Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) review: Gaming laptop with style and substance

The ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) has a customizable Anime Matrix back panel (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) review: Let’s start with the design

As mentioned in the prologue, the ROG Zephyrus lineup of laptops are some of the most unique-looking gaming machines, and the latest entrant follows the same principle. This laptop doesn’t shy away from showing its gaming DNA, and this year, the 16-inch Zephyrus also gets Anime Matrix, which further elevates the looks of this device.

The I/O on this laptop is pretty straightforward and has almost everything that one expects from a gaming laptop of this class, which includes a Thunderbolt 4 port (Type-C) with DisplayPort 1.4 support, HDMI 2.1 port, microSD card slot, 3.5mm audio jack, and two USB-A 3.2 Gen1 ports. For a laptop of this calibre, I would have definitely liked to see a full-sized SD card slot, and it also misses out on the RJ45 Ethernet jack, which could be a letdown for LAN party-goers.

Overall, the ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) is a well-made laptop with a matte finish. The negative is that the matte finish gets covered in smudges rather quickly. 

The ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) has a 16-inch 2K screen with up to 1100nits of peak brightness (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) review: What about the display?

The ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) definitely has one of the best displays that I have ever used on a gaming laptop. The laptop comes with a massive 16-inch mini LED display with QHD+ resolution and 240Hz refresh rate, striking a balance between resolution and refresh rate. This offers almost OLED-level contrast with up to 1100 nits of peak brightness (in HDR) and 600 nits of sustained brightness. Hence, this is the one gaming laptop that can be used both indoors and outdoors.

Asus calls this a ROG Nebula Display HDR, and the technology behind this screen is similar to the one found on the newer Apple MacBook Pros. The display is Pantone validated and offers 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage. Similarly, it also has Dolby Vision and VESA DisplayHDR certifications.

I enjoyed watching shows, playing COD: MW II on the ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023), and it is definitely one of the best laptop displays that I have tested for both gaming and content consumption. And this is also the first laptop where I felt that the screen was “too bright” at the higher brightness levels, which is another testament to how good of a display it packs.

ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) CPU benchmark numbers (Image credit: Vivek Umashanakar / Indian Express)

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) review: Let’s talk CPU and GPU performance

While the ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) might not have the most powerful laptop CPU in the world, it does have the second best processor — the Intel Core i9-13900H with up to 4.9GHz clock speed, 14 cores, 20 threads, and the CPU is paired to 32GB DDR5 memory. The higher clock speed with the combination of hybrid CPU clusters ensures that the laptop delivers best-in-class single-thread and multi-thread performance, making this a great laptop for both gaming and content creation. Here are the benchmark numbers from CPU-Z, Geekbench 6, and Cinebench R23.

ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) gaming performance (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)

The laptop has a tri-fan cooling system and uses liquid metal to improve the CPU’s thermal conductivity. During continuous gaming, the laptop can become a bit noisy once all three fans kick in. The device also has a full-width copper heat sink, which further helps dissipate heat from the laptop. The device also features NVIDIA Optimus technology along with a MUX switch, which helps to smartly shift between the integrated GPU and dedicated GPU depending on the task, resulting in improved battery life. During normal usage, the laptop operates silently and does deliver best-in-class battery life.

The ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) is equipped with the RTX 4090 laptop GPU with 16GB of video memory, which is also the most powerful notebook graphics card. I extensively played two games on this laptop — Far Cry 6 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, and I thoroughly enjoyed the gaming experience, thanks to the HDR display and the higher frame rates. The laptop even at the highest graphics settings at 2K resolution can easily hit over 100fps even on the most demanding AAA titles, making it one of the most capable gaming machines based on my testing.

The laptop has a 1080p web camera with IR sensor (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) review: What about camera and audio?

While the bezels aren’t the thinnest that I have seen on a laptop, I am really glad that the company is using them to include a high-resolution 1080p web camera along with an infrared sensor to offer Windows Hello face unlock and it works like charm in every lighting situation. Due to Anime Matrix, the top lid of the laptop is slightly on the thicker side, which shouldn’t worry most users.

The six-speaker setup on the ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) comes with Dolby Atmos support, and this is also the loudest and clearest set of speakers that I have seen on a gaming laptop from Asus. The audio sounds full, there is enough bass with an emphasis on vocals. From gaming to music listening, the speakers on the ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) come to life and even at 100% volume, there is no distortion at all.

ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) can handle any AAA title at 2K resolution and deliver over 100fps with ease (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) review: Verdict

The Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) is the most powerful gaming laptop that I have tested so far. From the overall design to the hardware specifications, the laptop offers everything that one expects from high-end premium gaming laptops of 2023. While it does get loud with continuous gaming, I did not notice any performance throttling even after over two hours of continuous gaming.

If you are looking for a 16-inch gaming laptop that looks cool, handles any AAA title, and is also easy to carry around, then the ROG Zephyrus M16 (2023) is the right choice. However, do note that this laptop definitely comes at a cost and it is for those, who want nothing but the best.