view : It ’s long been accept that powerful gaming laptop computer add up with many trade - offs .
Due to the high-pitched - spec components crammed inside , as well as the sophisticated cooling system to foreclose these laptops from bursting into flames , they ’re typically so big that it feels unseasonable to call them a true portable .
Great forward motion has been made in recent years , with laptops powered by the ilk of an RTX 3060 weighing less than 2 kg , but if you ’re lust in high spirits - remnant gaming performance then the laptops with the requiredGPUstrength start to become ungainly .
For model , theRazer Blade 17we tested last year ( powered by an RTX 3080 Ti ) hit the scales at a banging 2.75 kilo . Last year’sAlienware x17 R2gaming laptop computer remove things even further with an astonishing weightiness of 3 kilo . These laptops are so profound that they ’re hard to move around your own home , never mind on the daily commute to piece of work .
That ’s not a critique of those laptops , as both scored extremely in our reviews , it was simply an swallow restriction of bet on laptops at the time . If you wanted the most powerful spec , then you had to settle down for a large , ill-chosen intent , but if such laptops are so heavy that they ’re difficult to use outside of the place , then why not buy a background play microcomputer rather ? This quandry is on the dot why these types of laptops have a very special audience .
Jump to the present day in 2023 and the gaming laptop industry has made meaning stride . I ’ve been testing the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 ( 2023 ) , which is a 14 - inch portable that only weigh 1.72 kg . It ’s easy to carry around , and I can even hold it in one helping hand without strain – I certainly would n’t be able to say the same about the 3 kg Alienware which is almost 2x labored .
The most remarkable thing about the Zephyrus G14 is that you ’re able-bodied to configure it withNvidia ’s RTX 4090 GPUwithout compromising on that radical - portable build . moot that this is the most powerful wandering GPU that Nvidia has to propose , it seems like Asus is piddle utilisation of the gloomy artistic creation in Holy Order to carry out this .
There is one big caveat that ’s deserving mentioning : not all RTX 4090 laptop GPUs are made equal . The nontextual matter chip found inside the Zephyrus G14 has 95W graphics power , which means it does n’t employ up as much get-up-and-go as the 175W RTX 4090 GPU found inside the largerRazer Blade 16 ( 2023)laptop . This makes a notable divergence to performance .
While the Zephyrus G14 could playReturnalin Quad HD at 69fps , the Razer allowed for a more telling 93fps . A like performance gap was seen withCyberpunk 2077 in QHD , with the G14 reach 43fps and the Blade 16 achieving 77fps . That means you ’re roughly arrest around a 30fps boost by opting for the Razer , which is significant considering both are power by an RTX 4090 .
Alas , bigger is still better when it comes to performance . Not only does it tolerate for greater big businessman economic consumption , but also enables manufacturing business to fit in more in force chill systems to make trusted the component are campaign more efficiently .
Nevertheless , I ’m still very impressed with the performance of the Zephyrus G14 . It ’s capable to run two of the most demanding modern games beyond 60fps at a Quad HD resolution . Even thePS5andXbox Series Xcan struggle to hit those heights , and yet you ’re able-bodied to pucker the G14 under your weapon system and carry it anywhere you please .
This is one of the very first high - power laptops that I ’ve been able to apply as a productiveness laptop too , both at base and the office . That ’s a big deal to me , as I need a laptop in the mould of aMacBook Airthat I can easy transport , especially when work abroad , but I also appreciate being capable to dip into the likes ofCivilization VI , Football Manager and Total War during my downtime .
Previously , the only veridical solvent was to buy both an ultrabook and a gambling laptop computer for separate utilisation cases , but that requires an passing expensive outlay . The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 certainly is n’t cheap – with the RTX 4090 model price at £ 3399.99/$3299.99 – but it ’s still a better choice than corrupt two freestanding laptop .
Asus is n’t the only company enhancing the portability for high - power play systems . The newfangled Razer Blade 14 is n’t quite as powerful , peak with an RTX 4070 configuration , but is also evenhandedly portable with a sub-2 kg weighting of 1.84 kilo .
I expect high - powered gaming laptops with ultra - portable designs will only become more common in the next couple of age , and that ’s vivid tidings for on - the - go personal computer gamers . eventually you ’ll be able-bodied to get the true laptop experience without being storm to fall for a sub - received gaming execution .
Ctrl+Alt+Del is our hebdomadal calculation - focussed opinion column where we dig deeper into the world of computing machine , laptop , components , peripherals and more . Find it on trust review every Saturday afternoon .
