The original Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 was a genre-breaker when it came out last year, with its compact 14-inch proportions, great AMD CPU, and fantastic gaming performance.
This new second-generation Special Edition model takes that basic proposition and adds an unusual twist: a collaboration with the DJ and musician of the same name, Alan Walker. As of this writing, Walker has the 19th most popular video on Youtube, with no less than 3.2billion views. Not bad.
Anyway, Walker has collaborated with Asus on a new version of the G14 that combines music and gaming; the basic design of the G14 has been retained, with a funky animated matrix programmable LED feature on the back of the display. However, various tweaks, such as a change to metallic gray, fabric inserts, and a new keyboard color, give it a unique new look.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan: Design
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan Walker Special Edition is everything that makes the standard G14 an excellent small portable. It is compact considering the performance offered. Very solidly built. Beautiful styling. Beautifully put together.
However, it does not meet all the requirements. For example, the lack of a webcam is quite an eyesore in this era of increasingly telecommuting. However, the slim bezel design keeps the size down and ensures portability, among other things.
The port selection is not bad either, with two USB-C sockets (only one can power and drive the display), two USB-A, and HDMI. Content creators will notice the lack of SD or micro SD slots.
The keyboard also stands out, not only for its funky color scheme, but also for the stability of its bed and the quality of its key actions. But it is the back of the display that actually excels the most.
For starters, there is the Animation Matrix feature, which uses1,215 programmable mini-LEDs. Ultimately, the ability to create your own animation program on the back of the display is completely pointless. However, it is very clever and fun.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan: Performance
The performance of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan Walker Special Edition is controversial; there is no disputing the might of the8-core AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS CPU, and the storage performance of the 1TB Samsung M.2 NVMe drive is good, with a read speed of about 3GB/per second read speeds.
Less compelling is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU. It is not a bad graphics chip. However, we cannot overlook the fact that this chassis is equipped with the excellent RTX 3060, and this GPU is better suited for a14-inch 120HZ QHD display.
The 3050 Ti has no problem playing modern games at 1080p. And indeed, interpolated1080p on a14″QHD display doesn’t look half bad. But evenat1080ponhigh detail settings, some games struggle on the 3050 Ti.
When it comes to the display, most of it is top-notch, as is the QHD 2,560×1,440 native resolution; the IPS panel’s color, contrast, and response are decent. A little more light, however, would be nice. It’s hard to compete with indoor ambient lighting in a typical office, let alone outdoors. Still, this is a display that is full of detail and great font rendering, so a more powerful GPU is needed for gaming applications.
Battery life
Proof of the power and efficiency of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS CPU is the excellent battery life it delivers with such pure processing power; the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan Walker Special Edition recorded over 8hours in PC Mark 10toover8hours.This performance is impressive.
Perhaps it is helped by the relatively weak backlight of the screen. But even with today’s crazylong3-hour feature films, this laptop will be able to watch at least three feature films on the proverbial long flight. In short, all-day battery life is a realistic expectation for consuming content and browsing the web. Of course, if you squeeze the performance out of the 8-core CPU or play games, battery life will probably be cut in half or even less.
Verdict
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan boasts a great design, build quality, and battery life of over 8hours in PC Mark 10. The sound quality of the built-in speakers is also excellent. It rivals the Apple Mac Book in dynamic range and sound quality, and actually produces some bass, although not as loud. A little more punch would be appreciated.