CES 2026 is here and the most anticipated piece of technology is and remains the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, at least for me. I fell in love with the G14 back in 2020 when it was originally released. It was everything I wanted in an ultraportable gaming device with great battery life. The Zephyrus G14 is the only notebook I’ve ever given the highest rating, and it’s the first and only gaming notebook I’ve ever purchased. Needless to say, there is hype real.
However, to temper some expectations, the Zephyrus G14 has gotten a little worse over the years, with shorter battery life and more flaws, but this year could be very special. I’ve been trying out the Asus Zephyrus G14 for a bit, so let’s dive into why I’m both excited and worried.
The big step towards Intel
AMD led the revolution in durable gaming laptops when the Asus Zephyrus G14 made its breakthrough. As someone who loves gaming and working in the same space, it was a perfect combination for my needs. It also makes a great college laptop. But after years of toiling around with AMD hardware, the Zephyrus G14 makes the switch to Intel. I’m a little worried.
What made the original so great was AMD increasing battery life and performance to incredible levels. I’m not worried about Intel performance, but rather battery life. I am satisfied if the battery life is at least 8 hours at the end. It’s exciting and worrying, but we won’t know the implications until we get our hands on it.
The chip change isn’t the only exciting development on the Asus Zephyrus G14. Asus is literally doubling its OLED performance. It is claimed that laptops like the Asus Zephyrus G14 with an OLED display will double the brightness of previous generations. Specifically, the Zephyrus G14 supports a 14-inch 3K 120Hz display with up to 1000 nits of brightness in HDR and 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space.
HDR can be hit or miss, so incredible brightness may not be worth it, but Asus claims SDR brightness is also doubled. The 2024 Zephyrus G14 had a brightness of almost 400 nits, so hitting even just 600 nits would be incredibly impressive and a welcome upgrade.
One of the coolest things behind the scenes is that each display is individually color calibrated to ensure that the Delta E is less than 1, making the display more color accurate. Thanks to the 0.2 ms response time, you can stay connected even during your favorite competitive game.
In my hands-on testing, the display was dripping with color and the brightness survived the glare of the room’s overhead lighting. Despite the powerful RTX 5080 hardware, the Zephyrus G14 manages to maintain a slim and light figure with a thickness of 0.63 inches and a weight of 3.31 pounds.
There’s a slight shift in the case: this year’s model has been upgraded from 7 to 35 lighting zones in the slot on the lid. You can adjust the lighting pattern as you wish. Personally, I don’t really care about this feature, but it’s a nice upgrade for those who enjoy it. You might not notice, but Asus has also updated the bottom, which now features an improved ventilation design (there are more holes).
I have to say, one of my few criticisms of the original Zephyrus G14 was its touchpad, and while it’s gotten better over the years, Asus has improved it significantly this time around. My finger glided effortlessly across the smooth surface, each click providing solid feedback. The thin touchpad of old is no longer there.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to test the sound, but the Zephyrus G14 has a total of 6 speakers. While I’m not too picky when it comes to laptop audio, it would be great if they were as good as the display. We know that it will at least have Dolby Atmos, which is a pretty solid audio software solution.
My dream model of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is equipped with an RTX 5060 GPU. It wasn’t specifically mentioned that we’re getting one, but if there’s any indication of the predecessors, we’ll do it. I’m looking forward to the king of mid-range gaming laptops reclaiming his crown.
If you want to max out this device, as we said, it comes with up to an RTX 5080, but also 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. I’m definitely not looking forward to seeing that price. The G14 also has a bigger brother if you have the money to fire it up. That would get you an RTX 5090. Luckily, I only have eyes for its more portable (and cheaper) brother.
Stay tuned for more coverage of CES 2026 as it comes out.
