If there is one name that regularly appears on our Best Gaming Laptops features, it is Asus' ROG Zephyrus machines. These premium thin-and-light devices usually offer an excellent mix of stunning looks, power, and portability. But is that true for this year's 16-inch model, the Zephyrus G16, which comes equipped with an RTX 5080 mobile GPU, an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, and a 2560 x 1600 OLED display with a 240Hz refresh rate? More importantly, is it worth the $3,400 price tag?
Few gaming laptops can rival the Zephyrus in terms of design. The moment you take it out of the box, you're blown away not only by how it looks, but also by how it feels in your hands.
I recently had a chance to check out the similarly specced Medion Beast 16 X1, which, although it also has a very nice chassis, cannot compete with the Asus sleek and stylish laptop in this department.
At 4.3 pounds, the Zephyrus is one and a half pounds lighter than the Medion. You can even pick it up with one hand without needing exceptionally strong forearms. It is also thinner, measuring 0.59 inches when closed, which is nearly half the thickness of the Beast at 1.18 inches.
With its cool-to-the-touch aluminum alloy surface, it is easy to see why the Zephyrus is often compared to the MacBook Pro in terms of aesthetics. However, it is difficult to imagine Apple ever adding a diagonal LED lighting strip to the lid, as Asus has done.
While it might not be to everyone's tastes, I think it looks very snazzy – and it's also a helpful battery level indicator.
Connectivity, Ports, Keyboard
Being marketed to both creators and gamers means the port selection is impressive for a laptop this thin. On the left side, there is an HDMI 2.1 port, a USB A 3.2 Gen 2 port, an audio jack, and a Thunderbolt 4 USB C port that supports DP 2.1 and Power Delivery 3.0.
On the right side, you will find an SD card reader with UHS II support, another USB A 3.2 Gen 2 port, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C port without Thunderbolt.
There is plenty here for creators to connect external devices, and having Thunderbolt 4 included is always appreciated.
Connectivity comes in the form of Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. There is no ethernet port on this very slim laptop, which I admit was something I missed after using the Medion, which has a full sized port.
The Zephyrus keyboard is the same as last year's model, and how much you like it will depend on your personal taste. Some people love it, others are not fans at all, and many find it just okay. I fall firmly into the first group.
The amount of key travel, the slightly larger keys, and the satisfying resistance all make it a pleasure to type on. I also found my typing accuracy and speed to be noticeably better when using it. It might not quite match the MacBook Pro or the best ThinkPads, but those are tough ones to beat.
The full RGB per-key lighting can reach blinding levels of brightness, but other than the keys and that strip on the lid, there are no other lights flashing away – plenty of people are in the "less is better" camp when it comes to RGB, of course.
The trackpad gets universal praise, thanks mainly to its very large size and smooth performance.
Display
The display on the Zephyrus is nothing short of stunning. While Mini LED screens can look bright and vibrant, they cannot match the beauty of OLED and its ultra fast 0.2 millisecond response times.
The Zephyrus features a 2,560 x 1,600 WQXGA 16:10 G-Sync screen with 100 percent coverage of the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts, 95 percent Adobe RGB coverage, 500 nits of brightness with DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, a delta E of less than 1, and 1M:1 contrast ratio. These numbers are impressive on paper, but they still do not prepare you for how incredible it looks in person.
One of the first things I try is play HDR content on the Pantone Validated screen. The breathtaking color accuracy and perfect blacks make some scenes look like you could reach into the display and touch what's being shown.
The rich, vivid, beautiful colors make games look glorious, too. Cyberpunk 2077 was especially jaw-dropping, making me want to restart V's adventure for a fourth time. Space Marine 2 was another highlight.
The 240Hz refresh rate is a joy to experience, and it adds a smoothness that you notice even outside of gaming. The smoothness of scrolling webpages is especially nice.
Adding to the viewing experience are the tiny bezels and the display's minimal reflections. Even friends who are not tech enthusiasts have commented that it looks "better than my TV."
Sound
The audio on the Zephyrus is another one of its strongest points. With six speakers, dual side woofers, and nearly 50 percent more volume than the previous model, it sounds fantastic. The music it produces is better than any laptop has a right to deliver, and the crystal clear dialogue in streaming shows makes my soundbar feel redundant. It is easy to imagine this model becoming popular with content creators.
Gaming Performance
The Zephyrus we're testing comes with a 16-core Core Ultra 9 285H CPU (6 performance cores, 8 efficiency cores, and 2 low power efficiency cores) that can turbo up to 5.4 GHz. It also includes 32 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 2 TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD.
The component most responsible for that high price tag is the RTX 5080 GPU, but it is also the one factor that might make some people hesitate. This variant of the mobile chip runs at 120 watts TGP, a choice that balances performance with heat and portability.
That's a lower wattage than the chunkier Medion beast's 175W RTX 5080, which you'll also find in Asus' Strix G16, and it shows in the FPS results.
All titles were tested at the laptop's 2,560 x 1,600 max resolution. They were played natively, without any upscaling or frame generation, and with no added ray tracing effects enabled.
Native 2560 x 1 600 in Turbo Mode
| Game / Scene | Settings | Avg. FPS | Min | Max | 1 % Lows | 0.1 % Lows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doom: The Dark Ages/ Hebeth | Nightmare | 59 | 49 | 76 | 48 | 44 |
| Space Marine 2 / Mission 3: Machinus Divinitus | High | 61 | 49 | 82 | 42 | 40 |
|
Black Myth: Wukong/ Yellow Wind Sage boss |
Very High | 51 | 11 | 77 | 26 | 12 |
| Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 / Camp | High preset | 50 | 42 | 72 | 39 | 24 |
| Avowed / Emerald Stair (Fior Mes Iverno) | High | 58 | 44 | 84 | 35 | 26 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 / Japantown driving | High settings | 73 | 38 | 87 | 50 | 38 |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 / Bishop Takes Rook | Extreme preset | 80 | 58 | 109 | 53 | 49 |
| Baldur's Gate 3 / Baldur's Gate | Ultra preset | 82 | 58 | 135 | 49 | 35 |
| Gears of War / Dark Labyrinth (outdoors) |
Ultra preset | 114 | 66 | 168 | 77 | 59 |
| Assassin's Creed Shadows / Yamashiro | High preset | 53 | 27 | 102 | 39 | 19 |
Comparing the results to the Beast 16X, the Zephyrus is around 21% slower on average, with a maximum of difference of 25 fps (Call of Duty) and a minimum of 8 FPS (Cyberpunk 2077), but more performance from the higher watt chip and better CPU in the beefier laptop is to be expected, of course.
Synthetic Benchmarks
| Program | Test | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 3DMark | Steel Nomad | 4,024 |
| 3DMark | Time Spy | 16,119 |
| Cinebench R23 | Single Core | 1,961 |
| Cinebench R23 | Multi Core | 20,976 |
Thanks to the Medion's more powerful Ultra 9 275HX CPU, its scores here are around 30% better overall.
Battery Life, Noise, Temperature
It goes without saying these days that people need to temper their expectations when it comes to gaming-focused laptops' battery life. The Zephyrus G16 with its 90 Whr battery doesn't excel in this area, either.
Gaming on battery power, which is never a great idea, will give you about an hour and a half, depending on your settings. Lighter work in Eco Mode can stretch it to half a day or slightly more. It is disappointing that the battery life has taken such a big hit compared to last year's model, but the good news is that the 420 watt DC charger will fully recharge the laptop in just over an hour.
In terms of noise, the Zephyrus is nearly silent at 30 dB when in Silent Mode and handling light tasks. Things get much louder when gaming in Turbo Mode, with fan noise reaching 53 dB. That is noticeably quieter than the Medion Beast's 61 dB, but the pitch of the fans rather than the volume can be more annoying over time.
The Core Ultra 9 285H in the Zephyrus can get hot. It hit 97 degrees Celsius while playing Baldur's Gate 3. The RTX 5080, conversely, hit a much better maximum of 75 degrees in Space Marine 2. The laptop itself didn't feel like it was cooking my legs, either, which is always a bonus.
Wrap up
The Zephyrus G16 RTX 5080 is, at its core, a great gaming laptop with a few caveats. Its OLED display is jaw-dropping in its gorgeousness, the kind of screen that even people who are not into technology will admit looks fantastic.
The solidly built and MacBook Pro-like chassis is achingly lovely to look at and hold, with its stylish and elegant design. The sound quality rivals that of some dedicated audio devices, and the keyboard and trackpad can easily compete with the best on the market.
However, if your main goal is to squeeze the highest possible FPS out of games and you care less about design, you are better off choosing a laptop with a 175 watt RTX 5080, such as the Medion, for that extra grunt. The variant in the Zephyrus G16 does offer solid performance at 120 watts and manages to stay fairly cool under load.
The pitch of the fans when gaming can be a bit irritating, and the Arrow Lake H chip can get uncomfortably warm at times.
The Zephyrus is a bit of a paradox. It's hard to imagine anyone who owns one being disappointed in their purchase, but at $3,400, it should be a virtually flawless gaming monster, and it isn't.
Asus also faces tough competition from the Razer Blade 16. Many agree that the RTX 5080 version of the Blade is the better laptop overall, and it comes in at roughly the same price.
Ultimately, the Zephyrus G16 strikes a great balance between looks, portability, and performance. Games both look and feel incredible on the OLED display, and with upscaling – which has become standard these days – you can take full advantage of the 240Hz refresh rate. Still, it should be priced lower, and personally, I would choose a laptop that pushes more FPS out of games, especially when paying such a high price.