I really liked this Zephyrus for the laptop life but gaming is hotter than I was expecting along with 50°C skin temps. Price on this is moving up too as supply gets tighter with the current demand. Fingers crossed 🤞 things get better, fast!
I was so excited to get my Zephyrus g14 rtx 2060......yeah that thing throttles like crazy. Why should we even be forced to disable boost mode? Now I'm going to have to sell it, as I got it second hand off Ebay like 20some days ago. Much happier with my Aorus 15gxc, that thing rocks. Zephy is so sexy though, and that battery life CAN be amazing if you avoid chrome.
@@Hijynx87 I was lit up for telling it like it was for me on that G14. But I get comments like yours daily too. I guess most comments come from people who don’t have the laptop.
@@BobOfAllTrades The G14 is a complete scam, has some of the worst QC issues from recent gaming laptops and the stock screen has response times so poor it isn't a true 120/144hz display. Buyer beware
this laptop has something like a million heat pipes in it. therefore its hard to believe that is its problem. so what i would suggest to you Bob is really to measure and scrutinize the total effective area of the heatsinks. and compare the numbers you measure between this G15 and the Mech G3. not only measure the external dimensions of each heatsink. but also get a torch in there and count the number of fins. Then add everything up and you should get your estimated total area. For all the heatsinks combined. This should then help to reveal how much of a factor is at play. Since both of those products have a good heatpipes arrangement. Perhaps another simple test is for air flow rate. Get a very large plastic bag. and then tape it onto all of the fan outlet ports. If the seal is good enough... then you can use a stopwatch to crudely time how long it takes for the bag to fill up to a certain volume of air. This also requires measuring the bag volume before it has become 'full'. Since at the end the air pressure inside the bag starts to resist and exert back a resistance in a non linear way. But catching air flow number in addition to the heatsink area is a crucial missing information. In order to understand which parts of the cooling system are actually doing the work. Since a large heatsink with a lower airflow going over it will offer the same effective cooling as a smaller heatsink with a stronger fan and more airflow. A larger heatsink causes the laptop to weigh heavier. But a faster fan causes the noise to become more of an issue. But ideally what we want to see more of is the set of trade offs made by Tongfang in the Mech G3. Just without that cursed mechanical keyboard which has nothing to do with cooling and lets it down as a whole, when considering the whole product. As someone who doesnt use a laptop for gaming but productivity the G15 would be my choice here. However i really dont like paying thru the nose a premium for something that has inferior performance since the 32gb sku is over 2k. Which above a certain price point never feels like we arent just flushing all that money down the toilet. Its easier to just say well... Tongfang guys well done and really great work to get to this point. But next year you should try much harder to improve the keyboard and trackpad. They are still not there yet compared to those big brand names (not just asus, also dell and lenovo, gigabyte etc).
I was waiting on the legion 5 pro, decided to buy this, zero regrets. I game on an external monitor at home in performance mode, 100fps in the division at 1440p, zero fan noise.
Wow, that was the best laptop review of any laptop I've seen. There is so much more to a laptop review than just benchmarks. I like your style Bob! Huge fan!
Bought this day one and love mine. Just wanted to give you props for having the absolute best review on this laptop so far. Keep up the good work, I am sure a lot of people appreciate your straight to the point, yet in depth analysis.
@@colinwong3982 I’ve been using this laptop to mine ethereum 24/7 for the last 6 months straight(I have several other laptops so I didn’t care if this one died) and even right now the chassis and keyboard is mildly warm and the screen is not hot or damaged at all. Mining puts a big strain on PC’s and generated a lot of heat and power and the laptop works perfect like it did day one. So if I’m good in my extreme case then you’re 150% fine.
@@solidus317 wow, that is a really stress test, i want to buy this device but im so careful about the thermals, thanks a this channel i buy the g14 2020 and is so good in thermals, the g15 can go in games low 70degrees? becouse i dont want to replace the liquid metal
@@ikehirasawa2764 depends on the game. If you’re playing non demanding games like LoL or something then yea it can definitely stay in the 60s or 70s but if you’re playing AAA demanding titles I’d expect 80s since it’s a very thin and light machine. But this is okay, the Ryzen are DESIGNED to run hotter than even equivalent Intel. Also I just recently stopped mining this laptop 24/7 since crypto took a dive but it still works perfectly. Just took it on a trip as it’s nice and compact. So over a year of constant mining and no issues at all.
Just ordered this today, it arrives Tuesday. This is my first gaming laptop so I'm excited. The only computer/laptop I've had before this was a Toshiba Satellite from 2011 😂
Great review Bob. I agree, it was very hard to fault the laptop. Finger print reader was bad but it is a 100% better laptop than the one last year. No blocked air intakes this time 👍
My thoughts on this is- This is the best laptop that can game, but not the best gaming laptop, if that makes sense. One little bit I like about the laptop is it’s charger, which is very light. The 4.4 pound Zephyrus with charging cables weighs less than the 3.9 pound Eluktronics Max-15 with charging cables.
I loved the G15, but my trackpad broke and I returned it. Ended up getting another open box Zephyrus M15 w 2070 for $1070, the G15 was nicer, but not $700 nicer.
Very good balanced review, I think I can trust what you are saying and makes sense, I have this on order, plan to use mostly for video and photo editing, with some gaming , hope I am not going to get disappointed, I tested the XPS 15 and that was a portable oven with a nice display
I think you can get the best GPU performance if you don’t slide the sliders all the way over because of dynamic boost. In non-CPU intense games, limiting it to 30w seemed to deliver better FPS than even stock because the GPU could boost over 80w more (and maybe it lowered overall temps allowing higher boost)
I'm loving this laptop after switching it for my old 2016 HP Envy with i5, and let me tell you... holy sh... my old laptop was like a toyota corolla compared to this mclaren P1, im loving every single thing on it!!! and cant get enough of it lol
While I get temps are hot on the 5900hs, did people forget for years hot Intel 4 core laptops that ran in the high 80s and 90s? While a lot of this is on the laptop manufacturers cooling solution, a lot of cooler running 5900hs are on laptops that are thicker or have a larger footprint
I was contemplating between the 3060 g15 and the maxed out g14, and your reviews have really helped me distinguish between them. Thanks a lot! keep it up
Yes, there definitely could be a market for a 32GB 3060 or 3070 combination. Since the 3060/3070/3080 all run the same 80W the performance again isn't as big as it would otherwise be, and the performance per $ drops significantly as they cost way more.
buy as strix then or anyother option LMFAO a zeph is never going to come w.o solered ram....buy a thin n light that only has 1 m.2 slot instead list goes on
I'm not sure why there's so many complaints about this laptop. It's absolutely amazing for me. I throw it in my backpack to bring to work where I can get all day battery life and charge via USB C if needed. Then bring it home and plug it into my 34" 1440 Ultrawide and play games with great performance. Is it equivalent to a 3080 beast of a desktop? Nope, but it's close enough and very impressive. The best thing about this laptop is that it does everything besides gaming so well. The trackpad is amazing and almost as good as MacBooks, the keyboard is solid. Build quality is solid, speakers are pretty good. Screen is excellent, battery life is excellent for a gaming laptop and the whole thing has a mostly adult design that doesn't look out of place at all in an office environment if you turn the keyboard backlighting to white. People were constantly recommending the Lenovo Legion, which is probably ever so slightly better for pure gaming. But it's remiscent of the old Alienware gaming laptops that were designed for Mountain Dew chugging teenagers and is mediocre at everything besides gaming lmao. This laptop is in a differnet class if you're looking for a one stop shop of both work and play. The only thing that would really beat it out in my mind would be to have something like a MacBook or XPS/Surface Laptop for work and then a beefy desktop PC at home with like a 3080. But you do lose the portability. It's nice having the option to bring this in a backpack on a vacation and play a game for an hour or two at night if you felt like it. It's overall a very impressive piece of tech and I have basically zero complaints with it over a year later. But the temps have crept up a bit so I'm gonna redo the liquid metal and thermal paste which should get it down to the low 90's when I'm really pushing it, which is fine for me. I also threw in a 2nd 1TB WD Black SSD so there's plenty of storage. Haven't felt the need to bump it up to 24GB of RAM but it's nice to have the option. For the $1,200 I paid for it. Absolute steal.
if the fingerprint isn't working for you well, you could try setting up several more fingerprints for that one finger you are using and it should help alot. hopefully this helps!
Thank you for doing a video on this and the G14 2021. Heat while it runs hot, it's got crazy Hardware in a small footprint and is tweakable. I will be going to school soon along with occasional business trips away from my gaming PC. I think I've decided on this model and if I don't enjoy it, I will get a g14. I do enjoy how both the g14 and g15 are tweakable
100% agree with you about the “half-soldered” RAM solution in this machine. Take that single RAM slot away, and give us either a better sooling system or, what would be my preference, a bigger battery.
My CPU caps at 87C, with Cyberpunk cranked as high as I can at 1440p, while maintaining ~45FPS. This took some settings tweaking. Couldn't get it over 87C with anything I threw at it tbh. Ambient temps may come into play here though.
I really like the idea that they were trying to go for with a laptop like this - but like Bob mentioned in this review - if you are looking for a dedicated gaming laptop and want to get the most bang for your buck performance-wise, you're better off going with something else. I personally was pretty hyped up about it and have yet to see actual stock here in Canada (bestbuy.ca says April 2nd week for the 3070 model for $2499CAD +tax) but the more I dig into other reviews and look at the competition, that Aorus 15g-YC with an RTX 3080, 32GB ram (non-soldered), the usual 10870H, AND a MUX switch for also $2499CAD+tax makes so much more sense from a gaming perspective as well as for those who use memory-hungry apps. All in all, thanks for the great review Bob, I really appreciate the time and effort that goes into vids like these to give us potential buyers as much of a heads-up using real-life usage scenarios. #peace
@@BobOfAllTrades But with the G14 / TUF A15 last year, the temps could be controlled by the Registry tweak disabling ‘Aggressive’ processor mode - 2 FPS loss along with 20 degrees cooler - I wonder if that works on the new G15 and G14...Thanks Bob
Hi again Bob, since we both have the G15 and Aorus G15/Aero 15 to compare to.. I agree with your thoughts.. I think the G15 runs a bit toasty if you're a hardcore gamer... I think the Aorus/Aero is the better choice for the money as it runs much cooler overall.. But if you want a highly versatile machine, the G15 is the better choice being lighter, type-c charging, probably better battery life, centered TKL keyboard, etc.. If my gaming laptop was to be used primary for gaming, i'd be looking elsewhere than the G15.. Asus seems to be marketing it as a good all-rounder and i'd agree with that.
Excellent review. Really torn on this - I would not mind a tiny bit thicker machine for a bit more power on the GPU. Also, the memory - yeah, soldered on? what the heck. Considering this vs. the MSI stealth. Hard to call. Would love an amd version of the stealth. This is not it. thanks for the video.
Like I told you earlier man reserve judgment to see the review 👍 I originally wanted to get a hold of the scar and I still do but right now I’m gonna move over to the G14 since I’ve got it right in front of me 👌
@@BobOfAllTrades great video Bob. What's the performance uplift 3060 - > 3070 seems to be about 10-20% gain in FPS (with Intel chips) at 80W, though maybe the G14 caps GDP vs G15. Can get the G14 locally just about, the G15 is hard to find. Shame as I think I want the extra M.2 and screen size.
Isn't a problem if you're willing to compromise a bit. The performance mode has much better temps. Limit the FPS and you'll have even better temps. I don't see much difference bw 80 and 60fps. Unless the laptop can push 130s without much effort, it's better to limit fps for that particular game to 60. Basically difference bw 60 and 80 is negligible. But difference between 60 and 120 is really worth. In the end, I guess it depends on what you want
Superb review. The soldered ram is a deal-breaker, for sure. And that sucks you couldn't get the scaling right for video editing... another deal-breaker. What do you think of the MSI GL66, in comparison? Thanks, Bob!
Got this laptop recently too, Biggest problem I have is I can't install a second drive because Asus presumably glued the m.2 screw and immediately stripped attempting to remove. Other than that, yeah this laptop is hot. Otherwise performs fantastic. I threw a 32GB stick in to total 40GB of Ram but found only 16 of it or something runs in dual channel
Bob please test the waters in selling one of your reviews as a NFT. I want to see you independent. You are TH-cam's most under rated tech reviewer. Honesty, integrity, and all class.
@@uncleiroh2844 this right here. I found it very quiet under battery with I gpu mode and a few custom windows based and registry hacked profiles. No need for me to repaste anything tbh.
You see those fans? Asus uses those same fans on all of their gaming units. You can't disassemble those fan shrouds. But on msi GE/GP series, hp omen 17, you can clean out the fans thoroughly on the above mentioned models. So, from a long term maintenance perspective (around one month or more) I'd say msi/hp gaming laptops are better value than asus. Asus products usually start to fail right after their warranty period ends so watchout!
my only complain is the 100W max but the intle m16 might bring a bit more performance to the table. Need to see if the heat damages the screen and the battery life. otherwise perfect laptop
Hey Bob, if you change the battery profile on my asus to balance recommend mode, you can boost timespy score by 10k. Idk if it's placebo effect on my end. But I went from 9000 or so to 10100ish. Not bad. But idk if that's just a one off lol. And constantly hitting 9900+... On max fan settings, I'm getting gpu temp 70-75 plus, and 80ish on cpu.. alot cooler than last years zephyrus.
I've been scanning the reddit threads and myself have owned two units (one RMA) since the initial release date and neither unit had temps reach above 80c on GPU and/or 85c on CPU, and those temps were only achieved when stress testing max load, typically when someone on the thread reports high temps we will suggest repasting and it seems to have mostly positive results, just a suggestion. Still a shame that we would have to tweak anything on a device that costs about 2k for it to preform well. Cheers!
I’m also choosing between this one and g14, g15 just have bigger gpu and screen, but I feel like they’re exactly the same, g14 have better build quality, 0 plastic, while g15 plastic almost all around
Unfortunately no, you'll have asynchronous dual channel, where the first 16 GB of RAM WILL be in dual-channel speeds but the remainder will be in single-channel speeds. And with Ryzen, that's gonna suck. Too bad Lenovo is screwing around with the new Legion's release date, so I have no choice. 😡
The Review ive been waiting for on BOAT , so solid build runs a little hot awesome battery life and acoustics. Bob what out there has a Ryzen for the same price point has the same battery life a QHD and better performance?
Heard/read a lot about how upgrading the ram (thus nulling the dual channel mode) makes it slower, but never seen any numbers as to HOW much slower it would actually be so I'm puzzled. Under what circumstances would it affect the most cuz 40GB for general multitasking and gaming sounds quite better than 16GBs for me.
i did read a reddit post saying to pull the heatpipes off and spread the liquid metal more evenly, they said it was just a drop plopped in the middle and wasnt making contact with the whole die on both cpu/gpu.
You’re not the first person to tell me that actually. Now this is a review unit probably not something I’m gonna have permission to do but let’s see how this plays out over the next few weeks.
other viewers would disagree AMD has the best thermals. You should know that with all of the intell products you have reviewed. I have the g15 and Dave2d and Mobile tech review do not have the complaints you have about thermals and neither do I. The fans are quiet and I get well over a 100 frame rates with a very smooth game. and it does not get hot to the touch on the outside and it does not come close to thermal throttling on the most demanding games. i easily get 120 to 160 fPS on both peformance and turbo mode. sorry
@Bob Of All Trades.... Is it possible to connect to external monitor and Logitech setup for sim racing.... Based on thermals.. And heat dissipation.... How long will it last... Approx.. Estimation 3-4yrs?.. based on the utility for normal work and racing..... Did the g14 had the similar cooling technology to compete with this one...
Is it just me or I still can hear the speaker popping sound? I have one btw and unfortunately it has that popping sound on the left subwoofer. Currently waiting for parts to change under warranty. Still I love the laptop so far.
I've just got this laptop and have had some heating issues right out of the box with just updating windows and drivers. Did you get the same problem or its just my unit? Thank you
In my country they are offered with a AMD Ryzen 7 5800HS processor + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i cant find any reviews with this particular build, what's your opinion about this?
Hey bob recently i just hopped back to cyberpunk and cold war and i saw significant perfomance loss, cyberpunk about 20fps lower than before, 30-40fps on MW and CW, I do not know how to find the reason for the performance loss. any idea? fans are loud, gpu overclocked, cpu undervolted like it was before...
What pisses me off is leaving the components off a 2nd m.2 bay like the MSI GL65 Leopard I'll be getting the 30th. But hey, I can solder and glad it has a SD slot.
Great review! Could we benchmark the RAM upgrade? Everyone and their mom says losing dual channel is basically the devil, but not a single person on the internet has _Tested_ it (wink wink). I've only seen posts with people very happy about upgrading it to 24GB/40GB RAM so far.
I really liked this Zephyrus for the laptop life but gaming is hotter than I was expecting along with 50°C skin temps.
Price on this is moving up too as supply gets tighter with the current demand. Fingers crossed 🤞 things get better, fast!
I was so excited to get my Zephyrus g14 rtx 2060......yeah that thing throttles like crazy. Why should we even be forced to disable boost mode? Now I'm going to have to sell it, as I got it second hand off Ebay like 20some days ago. Much happier with my Aorus 15gxc, that thing rocks. Zephy is so sexy though, and that battery life CAN be amazing if you avoid chrome.
@@Hijynx87 I was lit up for telling it like it was for me on that G14. But I get comments like yours daily too.
I guess most comments come from people who don’t have the laptop.
@@BobOfAllTrades The G14 is a complete scam, has some of the worst QC issues from recent gaming laptops and the stock screen has response times so poor it isn't a true 120/144hz display. Buyer beware
this laptop has something like a million heat pipes in it. therefore its hard to believe that is its problem. so what i would suggest to you Bob is really to measure and scrutinize the total effective area of the heatsinks. and compare the numbers you measure between this G15 and the Mech G3. not only measure the external dimensions of each heatsink. but also get a torch in there and count the number of fins. Then add everything up and you should get your estimated total area. For all the heatsinks combined.
This should then help to reveal how much of a factor is at play. Since both of those products have a good heatpipes arrangement.
Perhaps another simple test is for air flow rate. Get a very large plastic bag. and then tape it onto all of the fan outlet ports. If the seal is good enough... then you can use a stopwatch to crudely time how long it takes for the bag to fill up to a certain volume of air. This also requires measuring the bag volume before it has become 'full'. Since at the end the air pressure inside the bag starts to resist and exert back a resistance in a non linear way. But catching air flow number in addition to the heatsink area is a crucial missing information. In order to understand which parts of the cooling system are actually doing the work. Since a large heatsink with a lower airflow going over it will offer the same effective cooling as a smaller heatsink with a stronger fan and more airflow.
A larger heatsink causes the laptop to weigh heavier. But a faster fan causes the noise to become more of an issue. But ideally what we want to see more of is the set of trade offs made by Tongfang in the Mech G3. Just without that cursed mechanical keyboard which has nothing to do with cooling and lets it down as a whole, when considering the whole product.
As someone who doesnt use a laptop for gaming but productivity the G15 would be my choice here. However i really dont like paying thru the nose a premium for something that has inferior performance since the 32gb sku is over 2k. Which above a certain price point never feels like we arent just flushing all that money down the toilet. Its easier to just say well... Tongfang guys well done and really great work to get to this point. But next year you should try much harder to improve the keyboard and trackpad. They are still not there yet compared to those big brand names (not just asus, also dell and lenovo, gigabyte etc).
@@roboticvenom1935 Interesting. I have the G14 from last year....by far the best laptop I've ever owned
the Jonny sins of the laptop industry slaying the reviews again
:D:D:D
I was waiting on the legion 5 pro, decided to buy this, zero regrets. I game on an external monitor at home in performance mode, 100fps in the division at 1440p, zero fan noise.
Post some videos if you can. I’d be really interested in them
How is it zero fan noise? Cap
Do you recommend it after a month?
No fan noise? HOW?
@@EEEE2382 what's profile you're on? And how loud is this mode?
Wow, that was the best laptop review of any laptop I've seen. There is so much more to a laptop review than just benchmarks. I like your style Bob! Huge fan!
Bought this day one and love mine. Just wanted to give you props for having the absolute best review on this laptop so far. Keep up the good work, I am sure a lot of people appreciate your straight to the point, yet in depth analysis.
Thank you! I make it how I want to see it as a consumer 👍
Hi. Is the keyboard hot since the exhaust heat seems like flowing up to the screen? Will the screen be damaged because of this? Appreciate your reply.
@@colinwong3982 I’ve been using this laptop to mine ethereum 24/7 for the last 6 months straight(I have several other laptops so I didn’t care if this one died) and even right now the chassis and keyboard is mildly warm and the screen is not hot or damaged at all. Mining puts a big strain on PC’s and generated a lot of heat and power and the laptop works perfect like it did day one. So if I’m good in my extreme case then you’re 150% fine.
@@solidus317 wow, that is a really stress test, i want to buy this device but im so careful about the thermals, thanks a this channel i buy the g14 2020 and is so good in thermals, the g15 can go in games low 70degrees? becouse i dont want to replace the liquid metal
@@ikehirasawa2764 depends on the game. If you’re playing non demanding games like LoL or something then yea it can definitely stay in the 60s or 70s but if you’re playing AAA demanding titles I’d expect 80s since it’s a very thin and light machine. But this is okay, the Ryzen are DESIGNED to run hotter than even equivalent Intel. Also I just recently stopped mining this laptop 24/7 since crypto took a dive but it still works perfectly. Just took it on a trip as it’s nice and compact. So over a year of constant mining and no issues at all.
Just ordered this today, it arrives Tuesday. This is my first gaming laptop so I'm excited. The only computer/laptop I've had before this was a Toshiba Satellite from 2011 😂
Congratsbro, After 3 years is it still good i am looking to buy one
Great review Bob. I agree, it was very hard to fault the laptop. Finger print reader was bad but it is a 100% better laptop than the one last year. No blocked air intakes this time 👍
New thumbnail and format looks great !!
My thoughts on this is- This is the best laptop that can game, but not the best gaming laptop, if that makes sense.
One little bit I like about the laptop is it’s charger, which is very light. The 4.4 pound Zephyrus with charging cables weighs less than the 3.9 pound Eluktronics Max-15 with charging cables.
I loved the G15, but my trackpad broke and I returned it.
Ended up getting another open box Zephyrus M15 w 2070 for $1070, the G15 was nicer, but not $700 nicer.
Trackpad broke? That’s a bummer.
Trackpad broke? How?
Very good balanced review, I think I can trust what you are saying and makes sense, I have this on order, plan to use mostly for video and photo editing, with some gaming , hope I am not going to get disappointed, I tested the XPS 15 and that was a portable oven with a nice display
I think you can get the best GPU performance if you don’t slide the sliders all the way over because of dynamic boost. In non-CPU intense games, limiting it to 30w seemed to deliver better FPS than even stock because the GPU could boost over 80w more (and maybe it lowered overall temps allowing higher boost)
I'm loving this laptop after switching it for my old 2016 HP Envy with i5, and let me tell you... holy sh... my old laptop was like a toyota corolla compared to this mclaren P1, im loving every single thing on it!!! and cant get enough of it lol
That has to be an amazing upgrade experience!
Got to say...these review videos are looking 👍
Mine is coming on Monday. Just started the review. Hope it doesn’t make me regret my purchase lol
While I get temps are hot on the 5900hs, did people forget for years hot Intel 4 core laptops that ran in the high 80s and 90s? While a lot of this is on the laptop manufacturers cooling solution, a lot of cooler running 5900hs are on laptops that are thicker or have a larger footprint
Great review. Your conclusion is exactly how I felt.
I was contemplating between the 3060 g15 and the maxed out g14, and your reviews have really helped me distinguish between them. Thanks a lot! keep it up
That’s the goal 🤛
What did you choose and why?
@@zahitemremetin606 I ended up choosing the G14 because of the portability. I needed it for college so yeah, and the performance is not too different.
@@siddhantsinha4155 Have you had any issues?
@@zahitemremetin606 Nope, it works well. The CPU used to run hot but there's a fix for that and it works great after that
Great review. Hits all the points and the pro and cons of a thinner machine. Mine just shipped today.
"Holding the 32Gb variant ransom" - haha pretty accurate
Yes, there definitely could be a market for a 32GB 3060 or 3070 combination.
Since the 3060/3070/3080 all run the same 80W the performance again isn't as big as it would otherwise be, and the performance per $ drops significantly as they cost way more.
Only for sale overseas for some reason same with the better g14 variants
Yes! Nailed it with this comment
That soldered ram is complete bs. It's like making a ferarri but with winter tires. So stupid. Asus pls FIX THIS.
Yes they're trying to be the new apple
buy as strix then or anyother option LMFAO a zeph is never going to come w.o solered ram....buy a thin n light that only has 1 m.2 slot instead list goes on
Yea they had to do it to keep as slim as it is
@@coolerdan446 bullcrap. They do it the same reason Apple does it for planned obsolescence.
@@anhiirr bullcrap. Their top of the line Asus duo 2021 has soldered ram too. No excuse for that besides planned obsolescence.
I'm not sure why there's so many complaints about this laptop. It's absolutely amazing for me. I throw it in my backpack to bring to work where I can get all day battery life and charge via USB C if needed. Then bring it home and plug it into my 34" 1440 Ultrawide and play games with great performance. Is it equivalent to a 3080 beast of a desktop? Nope, but it's close enough and very impressive.
The best thing about this laptop is that it does everything besides gaming so well. The trackpad is amazing and almost as good as MacBooks, the keyboard is solid. Build quality is solid, speakers are pretty good. Screen is excellent, battery life is excellent for a gaming laptop and the whole thing has a mostly adult design that doesn't look out of place at all in an office environment if you turn the keyboard backlighting to white.
People were constantly recommending the Lenovo Legion, which is probably ever so slightly better for pure gaming. But it's remiscent of the old Alienware gaming laptops that were designed for Mountain Dew chugging teenagers and is mediocre at everything besides gaming lmao. This laptop is in a differnet class if you're looking for a one stop shop of both work and play. The only thing that would really beat it out in my mind would be to have something like a MacBook or XPS/Surface Laptop for work and then a beefy desktop PC at home with like a 3080. But you do lose the portability. It's nice having the option to bring this in a backpack on a vacation and play a game for an hour or two at night if you felt like it.
It's overall a very impressive piece of tech and I have basically zero complaints with it over a year later. But the temps have crept up a bit so I'm gonna redo the liquid metal and thermal paste which should get it down to the low 90's when I'm really pushing it, which is fine for me. I also threw in a 2nd 1TB WD Black SSD so there's plenty of storage. Haven't felt the need to bump it up to 24GB of RAM but it's nice to have the option. For the $1,200 I paid for it. Absolute steal.
if the fingerprint isn't working for you well, you could try setting up several more fingerprints for that one finger you are using and it should help alot. hopefully this helps!
Loving the quality of the video and review!
Just ordered on today. I am super excited :D
Where do you live? This config costs 2.5k in Germany rn
@@ChrisTomatoPie I live in the US. Cost me just under 2k.
Great review, thank you. Some people comprehend a trade-off with fan noise, but not suitable for me, will search or perhaps wait for something else.
Thank you for doing a video on this and the G14 2021. Heat while it runs hot, it's got crazy Hardware in a small footprint and is tweakable. I will be going to school soon along with occasional business trips away from my gaming PC. I think I've decided on this model and if I don't enjoy it, I will get a g14. I do enjoy how both the g14 and g15 are tweakable
All the laptop life stuff is good, but then no webcam... I don't understand it.
I cut them a little bit of slack on the G 14 from last year as everything going on in the world was pretty new but by now I can’t be as lenient.
Bob Of All Trades agree
reason i brought it. I always cover them anyways and they normally suck. connect your cell phone and use it as a web cam
For whatever it's worth, laptop webcams are garbage.
Now that's what I call a review! Great job you're a pro.
I just got this laptop for $1550 from my local Best Buy in northern VA. It’s a great price.
Picked up the 32GB 3080 Best Buy variant to try out. Like it so far, have 45 days to decide if I’ll keep it. Great review!
Is it good after 3 years?
100% agree with you about the “half-soldered” RAM solution in this machine. Take that single RAM slot away, and give us either a better sooling system or, what would be my preference, a bigger battery.
My CPU caps at 87C, with Cyberpunk cranked as high as I can at 1440p, while maintaining ~45FPS. This took some settings tweaking.
Couldn't get it over 87C with anything I threw at it tbh. Ambient temps may come into play here though.
Try fortnite
I really like the idea that they were trying to go for with a laptop like this - but like Bob mentioned in this review - if you are looking for a dedicated gaming laptop and want to get the most bang for your buck performance-wise, you're better off going with something else. I personally was pretty hyped up about it and have yet to see actual stock here in Canada (bestbuy.ca says April 2nd week for the 3070 model for $2499CAD +tax) but the more I dig into other reviews and look at the competition, that Aorus 15g-YC with an RTX 3080, 32GB ram (non-soldered), the usual 10870H, AND a MUX switch for also $2499CAD+tax makes so much more sense from a gaming perspective as well as for those who use memory-hungry apps. All in all, thanks for the great review Bob, I really appreciate the time and effort that goes into vids like these to give us potential buyers as much of a heads-up using real-life usage scenarios. #peace
If I was to disable turbo boost, would that keep the gpu at 100w at all times? 🤔
Nice one, Bob!
Though I can still remember when you roastedl last year's G14 due to thermal....
Hottest laptop tested to date. Someone commented below that they’re selling theirs because of it.
@@BobOfAllTrades But with the G14 / TUF A15 last year, the temps could be controlled by the Registry tweak disabling ‘Aggressive’ processor mode - 2 FPS loss along with 20 degrees cooler - I wonder if that works on the new G15 and G14...Thanks Bob
@@Hiscocks2008 stay away from asus especially their tuf lineup, it's terrible this year too with bottlenecking quad core and low wattage gpu
@@Hiscocks2008 good question
@@roboticvenom1935 which AMD laptop do you recommend?
Factors like heat, general performance and battery life mean more to me than high FPS in games as much as I love gaming 💕 🎮 .
Hi again Bob, since we both have the G15 and Aorus G15/Aero 15 to compare to.. I agree with your thoughts.. I think the G15 runs a bit toasty if you're a hardcore gamer... I think the Aorus/Aero is the better choice for the money as it runs much cooler overall.. But if you want a highly versatile machine, the G15 is the better choice being lighter, type-c charging, probably better battery life, centered TKL keyboard, etc.. If my gaming laptop was to be used primary for gaming, i'd be looking elsewhere than the G15.. Asus seems to be marketing it as a good all-rounder and i'd agree with that.
Excellent review.
Really torn on this - I would not mind a tiny bit thicker machine for a bit more power on the GPU.
Also, the memory - yeah, soldered on? what the heck.
Considering this vs. the MSI stealth. Hard to call.
Would love an amd version of the stealth.
This is not it.
thanks for the video.
Should I get this or the blade 14 from razer cuz the specs r similar just the size difference
What did you end up getting? I’m in the same boat
Liquid mental and it’s over 90c, something is not right there. And 64DB fan noise is terrible, you would need a head set.
Nice review Bob...i hope you make a review on Scar 17!!!
Like I told you earlier man reserve judgment to see the review 👍
I originally wanted to get a hold of the scar and I still do but right now I’m gonna move over to the G14 since I’ve got it right in front of me 👌
@@BobOfAllTrades great video Bob. What's the performance uplift 3060 - > 3070 seems to be about 10-20% gain in FPS (with Intel chips) at 80W, though maybe the G14 caps GDP vs G15. Can get the G14 locally just about, the G15 is hard to find. Shame as I think I want the extra M.2 and screen size.
Thank you! Very good review!
You mentioned you think we could find better a laptop within the same price range, can you recommend one?
As always, awesome review!
Such a great review 👌👌
"Above 90c within 5 mins of gaming" sheesh
Sadly that’s true
@@888DS but within 5 minutes of gaming? That's ridiculous.
Bob Of All Trades a bit surprising condidering the number of heat pipes
@@BobOfAllTrades Not if you tune it.
Isn't a problem if you're willing to compromise a bit. The performance mode has much better temps. Limit the FPS and you'll have even better temps. I don't see much difference bw 80 and 60fps. Unless the laptop can push 130s without much effort, it's better to limit fps for that particular game to 60.
Basically difference bw 60 and 80 is negligible. But difference between 60 and 120 is really worth. In the end, I guess it depends on what you want
Superb review. The soldered ram is a deal-breaker, for sure. And that sucks you couldn't get the scaling right for video editing... another deal-breaker. What do you think of the MSI GL66, in comparison? Thanks, Bob!
So main question what should I get, g14 or g15? Where’s quality build, performance better? Mainly looking to play games/editing/school
is there a performance diff for dual channel vs non dual channel ram?
Massive
Got this laptop recently too, Biggest problem I have is I can't install a second drive because Asus presumably glued the m.2 screw and immediately stripped attempting to remove.
Other than that, yeah this laptop is hot. Otherwise performs fantastic. I threw a 32GB stick in to total 40GB of Ram but found only 16 of it or something runs in dual channel
Which configuration do you have?
Shared heat pipes. Drop the cpu to 30-35 watts during gaming. Good to go.
Bob please test the waters in selling one of your reviews as a NFT. I want to see you independent. You are TH-cam's most under rated tech reviewer. Honesty, integrity, and all class.
nfts are kinda dumb imo
Great review!
I hope you make a review on the lenovo legion slim 7 when it comes out! Great review!
Awesome video
This is a great laptop!!!
The studies are out:
"60% of the times, it works EVERY time"!!!
Sex Panther Laptops rule!
Love my G15 Zephyrus.
is it loud under load?
Depends if your in manual or turbo
@@uncleiroh2844 this right here. I found it very quiet under battery with I gpu mode and a few custom windows based and registry hacked profiles. No need for me to repaste anything tbh.
Well it has Liquid Metal on the CPU so new paste shouldn’t be necessary 👍
@@BobOfAllTrades I was considering adding LM to the GPU but it turns out it doesn’t need it.
I am very satisficed with my purchase of this laptop
You see those fans? Asus uses those same fans on all of their gaming units. You can't disassemble those fan shrouds. But on msi GE/GP series, hp omen 17, you can clean out the fans thoroughly on the above mentioned models. So, from a long term maintenance perspective (around one month or more) I'd say msi/hp gaming laptops are better value than asus. Asus products usually start to fail right after their warranty period ends so watchout!
Best review out there
my only complain is the 100W max
but the intle m16 might bring a bit more performance to the table. Need to see if the heat damages the screen and the battery life. otherwise perfect laptop
Please make an overview of the Asus M16
I just bought one last week from Best buy for 1600
Hey Bob, if you change the battery profile on my asus to balance recommend mode, you can boost timespy score by 10k. Idk if it's placebo effect on my end. But I went from 9000 or so to 10100ish. Not bad. But idk if that's just a one off lol. And constantly hitting 9900+...
On max fan settings, I'm getting gpu temp 70-75 plus, and 80ish on cpu.. alot cooler than last years zephyrus.
In some regions it seems asus is adding a webcam in the box itself.
I've been scanning the reddit threads and myself have owned two units (one RMA) since the initial release date and neither unit had temps reach above 80c on GPU and/or 85c on CPU, and those temps were only achieved when stress testing max load, typically when someone on the thread reports high temps we will suggest repasting and it seems to have mostly positive results, just a suggestion. Still a shame that we would have to tweak anything on a device that costs about 2k for it to preform well. Cheers!
I’ve seen many just in this comment section alone who’ve bought this and returned theirs from heat too 🤷
Is it better to go for G14 over G15, since thermals look better and its more silent than 15(screen size not important)?
I’m also choosing between this one and g14, g15 just have bigger gpu and screen, but I feel like they’re exactly the same, g14 have better build quality, 0 plastic, while g15 plastic almost all around
By any chance will there be a teardown video on how upgrade the thermal solution?
Can we get 24gb ram without sacrificing dual channel?
Unfortunately no, you'll have asynchronous dual channel, where the first 16 GB of RAM WILL be in dual-channel speeds but the remainder will be in single-channel speeds. And with Ryzen, that's gonna suck. Too bad Lenovo is screwing around with the new Legion's release date, so I have no choice. 😡
The Review ive been waiting for on BOAT , so solid build runs a little hot awesome battery life and acoustics. Bob what out there has a Ryzen for the same price point has the same battery life a QHD and better performance?
Still having a hard time deciding which laptop, this or the Zephyrus g14. I don't need 1440p, but I would like the power that the 3070 provides.
Great review 👍
Hey Bob great review. I have a question what laptop gpu/tdp combo would comfortably play 1440p games on high/ultra,. Thanks.
Heard/read a lot about how upgrading the ram (thus nulling the dual channel mode) makes it slower, but never seen any numbers as to HOW much slower it would actually be so I'm puzzled. Under what circumstances would it affect the most cuz 40GB for general multitasking and gaming sounds quite better than 16GBs for me.
You can get a 32GB SKU but it's a $900 uplift due to the 3080, which offers marginal gains at 80W, and it's only in white.
i did read a reddit post saying to pull the heatpipes off and spread the liquid metal more evenly, they said it was just a drop plopped in the middle and wasnt making contact with the whole die on both cpu/gpu.
And the speaker popping can be fixed by going into the dolby atmost sound profile and taking it off dynamic. and putting it on balanced.
You’re not the first person to tell me that actually. Now this is a review unit probably not something I’m gonna have permission to do but let’s see how this plays out over the next few weeks.
I read that and it is on Balanced here
@@BobOfAllTrades interesting. On the sound profile part then. Look forward to seeing the thermal change with the even application tho if they let you.
Hi, as a gaming laptop first, for the money, which laptop is is better for the coin? Thanks
other viewers would disagree AMD has the best thermals. You should know that with all of the intell products you have reviewed. I have the g15 and Dave2d and Mobile tech review do not have the complaints you have about thermals and neither do I. The fans are quiet and I get well over a 100 frame rates with a very smooth game. and it does not get hot to the touch on the outside and it does not come close to thermal throttling on the most demanding games. i easily get 120 to 160 fPS on both peformance and turbo mode. sorry
What gaming laptop do you think gets good performance and also runs cool enough?
So far I’m liking this one th-cam.com/video/e8TCj-DI1eg/w-d-xo.html
Any chance of an Alienware m15 R4 OLED review and repaste video?
Probably not here. I do not have any contact at Dell. I’m like it their type of reviewer.
@@BobOfAllTrades what about the razer blade 15 advanced
Please tell, How is it for students, on light tasks like programming does keyboard get too hot to touch.
No you’ll be fine 👍
@@BobOfAllTrades thanks
As of today, I just made the purchase do you think it’ll be a purchase worth me keeping for the next 3-5 years?
@Bob Of All Trades....
Is it possible to connect to external monitor and Logitech setup for sim racing.... Based on thermals.. And heat dissipation.... How long will it last... Approx.. Estimation 3-4yrs?.. based on the utility for normal work and racing..... Did the g14 had the similar cooling technology to compete with this one...
Is it just me or I still can hear the speaker popping sound? I have one btw and unfortunately it has that popping sound on the left subwoofer. Currently waiting for parts to change under warranty. Still I love the laptop so far.
If the XPS 15 9500, GS66, and HP Envy 15 can all offer upgradable RAM, there are no excuses.
Good review.
I think I will buy ROG Zephyrus G15 or ROG Zephyrus G14. Which one should I buy?
@@thelaptoplegend2270 what
@@thelaptoplegend2270 why? and who is Mr. Steelman
@@thelaptoplegend2270 i dont get it what.
investment? i dont know or do that,
and i dont have phone number.
I’m also choosing between this 2, G14 seems better build quality/ more balanced power? Also not that gamery/flashy
I've just got this laptop and have had some heating issues right out of the box with just updating windows and drivers. Did you get the same problem or its just my unit? Thank you
In my country they are offered with a AMD Ryzen 7 5800HS processor + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i cant find any reviews with this particular build, what's your opinion about this?
1:27 so many heatpipes!!!
Rog Zephyrus G15 temperature 88C-95C is this ok while gaming
If you lowered the cpu watts to its lowest offered setting. How long is the battery life on normal usage with full brightness?
Is the keyboard hot since the exhaust heat seems like flowing up to the screen? Will the screen be damaged because of this?
Hey bob recently i just hopped back to cyberpunk and cold war and i saw significant perfomance loss, cyberpunk about 20fps lower than before, 30-40fps on MW and CW, I do not know how to find the reason for the performance loss. any idea? fans are loud, gpu overclocked, cpu undervolted like it was before...
Hello other than kpx and phobya due to not be able to order to Greece .Which else thermal paste for laptop do you recommend?
How is the spacebar key when pressed bottom left/right does it register at all?
So this or the xmg neo? Tough decision...
What pisses me off is leaving the components off a 2nd m.2 bay like the MSI GL65 Leopard I'll be getting the 30th. But hey, I can solder and glad it has a SD slot.
The G15 has two M.2 slots, Bob even says as much in the video
@@CED99 no, I was talking about the gl65. Bob was talking about what he didn't like on the g15, and I was relating with the one I ordered.
Great review! Could we benchmark the RAM upgrade?
Everyone and their mom says losing dual channel is basically the devil, but not a single person on the internet has _Tested_ it (wink wink).
I've only seen posts with people very happy about upgrading it to 24GB/40GB RAM so far.
It's because you'll still have SOME memory in dual channel; the matching amount will be, but after that it will be in single channel.
Do you guys know when legion 5 not pro will be available?