ASUS DITCHES Intel

ASUS is making a bold shift at CES 2020 by showcasing AMD powered laptops, signaling a dramatic shift in the balance of power between AMD and Intel in gaming machines. The Zephyrus G14 emerges as a standout, featuring a Ryzen 4000 series CPU and a design that blends gaming punch with professional aesthetics. Linus notes that this is the first time AMD brings a seven-nanometer Zen 2 architecture to laptops, promising more cores and efficiency compared to the older 14-nanometer mobile line. The video dives into the Ryzen 4000’s eight-core, sixteen-thread configuration, with boosts over 4 GHz, and ponders the tradeoffs between performance and battery life given a claimed long runtime on a 76 watt-hour battery. ASUS is intentionally advertising a mix of performance, battery life, and premium build, including a magnesium chassis and a fingerprint-enabled triangular power button, but not without playful skepticism about the gimmicks like RGB lighting. The Zephyrus G14’s cooling philosophy is highlighted, introducing a hinge design that splits airflow for both intake and exhaust, aiming to reduce thermal throttling when the screen is angled or closed. In parallel, ASUS presents the Tough A15 as a budget-conscious alternative with up to an eight-core Ryzen and a 90-watt-hour battery, emphasizing upgradeability and a 144 Hz display with FreeSync while keeping the chassis more utilitarian. The Ga35 desktop is introduced as a flagship AMD-based system, powered by a Ryzen 9 3950X paired with a Strix RTX 2080 Ti, highlighting multiple thermal zones and hot-swappable bays for esports versatility, and a humorous aside about how to handle the hardware with the show’s signature hardware-enthusiast vibe. The segment closes with a sponsor plug for Pulseway, stressing remote IT management capabilities across Windows, macOS, and Linux, before the host humorously teases more CES coverage to come and keeps the energy high through the end credits.

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