Custom PC - UK (2020-07)

T

heROGZephyrusG14GA401IVis thefirstlaptop

we’veseenwithanAMDZen2 processor,andin

thismachineit’sthehigh-endRyzen9 4900HS.

Thenewchipis an8-core,16-threadbeast.That’stwo

morecoresthanyou’llfindinIntel’sCorei7-9750Handthe

forthcomingCorei7-10750H– themostfrequentlyusedIntel

chipsingaminglaptops.

TheRyzen9 4900HShasa 3GHzbaseclock,andcanturbo

boostto4.3GHz.TheRyzen9 4900His

fasterstill,butthisHSvarianthasbeen

downclockedtoaidpowerconsumption.

Likewise,theGeForceRTX 2060 GPU

inthismachineis a Max-Qmodel.It

has1,920streamprocessors, 30 RT

coresand6GBofmemory,butalsohas

reducedclockspeedscomparedwith

thefull-fatversion.Elsewhere,there’s

16GBof3200MHzDDR4memoryand

a 1TBIntelNVMeSSD.There’snoGigabit

Ethernet,butyougetWi-Fi6.

TheZephyrus’14inscreenmakesit

compactaswell.It weighsjust1.6kg,

andmeasuresonly18mmthick.It’s

slimmerandlighterthanvirtuallyevery

competinggaminglaptopwe’vetested,

andthemagnesium-aluminiumalloy

bodybalancessmart,subtledesignwith

fantasticbuildquality.

Thealuminiumlidis coveredwithtiny

dots,whichforma neatpatternonour

reviewsample.Onforthcomingversions,

Asussaysthedotswillemitlightsthatcan

becustomisedwithpatternsandstatus

REVIEWS / LAPTOPS

SPEC
CPU
GHz AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS

Memory
16GB 3200MHz DDR4

Graphics
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q 6GB

Screen
14in 2,560 x 1,440 IPS 60Hz

Storage
1TB Intel 660p M.2 SSD

Networking
Dual-band 802.11ax Wi-Fi

Weight
1.6kg

Ports
2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2
Type-C/DisplayPort, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2
Type-C, 1 x HDMI, 1 x audio, Bluetooth 5

Dimensions (mm)
324 x 222 x 18 (W x D x H)

Operating system
Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Warranty
Two years parts and labour return to base

updates. There’s also a fingerprint reader in the power button,

and this laptop can be charged either from a mains adaptor or

a USB-C port. You get two full-sized USB ports and a second

USB-C connector, but no Thunderbolt, card reader or webcam.

Meanwhile, the keyboard has white backlighting and extra

buttons to activate the microphone, alter volume and open

the Asus Armoury app. The arrow keys are separate from

the main keys, which makes them easier to use, but there’s

no numberpad.

The keyboard has n-key rollover too, and the keys are

comfortable, consistent and quiet to use, with good travel.

The buttons don’t have the crisp snap of mechanical units,

but they’re excellent for general gaming use and hours of

typing. The trackpad is underwhelming though – the buttons

are responsive, but they stick a little when pressed.

Performance

In our image editing test, which gauges single-threaded

performance, the AMD chip delivered a score of 53,874, which

is 1,000-4,000 points ahead of most laptops with Intel’s

Core i7-9750H. In our heavily multi-threaded Handbrake test,

though, the Ryzen chips’ extra cores enabled the Asus to score

539,441. That’s miles ahead of Intel laptops, which usually

score under 400,000. The G14’s overall score of 216,022 is

similarly well ahead of equivalent Intel machines.

The only way you’ll get a faster laptop is by opting for one

with an Intel Core i9 CPU, and those machines are heavy and

expensive. Don’t wait for the forthcoming Core i7-10750H

either – that chip only provides a modest boost and likely

won’t catch this AMD part. The SSD’s sequential read and

write speeds of 1,881MB/sec and 1,781MB/sec are also good

enough to keep the machine feeling snappy, although they’re

a fair way off the performance of the fastest NVMe drives.

GAMING LAPTOP

ASUS ROG ZEPHYRUS

G14GA401IV/£1,800inc VAT

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk

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