When AMD stated they have been going to get severe about sticking extra of their third Gen Ryzen 3000 H mobile CPU chips into correct gaming laptops this yr, they actually weren’t kidding. Take the Asus ROG Zephyrus G, the ever so barely fatter cousin of the extremely slim Asus ROG Zephyrus S I reviewed earlier within the yr. It’s not an outright AMD machine – it’s nonetheless obtained considered one of Nvidia’s new GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q graphics chips inside it, in spite of everything – however its processor is AMD’s top-end Ryzen 7 3750H, a quad-core, eight-thread CPU that has a base clock velocity of two.3GHz and a max increase clock velocity of 4.0GHz. Does it actually have what it takes to tackle Intel’s incumbent Core i7-8750H, although? Here’s wot I feel.
In brief, Intel’s obtained nothing to fret about right here, because the Ryzen 7 3750H trailed fairly a great distance behind its Intel rival once I put it by means of the Geekbench Four benchmark. Finishing with single core and multicore scores of 3589 and 12,480 respectively, it’s round 24% slower on the one core entrance, and 48% slower on the multicore entrance. In some methods, that’s not precisely stunning when Intel’s chip has six cores and twelve threads to its title, however it’s nonetheless not precisely probably the most spectacular set of outcomes given its AMD’s prime new cellular chip.
Still, one factor the Ryzen 7 3750H has on its aspect – and by extension the Asus ROG Zephyrus G as a complete – is worth. Going for £1100 / $1195 at time of writing, this is among the most cost-effective gaming laptops I’ve examined in fairly a while. The final one I had on my desk that didn’t prime two grand, for instance, was the Acer Predator Helios 500, whose Ryzen 7 2700 / Radeon RX Vega 56-flavoured mannequin went for £1499 / $1769.
The Zephyrus G is, admittedly, not fairly as highly effective because the Helios 500. As we’ll see in a minute, its GTX 1660 Ti graphics chip isn’t almost as fast as AMD’s Vega 56 chip, for instance. But in comparison with different laptops across the £1000 / $1000 mark, the Zephyrus G does truly come off fairly properly.
Most Intel machines on this worth vary solely include a Core i5-8300H CPU, for instance, which the Ryzen 7 3750H beats fairly comfortably in Geekbench 4 (coming in round 9% quicker on single core duties, and 25% quicker on multicore based mostly on the outcomes I obtained from the 8300H-equipped Dell Inspiron G5 15 I examined final yr), and a fast scan of outlets like Currys and Ebuyer reveal that almost all additionally solely include 8GB of RAM and, at greatest, a 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD combo. As for graphics, you’re solely both 4GB GTX 1050 or GTX 1650 chips, too.
The Asus ROG Zephyrus S, then, seems like fairly the choose of the bunch on paper, particularly when it comes with a beautiful 120Hz IPS show, too. However, there are undoubtedly nonetheless some fairly huge compromises you’re making right here, and a few I’m not too certain I’d actually be proud of if I’d purchased the laptop computer myself.
That 15.6in, 1920×1080, 120Hz IPS show I simply talked about, for instance, leaves rather a lot to be desired within the color accuracy division. It seems nearly all proper within the flesh, however colors are a bit of washed out in locations, and games and pictures don’t look notably vivid. That’s as a result of it’s solely truly masking 57.8% of the sRGB color gamut, in line with my i1 DisplayProfessional color calibrator, which is fairly poor contemplating how a lot it prices. Most different gaming laptop computer screens I’ve examined cowl round 85% by comparability, so I used to be a bit disenchanted the Zephyrus G wasn’t higher.
It does, nevertheless, have an honest distinction ratio of 1373:1, and its black ranges are good and low at 0.21cd/m2 (the nearer to 0.00cd/m2, true black, the higher). Its peak brightness additionally got here in slightly below 300cd/m2, which is loads for on a regular basis use.
As for its gaming chops, the energy-efficient Max-Q mannequin of Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Ti graphics chip isn’t almost as nippy as its desktop counterpart right here – though I do ponder whether the Zephyrus G’s skinny (and very popular) chassis could be throttling a few of its efficiency. Regardless, that is very a lot a 1080p Medium high quality settings type of gaming laptop computer, and that’s simply getting it to hit a constant 60fps as properly. If you’re after the total 120fps provided by its excessive refresh fee display screen, you’re both going to must decrease the standard settings proper down so far as they’ll go, or drop the decision down – no less than on the subject of taking part in at this time’s prime games, anyway.
Older games, corresponding to The Witcher III breezed by means of with a mean of 68fps on High, and even managed a decent 52fps common on Ultra. Likewise for the very properly optimised Forza Horizon 4, which hit a mean of 68fps on Ultra straight off the bat, and 87fps on High.
Tougher games, nevertheless, very a lot hit their restrict on the Medium finish of the standard spectrum. In Monster Hunter: World, for instance, I nearly managed a mean of 50fps on Mid at 1080p, whereas Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (whose mysterious efficiency bug appears to have been mounted now) averaged simply 42fps on Medium.
Total War: Three Kingdoms had a barely higher time, ending its inner benchmark with a mean of 70fps on Medium and a nonetheless very playable 51fps on High, whereas Shadow of the Tomb Raider solely confirmed a 7fps distinction between its Highest high quality settings (51fps) and Medium (58fps).
Even Metro Exodus managed 58fps on Medium at 1080p, whereas High was nearly playable at 44fps. The similar goes for Final Fantasy XV. On Average, it was capable of hit a clean 55fps common with all of Nvidia’s additional results turned off, and round 50fps with TurfEffects and HairWorks turned on. Pushing it as much as High began to stretch issues a bit, however I nonetheless noticed a playable common of 52fps sans additional Nvidia results, and 39fps as soon as I’d turned HairWorks and TurfEffects again on.
Either method, although, whereas its gaming potential is nearly actually 1,000,000 instances higher than what you’d get on equally priced laptops with Nvidia’s even weedier GTX 1650 and GTX 1050 chips inside them, it nonetheless looks like you have to be getting extra to your cash right here. After all, a grand is hardly pocket change, and I’d ideally need it to have the ability to do much more than simply Medium 1080p.
As I discussed earlier than, although, it does get exceedingly scorching at instances, with principally all the proper half of the keyboard changing into painful to the contact beneath load. Granted, you’re not likely going to be utilizing most of these keys for gaming (the WASD keys are mercifully simply heat, relatively than SWEET LORD, THAT BURNS type of temperatures), however it’s nonetheless not precisely excellent, both.
And man alive, these followers. Like any skinny gaming laptop computer, the Zephyrus G sounds prefer it’s about to launch into orbit each time it’s doing something greater than shopping the web, so that you’re nearly actually going to must put on a pair of headphones to play games with it simply to listen to what’s occurring above the din.
The keyboard took a little bit of getting used to as properly. Not solely are its low-profile keys all fairly shut collectively, however the lack of spacing and definition between each meant I used to be very often hitting the inaccurate keys whereas typing at velocity. I’m certain I’d in all probability change into extra accustomed to it over time, however even now after a number of weeks use I nonetheless discover it a little bit of a ache to sort on.
Overall, then, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G might be one of many higher gaming laptops you will discover at this form of worth, however it’s nonetheless removed from being excellent. It’s an honest shout for those who’re not fussed about taking part in games at increased high quality settings and wish one thing that’s skinny and fairly gentle, however I can even see the warmth and noise from its followers changing into extra of an annoyance because the years put on on. It’s one of the best of a nasty bunch, as they are saying, so for those who can afford to spend a bit of bit extra, corresponding to on the significantly extra highly effective £1449 / $1699 Asus ROG Strix Scar II, I’d undoubtedly advocate doing so.
