All three configurations (config in market terms) of Zephyrus G14 are powered by AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor; The processor, which is one of AMD’s powerful laptop models from the Ryzen 8000 family with Zen 4 architecture, is produced with improved 5nm class lithography (4nm according to the manufacturer) and works with a TDP equivalent to 45W by default. This processor uses 8 cores with a base frequency of 4 and a turbo frequency of 5.2 GHz and has the ability to simultaneously process 16 instruction threads.

AMD calls its laptop processor an APU (accelerated processing unit); Because in its heart, in addition to the CPU, the Radeon 780M integrated graphics uses 12 graphics cores with RDNA3 architecture and a working frequency of 2.8 GHz, and offers performance at the level of Nvidia’s GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics. Next to the graphics, the name of the AMD neural processing unit is also visible, which can perform 16 trillion operations per second.

The Ryzen 8945HS processor supports dual-channel RAM DDR5-5600 and LPDDR5x-7500 with a capacity of up to 256 GB, But the Taiwanese sell the G14 2024 laptop with 16 or 32 GB LPDDR5x-6400 RAM; A piece that pays the price of the laptop becoming thinner and unlike the previous generation, it is now onboard and cannot be upgraded.

Asus uses a high-speed PCIe 4.0 1TB SSD in all versions of the Zephyrus G14, which achieved read and write speeds of around 5GB and 3.5GB/s in our tests. Zephyrus G14 SSD is not among the fastest, But it fully meets the user’s needs and most importantly, it can be upgraded.

Before talking about the performance of the device, let’s clarify a little about Asus performance profiles; Because probably most of the users do not know about the existence of these profiles and their effect on the overall performance of the laptop.

For its gaming laptops, Asus has a software called Armory Crate, which can be used to control various parts of the device, from the color profiles of the display to the lighting, and of course the performance profile of the graphics and CPU. In this software, you can change the behavior of the graphics, and adjust the amount of power injected to the graphics and CPU and the speed of the fans.

As for the graphics behavior, we have four modes:

• Optimized mode: Asus recommends it; With this mode, if the laptop is disconnected from the power supply, the Nvidia graphics will be disabled, and when connected to the power supply, the device will go to the Nvidia graphics only in heavy usage such as playing games.
• Eco Mode: As the name suggests, it completely shuts down the Nvidia graphics under all conditions.
• Standard mode: It is Microsoft’s protocol (MSHybrid) and Windows decides when to go for Nvidia graphics or integrated graphics. Although Asus recommends the Optimized mode, But the laptop defaults to Standard mode.
• Ultimate Mode: The integrated graphics is completely removed from the circuit and the screen is connected directly to the Nvidia graphics. This mode has the highest battery consumption, But it may slightly improve the frame rate in some games.

The settings related to the performance profiles of the cooling fans and the power consumption of the processor and graphics of the laptop are as follows:

• Manual profile: the user can change the parameters related to power consumption and fans at will.
• Turbo profile: injects the maximum amount of power to the graphics and processor and is only available when connected to the power supply; In this profile, the laptop is literally noisy and the fans are running most of the time. In the following, you can see that there is not much improvement in the performance of the laptop.
• Performance profile: This is the default profile of the laptop, the sound of the fans is not annoying and the performance of the device is almost equal to the Turbo profile.
• Silent profile: limits the power consumption of the device to reduce the production heat and use less fans. In this CPU performance profile, at least in daily use, it does not suffer much; But the graphics performance experiences a 50-60% drop when connected to electricity.
• Windows profile: the power consumption and heat management of the device is entrusted to Windows itself; Surprisingly, even when using other profiles, when unplugging the laptop, the Windows battery setting changes from Best Performance to Balanced, which negatively affects the performance of the device.

Practically, with Armory Crate software, you can set 20 different modes for laptop performance; But in general, it must be said that the existence of so many profiles and colorful performance modes has no result other than confusing the user; A user who is probably not aware of the existence of a software like Armory Crate and its purpose, and of course he should not be aware, he should not think about the performance profile and power consumption, he should always get the right combination of performance and good charging from the laptop with the least challenge. .

In the table above, you can see the result of selecting a number of Asus performance profiles along with the scores obtained in the benchmarks with these profiles. Based on the obtained numbers, it is clear that the Turbo profile does not make a significant improvement in the performance of the device, despite the high noise, noticeable increase in power consumption, and the heat it produces.

Due to the inefficiency of the Turbo profile and the drastic drop in graphics performance in the Silent profile, we will put the Performance profile under the microscope. In the first step, it is better to check the behavior of the laptop when connected to the electrical outlet (Plugged) and separated from the electrical outlet (Unplugged).

When the Ryzen 9 8945HS processor in the Dell G14 2024 laptop is under pressure with the CineBench 2024 rendering benchmark, the device with the Performance profile, in both Plugged and Unplugged states, works more or less with the same strategy of the processor; But as you can see below, apparently this strategy is only limited to the CineBench benchmark; Because in other software, we see a noticeable drop in performance.

The G14 2024 laptop injects about 65 watts of power into the processor in the initial moments, then it works with about 55 watts of power from the processor for a few minutes until it finally stabilizes at about 45 watts. The frequency reaches 4.7 GHz at best and finally stabilizes at 4.3-4.4 GHz; While the temperature first increases to 87-88 degrees Celsius, then it fluctuates in the range of 80 degrees Celsius.

Contrary to what we saw about the processor, there is a huge difference between the graphics performance in the Plugged and Unplugged state. When the G14 2024 laptop is subjected to a heavy processing load in the Performance profile for 20 minutes with the heavy graphics benchmark 3DMark TimeSpy, in the plugged state, the power consumption fluctuates in the range of 60 watts, and in the unplugged state, the power consumption remains in the range of 42-43 watts; Therefore, there is a 30% drop in power consumption.

In the performance stability test, the RTX 4070 graphics frequency works with a frequency of about 1600 MHz in Plugged mode and about 1400 MHz in Unplugged mode, and the temperature of its hottest point reaches 92-93 and 80 degrees Celsius in these two modes. As you can see, in graphics processing, the device gets hotter than CPU-based processing.

One of the main points about the laptop, which often remains hidden from the eyes of the buyer, is the difference in its performance when connected and disconnected from the power outlet (Plugged and Unplugged); Can a laptop provide the same performance in battery-powered mode as in plugged-in mode? The answer to this question for Windows laptops was a resounding “no” until the release of devices equipped with Snapdragon X processors and a handful of Intel and AMD processors. Can the G14 2024 surprise you?

The G14 2024 laptop in the stress test and performance stability that we did with the CineBench 2024 benchmark, practically provided the same performance in the Plugged and Unplugged state; But as you can see in the table above, we did not get the same result for other software and benchmarks. Unfortunately, the G14 appears between 10 and 60% weaker in Unplugged mode and when browsing the web, running Python code, working with Photoshop and Premiere Pro, or even playing Forza Horizon 5.

Now let us measure the performance of Zephyrus G14 2024 in comparison with its competitors and its previous generation. Please note that in the continuation of the review, we obtained the benchmarks in the condition that the laptop was connected to the power outlet and used the Performance profile.

Note that in order to get a correct idea of ​​G14 2024’s performance, some benchmarks have tried to reflect the results of MacBook Pro M3 Pro and Zephyrus G16 Core Ultra 9 185H from reliable foreign media; Because these two laptops with a price tag of 100 to 120 million tomans are the main competitors of G14 2024.

Zephyrus G14 2024 experiences significant improvement in benchmarks compared to the 2022 model; But since Ryzen 9 7945HS and Ryzen 9 8945HS do not have any noticeable difference apart from the neural processing engine, you will probably not experience a significant improvement compared to the 2023 model.

We haven’t reviewed the MacBook Pro M3 Pro and the Zephyrus G16 2024, the G14’s main competitors on Zoomit; But to some extent, I must say that MacBook Pro outperforms G14 in single-core processing with a 20% difference and G16 in multi-core processing with a 10-15% difference. Another notable issue is the G14’s stark performance gap with the MacBook in web browsing.

If we use computing power as the benchmark to compare graphics performance, the RTX 4070 GPUs in the G14 and G16 laptops offer more or less the same performance; But the MacBook Pro loses to the G14 2024 by a huge margin of 60%.

In order to measure the performance of the Zephyrus G14 2024 laptop in professional use as well, we went to Photoshop software, Premiere Pro, running code written in Python and Blender software.

Laptop performance in Photoshop

In the Photoshop software test, which includes tasks such as opening the RAW file, changing the size of photos, correcting the lens, and reducing noise, the G14 2024 laptop remains behind its competitors G16 2024 and MacBook Pro M3 Pro with a difference of 10 and 25%, respectively.

Note that the above result was obtained when the laptop is connected to the power outlet; If we disconnect the G14 from the power supply, we reach a score of 6199; While the MacBook Pro offers the same performance when unplugged; Therefore, unplugged mode, the performance gap between the two laptops increases from 25% to about 40%.

Laptop performance in Premier Pro

In the Premier Pro test, tasks such as outputting 8-bit and 50 Mbps 4K videos with HEVC and H.264 codecs, processing ProRes UHD videos with and without proxy, and implementing graphic effects are examined. In this test, the G14 laptop was able to beat the MacBook Pro M3 Pro by 35%; But it remained with a 10% difference from G16.

If we disconnect the G14 2024 from the power outlet, its score in the Premier Pro test drops by 20% to 6637, which is still higher than the MacBook Pro M3 Pro by about 10%.

Laptop performance in Python code execution

In the Mandelbrot series benchmark, which is written in Python to find the points of a fractal on a mixed screen, the G14 2024 performed brilliantly thanks to its powerful processor that when using Windows PowerShell, the calculation of fractal points was completed 10% faster than the MacBook Air M3 and 32% faster than the powerful and expensive GalaxyBook 3 Ultra laptop.

Windows provides the possibility of using the Linux terminal thanks to its Linux subsystem called WSL. If we use WSL to run the benchmark, the G14’s performance gap with the MacBook Air and GalaxyBook 3 Ultra increases to 36 and 65 percent, respectively.

Blender 3D modeling software can render with the help of CPU and GPU; To evaluate the performance of the G14 laptop, we ran the Blender software benchmark both on CPU and GPU.

As you can see in the chart above, the Ryzen 9 8945HS processor in the Dell G14 laptop is slightly weaker than the 11-core M3 Pro processor in the 14-inch MacBook Pro laptop.

Nvidia’s powerful graphics show its extraordinary processing power well in the graphics rendering test in Blender software. In this test, the G14 2024 laptop outperforms the MacBook Pro M3 Pro by a margin of 175% and is ahead of the GalaxyBook 3 Ultra laptop by a margin of 60%.

The Zephyrus G14 2024 laptop runs most games easily and with a frame rate of more than 70 frames per second in 1080p resolution. The laptop provides good performance in optimal games such as Forza Horizon 5 even in QHD resolution; But to experience other heavy games in QHD resolution, you should use technologies such as DLSS and Frame Generation.

Note that all the above results were obtained when the laptop was plugged in; If you want to play in unplugged mode, to have a satisfactory experience, you need to reduce the graphics settings to medium, otherwise, the frame rate will drop a lot; For example, in the case of Forza Horizon 5, the frame rate dropped from 70 to 30 fps.

The Zephyrus G14 laptop provides the energy it needs through a rather bulky 73-watt-hour battery; Along with the laptop, the Taiwanese provide the user with a 180-watt adapter that can charge 50% of the battery capacity within 30 minutes; Asus also provides a compact 100W USB-C charger with the device, which makes it easier to carry the laptop, while you can also use it to charge your smartphone.

Read more: Asus Zenbook 14 OLED laptop review

Zephyrus G14 2024 lasts about 2 hours longer than the 2022 model in daily use and movie playback; But compared to MacBook Pro and MacBook Air or laptops equipped with Core Ultra processors, there is not much to say; However, overall, it seems that you can count on the G14 2024 for a working day in normal and everyday use.

Zephyrus G14 2024 is not the most powerful Windows laptop on the market; But the combination it offers in its price range, at least in the Iranian market, cannot be seen in any other Windows laptop; In the range of 100 to 120 million Tomans, Windows laptops are clumsy and worse devices with monstrous hardware or premium ultrabooks with weak hardware.

J14 is a powerful and compact laptop with extremely high build quality, a stunning display, and ear-splitting speakers, which can last a full working day in daily use, offers performance on par with or close to MacBook Pro M3 Pro, and at the same time, it can also meet your gaming needs. Currently, among Windows devices in the Iranian market, only Asus’ own G16 2024 laptop can offer a similar combination.

If you are looking to buy Zephyrus G14 2024, go for the model equipped with RTX 4060; Because this graphic is a more suitable choice for the 14-inch dimensions and thin thickness of the G14, it is not much different from the RTX 4070 model in professional applications such as video editing with Premier Pro, and it is also about 20 million Tomans cheaper.

What do you think about G14 2024? If you are a Windows laptop fan, which one would you choose between this laptop and the G16 2024?