I recently picked up an ASUS G14 (2025) with an RTX 5070 Ti from Best Buy’s open-box section for around $1600 in excellent condition. Overall, the laptop performs well, but the battery life is noticeably weak, and I occasionally run into random screen blackout issues likely connected to the VIDEO_TDR_ERROR. As a PhD student at Harvard, I rely heavily on performance and stability for my research work, especially since I may need to run AI models that require strong GPU and CPU performance. Although I don’t game much anymore—my Xbox Series S covers that need—I’m debating whether this was the right choice or if I should switch to a MacBook Pro instead. I’ve never used a Mac before, so I’m a bit hesitant, but the promise of longer battery life and reliability on macOS is tempting.
Hope you are enjoying Cambridge. I went to MIT obviously just down Mass Ave
Here’s my thoughts. A MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro 12 Core MPB14 is purchasable at that price point. I personally would probably go with that as its far less hassle. But you would be loosing CUDA. The other ones you could consider if you really want long battery life in a Windows laptop with NVIDIA are:
- Asus TUF A14 ←- This uses a really efficient Ryzen 7 chip. It isn’t available with 5070 Ti and it isn’t quite as premium feeling a the G14 you have, but it doesn’t get ANYWHERE near as hot ot the touch, has much better battery.
- HP Omen Transcend 14 ←- This gets warm but not as warm as the G14. It also has better battery life, but not as good as the TUF A14. It is more premium feeling than the TUF though
I’d send the G14 back and get the MacBook or TUF
1 Like
Thanks for responding! I’ll probably go with the MacBook Pro.