This is the thinnest and lightest 16-inch gaming laptop I’ve ever tested. It’s ASUS’s new Zephyrus G16, but what sort of compromises have been made to get it this portable? There’s one major issue that you need to know about!
Design and Build Quality
The G16 is available in platinum white, or eclipse grey, which is what I’ve got here. It’s using a CNC aluminum chassis, which feels more solid compared to previous generations. Overall build quality feels great with only minor flex to the keyboard and lid.
Screen and Lid Design
Screen wobble is very minor when typing hard, the hinges feel nice and sturdy even when ripping the lid open fast. Most laptops only have hinges near the outer corners, but the G16’s lid gets some support in the middle too. The lid sticks out slightly, making it easy to open, and the screen goes back about 130 degrees, which I found to be enough for regular viewing.
Slash Lighting and Fingerprints
The lid features ASUS’s new slash lighting. Basically, there’s a line with some white lighting, and you can customize it between a few different effects through the included Armory Crate software. Fingerprints don’t really show up on the lid or interior, but are easy enough to clean with a microfiber cloth when they do.
Size and Portability
This year’s G16 is smaller in all dimensions, and it’s incredibly thin compared to all other 16-inch gaming laptops we’ve tested. It’s very portable, only weighing in at 4lb or 1.8kg, increasing to 5.3lb or 2.4kg with the 200-watt charger included. This makes it the lightest 16-inch gaming laptop we’ve ever had, and more in-line with the smaller 14-inch models that we’ve tested.
Configuration Options
My configuration has Intel’s Core Ultra 9 185H processor, Nvidia’s RTX 4070 graphics, and a 16-inch 240Hz OLED screen. But it’s available with an AMD CPU, or 4050, 4060, 4080, or even 4090 graphics for more or less money with the link below.
Keyboard and Touchpad
My chiclet keyboard has 1 zone of white backlighting, but there’s an RGB option too, and all keys and secondary functions get lit up. Key brightness can be adjusted between 3 levels or turned off by holding function and pressing the F2 or F3 keys. The touchpad is huge, smooth, and works well. It never felt like it was in the way while typing because it’s in the middle, and that’s possible due to there being no numpad to shift the keyboard over.
Audio Quality
There are front-facing speakers on either side of the keyboard as well as subwoofers underneath on the left and right sides towards the front. They sound amazing. Easily the best gaming laptop speakers I’ve ever listened to. There’s plenty of bass and they’re still clear at higher volume.
Port Selection
As for ports, the left side has the power input at the back, an HDMI 2.1 output, a Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack. The right side has a full-sized UHS-II SD card slot, and USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C ports. Unfortunately, there’s no ethernet port like last year’s 2023 version because they made it thinner this year.
Charging and Display Connectivity
Both Type-C ports can be used to charge the laptop with up to 100 watts, and it’s nice that you’ve got the option of choosing which side you want to charge from. They both have DisplayPort support for connecting monitors, but the one on the left has the newer DisplayPort 2.1, which I think is the first time I’ve ever seen that in a gaming laptop. The one on the right is the standard 1.4.
Internals and Upgradability
Getting inside requires taking out 11 TR6 screws of 3 different sizes, so keep track of them. Inside we’ve got the battery down the front, installed M.2 SSD on the right, a spare secondary M.2 storage slot on the left, and the Wi-Fi 6E card next to that. Unfortunately, memory is soldered to the motherboard this year and cannot be upgraded, last year’s model had one removable memory slot, but that’s gone now in favor of the thinner design.
Battery Life and Management
The G16 is powered by a 4-Cell 90Wh battery. Panel power saver is enabled by default, which automatically lowers the screen’s refresh rate to 60Hz when you unplug the charger to save power. You can enable battery care mode through the MyASUS software to limit the maximum charge level to 80%, which helps improve the longevity of the battery.
Thermal Performance
The G16 with RTX 4050, 4060, or 4070 has 3 fans inside now, up from last year’s 2, but one of those fans is where the single memory slot used to be. The internal temperatures were fine at idle. CPU clock speeds were exactly the same in performance, turbo, and manual modes. CPU performance was actually best in silent mode, because the GPU gets limited so the CPU has more power to play with.
Gaming Performance
Alright, so how does the thinner design with lower power limits affect gaming? We’ve tested with these settings in 3 games to find out! Cyberpunk 2077 was tested with our own custom test run, and I’ve got the G16 shown by the red highlight. It’s not quite the lowest result from an RTX 4070 laptop at 1080p, but it’s close. ASUS’s even smaller Zephyrus G14 pretty much performs the same.
Display Quality
Now part of what makes the G16 special is the OLED screen. Color gamut can be super high, plenty for gaming or even content creators, but only if you change the color profile from the default sRGB mode in Armory Crate, as we measured lower gamut with that. Screen brightness gets to around 400 nits when maxed out, and was just slightly brighter with HDR enabled.
Conclusion
The ASUS Zephyrus G16 offers a great balance of portability, performance, and display quality, though with some compromises. The thin design and lightweight build make it highly portable, while the OLED screen provides excellent visuals. However, the lower power limits do affect gaming performance somewhat. Despite this, it remains a strong contender in the 16-inch gaming laptop market.
This is the thinnest and lightest 16-inch gaming laptop I’ve ever tested. It’s ASUS’s new Zephyrus G16, but what sort of compromises have been made to get it this portable? There’s one major issue that you need to know about!
Design and Build Quality
The G16 is available in platinum white, or eclipse grey, which is what I’ve got here. It’s using a CNC aluminum chassis, which feels more solid compared to previous generations. Overall build quality feels great with only minor flex to the keyboard and lid.
Screen and Lid Design
Screen wobble is very minor when typing hard, the hinges feel nice and sturdy even when ripping the lid open fast. Most laptops only have hinges near the outer corners, but the G16’s lid gets some support in the middle too. The lid sticks out slightly, making it easy to open, and the screen goes back about 130 degrees, which I found to be enough for regular viewing.
Slash Lighting and Fingerprints
The lid features ASUS’s new slash lighting. Basically, there’s a line with some white lighting, and you can customize it between a few different effects through the included Armory Crate software. Fingerprints don’t really show up on the lid or interior, but are easy enough to clean with a microfiber cloth when they do.
Size and Portability
This year’s G16 is smaller in all dimensions, and it’s incredibly thin compared to all other 16-inch gaming laptops we’ve tested. It’s very portable, only weighing in at 4lb or 1.8kg, increasing to 5.3lb or 2.4kg with the 200-watt charger included. This makes it the lightest 16-inch gaming laptop we’ve ever had, and more in-line with the smaller 14-inch models that we’ve tested.
Configuration Options
My configuration has Intel’s Core Ultra 9 185H processor, Nvidia’s RTX 4070 graphics, and a 16-inch 240Hz OLED screen. But it’s available with an AMD CPU, or 4050, 4060, 4080, or even 4090 graphics for more or less money with the link below.
Keyboard and Touchpad
My chiclet keyboard has 1 zone of white backlighting, but there’s an RGB option too, and all keys and secondary functions get lit up. Key brightness can be adjusted between 3 levels or turned off by holding function and pressing the F2 or F3 keys. The touch pad is huge, smooth, and works well. It never felt like it was in the way while typing because it’s in the middle, and that’s possible due to there being no num pad to shift the keyboard over.
Audio Quality
There are front-facing speakers on either side of the keyboard as well as subwoofers underneath on the left and right sides towards the front. They sound amazing. Easily the best gaming laptop speakers I’ve ever listened to. There’s plenty of bass and they’re still clear at higher volume.
Port Selection
As for ports, the left side has the power input at the back, an HDMI 2.1 output, a Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack. The right side has a full-sized UHS-II SD card slot, and USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C ports. Unfortunately, there’s no Ethernet port like last year’s 2023 version because they made it thinner this year.
Charging and Display Connectivity
Both Type-C ports can be used to charge the laptop with up to 100 watts, and it’s nice that you’ve got the option of choosing which side you want to charge from. They both have Display Port support for connecting monitors, but the one on the left has the newer Display Port 2.1, which I think is the first time I’ve ever seen that in a gaming laptop. The one on the right is the standard 1.4.
Internals and Upgrade ability
Getting inside requires taking out 11 TR6 screws of 3 different sizes, so keep track of them. Inside we’ve got the battery down the front, installed M.2 SSD on the right, a spare secondary M.2 storage slot on the left, and the Wi-Fi 6E card next to that. Unfortunately, memory is soldered to the motherboard this year and cannot be upgraded, last year’s model had one removable memory slot, but that’s gone now in favor of the thinner design.
Battery Life and Management
The G16 is powered by a 4-Cell 90Wh battery. Panel power saver is enabled by default, which automatically lowers the screen’s refresh rate to 60Hz when you unplug the charger to save power. You can enable battery care mode through the My ASUS software to limit the maximum charge level to 80%, which helps improve the longevity of the battery.
Thermal Performance
The G16 with RTX 4050, 4060, or 4070 has 3 fans inside now, up from last year’s 2, but one of those fans is where the single memory slot used to be. The internal temperatures were fine at idle. CPU clock speeds were exactly the same in performance, turbo, and manual modes. CPU performance was actually best in silent mode, because the GPU gets limited so the CPU has more power to play with.
Gaming Performance
Alright, so how does the thinner design with lower power limits affect gaming? We’ve tested with these settings in 3 games to find out! Cyberpunk 2077 was tested with our own custom test run, and I’ve got the G16 shown by the red highlight. It’s not quite the lowest result from an RTX 4070 laptop at 1080p, but it’s close. ASUS’s even smaller Zephyrus G14 pretty much performs the same.
Display Quality
Now part of what makes the G16 special is the OLED screen. Color gamut can be super high, plenty for gaming or even content creators, but only if you change the color profile from the default RGB mode in Armory Crate, as we measured lower gamut with that. Screen brightness gets to around 400 nits when maxed out, and was just slightly brighter with HDR enabled.