ROG Announces the World's Most Powerful 14-Inch Gaming Notebook

The Zephyrus G14 brings premium innovations to a wider audience

LAS VEGAS, January 6, 2020 ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the new Zephyrus G14 gaming notebook that brings unprecedented power to an ultraslim 14-inch form factor.

ROG engineers continue to redefine what’s possible in the ultraslim gaming category. The latest example debuts at CES 2020 in the new Zephyrus G14, which wraps powerful processors in a compact chassis portable enough to go anywhere at a price that brings gaming to an even wider audience.

Getting cutting-edge components to peak performance levels is challenging in such a small machine. Despite a chassis under 20mm thin, the Zephyrus G14 has carefully customized cooling that brings out the best of its new AMD Ryzen™ 4000 Series Mobile Processors built on the groundbreaking “Zen 2” core architecture combined with industry leading 7nm process technology and up to an NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060 GPU. Users can optimize for gaming or creative pursuits with a choice between high refresh and high resolution displays, both with PANTONE® Validated colors and adaptive sync technology.

More than 10 hours of battery life and the ability to charge from compatible Type-C power packs makes the G14 extra portable. Subtle styling in Moonlight White or Eclipse Gray are clean and professional, accentuating a versatile design filled with premium features that enhance everyday use. The optional AniMe Matrix™ display deepens personalization, enabling users to show custom graphics, animations, and other effects across over a thousand mini LEDs embedded in the lid.

Small size with big impact

Packed into a much smaller footprint than 15-inch alternatives, the G14 easily slips into conventional laptop bags and backpacks. The system is only 17.9mm thin and 1.6kg without the custom LED matrix.

To keep the notebook light and strong, honeycomb reinforcements beneath the palm rest add strength with minimal extra material. The Magnesium-aluminum alloy deck is precisely machined and fingerprint resistant for a professional polish. High strength and low weight make aluminum ideal for the lid, whose distinctive dot matrix design is produced by a CNC milling process that puts 6,536 precise perforations in the exterior panel.

Innovative LED personalization

The ROG splash across the lid comes to life with the AniMe Matrix display available on select models. This display uses 1,215 mini LEDs to give gamers a new medium to express their individuality. Each LED emits a white glow with 256 levels of brightness control.

Users can import animated GIFs and other graphics, build custom animations frame by frame, and type text messages with different fonts. Visualizations react to music and other audio, creating a unique platform for DJs and other artists. Additional features that will be added at the end of Q1 include system functions that show new email notifications, as well as the date, time and battery level.

Perfecting the AniMe Matrix display was a significant milestone in the G14 project. It took 15 iterations alone to create the mask that evenly distributes light from each LED. The alignment of this diffusing layer has to be perfect to get the ideal effect, especially since the individual lights are rectangular rather than square. ROG engineers were also careful to balance the number of mini LEDs to minimize heat, controller hardware, and power requirements.

Immersive gaming visuals

The Zephyrus G14 comes with up to a GeForce RTX 2060 augmented by ROG Boost up to 1298MHz at 65W. The discrete GPU is based on the latest NVIDIA Turing architecture, which melds dedicated cores for programmable shading, real-time ray tracing and artificial intelligence. This combination enables improved lighting, shadows and other in-game effects, and it also offers a diverse array of compute resources for accelerating demanding workloads like content creation, 3D modeling and deep learning.

Turing’s dedicated video encoder is largely responsible for the G14’s ability to game and stream simultaneously. The specialized hardware allows higher stream quality with minimal performance impact, and it’s compatible with Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), a popular capture tool among burgeoning creators and aspiring Twitch streamers.

High refresh or high resolution

The G14 offers a choice between two premium panels tailored for different needs. Users can select a faster Full HD display that goes up to 120Hz or opt for a higher WQHD resolution.
Smaller laptop screens aren’t usually available with higher refresh rates, but ROG worked closely with panel providers to create new 14-inch displays capable of keeping up. The 120Hz panel doubles the speed of typical laptop displays for smoother, high-intensity action.

Adaptive sync technology adds another level of smoothness by coordinating frame delivery between the GPU and display. Game performance tends to vary based on the demands of the title and scenario. Most displays refresh at a consistent rate, which creates problems when new frames aren’t ready at the right time. Adaptive sync technology synchronizes the refresh rate of the display with the frame rate of the GPU to eliminate visual tearing that can ruin immersion, and also minimize stuttering and input lag.

Although adaptive sync technology has existed for years, it gains greater functionality with new AMD Ryzen™ 4000 Series Mobile Processors. Their integrated Radeon™ graphics allow adaptive sync variable refresh-rate technology to work with adaptive sync technology-enabled monitors and adaptive sync enabled devices.

Adaptive sync technology support extends to the WQHD display, and it can be even more effective at the lower FPS associated with the higher resolution. The extra pixels are primed for creators who want to see more detail in their work, but they also appeal to gamers who prefer taking in their surroundings at a slower pace. Thanks to smaller dimensions, the WQHD panel has a higher pixel density than typical 4K desktop monitors. Even the Full HD panel matches the PPI of a 28-inch Ultra HD display.

Both displays are factory calibrated and PANTONE Validated to ensure creators get the color accuracy they crave. The IPS-type panels have wide viewing angles and cover 100% of the sRGB range. They’re framed by exceptionally thin bezels, creating an expansive 85% screen-to-body ratio.

Nonstop speed

Last year, ROG collaborated with AMD to bring previous-gen AMD Ryzen™ Mobile Processors to the 15-inch Zephyrus G GA502. For the G14, ROG and AMD teamed up again to create an exclusive series tuned specifically for the smaller chassis.

The Zephyrus G14 uses a special CPU that generates less heat, enabling an unprecedented level of performance for such a compact chassis. The chips retain up to 8 cores and 16 threads to blast through demanding workloads, but are tuned to make thermals more manageable. There’s still ample power for demanding applications like video editing and 3D rendering, and for heavy multitasking like mixing gaming with streaming, recording and chats.

With up to 32GB of fast DDR4-3200 RAM across dual channels, there’s headroom for bigger projects too. Ultra-fast storage is supplied by an NVMe SSD with up to 1TB of capacity, meaning minimal load times for a huge library of games and apps.

One-of-a-kind cool

Ultraslim chassis leave little room for airflow, and a smaller footprint makes the G14 even harder to keep cool. The thermal engineers at ROG developed an exclusive feature that dynamically adjusts the power available to the CPU based on the GPU temperatures. It can make changes every second to react to spikes in GPU utilization, ensuring optimal gaming performance for the conditions.

This is the first ROG laptop to feature an ErgoLift hinge that tilts the keyboard at a more comfortable angle. The bottom of the display lifts the back of the machine when the lid is opened, giving the vents in the base more room to breathe. The design hides part of the lower bezel, too, but in doing so it can impede airflow out the rear exhaust ports. To compensate, vents have been cut into the bezel and the distance to rear heatsinks has been widened. Since that larger gap increases the depth of the chassis and makes the hinge more susceptible to downward pressure, a stiffer spring is used for added strength.

The rear exhausts and heatsink fins are shaped to direct air both up, away from the bezel, and down, towards the vents cut into it. Two more outlets line the flanks, and all four of them are filled with ultra-thin copper fins as slim as 0.15 mm. The slender profile allows both higher density and lower air resistance than typical fins that are twice as thick. There are 209 heatsink fins totaling 68,868 mm2 of surface area. They’re fed thermal energy by a network of five heatpipes that cover the CPU, GPU, and VRM responsible for powering them.

Dust and other particles inevitably get sucked into laptop fans, but self-cleaning cooling helps to avoid accumulation that can compromise performance and stability over time. It uses anti-dust tunnels to catch particles and direct them out the back of the chassis. Since full-sized tunnels take space away from the fan, the G14 features shortened tunnels that make room for the same size of fan used in the 15-inch Zephyrus models. This custom design offers higher airflow while retaining good dust ejection, striking a better balance for this size of machine.

Even the n-Blade fans are tweaked to optimize acoustics in the super small chassis. They’re made of a special liquid crystal polymer that lets these ultra-thin blades hold their shape at high RPMs. Instead of using 83 identical blades, n-blade fans in the Zephyrus G14 use 81 blades that are between 50 mm and 51.2 mm long. The uneven outer edge reduces noise caused by turbulence without adversely affecting airflow, and helps the G14 keep noise under 45 dB in Turbo mode.

Fan speeds are controlled by an intelligent algorithm that responds automatically to temperature changes. Three expertly tuned operating modes let users quickly adapt to different scenarios using a convenient keyboard shortcut, while Scenario Profiles seamlessly switch between modes based on user-defined preferences for individual games and applications. With the highest fan speed and frequencies, Turbo mode is the best for maximum performance. Performance mode strikes a better balance for gaming, while Silent mode goes further to reduce acoustics for lighter work and entertainment.

Top off with Type-C charging

ROG created the first gaming laptop capable of being powered by DC or USB-C input, and the technology is a perfect fit for the mobile Zephyrus G14. With support for USB Power Delivery, it can handle lighter work powered by up to a 65W Type-C adapter that’s much smaller than the 180W unit required to unleash the discrete GPU.

If the battery runs low, Type-C charging allows users to extend their life on the go and work longer anywhere. While the Zephyrus G14 is plugged in for a full recharge, USB power flows in the opposite direction as well, offering fast-charging support capable of supplying up to 3A to compatible smartphones and other devices.

Flexible options on the go

The Type-C port with USB Power Delivery is also capable of driving an external monitor via DisplayPort 1.4. The HDMI 2.0b port makes it easy to game or watch movies on 4K monitors and TVs. There’s plenty of connectivity for external devices through a secondary Type-C port focused on USB functionality, plus two Type-A ports for additional gear. No dongles needed.

The Zephyrus G14 amps up wireless networking with Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) connectivity, also known as 802.11ax. When paired with a compatible router, Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) boosts peak interface bandwidth up to 2.4 Gbps, and improves efficiency for crowded spaces. It also reduces latency, meaning less lag for sensitive activities like online gaming, and expands upstream capacity, which provides more bandwidth for live-streaming.

Keyboard enhancements go beyond ErgoLift as well. The G14 is the first ROG laptop to integrate fingerprint login into the power button. A single press wakes the machine and briefly caches a user’s fingerprint, saving it to authenticate when Windows is ready to log in. On machines with multiple users, the OS automatically detects the right account.

Despite smaller chassis dimensions, the keyboard takes cues from larger Zephyrus gaming laptops. Key switches with ROG Overstroke technology actuate earlier in the stroke for quicker, more responsive input, while N-key rollover ensures that every press registers, even when entering multiple keys at once. Spaced keys mimic desktop layouts to let users fire off function commands more intuitively, and access essentials like volume and mic mute instantly with dedicated hotkeys.

Dolby Atmos Immersive Audio

A leap forward from surround sound, Dolby Atmos brings moving audio that flows above and around users with crisper voice and greater depth to a wide range of audio experiences, and it can even provide a competitive advantage for gamers . In the Zephyrus G14, Dolby Atmos enhances spatial immersion by delivering a breakthrough audio experience with sound that moves all around users in three-dimensional space whether listening via headphones or built-in speakers.

Dolby Atmos also creates breathtaking realism with optimized sound for greater detail and maximized loudness without distortion from the G14’s integrated speakers. Two tweeters positioned above the keyboard fire high-frequency sounds directly toward the user, while two woofers beneath them offer deep bass amplified by the ErgoLift design. This quad-speaker setup delivers perfectly balanced audio across the spectrum. With these technologies, users can pump up the volume on movies, music and games without losing clarity or detail.