Please note, I accidentally call USB 4 -> Thunderbolt 4 in the video. I meant to say USB 4, which has the same bandwidth as Thunderbolt 4. So easy slip up. The point is valid, that a high end 2021 laptop should have it.
Hey Josh you won’t see USB 4 natively on a Ryzen 5000 system. AMD were asked to get this ready very quickly by manufacturers so the Ryzen 5000 mobile chips have the same USB capability as ryzen 4000. PC world had an interview with AMD if you’re interested.
@@athrylithben6190 i got dell 7405 with ryzen 4700u. Its pretty powerful machine but when you want to buy any of these option compare the screen quality.
My speakers aren't that bad, but I do get some pops with bass, lots of people on the G15 Reddit complaining about it though, many have had improvements with recent driver updates but at the end of the day seems like it may be a hardware issue and these are just attempts to reduce the problem.
The Lenovo Legion 7 looks like it will be the beast of 2021. I saw the specs in a Swedish website Inet, and it's crazy. I hope we could see some reviews soon from you guys. (I am thinking to cancel my G15 order for the Lenovo)
Did you turn off the stupid display battery saving in the AMD Radeon Software? I thought the screen of my G14 looked terrible until I turned that off. It’s on by default. You didn’t mention that so I’m wondering if you weren’t aware of it.
@@MattCamp hey so been toying around with arch too ... How did u got the radeon gpu to work on the laptop screen. I always crash on "no screen found" but with an external monitor it works but super slow.
@@FLYANDI sorry I don't have an AMD laptop yet... Waiting on my preorder to ship.. but sounds like you might need to blacklist the AMD drivers.. have you checked the Arch wiki?
I've had mine since launch and have loved it. The screen is one of my favorite things about it so I disagree with him there. The high refresh and higher resolution is the perfect combo, it's exactly what I needed for my design work.
Hey, thanks for clarifying that. I am planning on buying this laptop next month, could you please tell me what problems have you faced till now? Also, the screen, how did you manage to make it brighter than shown in the video?
@@SiddharthaMaz I haven't really had any problems it's been great for what I need. And there's something in the settings to allow for full brightness while on battery life. You can look up exactly how to do that
Hey nice review. I have the G15 and like watching reviews about it to see what others think. One thing I noticed at 11:55 is how dim and dull the display looks. It's a setting called "Vari Bright" in Radeon settings and dims it a bit on battery (even if you set max brightness). Disabling Vari Bright will stop it from adjusting the brightness like it's doing on battery. Also at 15:12, in Armoury Crate it could be auto selecting iGPU mode on battery. The USB-C you're trying to use is for the Dedicated GPU (it bypasses optimus) so that could be why the monitor was acting weird. If you turn iGPU to off, I think it might fix that. But moral of the story is, a laptop should just "work". And this Asus requires a lot of tweaking (I've formatted mine multiple times, messed with what software/drivers to install, ran into weird glitches and had to figure out how to fix them, etc). But I have a pretty awesome machine that works now, but it took a lot of messing around to get there. Anyway, nice review! I'm still in my return window for 30 days or so and might look around or wait and see what else comes out. UPDATE: Not only does Vari Bright (setting in the radeon software for battery/display) lower brightness it actually degrades the colors big time. Lisa that does tech reviews said that and so I tried it. Sure enough it dulls the displays and puts a custom color calibration that muffles all colors and makes it look like complete garbage.
So by disabling vari bright you've fixed the color gamut and brightness? Is the brightness itself a higher nits level or is it simply the software making the display so murky looking? Also in the video the display looks like shit, does it look better in person? I basically have 2 (maybe 3) options available to me for school; the g14 (2000$ CAD), the g15 (also 2000$ CAD somehow) and if the lenovo legion 5 pro comes back into stock then maybe that. Which one would you recommend assuming I could pick between any 3 of them? (So far the only thing I can get is the g14 currently)
Thanks my man this guy is literally looking for things to rant about without knowing anything and literally a kid knows that there is no way that screen is that dim
This is what we call a real review. It's not all about specs, the bells and whistles that the manufacturer shows, it's all about owing one and get to know the real world usage. Great job Josh, and all the best for your channel!
You can change the display resolution to 1920 x 1080 and it scales perfectly with no issues. That means for more demanding games, you can switch to the lower resolution and have higher frames rates.
Doesn't that negate the purpose of buying a laptop with a 1440p screen? I agree ofc lower res = better fps but then just go for a laptop with a 1080p screen. And I don't think it scales perfectly. On a 1440p screen, 1080p would have noticeably more blurriness rather than a native 1080p screen
great one josh, you really found a lot of those small annoying things that add up to the user experience, great strategy to get tough on these manufacturers, they all have the same components and performance these days, more or less, so its all about those little things and build quality when it comes to deciding what to purchase. love the channel
Josh, what an outstanding job, thanks for the effort on pointing out the real deals one as a user has to sort in order to instruct us for taking educated decisions at the time of buying a laptop
Fantastic Review Josh, I am so glad to hear a RU-vidr finally call out the OEMs for having horrible QC. Thank you. I am also waiting for the upcoming MBPs how do u think those would be priced, I'm hearing mixed stuff, mainly for 14"?
Great review as always Josh. But I have to disagree with you about the camera. I LIKE the fact that it does not come with a webcam! And yes I've been working from home for the past year! I've never needed a webcam during the last 15 years. Maybe I'm one of the few people that don't need it. I don't understand why most people would need one if they work from home. If you are not a journalist or a teacher why would you need one?
Good review but you did get everything wrong regarding the display. As standard AMD varibright is enabled which makes the display dim in battery and leads to banding or unsharpeness. You really should know that if you do reviews. Thunderbolt 4 is just impossible in AMD laptops at the moment. No need to nickpick on that.
You cover a lot of points that are not addressed by other reviews. Thanks for sharing.
2 года назад
I watched over 100 G15 videos you are the only one that out the screen next to Mac screen. And the only one to point out the screen problems. Thank you.
Well, not enough research to find that there’s an annoying setting that limits the brightness and color gamut on battery by default. But aside that, which kinda pissed me off in this video. I appreciate the effort he put into it and how real he was.
Great review Josh. I dismissed the Asus G15 when I first saw it as it doesn't have a webcam, but I saw a good deal on one recently and decided to look at the laptop more. What appealed to me about this laptop was its low weight, portability and keyboard (I don't like number pads as they push the main keys to the left). Although the 3080 version looks great on paper, you're really getting 3070 performance due to it being underpowered. I'm happy with that as the laptop's weight is low and its thermals and noise levels are good. You raised the same concerns I had. Specifically, the display not being bright enough and one RAM slot being soldered. This limits what you can do with memory timing and leaves a lot of potential performance on the table. For FPS games, I always like to drop graphical settings to increase the frame rate. I'm happy to drop to 1080p if necessary too when gaming. Thunderbolt 4 is desirable too, but in 2021, the choice seems to be to go with AMD for enhanced battery life or go with Intel for TB4, PCIE4, undervolting etc. Thanks again for the review. Always good to hear the bad sides about a laptop when you're researching a purchase :) Kevin
@Just Josh I might have a solution to the popping speakers. I bought an ROG zepherus M15 (GA502), and I had the same speaker problem when it arrived. (At first I was suspecting a hardware defect but no) I searched online and found nothing but accidentally noticed an exe. running in the background , 'Nahimic32.exe' and 'Nahimic64.exe' , which is related to audio processing (Nahimic is a French company doing sound effect). So, I tried and canceled them out in the task manager. And, surprisingly, it worked! The speakers works fine with no popping sound(though still not a great speaker). I assumed that the popping sound is due to the conflict between 'Nahimic' and 'Sonic audio' , both of them are sound effects that comes in the laptop and are on at the same time. Hope this helps! Btw, I've appreciated your hard work very much. You're one of the few trusted reviewers to me when it comes to laptops. Greetings from Taiwan.
I don’t really understand why anyone would complain about the display being as high as 1440p when they can just lower the game resolution to 1080p and get higher frame rates. Why would I want a 1080p panel instead? I mean, it’s not like I can upgrade it when I’m coding, watching a movie or just browsing the web. I just don’t get it.
Great review. One thing I would add. As an industry professional, you want a display that is either HD or UHD. You DO NOT WANT a resolution that is anywhere in between these resolutions (1200 and 4k are ok though). Why? Because you wont be seeing the videos that you are editing/grading in their native resolution. You will be looking at interpolated pixels! This is very bad and no true professional will want to look at interpolated pixels. Say you are editing a 1920p video and you want to look at it in full screen. And your screen resolution is 2500. Ypu switch to full screen and you see aliasing. Now you have no idea if the aliasing is there because of the pixel interpolation due to the non native screen res or because it's actually present in the original source material. If Asus actually had video editing in mind for this laptop, they have no idea what they are doing.
i just ordered a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 with the AMD Ryzen 4700 processor and it's coming in today andI'm super excited about it. thank you for helping me to make an informed decision!
Oh man sorry to hear about your back. I pulled mine about six months ago. Literally could not take one step. Was agony. Glad you’re better. Google lower back strengthening exercise and lower back yoga. Never had a relapse since. Thanks for the video.
This is the first review i've seen that talked so much smack about the G15. I was so sure it'd be laptop of the year. Not sure anymore. That said, I can't tell whether everyone else is not thorough enough or if he's too nitpicky. Either way it was a great video.
@@JustJoshTech yeah your review was very... Realistic. For lack of better words. It seemed like a true user's perspective. That's what I liked most about it. Great job dude!
Yes unfortunately we have a shit ton of RU-vidrs that are shilling for every bullshit gadget out there for $$$. The overhype a product where standards aren't never met to the consumers. It downright pisses me off, but that's the reality of things. I'm just glad we have this guy (the only fooken guy) to say it like it is. Truth hurts that's why others are mad about this man's review.
Thanks for the review, Regarding the screen Color/dim issue, I had watched other review saying that turning off Radeon display software will help fix it, may be you can try? 😊
My biggest issue with this laptop is the CPU temps. I've had two units and both had crazy high CPU temps when gaming (sometimes upwards of 96c). To combat this, I changed the power plan in the control panel from Turbo (sometimes labeled as Performance) to Asus Recommended and that helped lower to temp down to a much less worrisome level. Later threw in a cheap cooling pad for good measure. Never experienced any throttling though (surprisingly), despite the high temps. My guess is a bad thermal pasting job.
I just purchased a 2021 omen (10750h/3070), then best buy got this g15 in stock. I ordered it as well. great video, looking forward to comparing the two
Your reviews are, imho, the best of the bunch out there. If I had to decide on only one subsciption for reviews, it would be for your channel. Congrats and thank you!
Great review. I appreciated the thorough work and balanced explanation of the good and bad. I really appreciated the extra effort of running Ubuntu and Fedora. I am always interested in how a machine would run if I want to use a Linux OS. A really great job for your viewers.
Software is very important. It is good to know that you can limit the charge of your battery to prolong its lifespan or reduce the Hz of the screen when on battery to safe power. Reviewers should pay more attention to it. Thanks for letting us know the features of Asus software!
Great review. I've been having mine since November of last year and I'm in love with this thing. The memory upgrade really gets on my nerves. But I've edited video on worse laptops and I try to stay in the 1080p range when capturing gameplay. This was a damn good review though. I'll have to keep you in mind if I ever decide to upgrade. FWIW, I can run Cyberpunk and Destiny 2 on this just fine on high settings and get 60 FPS. Sometimes higher. Again, lovely review.
I had the ASUS TUF gaming A17 and happily switched to Lenovo Legion 5. One month difference, same price, two times (!) more powerful after measuring in passmark, much better cooling. The only trade-off is a slightly cheaper build but port placement is so much better.
For all those planning to buy a G15 (the 2021 version) - you might want to hold off installing the Hotfix keyboard update in the MyASUS app, there have been reports of the update completely bricking the keyboard so its completely dead. Also there have been reports of the keyboard bricking temporarily when setting the battery to anything other than 100% charge in MyASUS (80% and 60%). My own G15 does the temporary bricking when setting the battery charge mode to 80%. Caused me an entire night of grief trying to get the keyboard to come back to life, for it to turn itself back on when the battery drained enough without being plugged in...
first time viewer, already subscribed. Definitely agree with your point on RAM with the Asus. 16 is enough for most gaming but having the power to maximize your specs is always nice, also keeping the same speed around RAM. my main issue with this is RAM if you can tell lol. Great review.
Thank you for being real about this laptop. I wish I had waited for reviews, as the multiple issues I have with this makes me regret buying it, even with a significant discount.
This is a great review!! Best I've seen for this laptop that i am/was (lol not sure now) very interested in buying. Everyone is viewing it as a unicorn and I too had been viewing with rose tinted glasses. Thank you for bringing me right back down to earth...might be best to wait and see how things play out. Like another commentor said. This is a real review!
Great review! Can you confirm that the display issues are mostly mitigated by turning off the setting described below? Only thing stopping me from pulling the trigger after your review
It really makes a significant difference. It’s very beautiful panel and I hope the largely misinformed section of his review didn’t turn you a way from this gem.
Good review. I agree with all of your negatives as being worth docking points for, but none of them where enough for me personally to outweigh the positives. I bought one and am waiting for it to ship now. Only two things I'm truly concerned about is the hole punch design on the back being hard to clean, and the speakers. Though I went into it knowing this, and dismissing it as my use case scenario will be with headphones 99% of the time. For me the choice was all about performance and thermals, and thermals. Every laptop I've ever had has had thermal issues. I actually could have gone with the $2500 model if I wanted to as it was well within the budget, but this one has the same cooling solution with lower TDP hardware. I actually expected to get one of those ultra thick heavy laptops to get the cooling I wanted, which is absolutely fine with me, but this one beat all of those out in every reviewer's thermal testing.
Subscribed, well done with mentioning about issues with speakers or lack of webcam. It's a deal-breaker for me. Btw seems Asus struggles for years now if it comes to low sound quality or screen brightness. They're good only in terms of small chargers. But in every laptop they make, they make some trade-offs. In general maybe they should focus on making a solid laptop instead of 100 different models and all with a bigger or smaller flaws. I can't recommend that company to anyone.
You've become my favorite reviewer by far. I was wondering now that the macbook air can edit 4k videos in a fully silent fashion, I would love to have a new slide in the benchmarks with "full silent mode" where the fans are fully turned off and compare that to the Air and other laptops. I'm really picky when it comes to fan noise and I'd like to make an informed decision based on that.
Yeah, tbh I was dissappointed. There are things other manufactuers can look to; like it's excellent keyboard and trackpad. But this definitely isn't a great laptop. Good but not great.
I've had this laptop for about a month now. After having 2 hps x16 omens die on me because of bad build quality, and trying the aero I exchanged for this and very very happy with it. I game a little, and program. Battery life is great compared to the omen. The first omen had a bad battery and I'd barely get an hour out of it and the second I was like to get 3. I can now go sit at a coffee shop and code a little and still have plenty of battery left. I got lucky my speakers sound great with no cracking. Very happy with the performance and quality of this laptop, but I do agree with the monitor. It doesn't seem very bright at all, but wish it was a little brighter. I also disagree that this laptop looks cheap. I think it looks great and one of the better laptops in that department.
Hi I own the same laptop: - built-in webcam isnt a big deal for me as I can use my phone for it. - I like the look of the laptop that doesnt scream gaming laptop - I think I dont need high settings for triple a games, just good enough to play it. (Im a programmer too) - its not as expensive as others. - excellent keyboard Cons - SD Card reader seriously?? My old inspiron laptop has one..(big one but not deal breaker) - placement of the charger Overall:8/10
Gosh, I was planning on buying this laptop in a sense because I figured it would be good enough to keep me going for uni. Your review has started steering me away, and I'm curious to see how Jarrods Tech also describes it. I didn't want a gaming laptop, but I did want something with a bit of power that didn't look "gamerfied" with garish RGB, silly keyboard accents etc at a respectable price. Running quiet, handles thermals well were also a consideration. I want a laptop for uni, for computer science, and it just seems like an impossible nightmare. Yep, I've watched your previous videos. I'm sure my hair has bleached itself even more grey thinking about this. Part of it is not wanting to confront the truth that maybe Apple is the answer. Thank you Josh.
All he really complained about in this video was the speakers and the display though. Anyway, if you do want a gaming laptop that doesn't look like one, consider this or the G14. I've had the G14 for a few months now and absolutely love it. I've used it for gaming, programming (android studio), solidworks (3d printing), and video editing (da vinci resolve) and the machine just flies through everything with no sweat. As for general usage: Screen is nice: Gets bright and has a matte finish. Speakers are really loud and good: They have Dolby Atmos! (Turned off by default). Battery life is adaquate (Around 6-10 hours, 6 being the worst). Keyboard and trackpad are nice: (Keyboard area gets warm when gaming intensely, trackpad is glass and feels nice to use and is responsive with gestures). Build quality is great: The whole thing is made out of metal (Magnesium alloy). Except for the bezel which is plastic, this makes the whole laptop have no flex, it's built like a tank but weighs nothing too!
2021 Zephyrus G15 much improved than 2020. Some points yet to iMproved: A) 2 upgradeable RAM slot. B) Bright 16 inch display alike G16 scale with 16:10 ratio. C) Smartphone selfie cam as Webcam. D) Speaker with more bass. E) 5 degree more incline. F) Large side vents to not heat screen. G) Place a full capacity USB C port in between left vent and hinge. H) Place DC power in - beside Kensington lock.
I had that speaker issue on my first ASUS G14 and had to return it, and get a 2nd one. My 2nd one now has a stuttering issue which affects EVERYTHING (sound, visual, keyboard lighting etc.) But it only happens like once a day, only lasts for half a second and is completely harmless. Better speaker popping at the very least
Wow those speakers made my ears bleed. Thanks for the comprehensive and honest review. Those faults you've mentioned are for me, not insignificant. And really glad to hear you're feeling better - that's great!!
You must really hate the Zephyruses LOL. I am working with the G14, and my friend's G15, their screen is more than enough for both gaming and working =))
Hey man like your videos just letting you know I got a G15 last week from BestBuy with the RTX3070. After I did all the windows updates/bios updates it would get stuck on a black screen and the activity light would also stay on. The only way to fix this was removing the battery (what a pain) I tried trouble shooting it but no fix. After taking it back to bestbuy the geek squad guy told me it would take a month to fix. So I had to return it and now I’m waiting for it to come back in stock. ):
Cant believe how you can make such a newbie mistake. The display is dim because you have vari bright enabled in radeons control panel. Disable that and you will see the actual max brightness
Wow! Thanks for the indepth review. I seen so many rave reviews for the laptop and was wondering what the downsides are for this laptop. Thanks for explaining it in-depth. Will definitely buy this laptop b/c of its power and price.
I was thinking to get this one when it's available in Bulgaria, but now I think I will wait for the Lenovo Thinkbook 16p gen 2. Hope you review it and thanks for this review Josh. You are only youtuber I am subscribed that does a linux reviews. It will be awesome if you do 2021 version of the video about laptops for developers
It’d be easy saying this coming off as a fanboy here, but the performance you get out of the 16” Macbook Pro, considering it isn’t particularly loud, doesn’t have huge heatsinks, and is running a lower-binned 9th gen CPU compared to the 10th gen ones, is pretty impressive. Apple tuned that 9th gen CPU really well.
