Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 laptop review: Eye-catcher

The ROG Zephyrus G15's competitors include other slim 15-inch gaming models like the MSI GS66 10SGS, the Razer Blade 15 2020, the Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515, and the Lenovo Legion 7 15IMH. These laptops appear in the tables as comparison devices.

The Zephyrus G15 is available in gray or white. The latter edition is definitely an eye-catcher. On the one hand, white is hardly ever used in the laptop segment, and on the other hand, various detail accents like small dots or holes on the lid provide for a different look. Visually, the device looks very high-end, especially since the cover and keyboard area are made of a magnesium-aluminum mix (the surfaces tend to creak when twisted, though).

Stability is okay for such a slim case, as long as you don't make too many demands. The build quality is at a high level. All elements of the test device merge smoothly with each other. The hinge construction is a bit unusual for a gaming laptop. The hinges were designed in such a way that the rear area of the base unit is raised by several millimeters when the lid is opened (a maximum angle of 180°, a one-handed opening is possible), which simultaneously favors ventilation (however, the display tips backwards rather quickly when the surface is shaken).

The G15 also impresses with its low weight. Just under 2 kg is the lowest value in the test field and can be transported quite comfortably. Things are similar in terms of dimensions. The combination of a slim-bezel design and 2.0 cm of height guarantee a slim appearance.

Ports

The connectivity is not bad for such a compact gaming laptop. In this way, the 15-incher accommodates an RJ45 port, an audio jack, an HDMI 2.0 output, a Kensington lock slot, and a card reader that can only accept microSD models, though, which is a bit of a pity. Speaking of a pity: Due to the use of AMD, the G15 has to do without Thunderbolt. As for the USB ports, Asus has opted for two Type-A ports and two Type-C ports (3.2 Gen 2 each) with 100 watts of Power Delivery and DisplayPort support.

While right-handed users should be satisfied with the distribution of the ports, lefties will probably complain because of the layout, since the ports on the left side have been pushed too much to the front. Attached cables can significantly restrict the range of motion of an external mouse.

The wireless module from Intel (Wi-Fi 6 AX200) supports WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax and Bluetooth 5.1. The speed in our test (1 meter distance to the reference router, the Netgear Nighthawk AX12) was very good.

Asus provides the Zephyrus G15 with a 200-watt power adapter weighing just under 0.5 kg and measuring 15 x 7 x 2.5 cm.

Since the 15-incher doesn't have a maintenance hatch, the entire bottom of the case has to be removed to reach the components. The bottom cover is secured with 13 screws (note: three of them are located behind rubber seals). Not only does the cooling system, which consists of two fans and several heat pipes (Liquid Metal), await inside the case, but also a SO-DIMM slot (occupied), two M.2 slots (1x free), the battery, and the wireless module are accessible.

Asus provides a 24-month warranty for the device.

Asus deserves praise for the generously sized touchpad. 13 x 8.5 cm is a rarity in the 15-inch segment; it allows running long distances on the display without having to reset your finger. Thanks to the huge touchpad, the palm rest is also generously sized, which benefits ergonomics. Beyond that, the touchpad impresses with a smooth and very gliding-friendly surface. There's nothing to complain about multitouch support either (zooming and scrolling using two-finger gestures). Only the loud and somewhat rattly click noise is a drawback.

WQHD displays currently represent the perfect compromise between image sharpness and resource consumption. Asus uses a 165 Hz model from CMN (N156KME-GNA) for the Zephyrus G15; it's well suited for gamers due to the high frequency and the relatively low response time (under 10 ms gray-to-gray).

Despite its compact dimensions, the Zephyrus G15 is a true high-end laptop that should have enough power for all common application scenarios in the coming years.

The 7 nm Ryzen 9 5900HS in the G15 belongs to the upper class and can boast 8 cores (16 threads in parallel via SMT) and 16 MB of L3 cache. The base clock speed of 3.3 GHz is increased up to 4.6 GHz under load via Turbo. According to Cinebench R15, the 35-watt CPU reaches between 3.0 and 4.5 GHz in single-core scenarios, whereas the clock rate settles at around 4.0 GHz when all cores are loaded.

Compared to Intel's Comet Lake chips, the R9 5900HS does very well. As you can see in the tables below, even the expensive Core i9-10980HK top model can't keep up with the AMD CPU. Correspondingly, the choice of a Cezanne processor is spot on from a price-performance perspective.

System benchmarks also benefit from the fast CPU. With a PCMark 10 score of 6,896 points, the Zephyrus G15 is able to outperform the competition, which - at least on paper - lags between 5% and 26% behind. Subjectively speaking, all comparison devices offer a very high system speed.

Although the storage drive comes from the rather unknown brand SK Hynix, the 1 TB SSD can easily compete with the Samsung models from the competition. The PCIe 4 drive achieves a very high speed for both small and large files. A second M.2 slot is available for upgrades.

In order not to overtax the cooling system of the slim 15-inch case, Asus uses the weakest version of the RTX 3080 laptop GPU that has an 80-watt TDP (100 watts including Dynamic Boost).

The low TDP has a correspondingly negative impact on performance. Despite the large number of shaders, which is far from the desktop counterpart's level (6,144 vs. 8,704), the RTX 3080 laptop version can hardly distinguish itself from devices based on the RTX 2080 (Super) Max-Q in the 3D benchmarks. As a result, buyers shouldn't expect a big performance leap.

8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM is also a bit meager in 2021 considering the video memory requirements of many modern games. A minimum of 10 GB would have been appropriate here (at least the 3080 laptop version is also available as a 16 GB model).

We tested how the GPU behaves over a prolonged period of time with the RPG heavyweight The Witcher 3 for about 60 minutes (Full HD/Ultra). On average, the RTX 3080 laptop GPU ran at 1,260 MHz (base clock speed of 780 MHz) and did not suffer from any performance drops

As long as you limit yourself to the native resolution, the Zephyrus G15 delivers very good performance in games. 2560x1440 pixels and maximum details is even possible in demanding titles, although it's not always enough to exceed 60 FPS (see comparison table).

Although the Zephyrus G15 can get very loud in 3D mode with a maximum of 49 to 51 dB, noise development is roughly on par with the competition, which also screams for a headset when gaming. The situation is much quieter in idle mode. On the one hand, the fans sometimes turn off completely (silent operation), and on the other hand, the base noise level is quite decent considering it's only 27 dB.

A big surprise awaits when it comes to the sound system. In contrast to most laptops, which are especially weak in terms of bass, the Zephyrus G15 offers a very balanced and powerful sound - by laptop standards - that outshines the competition. No wonder, since Asus has installed a total of 6 speakers.

The built-in graphics switching solution (Nvidia Optimus) leads to moderate energy consumption in idle usage. 10 to 17 watts could also come from a much weaker multimedia laptop. Under load, our measuring device displayed between 108 and 182 watts, which is also acceptable in view of the performance offered - especially when you consider the competition.

Asus impressively proves that gaming laptops with long battery life are no longer wishful thinking. A maximum of 12 hours of idle usage at minimum brightness is just as remarkable as a good 9.5 hours of Internet surfing over WLAN (brightness reduced to 150 cd/m²). With these rates, the Zephyrus G15 sprints past all its rivals. However, 3D performance also drops massively without a power adapter as our test with The Witcher 3 showed (over 90% less FPS).

You will soon be able to purchase our test configuration directly from the manufacturer at a price of $2,499.99. You will also be able to find an RTX 3070 version with 16 GB of RAM in the Eclipse Gray color variant on BestBuy for $1,799.99.