Asus unveiled the 2026 ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop featuring Intel Panther Lake CPUs, with prices starting at $3,450 and going up to $3,600 for reviewed models in the US market [1]. This marks a shift from the previous generation, which used AMD processors. The new G14 also includes a full-size SD card slot.
The laptop delivers strong all-around performance for both work and gaming. It offers an OLED display, about 10 hours of battery life with light use, and well-regarded keyboard and speakers. A reviewer from The Verge called it, "If I could only have one laptop for work and gaming, I'd get this one" [1].
However, the switch to Intel has driven up costs. The 2026 G14 costs roughly $1,000 more than last year's AMD-based models with similar specs [1].
Alongside the G14 laptop, Asus announced the ROG NUC 16 mini PC powered by Intel Arrow Lake HX processors in Plus variants. It supports GeForce RTX 50-series mobile GPUs and can be configured with up to 128 GB of DDR5 memory and two M.2 SSDs [2].
Pre-orders for the ROG NUC 16 began in China at around $4,400, notably higher than the previous-generation ROG NUC featuring an RTX 5080, 32 GB RAM, and 2 TB SSD, which is still available for about $3,868 on Amazon [2]. PC Gamer criticized the price jump, saying, "Four kilo dollars is beyond any measure of reason or justification, despite the grimness of the RAMpocalypse" [2].
The Intel-based ROG Zephyrus G14 laptops and ROG NUC 16 mini PCs were both released in 2026, with the NUC 16 entering pre-orders in China the same year [1, 2]. Asus is positioning the new products as high-end gaming solutions despite the steep price increases.
Asus will continue availability and shipping for the 2026 ROG Zephyrus G14 models in the US and global markets through this year [1].
