end, page up & down" keys; this is very crucial if you are thinking of buying this laptop for programming or word processing
- No lan port for Ethernet cable
- Only single RAM can be replaced
Overall, I highly recommend this laptop as it has similar specs as Macbook Pro 16" yet the price is about 50% of the Macbook Pro's. With little bit of tweaks, this laptop can run quiet and fast.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting bestbuy-ca
Customer Rating
4
A beast of laptop but.....
on November 15, 2020
Posted by: Ninja Daud
from Toronto
This laptop is such a good combination of portability and power. It's a fast and smooth experience that's easy to carry around in one hand around the house or in office. The thing I love about it is the size. Man this is a small laptop. I was really scared when I ordered this cuz I wasn't really sure about the size. I'm happy to report that no other laptop has made life this easier in the size department. Easily able to handle tripple AAA games at high fps. Trackpads great, keyboard is excellent and the speakers surprised me. Although there's a bit of tweaking required to achieve the max potential of this machine. My main issue with this laptop is the software. It can sometimes be straight up frustrating at times. The bluetooth randomly disappears, trying to get max battery out of it can be very confusing, speakers started to sound a bit odd after a few days, random glitches and gets stuck occasionally on certain apps. I would highly recommend getting a look around the sub reddit as most of the issues mentioned above are solved over there. Nevertheless I am highly satisfied overall with the laptop, and would highly recommend this to anyone looking to buy it this holiday. Although what I wish was, anime matrix should have been for all the variants, and software should have been better optimized. Even with it's flaws I can tell you, this one's a beast !!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting bestbuy-ca
Customer Rating
5
Fantastic laptop if you have some patience
on November 21, 2020
Posted by: Mike
from Ottawa
So I bought this as an every day work laptop that can also run demanding video editing and games. It does it really well. A few things:
Battery life of 10 hours is easily doable, you have to modify a registry key in order to disable the cpu boost (youtube), and configure graphics switching properly. You will still have plenty of performance and far lower temps.
The fan noise can be completely eliminated using a program called atrofac which allows you to set fan speeds by temperature. Uninstall armory crate if you use this!! (Note that this is experimental but works great if you tinker.) I get temps of 40-48C with fans off. They’re set to come on when I game or render and the cpu hits 55+.
The screen is phenomenal, buttery smooth. I game at 60Hz which is smooth enough, and I see no ghosting. GTA5 runs on a solid 60fps on max settings.
If you have an iPhone and record 4k60 hevc video, asus includes the hevc plugin to play the video. Editing in sony vegas 17 is extremely laggy tho. No windows computer can decode hevc. 1080p rendering is great and 264 4k60 edits with a little bit of stutter.
The keyboard is also fantastic - backlight is great on this darker model.
The speakers are the best I’ve ever heard on a laptop. Very loud yet clear. With great bass, I can feel the thing vibrating playing edm.
It’s light and portable for such a powerful machine.
I don’t have any complaints, you just have to spend a few hours optimizing it.
Battery life of 10 hours is easily doable, you have to modify a registry key in order to disable the cpu boost (youtube), and configure graphics switching properly. You will still have plenty of performance and far lower temps.
The fan noise can be completely eliminated using a program called atrofac which allows you to set fan speeds by temperature. Uninstall armory crate if you use this!! (Note that this is experimental but works great if you tinker.) I get temps of 40-48C with fans off. They’re set to come on when I game or render and the cpu hits 55+.
The screen is phenomenal, buttery smooth. I game at 60Hz which is smooth enough, and I see no ghosting. GTA5 runs on a solid 60fps on max settings.
If you have an iPhone and record 4k60 hevc video, asus includes the hevc plugin to play the video. Editing in sony vegas 17 is extremely laggy tho. No windows computer can decode hevc. 1080p rendering is great and 264 4k60 edits with a little bit of stutter.
The keyboard is also fantastic - backlight is great on this darker model.
The speakers are the best I’ve ever heard on a laptop. Very loud yet clear. With great bass, I can feel the thing vibrating playing edm.
It’s light and portable for such a powerful machine.
I don’t have any complaints, you just have to spend a few hours optimizing it.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting bestbuy-ca
Customer Rating
4
Overall great except for coil whine
on January 28, 2021
Posted by: Austin
from Calgary
Overall, the laptop is very good. It feels sturdy and feels like it's made from good materials. Keyboard feels good to type on. Has decent port selection (2 USB A, 2 USB C, HDMI, headphone jack) and a matte screen that is not reflective. The speakers are also pretty good and it can handle games pretty well considering its size.
The only complaints are the coil whine from the GPU, that is especially noticeable when the fans are in silent mode and the touch pad is rather small, especially if you are not going to be using an external mouse for most of the time.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting bestbuy-ca
Customer Rating
5
Fastest 14” laptop for the price
on January 15, 2021
Posted by: Mrgear
from Toronto
Runs all games properly at 720 . Most games work as well at 1080p 120hz. Tested many others this by far is the best for your dollar
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting bestbuy-ca
Customer Rating
3
Average portable workstation - that's it
on March 4, 2021
Posted by: Jeff
from Guelph
I bought this laptop for school because I wanted something portable, powerful, and with decent battery life. I was going to get a MacBook Pro until I found out you can't run AutoDesk on them - ONLY AutoCad. (Important to consider if you're a civil engineering student).
Pro's are that you get 8 cores, 16 threads, more energy efficiency than similar Intel i5-10300H and i7-10750H laptop processors.
Con's are that it's pretty heavy for a small laptop, doesn't have a num pad/page up page down key, no webcam, has a weird rubber finish, and keyboard feels cheap. Additionally, it can get very hot unless you play around with circuit settings (not recommended unless you're a techy). Also, an i7 10750H laptop is more powerful than this.
Honestly, I'd only get this laptop if you're constantly on the go AND are certain you will be running demanding programs on it like CIVIL3D or REVIT.
Since this laptop almost weighs as much as an Acer Nitro 5, 9 times out of 10, I'd recommend that machine - unless you like to study at cafe and are constantly on the go. If you're not an engineering student, get a MacBook pro instead. If you're a gamer, get an upper tier Acer Nitro 5 and save your money.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting bestbuy-ca
Customer Rating
4
Fair product when on discount
on March 29, 2021
Posted by: Rick
from Surrey
Pros:
-Capable specs dated for 2020
-Doesn't come with bloatware
-SSD, RAM, GPU exceeded benching standards for the same parts (PassMark)
-Capable specs dated for 2020
-Doesn't come with bloatware
-SSD, RAM, GPU exceeded benching standards for the same parts (PassMark)
Cons:
-Did not specify that it was not AniMe enabled
-CPU below benching standards for the same parts (PassMark)
-Requires tweaking and understanding of Armoury Crate (ROG App, included) settings to reduce fan noise. Silent is optimal for general work
-Series known for sleep and USB drain issues for select batches (later ones are ok). Recommend you return early 2020 batches in favor of older ones and also install the latest drivers to patch these issues
-Low battery life, especially compared to 2021 version
-Did not specify that it was not AniMe enabled
-CPU below benching standards for the same parts (PassMark)
-Requires tweaking and understanding of Armoury Crate (ROG App, included) settings to reduce fan noise. Silent is optimal for general work
-Series known for sleep and USB drain issues for select batches (later ones are ok). Recommend you return early 2020 batches in favor of older ones and also install the latest drivers to patch these issues
-Low battery life, especially compared to 2021 version
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting bestbuy-ca
Customer Rating
5
Great Compact Gaming Laptop
on August 17, 2020
Posted by: Daniel G
from Halifax, NS
This is such a great (somewhat) budget thin and light gaming laptop for 3 reasons.
1. LOOKS - The best looking Ryzen 4000 series (CPU) gaming laptop (if you plan to take it around campus, the office, or travel with it and care about looks). Very portable.
2. Price to performance ratio is almost unbeatable (ASUS TUF 15.6" Gaming Laptop, Model Number: TUF506IU-BS71-CB beats it but DOES NOT have WIFI-6)
3. Has a great screen [good brightness level (much better than the TUF model I suggested), and good color accuracy], a good keyboard (backlighting should be a little more even), the trackpad is good (coming from MacBook Pro 13") and speakers are also VERY good for a gaming laptop.
1. LOOKS - The best looking Ryzen 4000 series (CPU) gaming laptop (if you plan to take it around campus, the office, or travel with it and care about looks). Very portable.
2. Price to performance ratio is almost unbeatable (ASUS TUF 15.6" Gaming Laptop, Model Number: TUF506IU-BS71-CB beats it but DOES NOT have WIFI-6)
3. Has a great screen [good brightness level (much better than the TUF model I suggested), and good color accuracy], a good keyboard (backlighting should be a little more even), the trackpad is good (coming from MacBook Pro 13") and speakers are also VERY good for a gaming laptop.
If you are an (engineering, programming) student, who needs something with a decent graphics card and good CPU for running programs like ArcGIS, MATLAB, SolidWorks, AutoCAD, etc. Then I would highly recommend this laptop, as you can comfortably get 120 fps in COD MW with medium settings, and run all the ENGE programs comfortably. If you are looking for the best gaming experience (meaning you care about single-core performance and ray-tracing GPU) and don't care so much about looks then you can find better price to performance options out there.
If you do care about looks, don't want to spend over $2000, want to casually game & run ENGE programs, care about having WIFI-6 (big innovation over WIFI-5), and want the most portable option, then this is the one for you.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting bestbuy-ca