ASUS unveils ROG Zephyrus gaming notebook

ASUS' Republic of Gamers (ROG) is back with another addition to its gaming notebook line, the Zephyrus G14.

Originally unveiled at CES 2020, this notebook is being billed as a compact yet powerful machine, weighing in at 1.6 kilograms and housing a 4th generation AMD Ryzen R9-4900HS processor, paired with an NVIDIA RTX2060 GPU.

The RTX2060 is also supported by ROG Boost, which can enhance gaming visuals. When you turn on ray tracing capabilities, games will benefit from better lighting, shadows, and other in-game effects.

As for the AMZ Ryzen Mobile CPU, it has been custom designed to support demanding workloads with slightly less thermal output (in other words, it's designed to run not too hot, given that it's a notebook).

The Zephyrus features 32GB of fast DDR4-3200 RAM across dual channels,and an NVMe SSD with up to 1TB of capacity for storage.

ASUS says the notebook is designed with gaming optimisation in mind, as users can choose between high refresh and high resolution displays.  In other words, the discerning buyer can choose either a faster full HD display that can run at up to 120Hz, or choose a higher WQHD resolution.

In terms of sound, there's Dolby Atmos technology integrated into the notebook and output through Two tweeters positioned above the keyboard, as well as two woofers beneath them offer deep bass.

The notebook will have around 10 hours of battery life and the ability to charge from Type-C power packs, as well as standard DC or USB-C charging.

The USB-C port can also offer connectivity to an external monitor via DisplayPort, and there's an HDMI 2.0b port for all your HDMI needs.

The notebook is compatible with the new era of WiFi, called Wifi 6 (or 802.11ax). Using WiFi 6 can boost performance and reduce latency.

Finally, ASUS says this is the first of its notebooks to offer fingerprint login into the power button.

"A single press wakes the machine and briefly caches a user's fingerprint, saving it to authenticate when Windows is ready to log in. On machines with multiple users, the OS automatically detects the right account.

Oh, and there are also LEDs on the lid on select models, which can display animations and visualisations. ASUS plans to add new functionality to include new email notifications, date, time, and battery level in the near future.

The Zephyrus G14 starts with an RRP of AU$2199. It will be available from the end of April at ASUS authorised resellers and retailers.

The ROG Zephyrus G14 at a glance (according to ASUS ROG): 

• Small size with big impact: Compact and portable at only 17.9mm thin and 1.6kg, without compromising performance.
• Innovative LED personalisation: An optional, precision-cut LED display on the lid enables users to show off animations, visualisations, notifications, and more. 
• Immersive gaming visuals: The first gaming notebook of this size to feature RTX graphics that produce high frame rates for popular games.
• High refresh or high resolution: Choice of 120Hz refresh rate or WQHD resolution panels allows users to optimise for gaming or content creation.
• Nonstop speed: ROG-exclusive 4th generation AMD Ryzen processor has 8 cores and 16 threads in a more energy-efficient 35W power envelope.