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Now that systems with NVIDIA’s 40-series mobile GPUs have finally hit the market, there’s a new generation of gaming laptops that promise even more incredible performance.And in the 2023 edition ASUS‘ ROG Zephyrus M16 Equipped with a 13th Gen Intel CPU and RTX 4090, you get unrivaled gaming power. This year, ASUS upgraded the laptop’s display to a stunning new Mini LED panel and brought in an Anime Matrix lid, making the notebook look nicer too, while the rest of the chassis remained largely unchanged. The big problem, though, is that a full-featured review unit costs $3,500. Does this system really offer the same value?
design
The Zephyrus M16 has a relatively slim matte black chassis that weighs just 5 pounds, and it does a great job of keeping portability on top of all that performance. And while it looks almost identical to last year’s model, the Anime Matrix LED lid (the first we saw on the Zephyrus G14 line) adds a little extra style without screaming power levels. If so, ASUS’ Armory Crate app lets you easily turn the lights off and turn them back on when you want to wow the nosy Saiyans.
ASUS
ASUS ROG Zephyrus 16M (2023)
Strong Points
- New 240Hz mini LED display
- anime matrix lighting
- strong performance
- sophisticated design
Cons
- very expensive
- run hot
- loud fan
- decent battery life
Inside, Zephyrus features RGB backlit keys and left and right stereo speakers. Typing feels good, but I wish the actuation felt a little stiffer. It would have been nice if the deck was a little more fingerprint resistant. I would also have liked to see a fingerprint scanner integrated into the power button. It’s a feature you can do, but for some reason, the makers don’t think gamers care as much about the convenience and security that built-in sensors provide.
In terms of connectivity, the M16 has plenty of ports, including multiple USB jacks (both Type-A and Type-C), a full-size HDMI socket, and even a microSD card slot. One port ASUS didn’t keep from last year’s model is the Ethernet jack, which might be a deal breaker for some, but it’s less of a concern in 2023.
screen
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Visually, the M16’s 2560 x 1600 screen is arguably a more significant upgrade than the new CPU and GPU. Being a mini LED panel, not only has the refresh rate increased to 240Hz, but there are even more dimming zones to help reduce blooming. Its brightness is also much better. In normal use, the display hits around 600 nits, but thanks to the VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification, it looks even better when playing games or watching movies.
My one complaint, which is true of all laptops with Nvidia’s Optimus technology, is that when switching between the integrated graphics and the discrete GPU, the screen flickers and goes black. Additionally, depending on certain settings, you may need to re-enable things like HDR or certain color profiles when the mode is changed. This can become a chore after a while, especially if he’s set the Optimus to automatically switch depending on whether it’s plugged in or running on battery. So I ended up setting it to always stay connected to the GPU and never touch it again.
performance and thermals
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
The M16’s performance is by no means slow, but ASUS has fallen far short of delivering truly top-notch performance. This is because it uses the slightly slower Intel Core i9-13900H CPU instead of the HX series chip. ASUS, on the other hand, caps his RTX 4090 in his M16 at 145 watts (or 150 watts, according to the NVIDIA control panel).
Admittedly, this might feel a bit boring, especially considering the 32GB of RAM and the fast 2TB SSD, as the M16 isn’t sluggish. But when you’re spending so much on a laptop, it’s strange to see ASUS leave a little extra performance on the table: In PCMark 10, the M16 scored his 8,624. That’s over 20% higher than last year’s Razer Blade 15 (i7-12800H/RTX 3080 Ti). That’s a pretty big leap, but we’re still waiting for a wider system to come out so we can have a more complete comparison for 2023.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
But more importantly, the M16 firmly beats the Blade 15 in games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider when it hits 144 fps at 1920 x 1080 at its highest settings, compared to just 124 fps on the Razer. It was a defeat.In addition, Metro Exodus The M16 showed a similar lead when reaching 101 fps in Ultra at Full HD. By comparison, the Blade 15 had 86.120 fps stable with all graphic bells and whistles on Far Cry 6.
However, one drawback of putting all this power into a relatively thin chassis (0.9 inches) is that it overheats. Temp doesn’t put you in the danger zone, but you definitely don’t want to play the game on your lap, even for casual titles. After a minute, you will be sweating. Additionally, the M16’s fan is quite loud and cannot be ignored in performance mode. Thankfully, ASUS also supplied his Zephyrus with pretty powerful speakers, so it’s pretty easy to drown out the fans. There’s also a quiet performance mode in the Armory Crate app if you don’t mind a little less performance.
battery life
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Another downside to this rugged system is that the battery life is pretty mediocre. When using the low-power integrated graphics (Nvidia’s system default when his Optimus tech is set to Auto), the M16 lasted just 5:18 in our local video rundown test. That’s a little better than something like MSI’s Stealth 15m’s 4:15 time, but slightly worse than the 2022 Blade 15’s 5:42 mark. , the situation is even worse and the M16 fails within 3 hours (2:50).
wrap up
All in all, it doesn’t look all that different from last year’s system, and while the battery life is far from ideal, the Zephryus M16 still has a lot to offer. It’s a sleek and surprisingly understated design, with a slightly hidden flash, and the new 240Hz mini LED display looks great. It also has lots of ports, and in a very welcome upgrade to quality of life in general, ASUS has bumped up his webcam’s resolution all the way to Full HD. With a 13th Gen Core i9 chip and a system that supports up to RTX 4090 GPUs, practically everything runs very smoothly. I wish ASUS hadn’t gone so far as to include Intel and NVIDIA’s highest spec mobile his most barbaric version of their silicon. If he’s already paid $3,500 for a fully loaded model, he might want to pay a few hundred more to make sure there’s no compromise on performance.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
That said, for my money, I’d rather go with one of the M16’s more affordable configurations, starting at $1,950 with an i9 chip and RTX 4070 card. Plus, you’ll still get the vibrant mini LED screen and Anime Matrix cover. This way, you’ll have a system that doesn’t put a damper on your ability to game in style, waste your budget, or hurt your back if you decide to carry it around.