ROG Zephyrus G14 G401IV QHD 14" IPS Level Gaming Laptop (AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB MaxQ, 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, 32GB RAM, Windows 10)

My use: I needed a daily driver for studying, browsing, gaming, video editing and travelling (the idea of travelling at least). Versatility and quality build was important for me.The Good: Great form factor - 14" was a very niche size, especially for a gaming laptop. The specs and components were top notch and can handle any software I threw at it. I was lucky enough to find the 32 GB model (16 GB on board + 16 GB SODIMM stick) with Ryzen 9 (4900 HS) and 2060 Max-Q variant. I heavily multitask and 16 GB would be too low for me.Great value - I bought this laptop for ~£1650 in July 2020 sold and fulfilled from Amazon directly and it was sold out within hours (usual retail price ~£1800), nothing came close to this price point in any competing product/retailer at the time of purchase. The quality of the build was high with a premium feel magnesium alloy finish for the lid and top facing part of chassis. The 1 available RAM slot and M.2 slot was easy to access and upgrade if you need to, without voiding the warranty.Connectivity was great for this size - 2 x USB-C (1 of which is also display port), 2 x USB 3.1 type A and HDMI slot.Keyboard typing experience was excellent - good travel and tactile feel and large and responsive trackpad. The speakers were also fantastic with 2 x up-facing speakers and 2 x down-facing speakers underneath for bass.The 14" QHD 60 Hz screen is really good (although for a gaming laptop 60 Hz is a bit low, although at the time of purchase there wasn't much in terms of competition for 14" screens. Gen 2 G14 models out later in 2021 are reportedly improved (FHD 144 Hz and QHD 120 Hz respectively). Colours are fairly accurate and vibrant with screen brightness up to ~300 nits. Although I typically game with external 144 Hz QHD monitor so less of a factor for me. The QHD (2K) resolution is arguably overkill for a screen this size though.Thermals can be a slight issue out of the box but after some research on reddit, there are some settings you can tweak to reduce temperatures and not only reduce/prevent thermal throttling (when the CPU and/or GPU slows down to prevent overheating) and improve both performance and potential longevity of components.The Bad: As noted above, the screen could have been better (60 Hz too low and QHD possibly to high depending on use case). Thermals out of the box can be an issue for some and availability of this high in demand laptop was a contentious issue for many at the time of purchase (and for many months after).Overall: Absolutely incredible laptop for the target market with no competition for quality, performance and value. You can easily find many reviews highly rating this laptop from professional to user reviews, although you should be aware of the specific variants that are being discussed/reviewed as they can vary considerably (CPU from Ryzen 5 to Ryzen 9, GPU from GTX 1650 to RTX 2060 Max-Q, Ram from 8 GB single channel to 32 GB dual channel, SSD from 512 GB to 1 TB, screen FHD 60 Hz, FHD 120 Hz or QHD 60 Hz). There is also option for the AniMe matrix customisable LED lid, but my model didn't include this feature.

The lap top is powerful, bought mainly for the 4900hs chips speed and the small form factor. It a very well put together computer, but it runs hot and load. I wasn't any gaming, and actually its not really that suited to FPS type gaming with a 60 Hz refresh. The screen was great visually. But even at rest its load, and when you challenge the processor it munches through tasks quickly, But did I mention that it is loud and hot. I was working and suddenly thought i had a fever, but I didn't it was just the heat. So in the end, and with sadness had to return this due to dehydration. Waiting for a 4800 or 4900 computers to become more widely available without the accompanying screens, cards, etc they deserve. The NEXT iteration of this design probably worth looking out for.