Tech bytes for tea?

Key Features

• Small size with big impact: Compact and portable at only 17.9mm thin and 1.7kg, without compromising performance
• AniMe Matrix LED personalization: An optional, precision-cut LED on the lid lets users show custom graphics, animations and other effects.
• Immersive gaming visuals: Feature the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics that produce high frame rates for popular games
• High refresh or high resolution: A 120Hz refresh rate panel allows users to optimise for gaming or content creation.
• Nonstop speed: Latest AMD Ryzen 4000 Series Mobile Processor featuring world’s first x86 8-core and 16-thread with advanced power efficiency.

Small Size with Big Impact

Packed into a much smaller footprint than 15-inch alternatives, the ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401) easily slips into conventional laptop bags and backpacks.

The system is only 17.9mm thin and 1.7kg.

To keep the laptop light and strong, honeycomb reinforcements beneath the palm rest add strength with minimal extra material.

The Magnesium-aluminum alloy deck is precisely machined and fingerprint resistant for a professional polish.

High strength and low weight make aluminum ideal for the lid, whose distinctive dot matrix design is produced by a CNC milling process that puts 6,536 precise perforations in the exterior panel.

Innovative LED Personalisation

The ROG splash across the lid comes to life with the AniMe Matrix display.

This display uses 1,215 mini LEDs to give gamers a new medium to express their individuality. Each LED emits a white glow with 256 levels of brightness control.

Users can import animated GIFs and other graphics, build custom animations frame by frame, and type text messages with different fonts.

Visualisations react to music and other audio, creating a unique platform for DJs and other artists.

Perfecting the AniMe Matrix display was a significant milestone in the ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401) project.

It took 15 iterations alone to create the mask that evenly distributes light from each LED.

The alignment of this diffusing layer has to be perfect to get the ideal effect, especially since the individual lights are rectangular rather than square.

ROG engineers were also careful to balance the number of mini LEDs to minimize heat, controller hardware, and power requirements.

High Refresh Rate Display

The ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401) equipped with a high refresh rate Full HD display that goes up to 120Hz.

Smaller laptop screens aren’t usually available with higher refresh rates, but ROG worked closely with panel providers to create new 14-inch displays capable of keeping up.

The 120Hz panel doubles the speed of typical laptop displays for smoother, high-intensity action.

AMD FreeSync technology adds another level of smoothness by coordinating frame delivery between the GPU and display.

Game performance tends to vary based on the demands of the title and scenario.

Most displays refresh at a consistent rate, which creates problems when new frames aren’t ready at the right time.

AMD FreeSync technology synchronizes the refresh rate of the display with the frame rate of the GPU to eliminate visual tearing that can ruin immersion, and also minimize stuttering and input lag.

Although AMD FreeSync technology has existed for years, it gains greater functionality with new AMD Ryzen 4000 Series Mobile Processors.

Their integrated Radeon graphics allow AMD FreeSync variable refresh-rate technology to work with AMD FreeSync technology-enabled monitors and adaptive sync enabled devices.

The display is also factory calibrated, and PANTONE Validated to ensure creators get the colour accuracy they crave.

The IPS-type panel has wide viewing angles and covers 100% of the sRGB range. It is framed by exceptionally thin bezels, creating an expansive 85% screen-to-body ratio.

One-of-a-kind Cool

Ultra slim chassis leave little room for airflow, and a smaller footprint makes the ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401) even harder to keep cool.

The thermal engineers at ROG developed an exclusive feature that dynamically adjusts the power available to the CPU based on the GPU temperatures.

It can make changes every second to react to spikes in GPU utilisation, ensuring optimal gaming performance for the conditions.

This is the first ROG laptop to feature an ErgoLift hinge that tilts the keyboard at a more comfortable angle.

The bottom of the display lifts the back of the machine when the lid is opened, giving the vents in the base more room to breathe.

The design hides part of the lower bezel, too, but in doing so it can impede airflow out the rear exhaust ports.

To compensate, vents have been cut into the bezel and the distance to rear heatsinks has been widened.

Since that larger gap increases the depth of the chassis and makes the hinge more susceptible to downward pressure, a stiffer spring is used for added strength.

The rear exhausts and heatsink fins are shaped to direct air both up, away from the bezel, and down, towards the vents cut into it.

Two more outlets line the flanks, and all four of them are filled with ultra-thin copper fins as slim as 0.15 mm.

The slender profile allows both higher density and lower air resistance than typical fins that are twice as thick.

There are 209 heatsink fins totaling 68,868 sq mm of surface area.

They’re fed thermal energy by a network of five heat pipes that cover the CPU, GPU, and VRM responsible for powering them.

Dust and other particles inevitably get sucked into laptop fans, but self-cleaning cooling helps to avoid accumulation that can compromise performance and stability over time.

It uses anti-dust tunnels to catch particles and direct them out the back of the chassis.

Since full-sized tunnels take space away from the fan, the ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401) features shortened tunnels that make room for the same size of fan used in the 15-inch ROG Zephyrus models.

This custom design offers higher airflow while retaining good dust ejection, striking a better balance for this size of machine.

Even the n-Blade fans are tweaked to optimise acoustics in the super small chassis.

They’re made of a special liquid crystal polymer that lets these ultra-thin blades hold their shape at high RPMs.

Instead of using 83 identical blades, n-blade fans in the ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401) use 81 blades that are between 50 mm and 51.2 mm long.

The uneven outer edge reduces noise caused by turbulence without adversely affecting airflow, and helps the ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401) keeps noise under 45 dB in Turbo mode.

Fan speeds are controlled by an intelligent algorithm that responds automatically to temperature changes.

Three expertly tuned operating modes let users quickly adapt to different scenarios using a convenient keyboard shortcut, while Scenario Profiles seamlessly switch between modes based on user-defined preferences for individual games and applications.

With the highest fan speed and frequencies, Turbo mode is the best for maximum performance. Performance mode strikes a better balance for gaming, while Silent mode goes further to reduce acoustics for lighter work and entertainment.

Flexible Options On-the-go

The Type-C port with USB Power Delivery is also capable of driving an external monitor via DisplayPort 1.4.

The HDMI 2.0b port makes it easy to game or watch movies on 4K monitors and TVs.

There’s plenty of connectivity for external devices through a secondary Type-C port focused on USB functionality, plus two Type-A ports for additional gear. No dongles needed.

The ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401) amps up wireless networking with Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) connectivity, also known as 802.11ax.

When paired with a compatible router, Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) boosts peak interface bandwidth up to 2.4 Gbps, and improves efficiency for crowded spaces. It also reduces latency, meaning less lag for sensitive activities like online gaming, and expands upstream capacity, which provides more bandwidth for live-streaming.

Keyboard enhancements go beyond ErgoLift as well.

The ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA401) is the first ROG laptop to integrate fingerprint login into the power button.

A single press wakes the machine and briefly caches a user’s fingerprint, saving it to authenticate when Windows is ready to log in.

On machines with multiple users, the OS automatically detects the right account.

Despite smaller chassis dimensions, the keyboard takes cues from larger Zephyrus gaming laptops.

Key switches with ROG Overstroke technology actuate earlier in the stroke for quicker, more responsive input, while N-key rollover ensures that every press registers, even when entering multiple keys at once.

Spaced keys mimic desktop layouts to let users fire off function commands more intuitively, and access essentials like volume and mic mute instantly with dedicated hotkeys.