The Zephyrus series has always been ROG’s flagship for the thin and light gaming notebook category. The 2025 refresh of the ROG Zephyrus G16 has plenty of upgrades from its predecessor including Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processor, NVIDIA’s Blackwell-based GeForce RTX 50 series GPU, WiFi 7, and better cooling.
| CPU | Intel Core Ultra 9 285H |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti |
| NPU | Up to 13TOPS |
| OS | Windows 11 |
| RAM | 32GB LPDDR5X 7467MT/s |
| Display | 16-inch OLED, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, 100% DCI-P3, G-SYNC, Pantone Validated, MUX Switch + NVIDIA Optimus |
| Storage | 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD, 2x 2280 M.2 |
| I/O Ports | 1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C, 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DC-in, 1x 3.5mm Combo Jack, 1x SD Card Reader UHS-II |
| Connectivity | WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Battery | 90Whr, 240W DC Charging, 100W USB-C Charging |
| Audio | 4x Speakers, 2x Tweeters, Dolby Atmos, Smart Amp, AI Noise Cancelling, 3-Microphone Array |
| Others | Aura Sync, Slash Lighting, 1080p FullHD IR Camera, RGB Backlit Chiclet Keyboard |
| Dimensions | 354 x 246 x 14.9 – 17.4mm |
| Weight | 1.85kg – 1.95kg |
Much like its predecessor, the ROG Zephyrus G16 2025 sports a slim dark gray metal chassis that’s 1.64cm at its thickest part. It weighs in at just 1.95kg, which places it at the lighter side of higher-end gaming laptops.
At the lid of the notebook is its ROG Slash Lighting system. While not as flashy as other RGB systems, the Slash Lighting system can be used for notifications and adds just enough to add to the notebook’s minimalist look. Its lighting is limited to white, but you have several animation options for customization.
Its keyboard comes in a 65% configuration with arrow keys at the bottom right and dedicated keys for Volume Up, Volume Down, Microphone Mute, and Armoury Crate shortcut. There is RGB lighting, but the whole keyboard is unified into a single zone instead of per-key illumination.
The Function keys at the top are slightly skewed to the right and you might need a couple of hours to adjust to their layout. Fortunately, the keys themselves are tactile with a soft landing for a comfortable typing experience. They have also improved cooling around the WASD area, which lowers temperatures even while under heavy load.
The Zephyrus G16 packs complete I/O ports for most circumstances. At the left-hand side are its DC-in for charging, HDMI 2.1, Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, and a 3.5mm combo jack. The reverse side houses a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, another USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, and an SD Card reader compatible with UHS-II cards.
ASUS equips the ROG Zephyrus G16 with a 16.0-inch 2560 x 1600 OLED display running at 240Hz. On paper, it seems that this is the same display as last year’s model. The display supports DCI-P3 coverage, G-SYNC, and is Pantone Validated for improved color accuracy.
As expected, image quality on its OLED display is superb. It’s able to produce deep blacks and vibrant colors with good contrast. There’s good color coverage as well with our instruments measuring 97.90% DCI-P3, which should be good enough for colorwork.
As for brightness, the panel maxes out at 401.04nits which is decent. Given that the display is glossy, you won’t have an enjoyable time using it outdoors or against strong backlighting. The panel, however, is fairly even with only a 6% difference from the brightest to the dimmest section.
The G16 packs a total of 6 speakers including 4 speakers with 2 Dual-Force speakers and 2 tweeters. These deliver a pretty good audio experience with a surprising amount of depth and bass. There is a lack of soundstage, but music and movies come out clear even if you turn up the volume.
The ROG Zephyrus G16 that we have on review comes powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 storage paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU. ASUS is also offering the notebook with a GeForce RTX 5070 variant paired with the same CPU, RAM, and storage configuration.
Its drive is supplied by Micron under the model name MTFDKBA1T0QGN-1BN1AABGA and comes in a standard 2280 form factor. Running a quick CrystalDiskMark benchmark with an 8GiB workload puts out around 6,936MB/s and 5,786MB/s sequential read and write speeds, respectively.
Those who want additional space can easily expand its storage thanks to an extra M.2 2280 slot. This can be accessed by just removing the screws of the bottom panel.
As usual, we’ll be putting the ROG Zephyrus G16 through a battery of tests to see what kind of numbers it can get. We’ll be running both synthetic and real-world benchmarks for its CPU and GPU tests. All tests were run using its Turbo Mode to get the most out of its components.
While the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is plenty for most games to run smoothly, the current games landscape takes advantage of frame generation and upscaling to compensate for computationally intensive techniques like Ray Tracing and Path Tracing. Thanks to its Blackwell architecture, you’ll have access to both DLSS 4 and 4x Frame Generation that will boost performance in titles that support them.
The ROG Zephyrus G16 comes with three cooling profiles by default: Turbo, Performance, Silent. These profiles adjust the clock speeds, power consumption, and fan speed to fit their respective sound and thermal limits.
There is a drop in performance between profiles, but this is a trade off for battery life, thermals, and noise. Running Cyberpunk 2077 with the RT Ultra preset with DLSS Balanced upscaling, framerates drop by 40% and 14% on Silent and Performance, respectively, compared to Turbo which is the maximum performance profile.
The notebook’s internal components are cooled by a dual-fan setup complemented by a vapor chamber. It’s Intel Core Ultra 9 285H peaks at a toasty 106°C with a maximum clock speed of around 3.2GHz before backing off with an average of 92°C during a gameplay session with an average clock speed of 2.5GHz.
Its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti fares much better when it comes to thermals. At full load, the GPU peaks at only 86°C with a clock speed of 2.4GHz, but averages throughout the run with a temperature of 83°C and a clock speed of 2.1GHz.
The Zephyrus G16 packs a 90Whr battery within its chassis. At full charge, you should be able to get 7 – 8 hours of usage for light tasks such as watching videos, word processing, and general work. It’s not advisable to play games away from a plug, but you’ll be able to squeeze around an hour and a half of playtime on graphically intensive titles under Silent mode if you’re desperate enough.
The notebook ships with two charging bricks: a chonky 240W adapter for its DC-in port and a 100W USB-C charger. The latter is good for overnight charging or just topping off the notebook, but the 240W charger will be making most of the heavy-duty charging filling up its 90Whr battery in under 2 hours.
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 2025 proves that the thin and light segment for gaming laptops have plenty of performance despite their space constraint. Thanks to its new internals and OLED display, it should be able to easily play graphically-intensive games for years to come while delivering beautiful visuals.
Its formfactor, however, does come with a premium. At PhP 219,995 for the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, it’s a device clearly meant for the serious premium market that’s looking for high-end performance in a mobile package.
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 2025 starts at PhP 199,995 in the Philippines. All of their 2025 ROG and TUF Gaming notebooks will come with a 3-month PC Game Pass subscription and ASUS Service Package with 2-year International Warranty and 1-Year Accidental Damage Protection.
You can now get the notebook through official ASUS and ROG stores. A list of official stores and authorized retailers can be found on their official website.
