The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) comes with last year's mid-tier Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU.
The ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) features a 2.5K OLED display
Asus's ROG Zephyrus line of gaming laptops don't really look like gaming laptops. They'd fit in at a business meeting just the same as they would at an esports tournament. ROG Zephyrus notebooks represent a breed of thinner, lighter machines that don't feature the ostentatious design flair common among gaming laptops, but aim to deliver high-end performance typically associated with larger, bulkier notebooks.
In May, the Taiwanese firm refreshed its ROG line of gaming laptops with Nvidia's GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs, offering different SKUs across 14 and 16-inch models. At the time of the launch of its 2025 range of ROG laptops, Asus told Gadgets 360 that pre-orders for the new machines were the highest in recent years, despite the steep average price per unit of Rs. 2.5 lakh. Clearly, there's a sizable demand for the latest models even at premium prices.
However, Asus still offers the ROG Zephyrus G14 and G16 laptops from 2024, which feature OLED displays, AI-ready processors, and the same sleek aluminium-body design. And while the 2025 models are clearly an upgrade on the graphics front, last year's models hold their own in nearly every other aspect. We tested out 2024's Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 GA605, using it for everyday work and intense gaming. More than a year after its launch, the laptop remains a versatile performer. But is it worth picking up in 2025, even with the new models out in the wild? Here's what we found out in our time with it:
The 2024 Zephyrus G16 is almost indistinguishable from the 2025 G16. At first glance, the laptop seems deceptively compact for a 16-inch model. The aluminium build keeps it incredibly light, too, at just 1.8kg. The thin and light design is paired with a clean aesthetic — the only visible gamer flair is the customisable diagonal lightbar. The same lightbar has been retained in the 2025 G14 and G16 models, too.
The diagonal lightbar feels out of place on the Zephyrus G16
However, the light bar only interferes with the laptop's design language. It adds little more than recognisable branding and mostly feels out of place on a notebook otherwise intent on blending in an office environment.
The ROG Zephyrus G16 comes with a proprietary charging port
The build is quite sturdy, and you can lift the lid with one hand. There's plenty of space on either side of the large trackpad to rest your palm while typing. The ports are placed conveniently on the left and right edges — a proprietary charging port, an HDMI 2.1 port, USB 4 Type-C and USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack on the left; and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and an SD card reader on the right.
The vents are located on the backside and the rear edge of the laptop, but this limits the hinge's range of motion to 130 degrees — not a significant issue for a 16-inch laptop, as you're less likely to work with it while lounging around.
The Zephyrus G16 features vents on the back and the rear edge
The vibrant OLED display on the G16 is its standout feature. It's a glossy panel that can get reflective in bright lighting conditions, but its vivid reproduction of colours, with 100 percent DCI-P3 coverage, is excellent. The 16-inch display is great for watching films and gaming, producing pitch-dark blacks and crisp images.
The display is bright enough for indoor use (it reaches around 400 nits), especially with HDR enabled. A 16-inch laptop is not really meant to be carried outdoors, so the panel is more than adequate for both home and office environments. It supports Dolby Vision HDR, G-Sync/Adaptive-Sync, and a 240Hz refresh rate, making it an ideal panel for gaming.
The Zephyrus G16's 2.5K OLED panel is a highlight
The full-size keyboard on the 2024 Zephyrus G16 shows very little flex and is nearly perfect to type on for everyday use. The keys have excellent travel and provide great feedback while typing, while maintaining a quieter sound signature. It's a compact keyboard with wide speaker grilles placed on either side. There's more than adequate space to rest your palms on either side of the fairly large trackpad.
The Zephyrus G16's keyboard comes with single-zone RGB lighting
In addition to the boxed keyboard layout, you get dedicated volume control, mute, and ROG keys on the top. The keyboard is backlit with a single-zone RGB LED, but the lighting has a more muted effect in contrast with the silver-coloured keyboard that matches the body. The glass touchpad is massive and thus convenient to use. But the clicks around the corner of the touchpad required a little more pressure than I'd have liked.
The speakers offer rich audio with respectable clarity and depth. They're good enough to watch films on the laptop without requiring an external speaker. The 1080p webcam, too, is a standard affair, and the Windows Hello support helps with faster login.
The Zephyrus G16 features a massive glass touchpad
There's little to reveal about the Windows experience that people don't already know. Windows 11 on the device comes loaded with Copilot+ features like Studio Effects, Live Captions, and Cocreator, among others. These are powered by AMD's XDNA Neural Processing Unit, which delivers up to 50TOPS. However, I've found little use for AI features on any device, mobile or PC. But these tools would be particularly useful to creators who've incorporated AI into their workflows.
The laptop comes preinstalled with Office Home and Student, and you also get three months of PC Game Pass to play the latest games. As with other ROG laptops, the G16 comes with Asus' Armoury Crate, which includes additional tools for tweaking a wide range of experiences on the machine, including lightbar configurations, RGB customisation options, power profiles, and more. Windows, as always, is a mixed bag. The frustrating frequency of updates and the annoying glitches and minor bugs are the long-accepted trade-offs for the flexibility the OS offers.
Armoury Crate includes handy customisation options
The 2024 Zephyrus G16 shines in the performance department with AMD's Strix Point processor and 32GB of memory. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 can pretty much handle anything you throw at it. The GeForce RTX 4070 is a mid-range GPU, but it runs most of the new triple-A games at low to medium settings at 2K resolution, while also comfortably pushing higher graphical settings on some older games. You can see the benchmark scores in the table below:
| Benchmark | Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 2024 |
|---|---|
| Cinebench R23 single core | 1,999 |
| Cinebench R23 multi-core | 19,270 |
| Geekbench 6 single core | 2,903 |
| Geekbench 6 multi-core | 14,938 |
| Geekbench AI (quantised) | 5,570 |
| Geekbench GPU | 1,08,715 |
| PC Mark 10 | 7,608 |
| 3D Mark Steel Nomad | 1,837 |
| 3D Mark Speed Way | 1,919 |
The 2024 Zephyrus G16 offers four power profiles within the Armoury Crate app: Silent, Performance, Turbo, and Manual. The CPU reaches a maximum TDP of 80W in Turbo and Manual modes, while the GPU caps out at 105W TGP. Turbo mode is ideal for intensive tasks and gaming, but the cooling fans got a bit too loud for my liking in this mode. For everyday light to moderate use, Silent and Performance modes work best.
When laid flat on a desk, the laptop struggles with thermal management under heavy workloads. The sleek build means G16 gets hot quickly and throttles when playing a demanding game or running benchmarks. An angular stand would likely reduce heating.
The ROG Zephyrus G16 can handle triple-A games
While the Zephyrus G16 comes with last year's mid-tier GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, it performs admirably while gaming. I tested out several triple-A games on the laptop, and tinkering around with graphics settings always yielded framerates above 60fps. In Horizon Forbidden West, for instance, I recorded 70-75fps at 2K resolution with the graphical preset set to ‘very high'. Lowering the resolution to 1440p and adjusting some of the more demanding graphical settings recovered more frames, delivering framerates consistently above 85fps. Shadow of the Tomb Raider — a slightly older and less demanding title — ran consistently above 90fps on the highest settings and 2K resolution. I also got 70-75fps on Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut on Very High graphical settings. On indie titles, the G16 delivered well above 120fps comfortably.
The 2024 G16's weakest performance area is its battery life, as expected from a gaming laptop. While gaming on battery power in Turbo mode and about 75 percent screen brightness, I got between 1 to 1.5 hours of battery life. In normal usage, with 50 percent screen brightness and Wi-Fi turned on, I was able to stretch the laptop to around 4 hours. During this time, I worked with multiple browser tabs open on the Microsoft Edge browser. I was able to fully charge the laptop via the 200W charger in just over 2 hours. The laptop features a proprietary square-shaped charging port, but can be charged via Power Delivery on the USB Type-C port, as well.
The ROG Zephyrus G16 comes with a 90Wh battery
So, the question is, is it worth getting the 2024 ROG Zephyrus G16 in 2025? The answer depends on what you're looking for and how much you're willing to spend on it. Last year's G16 comes with an excellent processor, one that's even retained in some of the ROG Zephyrus 2025 models. It features the same 2.5K OLED display as the 2025 Zephyrus G16. But it loses out in the GPU department. Its GeForce RTX 4070 is a considerable downgrade from the 2025 G16's RTX 5080 GPU. But that high-end hardware comes with its costs.
The 2025 ROG Zephyrus G16 is priced at Rs. 3,49,990 in India, while you can pick up last year's 16-inch top-end model for Rs. 2,39,990, with only the GPU as the major trade-off. If, however, the larger 16-inch screen doesn't factor in while making a decision, then the smaller and lighter ROG Zephyrus G14 2025, which comes with the much more powerful RTX 5070 Ti, a sharper 14-inch 3K OLED display, and the same AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, is available at Rs. 2,79,990. Last year's G16, however, with its larger display and capable internals, remains a solid choice for creators and gamers.
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