ASUS launched in Europe in mid-April 2023 its new top-of-the-line notebook, ROG Strix G16. It arrived as the brand’s bet for the most advanced gamer segment, with state-of-the-art components.
And to find out if the Taiwanese machine does what it promises, TechSmart has tested a unit of the product in recent weeks. You see his details in this full review.
ASUS brought a completely redesigned chassis to this model. The G16 comes with an aluminum construction for the lid and high quality plastic for the rest of the body with a satin finish. The weight of 2.5 kg is within the average for the segment, as well as its thickness just over 3 cm.
The manufacturer placed the brand’s logo on the back and is printed diagonally across the top of the base. Already underneath are rubberized feet to give extra support to the laptop, regardless of where it is resting. ASUS even left a strip in RGB LED, which gives an extra charm to the experience.
The touchpad has grown and features a considerable usable area, something we haven’t seen in competitors. Its sensitivity is also good and even allows you to replace it well in the absence of a mouse nearby, but not for games.
The keyboard has ABNT standard and RGB lighting in four zones, fully customizable by Aura Sync. The notebook also has eight keys and the space bar in transparency, to highlight them from the others, since they are the main ones used in games.
At the top, there are still five programmable keys, ranging from M1 to M5. They allow more shortcuts for the user, in addition to some multimedia functions already configured at the factory. The keys generally have good spacing and curvature, with no major problems getting used to typing or playing on them.
The cooling system uses liquid metal inside, in addition to 84-blade Arc Flow coolers, which allow good circulation of hot air through the three very wide openings for ventilation. We didn’t see any time when the notebook got hotter than usual, even during gameplay.
In terms of connectivity, highlights include Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, for internet and connection at the highest possible speed. We also see a pretty vast set of ports here.
On the left side, are the power input, the RJ45 network, the HDMI output, a USB-C 3.2 Gen2 with Thunderbolt 4 and a standard, in addition to the Audio Jack for headphones and microphone. On the right, the two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports appear.
The ROG Strix G16 arrives with a 16-inch screen with a 16:10 aspect, to gain height and reduce the edges around it. So much so that the webcam area on top has a larger indentation, to give it more space.
The display comes with a Full HD+ resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. It is of the IPS type, which hits the viewing angle and color calibration well. The brightness could be better, but it’s acceptable for those who don’t use very high lighting.
Here we have some special technologies that gamers like. We’re talking about the 165 Hz refresh rate, for high fluidity in compatible titles, and G-SYNC, which reduces lag and makes the experience even smoother.
We also found support for Dolby Vision here. The feature brings more fidelity to the images displayed, not only in games, but also if you enjoy some content in streaming.
Moving on to audio, the notebook has a stereo system with a sound output on each side, at the bottom of the base. The sound power is decent, while the quality doesn’t disappoint. The bass could be better, but it’s within acceptable limits for a laptop.
If you want a fuller sound, the laptop is compatible with the Dolby Atmos feature, to make a finer equalization of the frequencies, or choose one of the several preset options.
For this generation, ASUS switched from AMD hardware to an Intel one and updated the GPU from NVIDIA. ROG Strix G16 is powered by a 13th generation Intel Core i9 HX-series processor and a GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card with 8GB of GDDR6 memory.
Top configurations still pack 16GB of swappable dual-channel DDR5 RAM, plus 512GB of M2 PCI Express 4.0 SSD storage. Right away, we noticed that the internal space is small and insufficient for those who like to leave several games installed. It can hold only about five heavier titles comfortably.
And what does this set deliver in terms of performance? We ran some benchmarks to get an idea. In 3DMark, he was able to record more than 11,000 points in turbo mode, which translates into performance to run any heavy title at a great frame rate per second.
In turn, the machine reached almost 7,200 points in PCMark, enough to reach the top of the ranking of the indicator. Choosing the Intel Core i9 processor proved to be the right choice for any type of task, from essential tasks to productivity and content editing.
The operating system of this machine is Windows 11 Home. It has some modifications by ASUS, such as the presence of some brand management software.
One of them is Armory Crate, a solution that allows you to change component settings. You can activate and adjust the keyboard LEDs as you wish, or change the CPU configuration, which offers modes such as silent and turbo.
We arrived at the most important part of this analysis: the games. We started with the most basic Fall Guys. In it, we saw it run at a maximum of 165 fps pretty much all the time. Even with a room full of online participants, there was no stuttering or lag in the game.
In CS:GO, the frame rate exceeded 200 fps. This is a machine that works very well for the first-person shooter genre, due to its high fluidity and practically no latency.
DOOM Eternal is a good mix of high frames per second and excellent image quality. This game remains almost always above 130 fps. Furthermore, the presence of Ray Tracing reinforces the special effects in the shadows here.
Realism technology is also present in Marvel’s Spiderman Remastered. The game uses graphics at maximum quality and makes the scenarios even more realistic. Something notable in the reflections from the windows as Spider-Man scales the buildings.
God of War and The Last of Us are examples of very heavy games that manage to run smoothly here. Even with the limitations on the total frames per second, which do not exceed 90 fps, you can see how the textures gain quality on this machine.
ASUS has inserted a four-cell battery in this model, with a capacity of 90 Wh. How will it behave in practice? We did two tests. The first tested in a more standardized scenario, in the simulation of a normal work day, while the second explored the direct reproduction of a game.
The machine managed to last 5 hours in alternating use between the Edge browser, Word documents and Telegram chat. When we analyzed the use in games, it lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes until it turned off completely. Autonomy in general is even reasonable in the gamer segment. It was above what we’ve seen in rival models such as the Alienware M15 R7 and the Avell A72 HYB.
ROG Strix G16 comes with an external 280 W power supply. With it, the machine is capable of reaching 100% power in 1 hour and 40 minutes plugged in. A time also below what we usually see in the competition.
ASUS didn’t skimp on this gaming notebook and brought it from its redesigned design to the latest flagship hardware. The construction that mixes different components generates a positive result, without increasing dimensions and weight so much.
The keyboard has the differential of transparency on the main buttons and an overall good experience. The only thing missing was the numerical block, which the company preferred to leave out. Not to mention the larger-than-before touchpad.
We have a satisfactory multimedia sector in it, both for the high quality IPS screen, as well as for the powerful sound and the possibility of equalizing the music according to the user’s preference. On drums, we saw times that are still far from perfect, but the category does not require a long time unplugged.
The big strength here is performance, driven by the presence of a high-quality processor and GPU. Too bad the native storage option isn’t bigger.
good quality constructionpremium designABNT keyboard with RGB LEDs and extra shortcutsbig touchpadwide connectivityLarge screen with good colors and fluidity (165 Hz)Good quality soundHigh processing performanceHigh performance in all gamesFaster loading than rivals
No numeric keypadbrightness could be betterlittle storageBattery could be betterhigh price
The ROG Strix G16 was launched in Europe for a suggested price of R$ 18,000. For a lower price, you can find the Dell Alienware M16, with the same processor and graphics card components as the ASUS rival, in addition to having more storage. However, the tendency is to obtain a lower autonomy, in addition to his trackpad being smaller.
Do you think it’s worth buying the ROG Strix G16? What did you think of his overall performance? What feature caught your attention the most? Tell us about it in the space below.
