I reviewed the latest 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 just over a week ago, with the RTX 5080 device offering my second glimpse at the efficiency of new-generation mobile graphics chips in a slimline chassis. The performance I saw cemented the Razer Blade 16's position as the best gaming laptop in its class on the market, but it also showed me just how valuable the current RTX 40-Series roster is.
Especially when it's on sale.
The RTX 4070 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 has just dropped down to $1,499.99 at Best Buy, with a $500 discount on the $1,999.99 MSRP. That's a machine capable of running all the latest and greatest games (albeit with a few settings tweaks) for just under $1,500. For full 2025 RTX 5080 performance you're looking at a minimum of $2,799.99.
This isn't the cheapest the 2024 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 has been. This same configuration dropped to $1,379.99 back in March. However, today's sale price still reflects the excellent value on offer in these now-older builds and considering I haven't seen that record-low in over a month now, it's well worth investigating today.
Should you buy the 2024 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16?
If you're looking for portability and power in a sleek, grown-up chassis then absolutely. The 2024 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is cheaper than the similarly specced 2024 Razer Blade 16 will ever be, and while its OLED display doesn't quite match up it's still a beauty in its own right.
I tested the RTX 4090 version, so my benchmark results aren't going to match the capability of this system. While it does fall towards the bottom of my RTX 4090 comparison pool, though, it comes second only to the Razer Blade 16 in sheer performance within a skinnier form factor.
Of course, the newer model is going to satisfy those who want the latest and greatest hardware at their disposal and that would be all the reasoning to invest in the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16. If you're going for sheer performance, and don't want to use additional DLSS tricks or keep your laptop running on battery, 2024's model still looks like the better fit.
The RTX 4090 configuration I tested was only around 10fps slower than the far more expensive RTX 5080 2025 model in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and still managed to clock in at 16fps less than the new release in Total War: Three Kingdoms Ultra settings.
You're not getting the best performance on the market, but you never are with a slimline device. If you want to balance the look and feel of your laptop with solid framerates then this is a fantastic buy.
If you don't mind so much about the thickness of that chassis, I'd always recommend the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 9 instead. The RTX 40-Series device from last year consistently tops the charts in its design and features while offering fantastic performance, all without being the most expensive laptop on the market.
Of course, if you want to see what else this brand has to offer I'm rounding up all the best Asus gaming laptops on the market as well as the best Razer laptops and the best Alienware laptops for more comparisons.
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