Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsWhat a tiny BEAST!
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2020
First and foremost, I would like to give credit to HIDevoluton. I see a lot of reviewers 1-starring because of price gouge and unnecessary service. I disagree with that and here's why. They are basically inspecting the laptop from any abnormalities or damage when they open it up, and I have seen quite a few people receive lemons from this particular laptop and make several returns(reddit). I have had one tiny issue in a month of owning this laptop, and my god this thing is amazing and do not mind paying a couple more bills to get a pristine machine.
pros:
*AMD Ryzen 9 is a game changer, for the price, this thing zippity doodas anything you throw at it, and really is the number one pro of this machine. Intel might be in trouble.
*Geforce 2060mq runs the games I throw at it on ultra-high 80+ fps no problem. FO76, COD,RDR2
*The battery life is a godsend, I am pushing 9+ hours light browsing, office work and movies at full charge, and there is an option to limit max charging to 60% or 80% to reduce damage to battery if you leave it plugged in to game most of the time(which I do), which will increase battery's life.
*The 120hz FHD screen is actually quite bright and looks crisp and clear for gaming and movies. I was actually quite impressed with the quality as it rivaled my 2018 razer blade stealth's qhd screen. And the 120hz is perfect for gaming.
*Keyboard feels good and responsive, no smushy keys and the right amount of travel IMO. The only issue with keyboard would be the backlight which I will get to.
*Touchpad is on point, feels more precise/smooth to me then my razer blade and zephyrus gx501. I have heard some people having issues with 3 and 4 finger clicks, although I personally never use them.
*Portability... doesn't get much better then this with what they have crammed into this beautiful 14' chassis.
Cons-
*Keyboard backlight- is the number one issue with these machines, and per AMD rep, it was intended to limit backlight for them to achieve efficient cooling. On my particular unit, a couple keys seem a bit dimmer, (T and Y) which appear to be with the majority of other machines I've seen. This could change in later models. Honestly if you are in a well-lit room, you ideally just want to turn it off because it almost makes it more difficult to see the keys with the silver keyboard. In a dark room they are good enough to do what they are intended and look fine.
*Speaker pop? The only issue I have had that I thought maybe was a defect was a pop sound which seems to come from left speaker. From my research many people have this issue and It only happens when I am playing a game maybe once every 6-8 hrs. I normally play with a nice pair of headphones, so this is an non-issue for me, but could see this really get the OCD going in some people.
And last but not least the cooling. I can not say this is a pro or con, for my machine runs really cool(other users say it runs hot), which might be because of the paste HIDevolution used, and the cooling pad. Some people recommend disabling boost to reduce temp even further; however, I disagree with this because the processor is meant to get a bit hot and why would you strangle the one thing that makes this machine rise above all others? Just do not game on your lap and get a nice cooling pad!
Overall, very happy with g14 ROG and HIDevolution, I will be a customer again in the future...if we make it that far.
