The 2026 ROG Zephyrus G14 is an improvement, but the 2025 model for $600 less is still a very good option

The ROG Zephyrus G14 is a very powerful compact gaming/multimedia laptop and Asus improved several aspects on the new 2026 model, which we covered comprehensively in our recent review. These improvements include the switch to a current Panther Lake CPU from Intel, and while the overall performance is not much better compared to the previous AMD chip, we saw a massive improvement of the battery runtime thanks to improved efficiency. Asus also replaced the microSD-card slot with a full-size slot and updated the OLED screen. It still features the 2.8K resolution with 120 Hz and accurate colors, but the brightness (especially in HDR scenarios) was drastically improved. This is particularly good news if you are a fan of HDR gaming. 

While the new model is definitely a better overall package, there is also the issue of the price and the new version is around $600 more expensive than the old 2025 model, which is still a great option. You pretty much get the same gaming performance from the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti combined with the AMD CPU and you still get the great chassis with excellent speakers and one of the best keyboards thanks to 1.7 mm travel. The OLED panel is not as bright, but the image quality is still superb. The old model is currently still available for $2599 with 32 GB and the RTX 5070 Ti, so it is really hard to recommend the new model considering the price difference, despite its advantages.

This is a recurring issue right now and not only limited to Asus. New 2026 model prices are affected by the memory crisis and we basically see price increases across the board, while the new products often only offer small improvements or are even worse in terms of memory and SSD capacities. Gaming laptops in particular are in a difficult spot, because Nvidia did not release a new GPU generation at the beginning of the year (except for the recent refresh of the RTC 5070 with 12 GB VRAM). If you are interested in the ROG Zephyrus G14, please see our comprehensive review for more information.