@@HardwareCanucks fair enough, didnt know that! In the us you cannot (i believe). still feels like a way to make you get the next step up and pay more than you want to. but regardless, if it wasn't soldered it wouldnt be an issue.
If you think that is bad.. go look at Razer 18. You can't have QHD drive if you want 64GB memory, largest m.2 SSD or the Mercury fiinish case... And you can't even get Windows 11 Pro when purchasing.
Asus never figures it out. I have Scar 17 2023 with 7945HX and it's still a buggy mess with zero fixes. Worst experience I've had with any laptop in years, and those bugs are universal to all users.
My 2022 Flow X16 still has software bugs too. I often have the keyboard and mouse stop working or the screen change orientation because of how it handles accelerometer input.
We fixed essentially all the issues with my wife's 2022 g14 by uninstalling armory crate and getting an open source version. Took 2 years before I found it, but very worth it. That thing was a disaster before we uninstalled it. I cannot believe Asus continues to push that garbage software.
@@Mido_ the device won't wake up from sleep unless you disable literally everything related to sleep. Sometimes keyboard will be unresponsive for several seconds. Sometimes GPU fan will go full blast for no reason reporting 0 RPM. Loud coil whine. The list goes on and on.
It's annoying when OEMs push out products that are "unfinished" to say the least. I'd be interested in seeing a follow-up video on this G16 to see when/how they fix the issues.
I wouldn't mind the non-upgradable ram at all if only they had 32 gb of ram by default and had a 64gb variant and most other issues do seem to be fixable easily. This laptop was so close to being the perfect sleek gaming laptop
I have a G16 2023 model. RAM slot was such a lifeline. The very first thing I did after unboxing was to add another 32GB stick to make my laptop a 48GB model. I need that for my machine learning workflow. also ports on 2023 model is far better vs 2024 model. Why no one is mentioning the missing ethernet port.
@frena_dore4382 I'm running ML models training and inference so I'm on charging most of the time. But yeah it's a gaming laptop battery life is going to be abysmal and because of the ML part it is going to run toasty. But I don't see it as an issue.
Would love to see an update on this laptop in like a month or two regarding the issues about the "tug of war" between armory crate and the system and the fan issues.
I wouldn't mind soldered RAM if they actually sold every unit with 32gb minimum at a reasonable price. Maybe in 10yrs it should be 64gb minimum, maybe, but right now it should be 32gb. I mean what is the point of even making 16gb? If you work AND play on the same machine you need at least double than what YT vids on "how much RAM do you actually need for gaming (only)?" say because you might want to keep some apps open in the background. Even on a CPU without eCores I don't see a difference benchmarking/playing Total War or Skylines etc with two Excel spreadsheets and Chrome open or not at 32gb, so it really is way more a matter of RAM than core count+power.
The problem gaming OEMs had with modular RAM was that people were buying the base and upgrading themselves. This means OEMs suffer drops in margins and in a highly competitive market can be devastating for the business. The other unforeseen consequence is that market data suggests the majority of people buy 16GB or 32GB versions, hence why they do not offer higher RAM configs in soldered variants. So, to compensate for buyers getting the cheapest RAM versions OEMs have had to increase prices, and another knock-on for consumers is that as few people bought 64GB (as they were upgrading themselves), many OEMs no longer offer that amount. That is why I am in favour of soldered RAM. If people accepted it then prices would settle down and we would get higher specs. Sadly, looking through comment sections, people still want to buy cheap and upgrade themselves and that has repercussions as we must accept an equilibrium between consumers and OEMs for both to fairly exist.
@@andyH_England you have used two separately sourced problems to conflate into an anti-consumer behavior. Soldered ram isn't inherently bad, but they are offered the way they are simply as an extension of the business practice that Apple standardized... getting customers through the gate and making them comfortable with unreasonably priced upgrades with the subconscious argument that "if you are going to spend this much already, then might as well get the one with the higher memory, etc" There is no effective difference in an OEM offering their models with completely custom RAM through SODIMM slots. The entire argument about customers upgrading base models and upgrading is a narrative to gain sympathy for an otherwise malicious business practice. In a proper business spec, the products shouldn't be differentiated based on trivial differences. The trivial difference should simply add the additional cost for it and not require an update to other core specifications. In this case, Asus would have lost nothing if they allowed people to buy laptops with as much RAM as they want on whichever model they wanted, thus leveraging a sense of Choice Deprivation bias to force people into hardware spec they do not need or want.
It's a disgusting practice that is specially visible with RAM and storage in PCs, but this happens everywhere. We can't have nice things without being ripped off it seems
Pretty much. No new GPUs, new CPUs are just rebranded and higher wattage versions of older ones, excluding ultra H ones which have this unreliability issue and cause cpu bottleneck in several games. So the only selling point was "sleekness" and OLED display which comes with higher temps, lower wattage limits (which defeat the purpose of newer gen CPUs) and extremely high cost.
Even if its not a downgrade, its likely a ripoff due to no new GPU models. With GPUs being the main bottleneck for gaming, a new gaming laptop doesn't properly live up to being 'new' unless it also comes with a new GPU model. This is why CES at the beginning of the year will usually serve as an indicator of whether to even consider a new gaming laptop released during that year, because if no new GPU models are announced, then you might as well just buy last year's models. Heck even if new GPU models are announced, if they are incremental upgrades (i.e. like Ti or Super models) with no architectural change, it is likely still more economical to go for last year's models.
I never experienced any of the issues you did on my G16 (4090 model). And that was 2+ months of heavy use daily driving, benchmarking, etc. I also cross-referenced my benchmarks with other owners on Reddit to make sure they were in line, so I’m definitely puzzled! Did you run all your benchmarks in dGPU mode or Optimus? Did you poll any other G16 reviewers to see if they experienced something similar? The only weird quirk I found is that sometimes my benchmarks in Optimus were higher than they were in dGPU mode. This also seems to translate to the Alienware X16 with the same CPU, so there very well could be some optimization missing on the Intel Core Ultra, which could just be an Intel thing, not too sure. However, like others have pointed out, 99% of everything here would be fixed by simply uninstalling Armoury Crate and using G-Helper instead. I did every benchmark multiple times with both AC and then again after installing G-Helper to verify both were identical. No major disparities. But to anyone having issues, I’m sure that would be all they needed. But yeah, this just caught my attention since I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with the laptop so figured I’d drop a comment for those concerned!
@@Hikari-sai yeah this has definitely motivated me to get it done as soon as possible! It will be a much different tone, I took an extremely deep dive into this laptop!
I think we have fundamentally different approaches, not to mention laptops. If you grab a 4070 or 4080 version you'll notice the RTX 4090 firmware path is very different. We tried both Optimus and dGPU (otherwise known as Ultimate) without any difference since this is a fundamental CPU centric power bottleneck that randomly pops up. We have reached out to others and most simply haven't tested enough to answer. Since these are loaners we can't verify either since they've (for the most part) been sent back. That said ASUS themselves confirmed our findings, after which we were issued two custom (not publicly available) firmwares which solved nothing and triggered many comments you see in the video. We always give manufacturers a right of response. This video is not different. You might believe GHelper would change things but it doesn't. We tried. It uses the same backend firmware communications as Armory Crate so the fundamental comms hiccups and successes are carried over en masse. Hope that helps. If you want to discuss more we love to hear from you. Reach out over Twitter. ♥️
@@HardwareCanucks I’ll try and look into this further, I do believe something is awry here but idk about how there would be a difference between the 4080 and 4090 model especially when the CPU seems to be the culprit of the issue. And I feel like it would be a good idea to also talk to Alienware X16 owners which have the same setup, because what if this is simply an Intel or Nvidia thing? Appreciate the reply though! I’ll reach out on Twitter with anything else
@@JoshCravesTech I think you're missing the major point in a number of our posts: ASUS has been able to recreate our findings with a number of their 4070 / 4080 lab samples. Our hope is they'll issue a fix in the future. Perhaps BIOS 319 was a first attempt but it didn't have any effect. Secondarily, if you need to use third party software to fix first party issues in an app that's mission critical for a lot of the system's functionality....well, that causes the G16 to fail even harder. Though its nice to know there's a fallback plan for people who spent over two grand.
I got mad with Asus givin us just one upgradable RAM slot that I just bought Razer. Razer is expensive but at least they always give me all da options. Asus gave us one slot in 2022 and now 2024 again. like wtf?
Agreed but the G16 is a much thinner and lighter laptop. Basically like a MacBook in comparison. I think they should’ve still continued with the 2023 M16 design for those who wanted upgradeable ram but still have a thin-ish design.
so youre telling me, instead of paying for the Asus with max Ram options, which is not that much more, you went and shell out thousand more for a Razer? LMAO =))) what a dumb argument. Razer isnt without its problem, Razer is known to have crappy software as well, ask anyone using their Synapse app =)))). Overprice piece of junk.
Never had any of these mentioned issues while using G-Helper. I switched pretty early from Armoury Crate and it's done wonders compared to everyone out there complaining about power issues and temperature problems. Really wish Asus's software wasn't so buggy all the time because this laptop truly is incredible, especially with the vapor chamber in the 4080.
never even used AC, just changed to G helper from the get-go, not an issue in the world, actually one of the best laptops I ever owned, it runs games to my standard and its portable as hell.. And the scree...omg...the screen... so yeah as this comment said, just use G Helper
@@HardwareCanucks I wonder why I haven't experienced any of these problems then. Your tests showed this problem exists in both the 4070 and 4090 models. If it really is a root problem, I'll take this as a chance to look into whether there really is a minor variance in performance that I am not noticing.
You use armory crate, so you already have a big problem there. Every Zephyrus laptop owner who knows how to setup their device install G Helper instead to mitigate most of the problems you point out. I know you have to review devices "out of the box", but you could at least have mentionned it.
G Helper does not overcome fundamental firmware related communication issues between software and hardware. They use the same firmware hooks as Armory Crate, though in a streamlined format.
Yeah I’m the same belief literally had the same issues with a few desktops I’ve built, delete armory crate and it’s fixed the performance issues 99% of the time that app was installed. I immediately disregarded this review when he said that windows and armory crate were fighting each other.
got the 4080 G16 Really enjoying it so far. My only gripe is actually in the fact that the Fn keys can't be swapped with media keys meaning I have to hold down the FN key every time I want to dim the keyboard/screen or pause/play media. Other than that the performance has been great and it's also very quiet in day to day use. for a 16" it also fits in much smaller bags than I would have imagined.
Seeing how virtually every gaming laptop producer and workstation laptop producer has been shooting themselves in the foot lately, it makes me even more happy to have gone for a framework 16. This thing is absolutely amazing and has no forced RGB gimmicks either.
As someone who has an original g14 from 2020 that still has (and will continue to have) major battery and dgpu issues with a history of a thousand different bugs etc., I am not surprised by this one having software issues.
I got one of these a few weeks ago and really wanted to love it, but it had 5 bluescreens within the first week and constant annoying coil whine, which made me not even consider getting a replacement device.
recently got the g16 with 32gbram, 1tbssd, ultra9 185h, rtx4060 in white, upgraded from a lenovo legion 5 pro with amd5800h, rtx3070 and MAN this laptop is insane for media consumption, and some "light" gaming. its so portable and I LOVE it.
I just bought today in Thailand the same with RTX 4060 and 32GB for around 2100 USD. I will get extra tax refund for it on airport so finaly around 2000 USD. Much more better price than in US or EU
wouldnt uninstalling armory crate, disabling it in the BIOS, and installing ghelper help solve the tug of war you described? Also I saw posts about flashing the bios with a bios from a higher wattage machine that provided more performacnce than the original 125 watt limit.
Not YET. Because G Helper has issues recognizing the GPU Mux on this laptop and also exhibits power plan conflicts. G Helper is a simplified version of the program, it doesn't completely rewrite it, nor does it change baseline firmware issues. We have however reached out to see if the G Helper devs have any insight. This isn't about overall performance either, so a BIOS flash likely wouldn't solve it (though ASUS did send us other BIOS files)
@@HardwareCanucks I have the 2024 G16 w/4090 & 32mb ram. I flashed the vbios with that of the 2024 Strix Scar 4090 and was able to get a Time Spy score of 18390 by a mixture of undervolting and overclocking at 175w fully unlocked. That being said, its not sustainable for long-term gaming fully maxed out like that. I find it much more sustainable around 150w and undervolted to play games that are very graphic intensive to keep the fan speed down. Armoury Crate is horrible, full stop. G-Helper does work significantly better for the dgpu, but yeah I haven't been adjusting the CPU at all. I think turbo mode really only impacts fan speed and settings you can preset. If you can show me where turbo mode changes anything else I'd be surprised. I just have to disagree with your take that this ruined the G16 series. This laptop is a huge step towards cooling technology and efficiency. It's a laptop that can get 9-10hrs battery life off-power for productivity work, come home and get massive fps for gaming when plugged in at 4k, and it weighs 4.30lbs. I will say that doing all the fine tuning myself took a lot of time, but I'm getting very similar performance of much more expensive laptops, and have the portability of a macbook.
@@HardwareCanucks as far as i know ghelper dev said it's best to not poke around the powerplan while using GHELPER. The app should run with default windows powerplan to properly work. You guys should try a clean windows install and try using GHELPER from the start
G-helper uses the same ArmouryCrate service that Armoury crate uses. Unless asus does something about the service, G-helper will give the same damn issues.
@@wtfamidoingwithmylife1569 I went from 13800 stock Time Spy to 18390. That's over 33% performance improvement by doing all I did. After trying to tweak with AC. It's multiple factors here, but just has a lot of bloatware so I uninstalled it and opted for G-Helper.
when your gpu is suddenly running suspiciously slowly, try plugging the AC cord out and then immediately back in. i've had a laptop that required doing that every hour or so to maintain its gpu performance for whatever reason.
I own the 2024 4080 g16 model and am not experiencing these issues at all. Performance has been great and consistent, I set my windows default power modes all to max and just make sure it open armory crate after booting and switch to turbo. Not a concern for me, it’s just like toggling icue on my tower
Noway. For me, nowadays I am looking for 64G memory. For an engineer running few containers and at times another Linux VM, I hover between 20G - 38G. I was hoping there would be Laptop this year to get out of the Mac ecosystem.
I purchased the 2024 G16 with a 4070 and 16GB of RAM. I did not watch enough reviews to come to find out that you cannot upgrade the RAM. After a week of using it(Cod, Music, movies etc...) the RAM was not enough at all... I had to return it. I then picked up the G16 with a 4090 and 32GB of RAM. So far so good. I am late to the party here and did a BIOS update. I was wondering if ASUS fixed the issues you were referencing in this video. I 10000% love this laptop and have no regrets. P.S. your voice was super relaxing and the video had a lot of great information. That is a sub from me. Peace.
Soldered RAM makes it a hard pass for me. I know several companies are doing that, but that's not a small loss in terms of flexibility and future proofing.
i have the g14 2021 and since the end of last year i’ve been having issues with the power settings in armory crate, i wasn’t expecting to see the same issue elsewhere lol
Wanna point out that the thermal paste on the gpu is very bad on my m16 2022 rtx3070ti After repasting both cpu and gpu with ptm7950, performance increased tremendously. Do Check the temps of gpu and gpu clock while gaming
I JUST returned my M16 2022 because the fans were ramping up strangely and the laptop would immediately thermal throttle when trying to play any games. Probably going to follow the news on the 2024 G16, and see if I wanna buy it in a few years.
I don't mean to be crass, but it takes some balls to make this video. I'm only three minutes in, but this is the first even hint at a negative review i've seen about this laptop. I so very much appreciate the candor of this video.
I just got my g16 4080 model the other day and I must say this laptop is more of a productivity and everyday use laptop. Light gaming is possible and media consumption is by far the best part about this laptop. The screen is hands down the best laptop screen on the market currently. I got this laptop for school and productivity purposes, if your main use for this laptop is gaming I would stick to something more gaming focused such as the strix series.
I agree, and I think that is where ASUS is pushing it now. Competing in the Macbook demographic covering creators, pros workflows and people that will pay extra for a premium laptop. There are many better gaming laptops or even a desktop if your user case allows it.
I know you guys have to test these things with the software they have out of the box, but I recently found G-Helper for ASUS laptops. It seems to stop any of the power option issues stemming from Armoury Crate and also has a much better interface for tweaking settings. You can even set a temp limit and manually adjust fan curves. I had a STRIX G15 Advantage that ran great until the liquid metal TIM shorted out the GPU. ASUS replaced it WELL outside of warranty with a TUF F15, awesome customer support. Pretty decent upgrade from my old machine too, but sometimes the performance was lacking. Even when plugged in the power settings would act up and I'd be CPU limited like crazy, resulting in lower performance than the machine it replaced. Armoury Crate is the worst software on the market and ASUS should adopt something simpler and lightweight like G-Helper.
Gj, and thanks for all hard work to make this review asngood as it is! Just one question, have you tried to uninstall Armory crate and install G-helper instead?...mby that solves porformance issues.
It is nice that Asus put all fast ports on this device. I've seen some high end laptops this year with usb c ports at 3.2 gen1 speed, which is unacceptable for a usb c port, nevermind usb a. So the fact that even the usb a ports are all at gen2 speeds, and we get uhs-ii speed on the sd card reader, AND it's a full size reader; that is all refreshing. What isn't refreshing is the fact that you gave Asus multiple weeks to give a substantive response to the power management issues in games, and they came up with crickets? You would think they would send another sample, but they must know that the issue is not unit specific but rather persistent across all units. And I agree with you that it feels like Asus got so much positive publicity from the early reviews of this device that that is good enough for them, and they are on to developing and testing for the next generation instead of fixing whatever issue may be occurring with this device. And the fact that it is a software issue that seems to be fixable, that is a quite disheartening....
Best Buy had an open box with a two year protection plan that is on sale for $400 dollars off and another $400 off because it’s an open box model. It comes with everything and it’s in mint condition. So I’ll be getting everything for $1500 which comes with their 2 year warranty. Not sure if I should do it.
Can they make G16 with AMD then its a buy. Asus should reduce their product lines (like Apple) and so the engineer can really spend time to refine the software
I got the G16, and love it. I got it to replace my MacBook Pro for work. The subtle design, impeccable display and build, perhaps the best speakers, and a very familiar keyboard makes it a productivity powerhouse. The battery lasts a good deal too for work… I haven’t even charged it in 2 days and it still has some juice (only used it for 3 hours each day though). Gaming is a bit disappointing (but I know that the 4070 is disappointing to begin with)- but not impossible or bad. Was averaging 60FPS on RT High at native resolution CP77 without frame gen. I got it mainly for casual games like sims 4 on the go, and get 120+FPS. I never saw a dip from 140FPS in COD at balanced settings, native resolution. Heck I am also averaging 80+ FPS in Flight Simulator at Ultra 1600p. Now in no way is this my gaming machine, I got it for its portability and power. I already have a 4090 desktop. But it’s still respectable in performance, and will more than suit my needs when I’m away from home on trips and travel. In summary - the G14 and G16 are both MacBook killers in the office and school workspace. And they also do gaming which is far fetched on a productivity machine even running windows, let alone macOS
@@diisu897 I returned it. Asus QC is unfortunately very bad. My laptop crashed randomly when doing work, and Asus software can brick your computer. Unfortunately because this was my office machine, I didn’t want to take a chance with another Asus (their support is also non existent). Got a Dell XPS 14 instead. I needed a windows laptop - and while I thought the Zephyrus is a MacBook killer (it is in every way), it falls short in the reliability and quality control severely. The Zephyrus subreddit has a failure post every hour!
@@DipSet85 you were right. I returned my G16 after a month. It was a lemon and crashed frequently. Lost 8 hours of my work! Went back and got an M3 Max MacBook Pro instead. While gaming is fun - I learned that I shouldn’t take chances with my work machines
Respect!!!! I love it when the reviewer goes back and addresses the issues that they found and corrected their claim from earlier review. You're doing us a great favor!
finally the only reviewer that dont gatekeep concerning data. I also did many test and had the same problems, going from 4.41lb to 4.30lb is not even 10% and all the compromises are not worth it, if someone really needs for some reason something thinner than a 2023 g16 that is already thin enough for wathever reason, even a macbook is a better option even for battery, having bad gaming experience is worse that not having it at all im really concerned about the longevity, those aggresive ups and downs in performance tells us everything we need to know about this one, sad part its that lots of ppl will love the design and the cycle will come back when they see that their 2500ish usd laptops gets outpermored by way cheaper and older models, i would preffer a 2023/22 model and pair it with a big oled screen. thanks for the honest review, lots of resellers appreciate this kind of reviews
So for anyone who wants to know.. I was back and forth with getting it.. got it today and installed G-Helper. The laptop is absolutely silent when set to silent mode and run on the iGPU. The form factor and screen are amazing and performance is solid in games. Definitely well worth it as long as form factor > screen > productivity > gaming. For me this really is an excellent laptop as I can take it to clients and they wont notice it being a gaming laptop, yet if I truly want to game it can deliver more than enough power. The one I got is the 4080, i9 with 32GB RAM.
I have one with the 4070 and had to get it replaced because the screen would randomly flicker. Updated drivers, the bios and reinstalled the OS a few times. Nothing worked. Asus sent me a replacement. It has been running perfectly so far. Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself.🤦🏾♂️
I have the same with Dell G15 and the fight between windows power management and Alienware software. The best results I achieved after a fresh install of the OS and NOT installing Dell power management. Keeping power plan on Balanced keeps the balance and it NEVER bottlenecks anymore.
Are the performance issues resolved by now, or are they still there? Also, which G16 models are better for gaming, ones with OLED panel or IPS level panel?
I am really missing some thermal test in this review. Software problems can theoretically be fixed later, but a bad cooling system is set for the lifetime of the product. Thermal issues are the number one problem with gaming laptops, so thermal tests have to be included.
Some people value thinner and lighter over upgradeability. It seems perverse that people want upgradeability to get faster RAM and storage in five years. Yet, if performance is essential, the bottleneck for performance after five years will be far more significant on the older CPU, GPU and neural engine!
@andyH_England CAMM2 though. And there's a point of diminishing returns. Just look how badly consumers are treating the 2024 XPS lineup, and for good reason!
14:27 the small tiny magnets under battery. Left are one single magnet. Right are 1 and a half single magnet. The right side, both magnet are causing anti magnet and magnet at the same time. But it is weaker magnet. When opening the lid you will realise on the other side is weak.
Don't buy it! I am the user of this laptop. There is a small black spot appeared on the screen one month after purchased. I went to the Royal Club and they said that the black spots and white spots are not covered by the warranty... This is already my third high-end ASUS laptop. . The first one was 4K laptop, the UX501vw. After bought less than two years, the mousepad dual-touch function was broken. This one was 1300USD ten years ago. The second one was zenbook UX392F, I bought it for less than two years and the motherboard had shuted down totally. The third one is Rog Zephyrus, I bought it for two months, and the international warranty included a total of more than 2200USD. There are small black spots on the screen. The Asus loyal club said this was not covered by the warranty and was a "yield" issue. Dear potential ASUS buyers, please do not use your hard-earned money to support a manufacturer with a worrying yield rate.
Legion 7i is the answer. The Zephyrus model with rtx 4070 are bad in terms of cooling. The main problem with cooling is the third fan: Asus came up decision of designing different cooling model for rtx 4060-4070 and rtx 4080-4090 models. It may seem that it was a good move, which allowed to decrease price of budget model, thus, make them more attractive. Does that work? NO! Since you don`t have the vapour chamber, the laptop warms up the same, if not more, and the 3rd cooler ads annoying high pitch noise. Unless u really need OLED, go for Lenovo. Cheaper, better cooling and has longer warranty.
Can you guys post an update in comments please if/when the weird power issues have been resolved? I just got mine and it’s actually performing great and smoothly on Windows Best Performance setting and Armoury Crate Performance or Turbo mode… but I’m still skittish given your review. Thanks, guys!
Hi, Did you have issue with high DPC latency? I seem to have it especially on battery power and silent mode. I started using Ghelper instead of Armoury Crate which seems to make the machine more reliable but maybe its just placebo.
Got this laptop in late May. This is the only review on youtube that correctly called out the usability-killing issue for me and is the perfect one-paragraph summary of what it felt like using it to me. Thanks for taking time to do things properly.
Awesome video! Thanks. For the tests for creative work users and content creation software (video editing, 3D etc) did you run the test several runs as well to get average? Looks like for content creation is still a great laptop with top performance in high end software like Houdini. Thanks
Hey there HC, I did just purchase a G16 4070 version a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if this helps but in only 3 weeks I've already had 3 BIOS updates from ASUS via MyAsus. Currently I'm sitting on version .319 ... wondering if you guys used the same BIOS version for this testing? if not, perhaps you can repeat and let us know please?
The high pitch sound problem existed in the 2022 models and in the 2023 models as well, even tho it was a different design. I returned 3 units that had this problem quite pronnounced and then didn't tried a 4th time... the QC of Asus really is not good. They took it back without a word but if it's that often, I do loose faith in the manufacturer.
Nice review! I want to buy this 4080 G16 purely for the new flight sim 2024 coming this fall. But I'm not sure if I should be patient and wait for the incoming 5080 version that is surely right around the corner... What do you guys think?
The 2024 G14 16GB/1TB/4060 model lives in my backpack. It's quite enjoyable to use so far. With that said, I am disappointed that it doesn't have expandable memory or storage anymore.
Im a owner of the g16 4070 (core ultra 155h). I installed ghelper and uninstalled all the asus crap software.. runs way better with gaming and in silent mode im getting also way more battery life. With AC one time mw3 was running at 70fps and the next time it was running at 100fps.. with ghelper now that issue is resolved. Hope asus will get this issues with their software resolved anyway
Maybe because their tests don't go as in-depth? Also you have to remember this video is a bit old now and ASUS could have improved overall performance.
at this point, laptop manufacturers should have and facilitate RAM resoldering officially (or even better - with trusted partners) without voiding warranty. Its okay the price is slightly higher than regular SODIMM but at least the upgrade path is there
Asus has always been crap when it comes to prebuilt systems. Individually their components are great. I’m still going to be preferring System76 and Lenovo
I had this laptop only with a 4070 instead and it was horrible.... I choose it due to it having a balance of specs, design, performance and all round mac like feel. Although the speakers, screen and keyboard were amazing, the laptop had to many problems! First of all (minor thing) it lacked features that were advertised. It was meant to have a rgb keyboard but the for some reason even though reviews should that you could adjust it, I had no option too (dont worry i did update the bios, driver and windows and still nothing), same with the pixel refresh screen saver, it was also not there. After a week of usage, my panel started to show bad image retention and burn It was really visible and evident. In the month I had it, it blue screen 3 times and constantly would intermittently freeze (like even typing on the keyboard would be delayed too). The temps were crazy, it idled with basic Web browsing at 62 degrees Celsius. And when I would open a game and only just load into it the cpu would be at 95 degrees Celsius whilst the gpu at 72 degrees Celsius. I actually burnt my self on it... in short I kept having issues and refunded it. Asus was no help either, when I called they didn't wanna do anything and told me to go to the retailer I purchased it from. A core ultra 9 and 4070 in a 1.46cm body doesn't work especially when they cheap out on the cooling solution.... that's my extra 2 cents
I just got the I7 4070 version with 32 gb RAM (1999 euro incl tax). Your main gripe seems to be in how the I9 interacts with armory crate leading to all sorts of evil. However, do you think this may be very different in an I7 version? I havent seen any reviews on the I7 but so far no complaints, was playing Total War Warhammer 3 and it was a delight.
Have you figured out a way to keep the function keys locked? It blows my mind that you have to hold function to use those keys and I can’t find a way to change it.
I just got the G16 RTX 4070 + Core Ultra 9 185H. Asus released the BIOS version 322 on 8/20/2024. I updated my system on 8/20/2024 and I am still facing microstutters on long Rocket League sessions. Any updates from Asus on the power management issues?
Waiting and doing further investigation into these issues was definitely the move. We know that typically means lost views but hopefully you can make it up with a follow up review once/if ASUS resolves these issues.
I've got the whine on my 2020 G15 as well, it basically happens when there is a specific amount of current going through the transistors. It stops when you increase the current and I do that by turning the keyboard backlight up. That works for me but it could be different with different systems.
A 2200 CAD Laptop that has only 16Gb soldered memory and 521GB storage is insane to me, Im not asking for it to be cheaper but to make sense, it should be a minimum of 1TB of Storage and 32GB of ram, Id be so happy to pay for that but the fact that Ill need to put on another $400 for that is insanity to me. Ill wait till Asus starts making good decisions.
I get that you need to review products as they are sold but in practice a lot of these issues are fairly overblown. Armory crate issues can largely be mitigated by either uninstalling it entirely, or using third party tools like G-helper. The price is steep, but despite being brand new, Best Buy (in the US) was already selling the 4070 model on a $300 discount a couple weeks ago so this isn't a macbook or Blade where the price is inflexible. 16GB base ram is heinous but as for it being soldered, the speed difference between SODIMM and soldered modules is now so high that using SODIMMs just leaves performance on the table which is a poor tradeoff in a thin-and-light device.
I have the 4090 Model... and i feel like if the laptop was made by any other company, it would be the best laptop of all time ever. Never have i seen such intrusive and limiting software. I mean, for the love of god i cant even enable my clipboard! It limits that, and a ton of other windows settings and says "managed by your organization." Other than that, 10/10 Laptop. If anyone knows how to fix these software/bios issues, pls reply to this comment bc i want to make full use of this goldy laptop.
The performance issue sounds easily addressable with driver updates, right? they can fix the Windows fighting with the armory crate for performance right?
We remained updated with Asus (who were able to reproduce our issues) until a few days before this video went live. There were no changes. We've been at this for the better part of 15 years now and we understand when there is an inherent Windows / AMD / Intel issue that a good partner doesn't want to divulge. This has all the hallmarks of that....
What would you recommend otherwise instead of it if i want something as slim with as good or better battery life n good build quality and screen good for photography editing and 3d rendering n gaming?
The first thing they need to fix is to give us back the matte scene option. I don't care about OLED and mega blacks.. All I care about is not to see reflection and glare when I am working/playing in normal lit room.
Yes, all the hyperbole about OLEDs yet in reality they need to be placed carefully to avoid a light source and when out and about can be a pain for viewing. There are good reasons Apple refuses to use the current OLED panels and developed its own; poor max brightness and the glossy displays are two of the many reasons. I much prefer miniLED then IPS.
I was thinking of getting this laptop 4080 version. Everyone say it’s a bit loud and pitchy high noise. Is it that bad? Should I wait the 2025 version? When are they dropping?
Really wanted this laptop solely because of the looks and specs, but the price is ridiculously high. Would be nice if they release another g16 with Snapdragon X elite for great battery life & performance
The fact that you cant get 32 gb of ram unless you spend $2.7k is atrocious lol
Technically you can in SOME regions. The RTX 4060 spec technically allows it. But it'll still cost you....
@@HardwareCanucks fair enough, didnt know that! In the us you cannot (i believe). still feels like a way to make you get the next step up and pay more than you want to. but regardless, if it wasn't soldered it wouldnt be an issue.
If you think that is bad.. go look at Razer 18. You can't have QHD drive if you want 64GB memory, largest m.2 SSD or the Mercury fiinish case... And you can't even get Windows 11 Pro when purchasing.
Apple's fault. Fcking trendsetters on the priceladder strategy. Now a lot of these PC brands start to think they can also get away with it.
@@jeremyflowers8908 nah they are just as bad lol. totally agree.
Asus never figures it out. I have Scar 17 2023 with 7945HX and it's still a buggy mess with zero fixes. Worst experience I've had with any laptop in years, and those bugs are universal to all users.
My 2022 Flow X16 still has software bugs too. I often have the keyboard and mouse stop working or the screen change orientation because of how it handles accelerometer input.
My Asus g15 advantage edition had many problems, but it was the best laptop at is price range when i got so i just dealt with it...
We fixed essentially all the issues with my wife's 2022 g14 by uninstalling armory crate and getting an open source version. Took 2 years before I found it, but very worth it. That thing was a disaster before we uninstalled it. I cannot believe Asus continues to push that garbage software.
what bugs are you talking about?
@@Mido_ the device won't wake up from sleep unless you disable literally everything related to sleep. Sometimes keyboard will be unresponsive for several seconds. Sometimes GPU fan will go full blast for no reason reporting 0 RPM. Loud coil whine. The list goes on and on.
It's annoying when OEMs push out products that are "unfinished" to say the least. I'd be interested in seeing a follow-up video on this G16 to see when/how they fix the issues.
I don't know, maybe they fixed it but I have a G14 and it has no issues.
2022-2023 models are the best options in 2024 so far.
especially 2023 m16, it has 2upgradable ram💯💯
Eh. The m16 has terrible battery life and the g14 2023 is awfully close to it in performance
2022 and 2023 has terrible battery. 2024 had soldered RAM. It's always one step forward, one step backward with Asus.
@@Andorski2023 has 8h battery my guy ur crazy
My roommate needed a new 14" laptop and just bought a 2023 G14.
I wouldn't mind the non-upgradable ram at all if only they had 32 gb of ram by default and had a 64gb variant and most other issues do seem to be fixable easily. This laptop was so close to being the perfect sleek gaming laptop
Definitely, the closest to being perfect
A laptop like this without 64gb ram option is a shame.
@@bcrbdb Totally agree. I was scratching my head when I saw the 4090 only had 32 Gb of ram.
Just get a P16, yeah you're missing out on the refresh rate but it still performs great and you get a touchscreen
@@HalfgayMan Thanks for the advice, but for the type of work I do (3D rendering) a 4090 makes a difference and P16 only comes with 4070.
I have a G16 2023 model. RAM slot was such a lifeline. The very first thing I did after unboxing was to add another 32GB stick to make my laptop a 48GB model. I need that for my machine learning workflow. also ports on 2023 model is far better vs 2024 model. Why no one is mentioning the missing ethernet port.
Which type of memory in it? DDR4 or DDR5?
@@valeriikb DDR4.
@@karanvora2674how about the thermals and battery
@frena_dore4382 I'm running ML models training and inference so I'm on charging most of the time. But yeah it's a gaming laptop battery life is going to be abysmal and because of the ML part it is going to run toasty. But I don't see it as an issue.
@@karanvora2674 what would you recommend this or a lenovo legion slim 5 with ryzen 7 and 4060
Would love to see an update on this laptop in like a month or two regarding the issues about the "tug of war" between armory crate and the system and the fan issues.
Any update on this?
@@invictus4807 that's all I wanna know...
Literally just get G Helper
@@jonathonlangdon4889 What is G Helper?
I wouldn't mind soldered RAM if they actually sold every unit with 32gb minimum at a reasonable price. Maybe in 10yrs it should be 64gb minimum, maybe, but right now it should be 32gb. I mean what is the point of even making 16gb? If you work AND play on the same machine you need at least double than what YT vids on "how much RAM do you actually need for gaming (only)?" say because you might want to keep some apps open in the background. Even on a CPU without eCores I don't see a difference benchmarking/playing Total War or Skylines etc with two Excel spreadsheets and Chrome open or not at 32gb, so it really is way more a matter of RAM than core count+power.
The problem gaming OEMs had with modular RAM was that people were buying the base and upgrading themselves. This means OEMs suffer drops in margins and in a highly competitive market can be devastating for the business. The other unforeseen consequence is that market data suggests the majority of people buy 16GB or 32GB versions, hence why they do not offer higher RAM configs in soldered variants.
So, to compensate for buyers getting the cheapest RAM versions OEMs have had to increase prices, and another knock-on for consumers is that as few people bought 64GB (as they were upgrading themselves), many OEMs no longer offer that amount. That is why I am in favour of soldered RAM. If people accepted it then prices would settle down and we would get higher specs. Sadly, looking through comment sections, people still want to buy cheap and upgrade themselves and that has repercussions as we must accept an equilibrium between consumers and OEMs for both to fairly exist.
@@andyH_England you have used two separately sourced problems to conflate into an anti-consumer behavior. Soldered ram isn't inherently bad, but they are offered the way they are simply as an extension of the business practice that Apple standardized... getting customers through the gate and making them comfortable with unreasonably priced upgrades with the subconscious argument that "if you are going to spend this much already, then might as well get the one with the higher memory, etc"
There is no effective difference in an OEM offering their models with completely custom RAM through SODIMM slots. The entire argument about customers upgrading base models and upgrading is a narrative to gain sympathy for an otherwise malicious business practice. In a proper business spec, the products shouldn't be differentiated based on trivial differences. The trivial difference should simply add the additional cost for it and not require an update to other core specifications.
In this case, Asus would have lost nothing if they allowed people to buy laptops with as much RAM as they want on whichever model they wanted, thus leveraging a sense of Choice Deprivation bias to force people into hardware spec they do not need or want.
@@andyH_England margins can be excuse in cheapest lineup of laptops, not here.
It's a disgusting practice that is specially visible with RAM and storage in PCs, but this happens everywhere. We can't have nice things without being ripped off it seems
Is every laptop this year a downgrade or what??
Pretty much. No new GPUs, new CPUs are just rebranded and higher wattage versions of older ones, excluding ultra H ones which have this unreliability issue and cause cpu bottleneck in several games. So the only selling point was "sleekness" and OLED display which comes with higher temps, lower wattage limits (which defeat the purpose of newer gen CPUs) and extremely high cost.
Even if its not a downgrade, its likely a ripoff due to no new GPU models. With GPUs being the main bottleneck for gaming, a new gaming laptop doesn't properly live up to being 'new' unless it also comes with a new GPU model.
This is why CES at the beginning of the year will usually serve as an indicator of whether to even consider a new gaming laptop released during that year, because if no new GPU models are announced, then you might as well just buy last year's models. Heck even if new GPU models are announced, if they are incremental upgrades (i.e. like Ti or Super models) with no architectural change, it is likely still more economical to go for last year's models.
Eh the 2024 g14 is the perfect laptop for me personally
If you don't release a stinker then how are you meant to make your next product seem awesome..
Like the Nvidia 20 series to the 30 series
The Lenovo and Razer blade laptops aren’t that different from last year
I never experienced any of the issues you did on my G16 (4090 model). And that was 2+ months of heavy use daily driving, benchmarking, etc. I also cross-referenced my benchmarks with other owners on Reddit to make sure they were in line, so I’m definitely puzzled! Did you run all your benchmarks in dGPU mode or Optimus? Did you poll any other G16 reviewers to see if they experienced something similar?
The only weird quirk I found is that sometimes my benchmarks in Optimus were higher than they were in dGPU mode. This also seems to translate to the Alienware X16 with the same CPU, so there very well could be some optimization missing on the Intel Core Ultra, which could just be an Intel thing, not too sure.
However, like others have pointed out, 99% of everything here would be fixed by simply uninstalling Armoury Crate and using G-Helper instead. I did every benchmark multiple times with both AC and then again after installing G-Helper to verify both were identical. No major disparities. But to anyone having issues, I’m sure that would be all they needed. But yeah, this just caught my attention since I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with the laptop so figured I’d drop a comment for those concerned!
Josh we need your review asap!
@@Hikari-sai yeah this has definitely motivated me to get it done as soon as possible! It will be a much different tone, I took an extremely deep dive into this laptop!
I think we have fundamentally different approaches, not to mention laptops. If you grab a 4070 or 4080 version you'll notice the RTX 4090 firmware path is very different. We tried both Optimus and dGPU (otherwise known as Ultimate) without any difference since this is a fundamental CPU centric power bottleneck that randomly pops up.
We have reached out to others and most simply haven't tested enough to answer. Since these are loaners we can't verify either since they've (for the most part) been sent back. That said ASUS themselves confirmed our findings, after which we were issued two custom (not publicly available) firmwares which solved nothing and triggered many comments you see in the video. We always give manufacturers a right of response. This video is not different.
You might believe GHelper would change things but it doesn't. We tried. It uses the same backend firmware communications as Armory Crate so the fundamental comms hiccups and successes are carried over en masse.
Hope that helps. If you want to discuss more we love to hear from you. Reach out over Twitter. ♥️
@@HardwareCanucks I’ll try and look into this further, I do believe something is awry here but idk about how there would be a difference between the 4080 and 4090 model especially when the CPU seems to be the culprit of the issue. And I feel like it would be a good idea to also talk to Alienware X16 owners which have the same setup, because what if this is simply an Intel or Nvidia thing? Appreciate the reply though! I’ll reach out on Twitter with anything else
@@JoshCravesTech I think you're missing the major point in a number of our posts: ASUS has been able to recreate our findings with a number of their 4070 / 4080 lab samples. Our hope is they'll issue a fix in the future. Perhaps BIOS 319 was a first attempt but it didn't have any effect. Secondarily, if you need to use third party software to fix first party issues in an app that's mission critical for a lot of the system's functionality....well, that causes the G16 to fail even harder. Though its nice to know there's a fallback plan for people who spent over two grand.
I got mad with Asus givin us just one upgradable RAM slot that I just bought Razer. Razer is expensive but at least they always give me all da options.
Asus gave us one slot in 2022 and now 2024 again. like wtf?
Agreed but the G16 is a much thinner and lighter laptop. Basically like a MacBook in comparison.
I think they should’ve still continued with the 2023 M16 design for those who wanted upgradeable ram but still have a thin-ish design.
so youre telling me, instead of paying for the Asus with max Ram options, which is not that much more, you went and shell out thousand more for a Razer? LMAO =))) what a dumb argument. Razer isnt without its problem, Razer is known to have crappy software as well, ask anyone using their Synapse app =)))). Overprice piece of junk.
In my country only one variant available, Core 7 ultra with RTX 4070 and 16GB RAM IPS display.
That's even worse. If you don't need portability just get sth from Lenovo or sth
@@SJZ00 ikr? Lenovo makes a lot more sense in regards to upgradeability and price. Though they do have their share of problems/caveats.
The fact that g14 come close and sometimes outperform the g16 in overall aspect is pretty impressive for the g14, considering the smaller size
Never had any of these mentioned issues while using G-Helper. I switched pretty early from Armoury Crate and it's done wonders compared to everyone out there complaining about power issues and temperature problems. Really wish Asus's software wasn't so buggy all the time because this laptop truly is incredible, especially with the vapor chamber in the 4080.
never even used AC, just changed to G helper from the get-go, not an issue in the world, actually one of the best laptops I ever owned, it runs games to my standard and its portable as hell..
And the scree...omg...the screen...
so yeah as this comment said, just use G Helper
This. After getting my G14 2022 I did a fresh install and went with G-Helper right away and never looked back.
We tried. This is an intrinsic Firmware / Root driver issue that G-Helper cannot fix.
@@HardwareCanucks a new BIOS came in yesterday for me , 319 dont know if that has something to do with my stable sistem
@@HardwareCanucks I wonder why I haven't experienced any of these problems then. Your tests showed this problem exists in both the 4070 and 4090 models. If it really is a root problem, I'll take this as a chance to look into whether there really is a minor variance in performance that I am not noticing.
did they fix the issue?
You use armory crate, so you already have a big problem there. Every Zephyrus laptop owner who knows how to setup their device install G Helper instead to mitigate most of the problems you point out. I know you have to review devices "out of the box", but you could at least have mentionned it.
G Helper does not overcome fundamental firmware related communication issues between software and hardware. They use the same firmware hooks as Armory Crate, though in a streamlined format.
Right? He comes across as very biased.
Yeah I’m the same belief literally had the same issues with a few desktops I’ve built, delete armory crate and it’s fixed the performance issues 99% of the time that app was installed. I immediately disregarded this review when he said that windows and armory crate were fighting each other.
got the 4080 G16
Really enjoying it so far. My only gripe is actually in the fact that the Fn keys can't be swapped with media keys meaning I have to hold down the FN key every time I want to dim the keyboard/screen or pause/play media. Other than that the performance has been great and it's also very quiet in day to day use.
for a 16" it also fits in much smaller bags than I would have imagined.
Install G-Helper, there’s an FN lock!
Seeing how virtually every gaming laptop producer and workstation laptop producer has been shooting themselves in the foot lately, it makes me even more happy to have gone for a framework 16. This thing is absolutely amazing and has no forced RGB gimmicks either.
As someone who has an original g14 from 2020 that still has (and will continue to have) major battery and dgpu issues with a history of a thousand different bugs etc., I am not surprised by this one having software issues.
Turned my 2021 Zeph 14 with 6900HS + RTX 3060 into my OTG Linux gaming laptop, and havent had any issues since getting rid of Windows.
I got one of these a few weeks ago and really wanted to love it, but it had 5 bluescreens within the first week and constant annoying coil whine, which made me not even consider getting a replacement device.
recently got the g16 with 32gbram, 1tbssd, ultra9 185h, rtx4060 in white, upgraded from a lenovo legion 5 pro with amd5800h, rtx3070 and MAN this laptop is insane for media consumption, and some "light" gaming. its so portable and I LOVE it.
oled or ips? getting 32gb here in west eu is expensive af
Its a peice of shit especially next to any 16inch macbook pro👑.
@@PKperformanceEUbro's asking for beef
@@plaintext7288 no beef, i win 10/10 times 👑
I just bought today in Thailand the same with RTX 4060 and 32GB for around 2100 USD. I will get extra tax refund for it on airport so finaly around 2000 USD. Much more better price than in US or EU
wouldnt uninstalling armory crate, disabling it in the BIOS, and installing ghelper help solve the tug of war you described? Also I saw posts about flashing the bios with a bios from a higher wattage machine that provided more performacnce than the original 125 watt limit.
Not YET. Because G Helper has issues recognizing the GPU Mux on this laptop and also exhibits power plan conflicts. G Helper is a simplified version of the program, it doesn't completely rewrite it, nor does it change baseline firmware issues. We have however reached out to see if the G Helper devs have any insight. This isn't about overall performance either, so a BIOS flash likely wouldn't solve it (though ASUS did send us other BIOS files)
@@HardwareCanucks I have the 2024 G16 w/4090 & 32mb ram. I flashed the vbios with that of the 2024 Strix Scar 4090 and was able to get a Time Spy score of 18390 by a mixture of undervolting and overclocking at 175w fully unlocked. That being said, its not sustainable for long-term gaming fully maxed out like that. I find it much more sustainable around 150w and undervolted to play games that are very graphic intensive to keep the fan speed down. Armoury Crate is horrible, full stop. G-Helper does work significantly better for the dgpu, but yeah I haven't been adjusting the CPU at all. I think turbo mode really only impacts fan speed and settings you can preset. If you can show me where turbo mode changes anything else I'd be surprised.
I just have to disagree with your take that this ruined the G16 series. This laptop is a huge step towards cooling technology and efficiency. It's a laptop that can get 9-10hrs battery life off-power for productivity work, come home and get massive fps for gaming when plugged in at 4k, and it weighs 4.30lbs. I will say that doing all the fine tuning myself took a lot of time, but I'm getting very similar performance of much more expensive laptops, and have the portability of a macbook.
@@HardwareCanucks as far as i know ghelper dev said it's best to not poke around the powerplan while using GHELPER.
The app should run with default windows powerplan to properly work. You guys should try a clean windows install and try using GHELPER from the start
G-helper uses the same ArmouryCrate service that Armoury crate uses. Unless asus does something about the service, G-helper will give the same damn issues.
@@wtfamidoingwithmylife1569 I went from 13800 stock Time Spy to 18390. That's over 33% performance improvement by doing all I did. After trying to tweak with AC. It's multiple factors here, but just has a lot of bloatware so I uninstalled it and opted for G-Helper.
when your gpu is suddenly running suspiciously slowly, try plugging the AC cord out and then immediately back in. i've had a laptop that required doing that every hour or so to maintain its gpu performance for whatever reason.
I own the 2024 4080 g16 model and am not experiencing these issues at all. Performance has been great and consistent, I set my windows default power modes all to max and just make sure it open armory crate after booting and switch to turbo. Not a concern for me, it’s just like toggling icue on my tower
Things to fix next year:
1. Thicker Chassis for cooling
2. Lower Prices
3. Give 32Gb of RAM in more regions
32GB should be baseline for soldered ram
16G is enough for years.
@@ali_leo7868my phone has 16GB and yes its enough, not for a laptop unless all you do is browse.
@@ali_leo7868 I run over 16GB easily playing Baldur's Gate 3 with not much opened in the background
Noway. For me, nowadays I am looking for 64G memory. For an engineer running few containers and at times another Linux VM, I hover between 20G - 38G. I was hoping there would be Laptop this year to get out of the Mac ecosystem.
I purchased the 2024 G16 with a 4070 and 16GB of RAM. I did not watch enough reviews to come to find out that you cannot upgrade the RAM. After a week of using it(Cod, Music, movies etc...) the RAM was not enough at all... I had to return it. I then picked up the G16 with a 4090 and 32GB of RAM. So far so good. I am late to the party here and did a BIOS update. I was wondering if ASUS fixed the issues you were referencing in this video. I 10000% love this laptop and have no regrets.
P.S. your voice was super relaxing and the video had a lot of great information. That is a sub from me.
Peace.
Soldered RAM makes it a hard pass for me. I know several companies are doing that, but that's not a small loss in terms of flexibility and future proofing.
i have the g14 2021 and since the end of last year i’ve been having issues with the power settings in armory crate, i wasn’t expecting to see the same issue elsewhere lol
Wanna point out that the thermal paste on the gpu is very bad on my m16 2022 rtx3070ti
After repasting both cpu and gpu with ptm7950, performance increased tremendously. Do Check the temps of gpu and gpu clock while gaming
I JUST returned my M16 2022 because the fans were ramping up strangely and the laptop would immediately thermal throttle when trying to play any games. Probably going to follow the news on the 2024 G16, and see if I wanna buy it in a few years.
Nice to see a review that breaks away from the mold. Appreciate the work, folks!
I don't mean to be crass, but it takes some balls to make this video. I'm only three minutes in, but this is the first even hint at a negative review i've seen about this laptop. I so very much appreciate the candor of this video.
I just got my g16 4080 model the other day and I must say this laptop is more of a productivity and everyday use laptop. Light gaming is possible and media consumption is by far the best part about this laptop. The screen is hands down the best laptop screen on the market currently. I got this laptop for school and productivity purposes, if your main use for this laptop is gaming I would stick to something more gaming focused such as the strix series.
I agree, and I think that is where ASUS is pushing it now. Competing in the Macbook demographic covering creators, pros workflows and people that will pay extra for a premium laptop. There are many better gaming laptops or even a desktop if your user case allows it.
The Strix series has piss poor battery life though.
I know you guys have to test these things with the software they have out of the box, but I recently found G-Helper for ASUS laptops. It seems to stop any of the power option issues stemming from Armoury Crate and also has a much better interface for tweaking settings. You can even set a temp limit and manually adjust fan curves.
I had a STRIX G15 Advantage that ran great until the liquid metal TIM shorted out the GPU. ASUS replaced it WELL outside of warranty with a TUF F15, awesome customer support. Pretty decent upgrade from my old machine too, but sometimes the performance was lacking. Even when plugged in the power settings would act up and I'd be CPU limited like crazy, resulting in lower performance than the machine it replaced. Armoury Crate is the worst software on the market and ASUS should adopt something simpler and lightweight like G-Helper.
It would be really nice if you could swap armory crate for G-Helper and do the tests again. G-Helper is basically a life saver for the G devices ...
It is and we tried it but no difference. Remember the devs of GHelper straight out say it doesn't change any baseline firmware hooks.
@@HardwareCanucksthe main GHelper dev just claimed in the comments section that he has never received contact from you guys though
Asus may add an AMD sku of the g16 later this year. That may be the perfect version of this laptop. Appreciate the review guys.
Gj, and thanks for all hard work to make this review asngood as it is! Just one question, have you tried to uninstall Armory crate and install G-helper instead?...mby that solves porformance issues.
It is nice that Asus put all fast ports on this device. I've seen some high end laptops this year with usb c ports at 3.2 gen1 speed, which is unacceptable for a usb c port, nevermind usb a. So the fact that even the usb a ports are all at gen2 speeds, and we get uhs-ii speed on the sd card reader, AND it's a full size reader; that is all refreshing. What isn't refreshing is the fact that you gave Asus multiple weeks to give a substantive response to the power management issues in games, and they came up with crickets? You would think they would send another sample, but they must know that the issue is not unit specific but rather persistent across all units. And I agree with you that it feels like Asus got so much positive publicity from the early reviews of this device that that is good enough for them, and they are on to developing and testing for the next generation instead of fixing whatever issue may be occurring with this device. And the fact that it is a software issue that seems to be fixable, that is a quite disheartening....
Best Buy had an open box with a two year protection plan that is on sale for $400 dollars off and another $400 off because it’s an open box model. It comes with everything and it’s in mint condition. So I’ll be getting everything for $1500 which comes with their 2 year warranty. Not sure if I should do it.
This is why I don’t buy a laptop until it’s reviewed by Hardware Canucks! ❤
That's true
Can they make G16 with AMD then its a buy. Asus should reduce their product lines (like Apple) and so the engineer can really spend time to refine the software
They will according to the Computex leaks. But it'll only be available up to the 4070 model.
@@SCA84 great news, hopefully there a 32g option with the 4070
@@NinjaKirikoJedi It will come with 32GB of RAM according to a leaked South African listing.
@@SCA84 Can ANYBODY make a good 4080 laptop this year!?
I got the G16, and love it. I got it to replace my MacBook Pro for work. The subtle design, impeccable display and build, perhaps the best speakers, and a very familiar keyboard makes it a productivity powerhouse. The battery lasts a good deal too for work… I haven’t even charged it in 2 days and it still has some juice (only used it for 3 hours each day though). Gaming is a bit disappointing (but I know that the 4070 is disappointing to begin with)- but not impossible or bad. Was averaging 60FPS on RT High at native resolution CP77 without frame gen. I got it mainly for casual games like sims 4 on the go, and get 120+FPS. I never saw a dip from 140FPS in COD at balanced settings, native resolution. Heck I am also averaging 80+ FPS in Flight Simulator at Ultra 1600p. Now in no way is this my gaming machine, I got it for its portability and power. I already have a 4090 desktop. But it’s still respectable in performance, and will more than suit my needs when I’m away from home on trips and travel.
In summary - the G14 and G16 are both MacBook killers in the office and school workspace. And they also do gaming which is far fetched on a productivity machine even running windows, let alone macOS
Hi, how many ram do you have?
@@diisu897 I returned it. Asus QC is unfortunately very bad. My laptop crashed randomly when doing work, and Asus software can brick your computer. Unfortunately because this was my office machine, I didn’t want to take a chance with another Asus (their support is also non existent). Got a Dell XPS 14 instead.
I needed a windows laptop - and while I thought the Zephyrus is a MacBook killer (it is in every way), it falls short in the reliability and quality control severely. The Zephyrus subreddit has a failure post every hour!
why would you replace your macbook pro with 22 hours battery life
@@DipSet85 you were right. I returned my G16 after a month. It was a lemon and crashed frequently. Lost 8 hours of my work! Went back and got an M3 Max MacBook Pro instead. While gaming is fun - I learned that I shouldn’t take chances with my work machines
Respect!!!! I love it when the reviewer goes back and addresses the issues that they found and corrected their claim from earlier review. You're doing us a great favor!
finally the only reviewer that dont gatekeep concerning data. I also did many test and had the same problems, going from 4.41lb to 4.30lb is not even 10% and all the compromises are not worth it, if someone really needs for some reason something thinner than a 2023 g16 that is already thin enough for wathever reason, even a macbook is a better option even for battery, having bad gaming experience is worse that not having it at all im really concerned about the longevity, those aggresive ups and downs in performance tells us everything we need to know about this one, sad part its that lots of ppl will love the design and the cycle will come back when they see that their 2500ish usd laptops gets outpermored by way cheaper and older models, i would preffer a 2023/22 model and pair it with a big oled screen. thanks for the honest review, lots of resellers appreciate this kind of reviews
So for anyone who wants to know.. I was back and forth with getting it.. got it today and installed G-Helper. The laptop is absolutely silent when set to silent mode and run on the iGPU. The form factor and screen are amazing and performance is solid in games. Definitely well worth it as long as form factor > screen > productivity > gaming. For me this really is an excellent laptop as I can take it to clients and they wont notice it being a gaming laptop, yet if I truly want to game it can deliver more than enough power. The one I got is the 4080, i9 with 32GB RAM.
The g16 has an i9 spec?
I have one with the 4070 and had to get it replaced because the screen would randomly flicker. Updated drivers, the bios and reinstalled the OS a few times. Nothing worked. Asus sent me a replacement. It has been running perfectly so far. Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself.🤦🏾♂️
I have the same with Dell G15 and the fight between windows power management and Alienware software. The best results I achieved after a fresh install of the OS and NOT installing Dell power management. Keeping power plan on Balanced keeps the balance and it NEVER bottlenecks anymore.
Any update on the performance issues? No other reviewer seems to experience what you are describing in this video.
Probably because they didn't do multiple runs and compare performance.
Hi, What is the best RTX 4060 and i7 laptop currently? Is it the Legion 5i Pro?
How are others "playing it safe"? The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i has the same Intel Core Ultra 9 185H with Nvidia 40 series GPU. What do you mean at 1:31?
And 64 GB of RAM as an option.
Are the performance issues resolved by now, or are they still there? Also, which G16 models are better for gaming, ones with OLED panel or IPS level panel?
I am really missing some thermal test in this review.
Software problems can theoretically be fixed later, but a bad cooling system is set for the lifetime of the product.
Thermal issues are the number one problem with gaming laptops, so thermal tests have to be included.
I don't understand the drive toward really thin laptops - especially when it seems to come at the expense of expandability (i.e. memory, WIFI, etc).
Some people value thinner and lighter over upgradeability. It seems perverse that people want upgradeability to get faster RAM and storage in five years. Yet, if performance is essential, the bottleneck for performance after five years will be far more significant on the older CPU, GPU and neural engine!
@andyH_England CAMM2 though. And there's a point of diminishing returns. Just look how badly consumers are treating the 2024 XPS lineup, and for good reason!
The worst thing they do with gaming laptops is soldered RAM, whoever comes up with that. I will delete this laptop immediately.
14:27 the small tiny magnets under battery.
Left are one single magnet.
Right are 1 and a half single magnet.
The right side, both magnet are causing anti magnet and magnet at the same time. But it is weaker magnet. When opening the lid you will realise on the other side is weak.
Don't buy it! I am the user of this laptop. There is a small black spot appeared on the screen one month after purchased. I went to the Royal Club and they said that the black spots and white spots are not covered by the warranty... This is already my third high-end ASUS laptop. . The first one was 4K laptop, the UX501vw. After bought less than two years, the mousepad dual-touch function was broken. This one was 1300USD ten years ago. The second one was zenbook UX392F, I bought it for less than two years and the motherboard had shuted down totally. The third one is Rog Zephyrus, I bought it for two months, and the international warranty included a total of more than 2200USD. There are small black spots on the screen. The Asus loyal club said this was not covered by the warranty and was a "yield" issue. Dear potential ASUS buyers, please do not use your hard-earned money to support a manufacturer with a worrying yield rate.
Dead pixels are horrible
Should I buy an Asus Zephyrus G16 or Lenovo Legion 7i with RTX 4070 which one is best??
Legion 7i is the answer. The Zephyrus model with rtx 4070 are bad in terms of cooling. The main problem with cooling is the third fan: Asus came up decision of designing different cooling model for rtx 4060-4070 and rtx 4080-4090 models. It may seem that it was a good move, which allowed to decrease price of budget model, thus, make them more attractive. Does that work? NO! Since you don`t have the vapour chamber, the laptop warms up the same, if not more, and the 3rd cooler ads annoying high pitch noise. Unless u really need OLED, go for Lenovo. Cheaper, better cooling and has longer warranty.
adds*
Can you guys post an update in comments please if/when the weird power issues have been resolved? I just got mine and it’s actually performing great and smoothly on Windows Best Performance setting and Armoury Crate Performance or Turbo mode… but I’m still skittish given your review. Thanks, guys!
Hi, Did you have issue with high DPC latency? I seem to have it especially on battery power and silent mode. I started using Ghelper instead of Armoury Crate which seems to make the machine more reliable but maybe its just placebo.
Is the G14 4070 32GB RAM (2024) still worth it? Because I just ordered one and it's currently in the mail
Got this laptop in late May. This is the only review on youtube that correctly called out the usability-killing issue for me and is the perfect one-paragraph summary of what it felt like using it to me. Thanks for taking time to do things properly.
Awesome video! Thanks. For the tests for creative work users and content creation software (video editing, 3D etc) did you run the test several runs as well to get average? Looks like for content creation is still a great laptop with top performance in high end software like Houdini. Thanks
Hey there HC, I did just purchase a G16 4070 version a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if this helps but in only 3 weeks I've already had 3 BIOS updates from ASUS via MyAsus. Currently I'm sitting on version .319 ... wondering if you guys used the same BIOS version for this testing? if not, perhaps you can repeat and let us know please?
We tried official and unofficial versions but can confirm 319 was the latest public version we tried.
The high pitch sound problem existed in the 2022 models and in the 2023 models as well, even tho it was a different design. I returned 3 units that had this problem quite pronnounced and then didn't tried a 4th time... the QC of Asus really is not good. They took it back without a word but if it's that often, I do loose faith in the manufacturer.
Nice review! I want to buy this 4080 G16 purely for the new flight sim 2024 coming this fall. But I'm not sure if I should be patient and wait for the incoming 5080 version that is surely right around the corner...
What do you guys think?
The 2024 G14 16GB/1TB/4060 model lives in my backpack. It's quite enjoyable to use so far. With that said, I am disappointed that it doesn't have expandable memory or storage anymore.
Im a owner of the g16 4070 (core ultra 155h). I installed ghelper and uninstalled all the asus crap software.. runs way better with gaming and in silent mode im getting also way more battery life. With AC one time mw3 was running at 70fps and the next time it was running at 100fps.. with ghelper now that issue is resolved. Hope asus will get this issues with their software resolved anyway
Oh and with AC I was also experiencing a lot of stuttering in during mouse movements and audio play. That is also resolved since im using g-helper
you are liturally one of the only people that speaks so bad about this laptop 98% of reviews are very positive adn they dont have these issues#
Maybe because their tests don't go as in-depth? Also you have to remember this video is a bit old now and ASUS could have improved overall performance.
at this point, laptop manufacturers should have and facilitate RAM resoldering officially (or even better - with trusted partners) without voiding warranty. Its okay the price is slightly higher than regular SODIMM but at least the upgrade path is there
Asus has always been crap when it comes to prebuilt systems. Individually their components are great.
I’m still going to be preferring System76 and Lenovo
Does it come with 32GB of fast RAM? And does it run Linux?
I had this laptop only with a 4070 instead and it was horrible.... I choose it due to it having a balance of specs, design, performance and all round mac like feel. Although the speakers, screen and keyboard were amazing, the laptop had to many problems! First of all (minor thing) it lacked features that were advertised. It was meant to have a rgb keyboard but the for some reason even though reviews should that you could adjust it, I had no option too (dont worry i did update the bios, driver and windows and still nothing), same with the pixel refresh screen saver, it was also not there. After a week of usage, my panel started to show bad image retention and burn It was really visible and evident. In the month I had it, it blue screen 3 times and constantly would intermittently freeze (like even typing on the keyboard would be delayed too). The temps were crazy, it idled with basic Web browsing at 62 degrees Celsius. And when I would open a game and only just load into it the cpu would be at 95 degrees Celsius whilst the gpu at 72 degrees Celsius. I actually burnt my self on it... in short I kept having issues and refunded it. Asus was no help either, when I called they didn't wanna do anything and told me to go to the retailer I purchased it from. A core ultra 9 and 4070 in a 1.46cm body doesn't work especially when they cheap out on the cooling solution.... that's my extra 2 cents
Wth did u do bro? Mining bitcoin? Or rendering some crazy sht? Mine works okay with normal use and gaming. Did u turn the brighness on max?
I just got the I7 4070 version with 32 gb RAM (1999 euro incl tax). Your main gripe seems to be in how the I9 interacts with armory crate leading to all sorts of evil. However, do you think this may be very different in an I7 version? I havent seen any reviews on the I7 but so far no complaints, was playing Total War Warhammer 3 and it was a delight.
Have you figured out a way to keep the function keys locked? It blows my mind that you have to hold function to use those keys and I can’t find a way to change it.
is this fixed with the new AMD version?
I just got the G16 RTX 4070 + Core Ultra 9 185H. Asus released the BIOS version 322 on 8/20/2024. I updated my system on 8/20/2024 and I am still facing microstutters on long Rocket League sessions. Any updates from Asus on the power management issues?
Waiting and doing further investigation into these issues was definitely the move. We know that typically means lost views but hopefully you can make it up with a follow up review once/if ASUS resolves these issues.
Is the performance variance issues fixed? Cause it’s been a while since this video and I’m considering this laptop and wanna make sure this was fixed
I've got the whine on my 2020 G15 as well, it basically happens when there is a specific amount of current going through the transistors. It stops when you increase the current and I do that by turning the keyboard backlight up. That works for me but it could be different with different systems.
The lack of upgradable option or atleast ram slot is an easy skip. Guess i have to stick with lenovo thinkpad p16
I will never run an Asus laptop again, was a terrible experience. Inconsistency drives me nuts. Moved over to a Legion and it's been excellent.
A 2200 CAD Laptop that has only 16Gb soldered memory and 521GB storage is insane to me, Im not asking for it to be cheaper but to make sense, it should be a minimum of 1TB of Storage and 32GB of ram, Id be so happy to pay for that but the fact that Ill need to put on another $400 for that is insanity to me. Ill wait till Asus starts making good decisions.
Hi, could you suggest an alternative?
I get that you need to review products as they are sold but in practice a lot of these issues are fairly overblown. Armory crate issues can largely be mitigated by either uninstalling it entirely, or using third party tools like G-helper. The price is steep, but despite being brand new, Best Buy (in the US) was already selling the 4070 model on a $300 discount a couple weeks ago so this isn't a macbook or Blade where the price is inflexible. 16GB base ram is heinous but as for it being soldered, the speed difference between SODIMM and soldered modules is now so high that using SODIMMs just leaves performance on the table which is a poor tradeoff in a thin-and-light device.
I got 2024 strix g16 - returned right away. As soon as you turn it on - random high pitch sounds from electronics
That RAM situation is a big bummer, hopfully they fix that and other performance issues so i can upgrage from my g15 advantage
I have the 4090 Model... and i feel like if the laptop was made by any other company, it would be the best laptop of all time ever. Never have i seen such intrusive and limiting software. I mean, for the love of god i cant even enable my clipboard! It limits that, and a ton of other windows settings and says "managed by your organization." Other than that, 10/10 Laptop. If anyone knows how to fix these software/bios issues, pls reply to this comment bc i want to make full use of this goldy laptop.
Great review … the fact that you ran 15 tests for each game is very impressive … I know how much time that takes and I appreciate it
14:30 Soldered ram is a full-stop deal breaker.
The performance issue sounds easily addressable with driver updates, right? they can fix the Windows fighting with the armory crate for performance right?
They may have already. Never experienced any of this on my unit
We remained updated with Asus (who were able to reproduce our issues) until a few days before this video went live. There were no changes. We've been at this for the better part of 15 years now and we understand when there is an inherent Windows / AMD / Intel issue that a good partner doesn't want to divulge. This has all the hallmarks of that....
What would you recommend otherwise instead of it if i want something as slim with as good or better battery life n good build quality and screen good for photography editing and 3d rendering n gaming?
Razer Blade 16....but you'll pay for it. Otherwise the Legion 7 series is a great option, just get it with a good add on warranty.
The first thing they need to fix is to give us back the matte scene option. I don't care about OLED and mega blacks.. All I care about is not to see reflection and glare when I am working/playing in normal lit room.
Yes, all the hyperbole about OLEDs yet in reality they need to be placed carefully to avoid a light source and when out and about can be a pain for viewing. There are good reasons Apple refuses to use the current OLED panels and developed its own; poor max brightness and the glossy displays are two of the many reasons. I much prefer miniLED then IPS.
Bought this and returned it within a day after a persistent audio/video stuttering issue - it seems to be somewhat prevalent in the G14/G16s
16 gb is crazy ,as there is no upgrade option
I was thinking of getting this laptop 4080 version. Everyone say it’s a bit loud and pitchy high noise. Is it that bad? Should I wait the 2025 version? When are they dropping?
God damn, I cannot believe here in Europe they charge you 3,500 EUR for the 4080 version.
Ye i think i skip this year, wanna get 4070 one but 2700/2800 is a lot for what they offer.
I bought the 2021 version. Armory Crate is one of the worst products ever released by a major company.
Thanks for your video, very nice. At the end of the day, do you recommend this laptop or suggest another one
funny Dell/Alienware software does the same thing, I have had to use XTU to override PL1, PL2 and duration Turbo to control the meltdown syndrome.
What about G14, is your view still the same about that or it has changed too like G16???
Really wanted this laptop solely because of the looks and specs, but the price is ridiculously high. Would be nice if they release another g16 with Snapdragon X elite for great battery life & performance