Looking for a new Laptop for College/Gaming, Zephyrus G14?

[tyisak]

I am currently looking for a new laptop for college, as I am a new student going into my first year.  I've saved up quite a bit, so price isn't really an issue for me, with 1500-2000$ being the price point that I'm looking at (willing to go to around 2500, but that's really pushing it, and the deal has to be great).  As I wrote about in the title, I am looking for something that is multipurpose, and great for both schoolwork and gaming.  Obviously most gaming laptops will be able to handle anything that schooling throws at me, so I would assume that gaming performance would be the major factor that I am dealing with.  

I have been recommended the ASUS - ROG Zephyrus G14 as it has great performance for a relatively low price point, and takes advantage of the new Ryzen 4000 CPU.  This seems like it pretty much knocks off all of the boxes for me, with a relatively cheap price point.  However, I am relatively uninformed of the new advances in laptop technology, and if there is a better option for a similar or slightly higher price, I would have no issue looking into that as well.

The other option I had looked into was the Dell XPS 13/15, but the gaming performance just doesn't seem to hold up as well, and I'm not sure the increase in price is worth the trade off for the lackluster gain in functionality. 

Is there any other options that I should take a look at before these two?  Or is the Zephyrus the best option on the market currently? Also, I know the Ryzen 4000 CPUs are very new on the market, but holding out to buy a laptop with similar specs when it releases isn't exactly possible, as my classes start soon and I need to order ASAP. Thank you so much!

[5x5]

The G14 is among the best laptops of 2020. You really can't go wrong with it.

 

I'd strongly suggest avoiding the XPS models. They suffer from severe thermal, power and DPC latency issues. The Dell QA work is also poor so they frequently arrive defective. Not to mention the problematic BIOSes that still can't seem to get fixed. Overall, the XPS models have been dropping in quality and while they once were great (in 2014) they are now pretty much bottom of the barrel for the windows premium laptop space.

[Lord Vile]

9 hours ago, tyisak said:

I am currently looking for a new laptop for college, as I am a new student going into my first year.  I've saved up quite a bit, so price isn't really an issue for me, with 1500-2000$ being the price point that I'm looking at (willing to go to around 2500, but that's really pushing it, and the deal has to be great).  As I wrote about in the title, I am looking for something that is multipurpose, and great for both schoolwork and gaming.  Obviously most gaming laptops will be able to handle anything that schooling throws at me, so I would assume that gaming performance would be the major factor that I am dealing with.  

I have been recommended the ASUS - ROG Zephyrus G14 as it has great performance for a relatively low price point, and takes advantage of the new Ryzen 4000 CPU.  This seems like it pretty much knocks off all of the boxes for me, with a relatively cheap price point.  However, I am relatively uninformed of the new advances in laptop technology, and if there is a better option for a similar or slightly higher price, I would have no issue looking into that as well.

The other option I had looked into was the Dell XPS 13/15, but the gaming performance just doesn't seem to hold up as well, and I'm not sure the increase in price is worth the trade off for the lackluster gain in functionality. 

Is there any other options that I should take a look at before these two?  Or is the Zephyrus the best option on the market currently? Also, I know the Ryzen 4000 CPUs are very new on the market, but holding out to buy a laptop with similar specs when it releases isn't exactly possible, as my classes start soon and I need to order ASAP. Thank you so much!

What are you studying? Best thing to do would be to get a cheaper thin and light, something like a surface laptop or 13" Macbook to carry around with you and a desktop for your heavy lifting and gaming. Also a point to note the G14 doesn't have a webcam in case classes are starting on skype or zoom. 

[LstpersonalOF]

Man I Really recomend For Gaming And College Razer Blade Linus Daily Drives It and theres the 4k Display version even 

[Lord Vile]

Just now, Lesantir_12 said:

Man I Really recomend For Gaming And College Razer Blade Linus Daily Drives It and theres the 4k Display version even 

Blades break at an alarming rate and their RMA is horrendous  It's great if you get them for free like LTT does. 4K on a laptop is also dumb

[LstpersonalOF]

I Daily Drive One 

[tyisak]

11 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

What are you studying? Best thing to do would be to get a cheaper thin and light, something like a surface laptop or 13" Macbook to carry around with you and a desktop for your heavy lifting and gaming. Also a point to note the G14 doesn't have a webcam in case classes are starting on skype or zoom. 

My issue with buying a surface or a MacBook is that I don’t like using MacOS because of the lack of functionality for some programs, and that (from my research) surfaces tend to be over priced when compared with the specs. Also, financially it doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to buy a laptop and a PC when I could spend the extra money and get a nicer laptop that has the ability of both, and probably performs just as well or possibly better than a cheaper PC would. 
Im not super concerned about the webcam, as I can get the zephyrus for around 1300 due to a student deal at Best Buy, and then take the extra 200 to invest in a usb webcam and a mouse, etc.  Thank you for your suggestion though. 

[5x5]

Just now, Lesantir_12 said:

I Daily Drive One 

That's doesn't make it good. I also own a Nokia phone, doesn't mean the phone ias good

[5x5]

Just now, tyisak said:

My issue with buying a surface or a MacBook is that I don’t like using MacOS because of the lack of functionality for some programs, and that (from my research) surfaces tend to be over priced when compared with the specs. Also, financially it doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to buy a laptop and a PC when I could spend the extra money and get a nicer laptop that has the ability of both, and probably performs just as well or possibly better than a cheaper PC would. 
Im not super concerned about the webcam, as I can get the zephyrus for around 1300 due to a student deal at Best Buy, and then take the extra 200 to invest in a usb webcam and a mouse, etc.  Thank you for your suggestion though. 

For 1300, the G14 is a fantastic deal.

[Lord Vile]

4 minutes ago, tyisak said:

My issue with buying a surface or a MacBook is that I don’t like using MacOS because of the lack of functionality for some programs, and that (from my research) surfaces tend to be over priced when compared with the specs. Also, financially it doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to buy a laptop and a PC when I could spend the extra money and get a nicer laptop that has the ability of both, and probably performs just as well or possibly better than a cheaper PC would. 
Im not super concerned about the webcam, as I can get the zephyrus for around 1300 due to a student deal at Best Buy, and then take the extra 200 to invest in a usb webcam and a mouse, etc.  Thank you for your suggestion though. 

You don't get the performance of both though. A laptop is nowhere near the performance of a similarly priced desktop and as a laptop they're heavier and have worse battery life than a regular thin and light. I know people who bought gaming laptops for uni and they never used them due to them being impractical for both tasks. Just threw the surface and the MacBook out as examples because they're everywhere and easy to get. Would honestly look at the used macrket for a thin and light from a couple of years ago, you don't need that much performance for uni work 

[tyisak]

9 hours ago, 5x5 said:

The G14 is among the best laptops of 2020. You really can't go wrong with it.

 

I'd strongly suggest avoiding the XPS models. They suffer from severe thermal, power and DPC latency issues. The Dell QA work is also poor so they frequently arrive defective. Not to mention the problematic BIOSes that still can't seem to get fixed. Overall, the XPS models have been dropping in quality and while they once were great (in 2014) they are now pretty much bottom of the barrel for the windows premium laptop space.

This about confirms my decision unless something else comes and slaps me in the face. 
I was never sold on the XPS, seems like I could get the same functionality in a gaming laptop while retaining better specs and price for the value. 
obviously to college I’m not going to spend all of my time gaming but if I’m going to spend the money, I’d like to have the option. And it seems like the Zephyrus checks off all of the boxes in terms of gaming, and general use power and functionality for school work. I don’t think there’s much that can go wrong with it. And as I said in a previous post, I can save a bit of money through ordering it at Best Buy and use the remaining money to invest in a webcam and mouse, etc. Thank you!

[tyisak]

1 minute ago, Lord Vile said:

You don't get the performance of both though. A laptop is nowhere near the performance of a similarly priced desktop and as a laptop they're heavier and have worse battery life than a regular thin and light. I know people who bought gaming laptops for uni and they never used them due to them being impractical for both tasks. 

That makes sense, but assuming I decided to buy both a laptop for school, and a desktop for gaming, wouldn’t that decrease in quality that I get from having to split the money between the two more than make up for price of just buying one nicer laptop. 
It makes sense about the weight and battery life though, but from what I could find, it seems that the G14 is relatively light and the battery isn’t too bad (10 hours or so). I’m not sure how impractical it would be, but you make a good point. 
what should I look at for both the desktop and the laptop to make a similar purchase using the idea you said?

[5x5]

1 minute ago, tyisak said:

That makes sense, but assuming I decided to buy both a laptop for school, and a desktop for gaming, wouldn’t that decrease in quality that I get from having to split the money between the two more than make up for price of just buying one nicer laptop. 
It makes sense about the weight and battery life though, but from what I could find, it seems that the G14 is relatively light and the battery isn’t too bad (10 hours or so). I’m not sure how impractical it would be, but you make a good point. 
what should I look at for both the desktop and the laptop to make a similar purchase using the idea you said?

You'll end up with a slower desktop and a crappy laptop usually. You can't match the G14 AND have a good laptop for 1300. You'll either be losing 30-40% performance or going for a cheap laptop that is a nightmare to use. You'd need to up the budget to 2000 minimum.

 

7 minutes ago, tyisak said:

This about confirms my decision unless something else comes and slaps me in the face. 
I was never sold on the XPS, seems like I could get the same functionality in a gaming laptop while retaining better specs and price for the value. 
obviously to college I’m not going to spend all of my time gaming but if I’m going to spend the money, I’d like to have the option. And it seems like the Zephyrus checks off all of the boxes in terms of gaming, and general use power and functionality for school work. I don’t think there’s much that can go wrong with it. And as I said in a previous post, I can save a bit of money through ordering it at Best Buy and use the remaining money to invest in a webcam and mouse, etc. Thank you!

The G14 is winning awards left right and centre these days. Really can't go wrong with it

[tyisak]

17 minutes ago, Lesantir_12 said:

Man I Really recomend For Gaming And College Razer Blade Linus Daily Drives It and theres the 4k Display version even 

I saw this as well, but after some research it seems that, unless you get the 2000-3000 dollar specs of the razer blade, then you can get the same time performance out of the G14 for a lower price. I also like that its a little less flashy. Although this was another option I looked into. 

[tyisak]

5 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

You'll end up with a slower desktop and a crappy laptop usually. You can't match the G14 AND have a good laptop for 1300. You'll either be losing 30-40% performance or going for a cheap laptop that is a nightmare to use. You'd need to up the budget to 2000 minimum.

 

The G14 is winning awards left right and centre these days. Really can't go wrong with it

Yeah, everywhere I look I only see praise for the G14. And it seems to be as well rounded and universal as you’re gonna get from from a gaming laptop, or even a normal laptop really. 

Like I said, I don’t mind pushing the budget a bit, but I’d rather not go crazy unless I find something that is blatantly better and it seems like the G14 already performs like a laptop above its pricerange. 

[Lord Vile]

1 minute ago, tyisak said:

That makes sense, but assuming I decided to buy both a laptop for school, and a desktop for gaming, wouldn’t that decrease in quality that I get from having to split the money between the two more than make up for price of just buying one nicer laptop. 
It makes sense about the weight and battery life though, but from what I could find, it seems that the G14 is relatively light and the battery isn’t too bad (10 hours or so). I’m not sure how impractical it would be, but you make a good point. 
what should I look at for both the desktop and the laptop to make a similar purchase using the idea you said?

Depends what you're going for, because if you don't need the grunt of a GPU and a powerful CPU in the laptop you can look for things like a 3:2 or 16:10 aspect ratio screen which is really nice for productivity and a nice keyboard and a nice trackpad. The reason why Macs dominate Uni campuses isn't because of the spec it's because they're so damn nice to use. It's all trade offs. Refurbished and open box might be a good look from best buy too. 

 

It's about a pound heavier than the surface and half a pound heavier than a 13" MBP which is all metal and if you try and do anything with the GPU or CPU the battery will vanish. Plus it has a proprietary charging port which means a large power brick too.

 

Desktop wise you can get a R5 3600 with a 5700XT system for under a grand depends on how much you'd want to spend and what your Uni programs/game settings you want to run at. 

[5x5]

4 minutes ago, tyisak said:

Yeah, everywhere I look I only see praise for the G14. And it seems to be as well rounded and universal as you’re gonna get from from a gaming laptop, or even a normal laptop really. 

Like I said, I don’t mind pushing the budget a bit, but I’d rather not go crazy unless I find something that is blatantly better and it seems like the G14 already performs like a laptop above its pricerange. 

Basically this. The G14 was purpose built to be best in class so as to show of Renoir

 

And yeah, If you go for a desktop that's 200$ for a monitor, 300$ for a 3700X, 200$ for a board and RAM, 200$ for a GPU, 200$ for drive, power supply and case. Then another 1000$ for a laptop that isn't a pile of crap and a PC peripherals. Total would be about 1900$ 

[tyisak]

6 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

Depends what you're going for, because if you don't need the grunt of a GPU and a powerful CPU in the laptop you can look for things like a 3:2 or 16:10 aspect ratio screen which is really nice for productivity and a nice keyboard and a nice trackpad. The reason why Macs dominate Uni campuses isn't because of the spec it's because they're so damn nice to use. It's all trade offs. Refurbished and open box might be a good look from best buy too. 

 

It's about a pound heavier than the surface and half a pound heavier than a 13" MBP which is all metal and if you try and do anything with the GPU or CPU the battery will vanish. Plus it has a proprietary charging port which means a large power brick too.

 

Desktop wise you can get a R5 3600 with a 5700XT system for under a grand depends on how much you'd want to spend and what your Uni programs/game settings you want to run at. 

Well I’m not expecting to be on campus for a full semester nor year this upcoming school year, so buying Both a laptop and a PC seems semi difficult to haul back an forth between my home and campus. That one of the main reasons I’d like a laptop. 
In your opinion and Other than the Mac, is there any other laptops out there for a (relatively) similar price point that can compete with the G14 in terms of the same or almost the same power with more battery life and more functionality. 
buying two separate computers seems like a bit of a hassle for me personally. 

[5x5]

1 minute ago, tyisak said:

Well I’m not expecting to be on campus for a full semester nor year this upcoming school year, so buying Both a laptop and a PC seems semi difficult to haul back an forth between my home and campus. That one of the main reasons I’d like a laptop. 
In your opinion and Other than the Mac, is there any other laptops out there for a (relatively) similar price point that can compete with the G14 in terms of the same or almost the same power with more battery life and more functionality. 
buying two separate computers seems like a bit of a hassle for me personally. 

Not really. The closest is the MSI GS66 but that barely gets 5 hours of battery life and runs much hotter and louder.

[Imglidinhere]

2 minutes ago, tyisak said:

Well I’m not expecting to be on campus for a full semester nor year this upcoming school year, so buying Both a laptop and a PC seems semi difficult to haul back an forth between my home and campus. That one of the main reasons I’d like a laptop. 
In your opinion and Other than the Mac, is there any other laptops out there for a (relatively) similar price point that can compete with the G14 in terms of the same or almost the same power with more battery life and more functionality. 
buying two separate computers seems like a bit of a hassle for me personally. 

Just go with the G14. People here are ultra opinionated, if that weren't already hilariously obvious.

[Lord Vile]

6 minutes ago, tyisak said:

Well I’m not expecting to be on campus for a full semester nor year this upcoming school year, so buying Both a laptop and a PC seems semi difficult to haul back an forth between my home and campus. That one of the main reasons I’d like a laptop. 
In your opinion and Other than the Mac, is there any other laptops out there for a (relatively) similar price point that can compete with the G14 in terms of the same or almost the same power with more battery life and more functionality. 
buying two separate computers seems like a bit of a hassle for me personally. 

If you're not attending class why would they have you on campus? Seems a tad dumb. Could I ask what you're studying?  I'd look at the best buy clearance and out of box options but they do it on location. Portability would depend on how far away you are from campus, how you're getting there etc. When I was at uni I put my PC into a ITX cube because it was easier to move around, just put it in a wheeled suitcase with a decent amount of padding. 

 

Buying one thing is easier but it's not the magic bullet people think it is. Even things like W10 laptops don't get max performance if they're not plugged into the wall for example. 

[tyisak]

5 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Not really. The closest is the MSI GS66 but that barely gets 5 hours of battery life and runs much hotter and louder.

So, just buying the G14 and refraining from playing games or using it for gaming unless its plugged in would be my best bet to both maximize the battery life while still retaining functionality as a laptop correct? This just seems to make the G14 a better choice.

[WkdPaul]

* thread cleaned *

 

Please stay on-topic.

[Lord Vile]

Just now, tyisak said:

So, just buying the G14 and refraining from playing games or using it for gaming unless its plugged in would be my best bet to both maximize the battery life while still retaining functionality as a laptop correct? This just seems to make the G14 a better choice.

If you get the G14 might be good to get a solid keyboard and maybe even a monitor and use it as a faux desktop? 

[5x5]

Just now, tyisak said:

So, just buying the G14 and refraining from playing games or using it for gaming unless its plugged in would be my best bet to both maximize the battery life while still retaining functionality as a laptop correct? This just seems to make the G14 a better choice.

You can game on it on battery but it will be 2-3 hours like on any laptop. The batteries in laptops are the limiting factor since they can't sustain 200W