ROG Strix G16 (2023) is the newest mid-range gaming laptop that seeks to challenge the 100 thousand peso price segment. Packing a 13th gen Intel Core i7 processor and an RTX 40 Series graphics card, it certainly boasts the firepower to handle demanding games.
However, as with many laptops, the devil is in the details. We dissect its strengths and weaknesses to paint a complete picture and uncover whether the Strix G16 is a worthy investment for gamers.
ROG Strix G16 key specs
- Display: 16-inch, 2560×1600, 240Hz refresh rate
- CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13650HX
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 6GB GDDR6
- RAM: 16 GB DDR5 4800 MHz
- Storage: 512 GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD
- Battery: 90 Whr
Build quality, design
ROG Strix G16 boasts a sturdy build: its aluminum lid touts the new ROG branding, characterized by a digonal strip. In contrast, the chassis is primarily uses plastic material with a rough finish. Compared to the sleek and sexy ASUS Zenbook or ROG Zephyrus line, this machine thick and hefty, reminding us more of the value-oriented TUF machines.
Despite the generous amount of plastic, the build quality is quite good: Flexing in the keyboard deck is kept to a minimum, while a robust hinge keeps the screen firmly in place.
The ROG Strix G16 comes in two colorways: Our review unit in “Eclipse Gray” appears more subdued compared to its flashier “Volt Green” sibling. We thought that the gray might do a better job of hiding smudges and fingerprints.
It’s passable, but we had a tough time cleaning it and hiding our fingerprints during the photo shoot.
The cyberpunk-inspired patterns etched around the exhaust vents add a touch of visual flair, and the translucent WASD keys offer a glimpse of the RGB lighting underneath.
While the design is functional, it’s not without its drawbacks. The G16 is noticeably thick and heavy compared to other 16-inch gaming laptops, making it less portable. The entire back and upper edge is dedicated to cooling, so all ports are located on the sides. As a result, things can get quite cluttered when multiple peripherals are connected, since it occupies a ton of space on the sides rather than staying hidden at the top.
Additionally, the lack of a card reader and any biometric login options (like a fingerprint sensor or IR camera) feels a missed opportunity, especially when you’re in a rush to unlock your desktop.
Display
ROG Strix G16 variant being sold in the Philippines packs a 16-inch display with a QHD+ (2560×1600) IPS display panel. We read that there’s FHD+ option running at 1920×1200 in other regions.
ROG calls it the Nebula display, boasting excellent color accuracy covering 100% of the DCI-P3 color space, 240Hz refresh rate with G-Sync support, and 500 nits of brightness.
Okay, so on paper, these features make it sounds like the ROG Strix G16 would be great for both gaming and creative work. In reality, the IPS display panel shows very obvious signs of backlight bleeding, especially from the bottom edge. It’s really obvious when we use the laptop in a dark room which is how we prefer to game all the time – you know, with the lights turned off.
Also, that 500 nits of brightness? Fair for room use, wish it were brighter though.
This our biggest gripe with the ROG Strix G16: If you were going to go the SAMSUNG way and start branding panels something like “Nebula Display”, it better live up to the hype.
On the flipside, it now supports upgraded refresh rates at 240Hz. Response time has been improved to 3ms, ensuring buttery-smooth gaming experience, free from motion blur and ghosting. NVIDIA G-Sync support further enhances fluidity by eliminating screen tearing.
On yeah, it supposedly supports HDR, but only in video playback, so it’s not that useful on a gaming machine like the ROG Strix G16.
Performance
ROG Strix G16 did alright in our benchmarks, scoring 8435 points in PCMark 10, with 9765 points in Essentials, 9113 points in Productivity, 9224 in Content Creation, and 16667 points in Gaming.
In 3DMark Time Spy, we scored 9145 points, broken down into 8710 points for Graphics and 12763 points for CPU.
In Cinebench R23, the scores were 18783 points for Multi Core and 1882 points for Single Core performance.
Honestly, we expected higher PCMark scores, and that’s not just because we’re running on a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13650HX CPU. It also packs a PICe Gen 4 SSD and 16GB DDR5-5600 RAM modules.
This combination makes moderate image and video editing a breeze, especially if the application actually supports GPU rendering like Davinci Resolve (paid version).
Gaming
The ROG Strix G16 packs an RTX 4050 GPU with 6GB of DDR6 memory, making it a viable entry-level option for ray-traced gaming at its native resolution of 2560×1600 pixels. The number of titles that can run a stable 60FPS are becoming less and less through the years, so it is only prudent to check your game’s minimum specs before making any purchase decision.
What’s great about the ROG Strix G16 is that you can still achieve stable 60 FPS at higher graphics settings by stepping down to 1080p. Fast-paced action appears crisp and fluid, providing a competitive edge in games that demand quick reflexes.
Even demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2 were smooth as silk at this resolution, although you might need to tweak settings for the most demanding titles.
Check out our benchmark results below!
| Game | Resolution | Preset | DLSS | RTX | FPS avg |
| God of War | 2560×1440 | – | Off | – | 66 |
| God of War | 1708×960 | – | Quality | – | 77 |
| Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy | 2560×1600 | Ultra | Quality | Off | 133 |
| Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy | 2560×1600 | Ultra RTX | Quality | On | 80 |
| Doom | 2560×1600 | Ultra OpenGL 4.5 | – | 140 | |
| Doom | 2560×1600 | Ultra Vulkan | – | 170 | |
| Diablo IV | 2560×1600 | Ray Tracing Ultra | Off | On | 33 |
| Diablo IV | 2560×1600 | Ray Tracing Ultra + DLSS Super Resolution | On | On | 80 |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | 2560×1600 | Ultra Direct 11 | Off | 52 | |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | 2560×1600 | DirectX 11 Ultra | Quality | 70 | |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | 2560×1600 | DirectX 11 Ultra | AMD FSR 2.2 | 56 | |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | 2560×1600 | DirectX 11 Ultra | AMD FSR 1.0 | 73 | |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2560×1600 | Ray Tracing: Low | Auto | Low | 73 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2560×1600 | Ray Tracing: Medium | Auto | Medium | 26 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2560×1600 | Ray Tracing: Overdrive | Auto | Overdrive | 20 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2560×1600 | Ultra | AMD FSR 2.1 Quality | Off | 42 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2560×1600 | Steam Deck | AMD FSR 2.1 Balanced | Off | 68 |
| Red Dead Redemption | 2560×1600 | Vulkan Custom (Ultra) | Off | 46 | |
| Red Dead Redemption | 2560×1600 | Vulkan Custom (Ultra) | Quality | 54 | |
| Red Dead Redemption | 2560×1600 | Vulkan Custom (Ultra) | Auto | 62 | |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 2560×1600 | DirectX 12 Highest | Quality | Off | 100 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 2560×1600 | DirectX 12 Highest | Quality | On | 42 |
| Palworld | 2560×1600 | Epic | Off | 50 |
If you would like to maximize the native 2.5k resolution and play 60FPS though, the 4060 variant should offer better stability. Not sure if it is available in the Philippines, but if you are interested, drop us a message on social media (@techkuya on Facebook and YouTube). Hopefully we should have more information from our friends from ASUS by then.
Moving on, the ROG Strix G16 offers a mind-bogglingly high refresh rates of up to 240Hz, which is cool and all, but what’s interesting is the 3ms response time. Supposedly, this prevents artifacts such as blurring and ghosting. According to this article, you would want response times above 13ms, but we honestly would not be able to tell the difference unless someone pointed it out.
Then there’s G-Sync and FreeSync support which would be a big plus on more powerful machines, especially when we want to eliminate tearing in fast-paced games. However, since we don’t normally go beyond 60 FPS we find that enabling v-sync is enough to eliminate tearing artifacts.
Thermals
ROG Strix G16 features an upgraded cooling system that keeps temperatures under control during long gaming sessions.
It packs three fans “Tri-Fan Technology”, seven heat pipes, and Thermal Grizzly’s Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal compound to keep the CPU and GPU cool. According to ASUS, this can keep operating temperatures to below 15 degrees Celsius.
We have no way of validating this, so we’ll have to take their word for it.
What really impressed us, though, is the cooling system, dubbed the ROG Intelligent Cooling. Like any machine, the G16 can get warm under load, and while the fans do a good job of dissipating heat and preventing thermal throttling, Windows’ stock power settings may not always be up to par.
Also, higher performce requires more power, and sometimes we just want to get things done without having to manually tweak and switch our system’s performance profiles all the time.
ROG Strix G16 addresses this by re-calibrating the fan speeds to match the workload. There are a total of five performance profiles to select from:
- Windows – Defer to Windows’ built-in system settings
- Silent – Office work, web browsing, and video streaming
- Performance – Suitable for all scenario
- Turbo – AAA games, video processing, and creative work
- Manual – Fine-tuned controls, including overclocking
These settings can be accessed via the ROG Armoury Crate, along with other settings such as Aura Sync for compatible peripherals.
By the way, the keyboard has 4 programmable RGB lighting zones. We have also grown to appreciate the “light bar,” which provides additional illumination at night. Even if you’re not a fan of RGB, you can always set it to white or a yellowish hue to help you find your way around.
Battery life
As mentioned in the previous section, ROG Intelligent Cooling helps maximize available battery life by switching to more efficient profiles when possible.
The G16 packs a 90WH battery which supposedly yields up to 10 hours of web browsing or 11 hours of video playback. That’s according to ASUS, because our own tests produced less than that out of the box, so we suppose a bit of tweaking may be required.
Now we don’t really mind that at all, considering the G16’s price and form factor. We are happy to at least 6 hours from any machine with equipped with a discrete GPU.
What we do care about though, is portability – and that power brick is not doing it any favors at all. Sure, it can pull 140W at max TGP, but it kills us that the laptop industry still hasn’t figured out a way to use USB-C for high TGP requirements until now.
At the very least, it would have been nice to have the option to charge via one of the USB-C ports for when we really need to travel light.
Verdict
The ROG Strix G16 is looking to be a cut above your average notebook PC, delivering in two places where it matters the most: performance and battery life. It also offers compelling visuals while looking nice at the same time.
Priced at only P99,995 it’s almost unbeatable for an RTX 4050 powered laptop from a reputable manufacturer such as ASUS. Do we want better visuals? Sure. How about more RAM? Of course. Thinner and lighter form factor? Now that would be the Zephyrus G16, which costs double.
We really like the direction that ROG Strix is going: affordable and powerful without sacrificing battery life.
ROG Strix G16 tech specs
- Dimensions: 354 mm (13.94″) x 264 mm (10.4″) x 22.6 mm (0.89″)
- Weight: 2.35 kg (5.18 lbs) + 0.81 kg (1.78 lbs) power adapter
- Display: 16-inch Nebula 2560×1600, 240Hz refresh rate, 500 nits, 100% DCI-P3, 3ms response time
- CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13650HX
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 6GB GDDR6 (up to 140W)
- RAM: 16 GB DDR5 4800 MHz
- Storage: 512 GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD
- Battery: 90 Whr, 280W power adapter
- Connectivity: Wi-FI 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, Gigabit LAN
- Ports:
- 1x Power Input
- 1x 2.5G LAN
- 1x HDMI 2.1 FRL (supports 4K@120Hz, G-Sync)
- 1x Thunderbolt 4 (USB4, DisplayPort, no charging)
- 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (DisplayPort, Power Delivery up to 100W)
- 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2
- 1x 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack
- Features
- MUX Switch
- NVIDIA Advanced Optimus
- G-Sync support
- Per-key RGB backlit keyboard (some configurations have 4-zone RGB)
- Oversized touchpad (some configurations have a virtual NumberPad)
- HD (720p) webcam
- Dual speakers (no tweeters)
- No fingerprint sensor or IR camera
- Price: P99,995 (Philippines)