Review of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan Walker Edition

If there’s one company I trust to do a good job with some downright silly computer ideas, it’s Asus. Last fall, the company worked with cyberpunk fashion designer Acronym to create the strangest gaming laptop I’ve ever seen (the ZPHYRS G14 ACRNM). This year, he teamed up with famous DJ Alan Walker to create a less avant-garde and more musical version of the same device. This is the Zephyrus G14 Alan Walker Edition, a laptop for gamers, DJs, and (ideally) gamer DJs.

The interior of this laptop is nothing more than ROG fans have never seen before. There’s only one setup, selling for $ 1,999.99, which includes an AMD Ryzen 5900HS processor and low-end GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card, along with a 120Hz, 16GB QHD display of RAM and 1TB of storage. So to be clear, it’s not really a wise buy unless you’re a super Alan Walker fan, as that same price tag can get you a non-Walker G14 with a more powerful RTX 3060 GPU, as well. only 32 GB of RAM.

Still, it’s a pretty cool device. The cover has a reflective belt ordering passers-by to “JOIN THE REPUBLIC” and “JOIN THE WALKERS”. Alan Walker’s logo – resembling an A superimposed on a W – is printed in various places, including the A and W keys as well as on the nameplate. There’s a diagonal line print on the touchpad that’s supposed to resemble music equalizer patterns, and there’s also splashes of bright blue – Walker’s favorite color – on the keyboard, too. It’s not an obnoxious aesthetic, as these special editions sometimes have – it looks more like a standard G14 with a few colorful tweaks.

Walker says the design reflects the look he would like his personal device to have. “They approached me and asked me, what are your expectations for the laptop, what are you looking for in a laptop if you had to pick one yourself?” he said The edge in an interview. “It was a lot of back and forth – like, a lot.”

The other advantage is that the packaging of this G14 becomes a DJ turntable when it is connected to the laptop via USB-C. It’s not the most high-tech thing – if you lift the paper floor, you’ll see a nest of wires taped to the bottom of the box.

“This is one of those crazy ideas that we ended up debating, would that be possible?” Walker said of the DJ box. “Asus is like, ‘Yeah, cool, maybe we can think of something, figure something out,’ and then they came back with a box.” He added: “It’s so weird how it even works.”

I expected this to be complicated to set up for a non-DJ like me, but it was a cinch. Plug the case into the G14 and a preloaded software called ROG Remix opens automatically. You can play a song in this program and then edit it by pressing various buttons in the box. There are buttons for things like speed, start / stop, and a few basic effects.

It was – warning, again, that I’m not a DJ – a lot of fun. The buttons all worked and the effects sounded very cool to my untrained ears. It sounds like something you could easily use at a party, especially since the G14’s speakers are fantastic. The music crackled a bit at first, but it seemed to work out after a few tracks. Most of all, I’m impressed that it all comes out of a plastic box.

Walker agrees his G14 is a better buy for people like me than for real DJs. “It’s not necessarily the number one gadget to get if you want to get started with DJing, but it’s definitely a good place to start,” says Walker. “I hope people will use it to be creative and play with the music.”

He expects to use the G14 on his next tour, however. “It contains everything I need, basically, to work and prepare for my shows,” says Walker. “I can easily imagine myself using it every day. He says he could use it to plan his set lists before performances, and to work on the visuals as well.

He could also use it to play in his spare time. “Lately I have been playing Call of Duty, “he said.” Also a few Valuing. “

The ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan Walker Edition is available now for $ 1,999.99.