Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 laptop review - A slim gamer with an RTX 4090 and unfulfilled potential

Note: We have recently updated our rating system and the results of version 8 are not comparable with the results of version 7. More information is available here .

The high-end variant of the Zephyrus is currently equipped with the fastest Meteor Lake processor, the Core Ultra 9 185H. When it comes to the CPU performance, it lags behind Intel's HX CPUs. In the 115-watt version found here, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 laptop is quite a bit away from reaching maximum performance. The installed RAM sits at 32 GB (LPDDR5x 7467) but, due to the price and lack of upgradeability, we would have preferred 64 GB.

The basic energy profiles remain identical and the more powerful model with the RTX 4090 laptop also offers the profiles Quiet, Performance and Turbo. In the following table, we have listed their corresponding TDP/TGP values as well as the effect on the performance. Below this, we have also added the values from the RTX 4070 model of the Zephyrus G16 so you can see a direct comparison. In principle, the models with the more powerful vapor chamber cooling are allowed to consume a little more power but the difference is fairly small, especially when it comes to the processor. In both the Quiet and Performance profiles, the vapor chamber cooling even manages to get somewhat louder than the weaker RTX 4070 variant. As standard, we carried out the benchmarks and measurements using the turbo mode which is, however, only available when connected to the mains. 

The Core Ultra 9 185H is the fastest mobile processor from Intel's Meteor Lake generation, nevertheless, it finds itself ranked clearly behind the HX processors (Raptor Lake refresh). As we just observed in the comparison table, there are also no tangible differences between the  Core Ultra 9 and the Core Ultra 7 in both models of the Zephyrus G16 2024 as well as the Alienware x16 R2. The latter also has the Core Ultra 9 185H.

However, the other RTX 4090 competitors with the Core i9 14900HX offer significantly higher CPU performance, especially in the multi-core tests. The ROG Zephyrus G16's multi-core performance doesn't always remain entirely stable, although a deficit of around 10 % under sustained load can be considered quite small. In battery mode, the processor is allowed to draw a maximum of 75 watts but this has hardly any effect on the multi-core performance (~8 %). Additional CPU benchmarks can be found here.

Slightly less than surprising is that the high-end variant of the Zephyrus G16 is a very responsive laptop. Although the benchmark results are also good, once again, the HX processor-equipped competition performs better. However, this is not noticeable in everyday situations.  Due to the Advanced Optimus graphics switching, there is an occasional short freeze when booting games when the system switches to the dGPU, however, that is completely normal.