ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (GA605) Review

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (GA605) is the latest laptop to come across my desk, and I am hoping the last one to review in 2024. I have been inundated with laptops this year, and the crazy thing about that is, almost every laptop I’ve used has been really remarkable. 2024 was the year of new chipsets, and all the new offerings have been impressive in both performance and battery life. This is the case with the ROG Zephyrus G16. Sporting the new AMD Ryzen HX 9, it is, simply, another addition to the pile of really amazing laptops I’ve used this year.

Estimated reading time: 15 minutes

Before we jump into, hopefully, the last laptop of 2024, a few things to note about this review. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 is a gaming laptop made for serious gamers. But, that also makes it a heck of a creator laptop, and that is precisely how I used this laptop. While I did play some games on it, I used this mainly to do my creative things for the website and YouTube. So you won’t find a lot of gaming talk in this review. If you’re looking for specific gaming points, I suggest you find a gaming focused website to get those specifics from. Let’s jump into my thoughts on this beautiful and amazing 16″ laptop from ASUS.

The Quick Take

As I have mentioned, ad nauseam. The number of laptops that I’ve reviewed this year has been insane, and I have genuinely liked almost all of them. But my favorite of the bunch turned out to be the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7. I still love that laptop, but it has met a serious competitor in the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16. There is a lot to love on this laptop, and the extra screen space is valuable to me. I would put the ROG Zephyrus G16 and the Surface Laptop 7 on even ground, for my use case. Here’s what I liked and didn’t like:

• What I liked:
  • Fantastic-looking design and build quality with an all-aluminum build
  • Stellar 2.5K OLED display, just an outstanding and bright display
  • Amazing performance with the AMD Ryzen HX and NVIDIA 4070
  • Decent 1080p webcam, on par with the Surface
  • Battery life is good, not as good as the Surface, but good
  • Best speakers on any Windows laptop, better than Surface 7
  • Perfect for content creators and full size SD card slot
  • Really nice keyboard
• What I didn’t like:
• It is pricey, there are other options that are cheaper. Just not as nice.
• This would be a complete package if this had a haptic trackpad, but the trackpad is not horrible. I just would have liked a haptic pad.

I’m just going to come out and say it. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 is one of my two favorite laptops of 2024. It sits right at the top next to the Surface 7 Laptop and I really cannot choose one or the other. I highly recommend this laptop for both content creators and gamers.

Specifications

The ROG Zephyrus G16 has the following features and specifications:

• Model: GA605
• Color:
  • Eclipse Gray
  • Platinum White
• Operating System:
  • Windows 11 Home
  • Windows 11 Pro
• Processor:
  • AMD Ryzen™ AI 9 HX 370 Processor 2.0GHz (36MB Cache, up to 5.1GHz, 12 cores, 24 Threads); AMD XDNA™ NPU up to 50TOPS
• Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070 Laptop GPU (321 AI TOPs) ROG Boost: 1655MHz* at 105W (1605MHz Boost Clock+50MHz OC, 85W+20W Dynamic Boost) 8GB GDDR6
• Neural Processor: AMD XDNA™ NPU up to 50TOPS
• Display: ROG 16″ Nebula Display 2.5K (2560 x 1600, WQXGA) 16:10 aspect ratio, DCI-P3: 100%, Refresh Rate: 240Hz, Response Time: 3ms, G-Sync / Adaptive-Sync, Pantone Validated, MUX Switch + NVIDIA® Advanced Optimus, Support Dolby Vision HDR : Yes
• Memory:
• Storage:
  • 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 4.0 SSD
• Expansion Slots (includes used): 1x M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0×4
• I/O Ports:
  • 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
  • 1x HDMI 2.1 FRL
  • 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (data speed up to 10Gbps)
  • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C with support for DisplayPort™ / power delivery (data speed up to 10Gbps)
  • 1x Type-C USB 4 with support for DisplayPort™ / power delivery (data speed up to 40Gbps)
  • 1x card reader (SD Card) (SD Express 7.0)
• Keyboard & Touchpad:
  • Backlit Chiclet Keyboard 1-Zone RGB
  • Touchpad, With Copilot key
• Camera: 1080P FHD IR Camera for Windows Hello
• Audio:
  • Smart Amp Technology
  • Dolby Atmos
  • AI noise-canceling technology
  • Hi-Res certification (for headphone)
  • Built-in 3-microphone array
  • 4-speaker (dual force woofer) system with Smart Amplifier Technology, 2 Tweeters
• Network and Communication: Wi-Fi 7(802.11be) (Triple band) 22+Bluetooth® 5.4 Wireless Card (Bluetooth® version may change with OS version different.)
• Battery:: 90WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion
• Power Supply:
  • Rectangle Conn, 200W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 10A, 200W, Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
  • TYPE-C, 100W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 5A, 100W, Input: 100~240V AC 50/60Hz universal
• Weight: 1.85 Kg (4.08 lbs)
• Dimensions (W × D × H): 35.4 x 24.6 x 1.62 ~ 1.72 cm (13.94″ x 9.69″ x 0.64″ ~ 0.68″)
• Aura Sync: Yes
• Lighting: Slash Lighting
• Armoury Crate Controls: Yes

What’s In The Box

• ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (GA605)
• ROG Zephyrus G16 Sleeve (2024)
• ROG Impact Gaming Mouse
• Power Supply and Cable

Design

Holy cow! The ROG Zephyrus G16 design is probably the one area that it truly beats my other top pick for Windows laptops (the Surface Laptop 7). At first glance, it doesn’t look like it’s an all-aluminum build, but it is. Even the bottom plate is aluminum, and removable via the nine screws holding it on to the chassis.

The bottom has a ton of venting, almost 2/3 of the bottom is venting. And the venting looks nice and ties into the overall design nicely. There are also two long rubber feet that help keep this laptop planted on the desk. Flipping the ROG Zephyrus G16 over, you’ll find a nicely machined lid with ASUS’s “Slash Lighting” which can be controlled via the Armoury Crate app.

The slash lighting is neat looking, but you can turn it off and the slash still looks nice on the lid. More on lighting later. There is subtle ROG branding on the lid as well, and the overall look is clean and simple. I really love the way they designed the hinge on this laptop, it’s functional and beautiful.

Along the right side of the chassis, you will find the SD card slot (SD Express 7.0), one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C with DP port. Along the left side are even more ports including one AUX port, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, one USB4 Type-C with DP, HDMI 2.1 port, and the ASUS Slim Jack power port. The Slim Jack is a proprietary power port, not USB-C.

Opening the ROG Zephyrus G16, you’re greeted with the amazing 2.5K OLED display. The webcam and IR cameras are at the top and equipped with Windows Hello. The bezels on the display aren’t razor-thin, but they’re also not huge. They are a nice and simple size and the whole display looks really great.

Moving down to the deck, the wrist rest area is ample and comfortable. The trackpad is massive, and I mean insanely huge! I love it! It is a diving board trackpad, but it works really well. I think part of that is due to its size. The bigger size gives you more of a clickable area, as opposed to a diving board trackpad that is small. I would have liked to see a haptic trackpad on the ROG Zephyrus G16, but this is really one of the better diving board trackpads I’ve used.

Of course, there are the stickers from AMD and NVIDIA on the deck as well. I wish the stickers would just go away on Windows laptops, but I suppose you can remove them yourself too. The keyboard is full-sized and very comfortable to type on. Clicky enough, but not too mechanical. The white color does make it difficult to see the keys when the backlighting is on during the day. Turning off the lighting fixes that, so not a huge deal. This is a problem with most white laptops.

The keyboard is flanked by two speaker grills, more on speakers later. There are also two speakers on the bottom. The power button, volume and mic controls, and Armoury Crate button are all right above the F row. The White Platinum color is fantastic! The ROG Zephyrus G16 is also pretty lightweight for its size. Everything used in making this laptop feels premium and well-made. I think, if Apple were to make a gaming laptop, this would be it.

Overall, I really love the look, design, feel, and overall vibe of the ROG Zephyrus G16. I think it has a better design than most Windows laptops out there and might be the best designed laptop on the market. In my opinion.

Display

Holy cow, the ROG Zephyrus G16 OLED display is spectacular! This is another area it beats the Surface Laptop 7 in. The size is perfect, the colors are vivid and bright, the brightness is great, and it is a real pleasure to use it. Here are the specs:

• ROG 16″ Nebula Display 2.5K (2560 x 1600, WQXGA) 16:10 aspect ratio, DCI-P3: 100%, Refresh Rate: 240Hz, Response Time: 3ms, G-Sync / Adaptive-Sync, Pantone Validated, MUX Switch + NVIDIA® Advanced Optimus, Support Dolby Vision HDR : Yes

Refresh rate and response time are important to gamers, and you have all the goods here. The 2.5K resolution and DCI-P3 rating along with it being Pantone Validated are great additions for creators. Dolby Vision HDR is great for content consumption.

This is just one of the best displays on any laptop I have used in 2024. There are some other great displays out there, and this just joins those. 2024 laptops are insanely good, but the ROG Zephyrus G16 is just slightly above the competition.

Overall, this is a serious display for serious gamers and content creators. It is going to make you smile. I know it will.

Software

The ROG Zephyrus G16 runs Windows 11 and comes with ASUS’s Armoury Crate software. The AC software is designed to tweak the performance settings for gamers, and it is also responsible for tweaking the RGB lighting on the keyboard and slash lighting. I didn’t use this much for performance, I left everything at default settings as I did not intend to do much gaming here. It’s a nice interface, and you can do a lot with it.

Windows 11 is fine. I have recently switched from macOS to exclusively using Windows 11 and I really enjoy it. The AI bits, like CoPilot, are still a novelty to me and not really that useful. But Windows is really great, and I love the new look and interface. Overall, no issues on the software front. If you’re a gamer, take a look at some more gaming-focused reviews for more on Armoury Crate, or check out ASUS’s website.

Performance

Alright, let me get the gaming experience out of the way on the ROG Zephyrus G16. Yes, I played a few games on this laptop, including Hogwarts Legacy and a few Star Wars games. They all played perfectly well, but I am also not a user who is massively concerned with gaming performance. To my eye and need, I felt like the games were moving fluidly with no dropped frames or lag.

What I did use this laptop for, more than gaming, was video and photo editing. I use Affinity Photo and DaVinci Resolve. I also use some upscaling software, which does take a bit of power to run. I had no issues editing and creating photos even beyond 4K resolution in Affinity Photo. I ran batches of 4K photos for editing, up to 30 at a time and the ROG Zephyrus G16 didn’t skip a beat.

Likewise with DaVinci Resolve. My typical video editing is not heavy, and usually, I export in 2K, not 4K. I am not a professional moviemaker, nor do I make YouTube videos with more than maybe 10 different elements in them. I do use several effects in DaVinci that are heavy, but the timeline is usually 5 or so different video clips with effects and transitions. So not a hugely heavy load.

I had no issues in my video production. The rendering times were faster than the Surface Laptop 7 but not as fast as my Lenovo Legion desktop, which is a bit more powerful. My videos are typically 20–30 minutes long. I could render them out in 2K with all elements, between 3 and 5 minutes.

All the other bits of the ROG Zephyrus G16, in terms of performance, are spot on. Scrolling and surfing and video consumption. This laptop handles the basics with ease, no worries there.

Overall, the performance of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 paired with 32GB of RAM and the NVIDIA RTX4070 is a great combo on this laptop.

Camera

The webcam on the ROG Zephyrus G16 is 1080p and it looks good. I will say that, as a reviewer, I’ve been pretty hard on criticizing laptop webcams for years. Most new laptops are now packing in a 1080p camera with software that’s great for conferencing.

So there is that improvement, but I feel like this new round of 1080p webcams are a little soft and still need a boost of sharpness. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fine webcam and way better than previous years. But there could be some improvements made. Still, this is a good webcam.

Battery Life

Battery life will be very subjective and dependent on how you use the laptop and what settings you use. I will remind everyone, gaming is going to sap the life out of the battery. That’s just how things go. Heavy video editing and rendering is also going to take a toll on the battery. If you’re someone who does these things all the time, you will know.

But day to day tasks and normal use tasks got me a full day of battery. I could go a full workday using the ROG Zephyrus G16 without a problem. That’s doing things like, email, Word, Affinity Photo editing, DaVinci Resolve video editing, YouTube video watching, browsing, email, and website work.

Overall, the battery on the ROG Zephyrus G16 should last most users a whole workday, and you could probably get more out of it with the right settings and a lighter load.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 Gallery

Speakers/Audio

The ROG Zephyrus G16 sports a 4-speaker (dual force woofer) system with Smart Amplifier Technology, 2 Tweeters and Dolby Atmos. These speakers are freaking amazing! Better than even the Surface Laptop 7 and on par and equal to MacBook Pro speakers.

I really love that ASUS put some thought and effort into the sound on this laptop. The bottom end is great, the best I’ve ever heard on a Windows laptop. PCs have lagged in terms of sound, and this laptop can stand toe to toe with the MacBook Pro.

Overall, these are THE BEST speakers on any Windows laptop, hands down, don’t argue with me! Of course, that’s just my opinion. LOL.

Price/Value

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 isn’t exactly cheap. But for the price, you are getting a laptop that can handle two different disciplines. The ROG Zephyrus G16 is perfect for content creators who are also gamers. And it’s perfect for gamers who need a machine built to cater to them. This probably isn’t the laptop for normal users, and that’s okay. This is most likely the best 16″ laptop of 2024, in my opinion.

Wrap Up

I’m just going to come out and say it. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 is one of my two favorite laptops of 2024. It sits right at the top next to the Surface 7 Laptop and I really cannot choose one or the other. I highly recommend this laptop for both content creators and gamers. For normal users, this might be a bit too much power and a bit pricey. But there are other ASUS options like the S16 or S14 for those who want to save some money and do not need this much power.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (GA605)

$2,299

Nailed it

• Fantastic-looking design and build quality with an all-aluminum build
• Stellar 2.5K OLED display, just an amazing and bright display
• Amazing performance with the AMD Ryzen HX and NVIDIA 4070
• Decent 1080p webcam, on par with the Surface
• Battery life is good, not as good as the Surface, but good
• Best speakers on any Windows laptop, better than Surface 7
• Perfect for content creators and full size SD card slot
• Really nice keyboard

Needs work

• It is pricey, there are other options that are cheaper. Just not as nice.
• This would be a complete package if this had a haptic trackpad, but the trackpad is not horrible. I just would have liked a haptic pad.

In some of our articles and especially in our reviews, you will find Amazon or other affiliate links. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. Any other purchases you make through these links often result in a small amount being earned for the site and/or our writers. Techaeris often covers brand press releases. Doing this does not constitute an endorsement of any product or service by Techaeris. We provide the press release information for our audience to be informed and make their own decision on a purchase or not. Only our reviews are an endorsement or lack thereof. For more information, you can read our full disclaimer.