If I could well well moreover handiest have one pc pc for work and gaming, I’d uncover this one

I’ve loved the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 because it launched in 2020. I equipped one for my wife after finding out about how superior it used to be on a shrimp residence called The Verge dot com.Since then, the G14 has gotten some facelifts, chip bumps, an occasional special edition, a fat redesign, and a 16-scramble sibling — and it’s remained astronomical. Now, in 2026, Asus has unusual flagship models making the change from AMD chips to Intel Panther Lake CPUs. And it now has one thing I in actuality have a soft obtain 22 situation for on any pc pc: a fat-dimension SD card slot.The Zephyrus G14 already had me inspire in 2020, when it didn’t in reality have a webcam, however now it feels cherish a pc pc particularly for me: a thin-and-light OLED-geared up gaming pc pc that can play anything you throw at it, tackle photo and video bettering with ease, and final all day performing frequent duties.However in its pursuit of extra energy, and because of RAMageddon, the G14’s sign has risen an ungodly amount. The unusual Intel-primarily based fully mostly models launch at $3,450, and our overview config is $3,600. The worth proposition that first defined the Zephyrus line is sadly long gone.$3450The GoodVery precise all-around efficiency for work and gamingBattery can final around 10 hours below light loadsA fat-dimension SD card slot as a change of microSDGreat keyboard, screen, speakers, and trackpadThe BadNew Intel models are clear expensiveThe extra cost effective final-gen G14 calm makes extra senseSlightly slower learn / write speeds than its predecessorThe Zephyrus G14 oldschool to originate within the low $1,000 differ, with greater-give up configs hiking to $2,500 or so. I paid below $1,400 for my launch-field G14 with Ryzen 9 5900HS, RTX 3060, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD inspire in 2021. How the occasions have changed.Part legend cardScreen: AWebcam: CKeyboard: ATrackpad: BPort decision: ASpeakers: ANumber of gruesome stickers to take hold of away: 3 (one below)Zephyrus laptops had been getting unusual sign will increase for years, even earlier than the ongoing global memory shortage spurred by AI files facilities that’s using up the worth of RAM and SSDs. However my overview unit with the unusual Intel CPU is $1,000 bigger than a virtually identical final-gen configuration with an AMD processor. Asus is maintaining final Twelve months’s AMD models around to withhold more inexpensive choices, however we don’t know if those costs could well well moreover within the future upward push cherish so many others. The unusual Intel-primarily based fully mostly G14 comes with a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 386H chip, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD. Our $3,599.99 overview configuration doubles the RAM to 32GB.The unusual G14 should be a shrimp extra highly effective than the final-gen with a 5080, attributable to it reaches a height TGP of 130W as a change of 120W, however that doesn’t alternate the reality that you just now uncover less RAM and storage for same costs to a final-gen G14 or increased G16 with a greater-give up GPU.Apart from these very excessive costs, there’s no important flaw within the G14. The webcam is grainy in low light, and the SSD is around 12 percent slower than the final-gen, however those are minor points. The G14 looks and feels mainly equivalent to the redesigned mannequin that launched in 2024, and it’s a same dimension and weight to the 14-scramble MacBook Decent. The 2026 G14 moreover has some tiny beauty refinements, cherish extra LED segments within the bright reduce lighting on the lid and circular gap vents within the underside veil as a change of rectangular slots.Here is as refined as ROG branding will get.Devour old generations, the G14’s keyboard and mechanical trackpad are amongst the supreme around. The keys have nice deep commute and are handiest surpassed in feel by the extra tactile ones from the likes of Lenovo’s ThinkPads. The clear trackpad doesn’t click on in all four corners (cherish even a $600 MacBook Neo does now), however it’s solid-feeling, with a satisfyingly agency and tactile kachunk. Most people will sport with a mouse anyway.The 2880 x 1800 / 120Hz OLED video display is as crisp as ever, and it looks nice. It’s brighter than the 2025 mannequin in SDR (500 nits as a change of 400) and a lot brighter at HDR height brightness (as much as 1,100 nits as a change of 500). The port decision is calm gargantuan, and it’s been a shrimp bit upgraded with Thunderbolt 4 as a change of USB4 and the aforementioned fat-dimension SD card slot. Even the speakers are impressive for a pc pc of this dimension. Asus manages to cram six of them into this tiny chassis, and audio sounds affluent and complete with even a little little bit of a left-to-factual stereo soundstage. It’s the handiest Windows pc pc I’ve oldschool that I despicable carefully to the MacBook Decent for sound quality.On the factual: USB-C, USB-A, and my treasured SD card slot.On the left: Asus’ proprietary reversible energy connector, HDMI 2.1, USB-A, USB-C, and 3.5mm audio.The creature comforts are vital, however when you happen to expend $3,600 on a pc pc it better kind properly. I’m elated to narrate the G14 does. It feels like a flash all over light and heavy duties alike. Bettering thru about a hundred 50-megapixel RAW photos in Adobe Lightroom Traditional felt like a flash, even on battery energy with the followers barely running and no longer grand heat being generated. Culling and rating photos in Lightroom used to be a same skills to a MacBook Decent, with 100% previews loading promptly. The heavier processing is the build things most frequently uncover a shrimp slower, especially once I started making a total bunch edits and pasting them from one photo to a bunch of others. However it managed to hold in there and protect me flowing thru my edit, even when I oldschool it long sufficient to dip into Energy Saver mode.Devour every Windows laptops, the G14 performs supreme when plugged in, however its Panther Lake chip has handiest a tiny dropoff in multicore and GPU efficiency when on battery energy. This has been a astronomical uncover for Intel’s unusual chips, allowing laptops cherish the G14 to feel factual about as like a flash whereas far off from a wall outlet. Panther Lake’s quite quite a bit of astronomical advantage is its energy effectivity, and overall battery life on the G14 is astronomical, especially for a gaming pc pc. In our battery rundown check, the unusual Zephyrus lasted over 17 hours in contrast to the final-gen AMD mannequin’s 8.5 hours. That’s obviously no longer without prolong indicative of actual-world employ, however it shows how grand extra efficient Intel’s Panther Lake chip could well well moreover very properly be in combined having a scrutinize and video playback.In actual employ I could well well moreover uncover thru a complete workday on the G14, managing a shrimp over 10 hours of combined usage (dozens of Chrome tabs launch all the map in which thru two or three desktops, a total bunch Slack, and some hours of music streaming). And that used to be all whereas the screen used to be at 80 percent brightness, so it’ll trot longer when you happen to dusky it a shrimp bit or trot Energy Saver all day. Need to you lean on the discrete graphics that you just might perchance well tank the 73Wh battery grand sooner. I purchased about 5 to 6 complete hours on battery after spending over an hour of it doing my heavy edits in Lightroom. That’s calm no longer tainted.1/10Get rid of those stickers and also you’ve bought yourself a actually sleek having a scrutinize pc pc.However I wager what I’m going to narrate subsequent. As precise as the G14 is for inventive work, a extra cost effective 14-scramble M5 MacBook Decent calm outperforms it or comes discontinuance in CPU-dependent duties, with better battery life. And a baseline 14-scramble M5 Max mannequin for the same $3,600 will murder it.What makes the Zephyrus special in contrast to a MacBook is that it moreover performs any sport you want. In Battlefield 6, I purchased 65 to 70fps at native decision within the Excessive preset without any need for DLSS. Helldivers 2, which doesn’t abet DLSS at all, yielded an most engrossing greater 80 to 90fps in same settings. And Marathon used to be with ease within the 70fps differ at Excessive settings with DLSS location to Quality. The underside of the G14 will get moderately sizzling whereas playing all these games, however thankfully the keyboard deck remains tolerable — factual a puny warming of the left palm relaxation whereas I work the WASD keys.This used to be all whereas the usage of the Efficiency profile in Asus’ Armoury Crate, which is the default mode when the G14 is plugged into wall energy. Switching to Turbo mode, which overclocks the GPU by 50MHz and will increase the G14’s TGP by as much as 20W with dynamic boost, can make stronger efficiency by as grand as 10fps — though the followers uncover factual loud sufficient to warrant headphones.The Zephyrus G14’s sport efficiency is clearly effortlessly bested by grand bigger gaming laptops. Asus’ fill Strix Scar 16, which costs $3,300, has a increased 240Hz Mini LED screen, and crushes the G14 with greater body charges at the same excessive settings. However you lose the full portability and battery longevity with a behemoth of a pc pc cherish that. The G14 is all about getting a shrimp little bit of every thing in a single compact and versatile kit.1/11The unusual Intel G14 in gray (left) vs the final-gen AMD version in silver / white (factual).Need to you would possibly want to no longer accumulate aside all your eggs in a single basket, for the worth of our overview unit you might perchance moreover effortlessly aquire an entry-level M5 14-scramble MacBook Decent and a second instrument for your gaming needs (a PlayStation 5 Decent, Steam Deck, or even a total quite quite a bit of budget gaming pc pc) and calm have money left over. However when you happen to uncover favor one instrument for every thing, the unusual Intel G14 is extremely precise. It’s nearly every thing I’ve wished in a single pc pc. It’s factual a shame that it costs so grand, especially need to you protect in thoughts its declare predecessor with a 12-core AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and the same GPU, RAM, and storage costs virtually $1,000 less. I love the unusual G14’s marathon battery life and SD card slot, however I don’t $1,000 love them.Here is inclined to be the device quo for the foreseeable future: Very ideal Windows laptops will come out at costs ranging from excessive to worthy. As astronomical as this unusual Zephyrus G14 is, it’s hard to account for its $1,000 top class over the final-gen AMD version for better battery life, a brighter screen, an SD card slot, and a Thunderbolt 4 port. Even final Twelve months’s entry-level mannequin, with an RTX 5060, that that you just might perchance well calm uncover for below $2,000 on sale is astronomical to within the within the period in-between.You’ve continuously needed to pay extra to uncover extra, however Windows laptops on this day and age are getting extra and costlier, factual when the general public have less and fewer spending energy. The G14 used to be continuously an distinctive day to day gaming pc pc, however it oldschool to moreover supply precise efficiency for the money. Now it’s one more pricey luxury.2026 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 specs (as reviewed)Video display: 14-scramble (2880 x 1800) 120Hz OLEDCPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 386HGPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPURAM: 32GB LPDDR5X (soldered)Storage: 1TB NVMe SSDWebcam: 1080p with IRConnectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6Ports: 1x Thunderbolt 4 USB-C (DisplayPort / Vitality Provide), 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (DisplayPort / Vitality Provide), 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, fat-dimension SDXC UHS-II card slot, 3.5mm combo audio jackBiometrics: Windows Hiya facial unlockWeight: 3.Forty eight pounds / 1.58kgDimensions: 12.24 x 8.66 x 0.63 ~ 0.72 inches / 310.9 x 220 x 16 ~ 18.3mmBattery: 73WhPrice: $3,599.99Photogaphy by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeAsus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2026) / Intel Core Ultra 9 386H / 32GB / 1TBAsus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) / AMD Ryzen 9 270 / 16GB / 1TBMacBook Decent 14 / Apple M5 / 16GB / 1TBRazer Blade 16 (2025) / AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 / 32GB / 2TBAsus ROG Strix Scar 16 / Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX /Framework Laptop 16 (2025) / AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 / 16GB / 1TBAsus ROG Zephyrus Duo / Intel Core Ultra 9 386H / 32GB / 1TBCPU cores168101224816GPUNvidia RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU (5,888 CUDA cores)Nvidia RTX 5060 Laptop GPU (3,328 CUDA cores)Apple M5 (10 cores)Nvidia RTX 5090 Laptop GPU (10,496 CUDA cores)Nvidia RTX 5080 Laptop GPU (7,680 CUDA cores)Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU (4,608 CUDA cores)Nvidia RTX 5090 Laptop GPU (10,496 CUDA cores)Geekbench 6 CPU Single2909241242082968311328972886Geekbench 6 CPU Multi17145113811794815922197091256616966Geekbench 6 GPU (OpenCL)16237310752349059213016200189122744200809Cinebench 2026 Single517518736Not testedNot testedNot tested516Cinebench 2026 Multi464534444486Not testedNot testedNot tested5098PugetBench for Photoshop99417398123548679848275608825PugetBench for Premiere Decent (2.0.0+)1037897122571122Not testedNot tested109757118183Blender school room check (seconds, lower is better)29464418213420Blender cosmos check (seconds, lower is better)163295Not tested121Not testedNot tested115Premiere 4K Export (lower is better)4 minutes, 20 seconds6 minutes, 25 seconds2 minutes, 47 seconds1 minute, 56 secondsNot tested2 minutes, 18 seconds5 minutes, 0 secondsSustained SSD reads (MB/s)6154.226963.857049.456726.256832.065280.317033.11Sustained SSD writes (MB/s)5372.856112.857317.64931.416550.214560.475808.613DMark Time Witness graphics score1494110331Not tested22498209771342218417Price as examined$3,599.99$2,299.99$1,949$4,499.99$3,299.99$2,524$5,499.99Follow issues and authors from this legend to stamp extra cherish this on your personalized homepage feed and to construct up e mail updates.Antonio G. Di Benedetto