Now, I’m no genius at PC technology. In fact, I only started playing on PC recently after getting the Allied Gaming Tomcat-A Gaming laptop, which is just a magnificent beast from a gaming laptop.
As I mentioned in this review, I’ve always been a MacBook girl. If you use Stardew Valley, it works for me. But I’m sure I’m not the only one who bothers me when it comes to Apple’s big weird decision to make a lot of games on Steam incompatible with their newer operating systems.
In fact, I would say I’m definitely not alone there. Not only have games been difficult for MacBook owners in general, as many very good games are exclusive to Windows operating systems, but the additional ban on games that can be played on MacBooks made it much worse.
The problem is that many MacBook owners who would like to get into Windows games are often scared that if you want hardware that is capable of playing smoothly, you are looking at something very thick, not very portable, very expensive. or all of the above.
And that’s why the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, in my personal opinion, is a really great choice for MacBook users who want to switch to a gaming laptop without straying too far from the MacBook’s design. Listen to me here.
The physique
The latest MacBook line comes in 13 “, 14” and 16 “. My work computer, for example, is a 13-inch MacBook Pro (2020). A laptop of this size is lightweight and easy to carry.
While your average gaming laptop can be quite heavy and reasonably large, the ROG Zephyrus is a good 14 “and weighs about 1.72 kg. Compared to the MacBook Pro, which weighs around 1 , 38kg, not a big jump up and manages to be a fantastic little portable package that has a punch (that’s a lot of alliteration).
The charger included with the laptop is the classic gaming laptop slate charger, which can be a problem for portability. However, the G14 also accepts USB-C charging similar to recent MacBooks, but not with the power the charger would have provided.
In terms of USB-C and ports, the Zephyrus G14 definitely offers a bit more flexibility than a MacBook of the same price in terms of ports. Ports include a headphone jack, an HDMI port, two USB-A 3.2 ports, two USB-C 3.2 ports (one of which supports charging) and a microSD card reader.
In terms of aesthetics, this is where the Zephyrus really shines (literally). If you’re a little more, you’ll love Zephyrus ’AniMe Matrix.
AniMe Matrix is a set of mini-LED lights on the back of the laptop that can also be customized. You can choose text, prefabricated animations, or your own animations to appear through the Zephyrus LED lights, and it’s also pretty easy to set up. Make rocks!
The gameplay
The biggest gaming difference I’ve found between a MacBook and a Windows PC in general is the ability to play 32-bit games, as well as the availability of games in general. Other than that, MacBooks with an M1 chip work pretty well with most Apple-compatible games. But this is a very small group of games. So if you’re someone who wants the portability of a MacBook with the power of a quality gaming laptop, the ROG Zephyrus G14 is a clear winner.
From personal gaming use, this laptop is a powerhouse. The 120 Hz 1440p screen means that the images are presented flawlessly and I didn’t encounter any frame rate issues when playing. All this thanks to the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and the AMD Radeon RX 6800S graphics card, which is a step further than previous ROG G14 laptops that had an RTX 3060 GPU.
In simple terms, the Zephyrus G14 plays many more games than a MacBook, and plays them very well considering how compact it is!
Image: Asus
The disadvantages
If you want to play from anywhere, it’s best to have the charger on top. While its ability to run outside of games will result in a fairly reasonable battery life, to get the most out of your gaming performance you will need to be connected. However, once you have it connected, it works great.
I also found that the keyboard could have been a little brighter. If your keys are visible only through the backlight, they should be brighter.
The placement of the charging port that I also found was a bit awkward, as the port was directly in the middle of the left side of the laptop. Personally, I’ve found that the charging ports toward the back of the laptop are a little better, but I’m talking about them here.
The price
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022) sells for $ 2,999 RRP, which is basically the same amount of money you’d spend on the latest 14-inch 512GB MacBook Pro.
If we compare it to other gaming laptops on the market that are competitors in the field of gaming laptops, the Razer Blade 14 is priced at $ 3,599 and the Alienware x14 gaming laptop starts at $ 2,999.
So it’s definitely the most affordable small gaming laptop in terms of pure comparison, but it also gets you the most out of it.
The conclusion
If you want to become a new player loyal to the Apple brand, the ROG Zephyrus G14 is probably your best choice in terms of portability and pure power. If you’re looking for something even sleeker than that, I’d suggest the Razer Blade 14, but the G14 once again offers meat in terms of gaming performance, while sitting comfortably at the same price level as a benchmark MacBook Pro.
We don’t do direct number classifications here at Kotaku Australia, but I can comfortably recommend the ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop if you’re looking for a good machine to play anything a MacBook can’t with the same level of portability.