Loyal Verge readers will remember that I was not the biggest fan of the latest ROG Zephyrus G14. The model we got had a lot of great things about it – Asus improved the aspect ratio, added a webcam, increased the touchpad and basically fixed all the other complaints I had about the G14 from the past.
But the unit I had for review was a top SKU and was too expensive.
In particular, the Radeon RX 6800S / Ryzen 9 6900HS model I received was priced at $ 2,499.99. This puts it in the same price range as some of the most premium 15-inch gaming devices on the market, including Razer’s Blade 15 Advanced – and well above the price of the larger and better-performing G15. It was not a good deal. But I noted in the review that Asus intends to sell cheaper models of the G14 and that these models, if they produce a similar frame rate, could be a phenomenal purchase.
Well, I finally got one of these cheaper models. I am currently writing this on a $ 1649.99 model of the Zephyrus G14, which has the same Ryzen 9 6900HS processor, but replaces this 6800S GPU with a slightly less powerful 6700S. I had a strong suspicion for months that this configuration would offer a very similar performance to its $ 2,499.99 counterpart.
And folks, that suspicion turned out to be correct. The difference in staff frequency, although existing, is not worth paying for. The battery life of the 6700S is better. It is thinner and lighter. The only thing it lacks that the 6800S has is a sophisticated animated light display on the hood. The light display is very cool and you can go ahead and pay $ 850 extra for it if you want, but I will say that most people should get the model for $ 1.6499.99 instead. This is a better deal.
Good things
- Bright, QHD, 16:10 screen
- Good performance for the price
- All day battery life
- Surprisingly good webcam
Bad things
- Unfortunately there are no beautiful lights
- Only 120Hz screen
- Happy as a 14-inch
This is still one of my favorite keyboards on the market.
For everything related to the G14 chassis, please see the review of the 6800S G14, which I published in February. There I described in detail the keyboard, touchpad, webcam, screen and other aspects of design and hardware. They are all the same for the 6700S, so here I will just discuss the differences in performance.
You can place it flat if there is any reason you want to do it.
The cheaper G14 averaged 189 frames per second in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at maximum settings and natural (2560 x 1600) resolution. The previous model had an average of 202 frames per second. This difference will not be noticeable to anyone using these machines, as the highest refresh rate that the 120Hz screen of the G14 can show is 120 frames per second.
You may notice an impact on other titles, but not on what costs $ 850. The 6700S had some problems with beam tracking, which almost halved the frame rate – but that’s exactly what we saw from the 6800S. The cheaper model had an average of 63 frames per second with beam tracking off and 32 frames per second with maximum increased beam tracking, where the older model averaged 70 frames per second and 37 frames per second, respectively. Like I said, small potatoes.
And in Red Dead Redemption 2 with all the sliders manually set to maximum, the cheaper model averaged 45 frames per second, while the more expensive SKU averaged 49 frames per second. I promise that four shots will not affect your life in any way.
Four shots will not affect your life
The noise and heat of the fan was similar to what I observed from the 6800S, which means they are fine. The noise was not particularly annoying during the game and did not interfere with the sound of the game; when I put the device in the Silent profile for shared work, it really became silent. Even during a decent workload, including an external display, the keyboard never had more than a little heat. The palm rests were hot during play, but not uncomfortable.
There are no funky lights here, but a neat cover design. The openings do their job.
Where I saw a difference was the battery life. The 6700S had an average of eight hours and 55 minutes of total use at medium brightness, a solid hour compared to the 6800S. This indicator returns the G14 to the map as one of the most durable gaming laptops in recent years. The gaming battery did not show exactly the same improvement. I got 46 minutes of Red Dead Redemption 2 play with about 39 minutes of play time, while I spent 54 and 46 minutes on the more expensive module, but gaming battery life is hard to draw. Charging time was exactly the same: 60 percent in 41 minutes.
Where I saw a difference was the battery life
The other difference between this model and the 6800S is the size. It is slightly lighter (3.64 pounds compared to 3.79 pounds on the 6800S) and thinner (0.73 inches to 0.77 inches). This is obviously not the biggest difference in the world and is quite a lightweight gaming laptop anyway. But this is another slight advantage of the cheaper model. It is much lighter than the Razer Blade 14 and much more compact than the larger machines that can provide this frame rate. I brought this device on an international trip and I liked how light the load was in an otherwise packed backpack.
So the Zephyrus G14 is again one of the best gaming laptops you can buy. You can just go ahead and buy this model 6700S, unless you really like a lot of animated lights. This model is competitive in price with first-class scope in a way that the animated light model is not: the nearest Razer Blade 14 will be $ 2,599.99 ($ 950 more, but with a faster screen refresh rate) and comparable Alienware The X14 (with a lower -screen resolution) will be $ 1,949. And that’s a lot of competition for bigger competitors: the Blade 15 Advanced with RTX 3070 Ti is currently announced for $ 2999.99 ($ 950 more), as well as the RTX 3070 Ti Blade 15 Base (lower resolution).
And that doesn’t even take into account the other advantages the G14 has over much of the competition, including its lightweight chassis, top-of-the-line keyboard and (especially) 16:10 screen. Priced at $ 1,649.99, it makes it much easier (and more justified) to evaluate the real innovations that Asus has made and continues to make in this space.
Add Comment