Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) laptop review: RTX 4090 with a super bright, Mini-LED display

[Redaktion]

The new Asus M16 is available in three variants: With an RTX 4070, RTX 4080 or RTX 4090. We review the high-end configuration. On top of that, its bright, 16:10, HDR, backlit, Mini-LED display is also new. We take a look to see if the $4,000 ROG M16 is just as impressive in real life as it is on paper.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ROG-Zephyrus-M16-2023-laptop-review-RTX-4090-with-a-super-bright-Mini-LED-display.702260.0.html

[Jake H]

I really wanted to like this laptop, but I've had 3 units and all of them emit this high pitched whine  that bothers me, enough to make me want to return them. Fans (even set to 100%) in manual mode is quieter than Turbo mode, for whatever reason, despite Manual mode allowing 150W to the GPU vs 145W in Turbo mode. Probably a bug.

[LL]

Non-HX CPU bottleneck

How do you can be certain of this when the 4090 here is handicapped with only 150w available instead of 175w?

To reach that conclusion would not be better to have a 13900H with a non restricted 4090?

[Anonymous Coward]

couple of observations:
-at several points it's mention this is a gygabyte laptop when it's an asus one.
-did you say slot for soldered ram?????
-not sure about this one but on the g14 the top of the base is magnesium not plastic

[Neenyah]

Just the fact that it's a gaming laptop without an ethernet port makes it very limited in actual gaming usage, in esports title like CSGO especially. For slow paced games with focus on solo playing it's fine. PWM though it's not fine but at least it's high enough 😐

[Hue]

This review is so bizarre and inconsistent. Why are there so many mistakes?

It mentions that the laptop has soldered RAM and then proceeds to show an image of two SODIMM, then they put having SODIMM as a negative? So, the reviewer wants soldered RAM?

The reviewer calls the laptop ASUS, then Gigabyte, then ASUS. As someone already pointed out the laptop is made of magnesium alloy and not plastic.

I feel they copy pasted another review and fill with some M16 information. I am not sure what information is actually valid and which is not. Really weird for a notebookcheck review.

[S.Yu]

This review is so bizarre and inconsistent. Why are there so many mistakes?

It mentions that the laptop has soldered RAM and then proceeds to show an image of two SODIMM, then they put having SODIMM as a negative? So, the reviewer wants soldered RAM?

The reviewer calls the laptop ASUS, then Gigabyte, then ASUS. As someone already pointed out the laptop is made of magnesium alloy and not plastic.

I feel they copy pasted another review and fill with some M16 information. I am not sure what information is actually valid and which is not. Really weird for a notebookcheck review.

Good to know, so then even though this is metal it still creaks pretty bad, while Blades hardly creak. And it's hardly faster than Blade 16 with GPU a tier lower, so it's still largely inferior...it should be cheaper though?

[HeCheatedOnYou]

Disappointed to see the weight increased from 2.1kg to 2.3kg, making it no longer a portable choice.

I would love to see a white/light silver AMD 7940HS (35W) version of the Lenovo ThinkPad P1/X1 Extreme around ~1.8kg.

Alternatively, a lighter Legion Slim 7 would also do the trick with USB4 C on the rear with true Power Delivery 3.1 standard, supporting 140W+ MacBook chargers. Asus ROG G14 has a terrible keyboard layout for European and massive quality control issues (loose trackpad, loose DC plug, terrible keyboard backlight, decentered screen panel and webcam).

[Neenyah]

Disappointed to see the weight increased from 2.1kg to 2.3kg, making it no longer a portable choice.

200 grams is making such difference from portable to not portable? Time to hit a gym perhaps?

[Estu]

How's the heat and fan noise during normal web-browsing and youtube ?

[Estu]

How's the heat and fan noise during normal websurfing/youtube ?

[Jade Empire]

Thank you for the review guys. In Denmark I can buy the zephyrsus M16 RTX 4070 version. Will that one be the sweet spot?

[S.Yu]

Thank you for the review guys. In Denmark I can buy the zephyrsus M16 RTX 4070 version. Will that one be the sweet spot?

No. Don't touch it with a ten foot pole. The 4070 mobile is a renamed 4060ti, and it only has 8GB VRAM, meaning it's DOA in this segment. Moreover this card is available on the Flow X16, which looks better, performs and cools similarly, and is more functional.
Personally I'm counting on a 12 or 16GB version of this card next year, or a Flow X16 model with 4080 mobile(no valid reason for it not to exist). If neither shows next year, I'm sitting out this generation, again.