- Asus has announced its ROG Zephyrus G16 range in the UK
- The asking prices represent a painful step up from last-generation laptops
- The entry-level model is 28% more expensive – even though the GPU is one class higher – and gamers are completely unaffected
Asus unveiled its new ROG Zephyrus G16 back at CES 2026 (amongst a bunch of other notebooks), and now we’ve caught wind of the price in one place – and it’s not good.
Notebookcheck.net has noticed (via VideoCardz) that prices have appeared for these gaming laptops in the Asus UK store ahead of hardware availability. A huge climb has been used, which surprised the players, even considering the prevailing weather conditions.
The new entry-level Zephyrus G16 model with Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU (plus 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and Intel Core Ultra 9 386H CPU) costs £3,199 in the UK, around 17% more than the same model of the last generation of G16 notebooks.
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However, the twist is that there is no RTX 5060 model this time around (it was in the last list), so the G16 entry level of 2026 is actually 28% more expensive than it was in 2025 (although it is obviously more powerful with that 5070 GPU).
Looking for a 2026 G16 with RTX 5080? Then look out for £4,099, and for this year’s flagship G16 with RTX 5090, the laptop tops out at £4,899 (with those models, you get 64GB of RAM and a 2TB drive, with the same CPU).
As Notebookcheck.net points out, the last-generation G16 is now £400 off in the UK, and compared to that, the new base model has a starting price of over 50% more than its predecessor (albeit with that much more powerful GPU, as noted). That’s a pretty big increase, of course.
As one gamer on Reddit put it: “I don’t know what I was expecting, but I didn’t expect that… 3 bags of 5070. That’s crazy.”
Analysis: what does this mean for prices elsewhere?
Gamers in the UK are not impressed with the new prices, even if everyone knew that the laptop ride was – and may still be – on the way, due to the problem of PC parts. (RAM and storage, but other components too, like GPUs, and we hear about CPUs of the latest prices, so, the bad news keeps coming).
And in some regions, these mounts are worrying players as well, considering that they represent a significant increase compared to the 2025 models from Asus. However, in the case of the US, we must remember that while the price tag of the entry level in the UK – £3,199 – converts to about $4,200, there is not much point when considering the direct currency conversion.
That’s because prices in the US are relatively cheap (minus import costs, sales tax, and other factors). Those of us in the UK often find that technology costs the same in pounds as it does in dollars (if not more). Just look at the recently launched MacBook Neo, for example, which is $599 in the US and £599 in the UK.
Also, the Neo is a perfect example of how it’s still possible to keep computer prices affordable (although Apple has undoubtedly used its vast resources to good effect in terms of inventory and being able to use favorable prices for parts).
Overall, the price rises for the ROG Zephyrus G16 feel unfairly heavy, but that said, the US pricing situation may look better when it’s announced (which should be soon). The best will be a relative name, remember, and there is no guarantee of this.
Of course, the UK situation is a bad sign in the US and other countries besides, as are the prices of Asus models in Canada, such as the 2026 ROG Zephyrus Duo (a dual-screen laptop), which starts at $5,499 CAD (and £3,999 in the UK). That’s an entry-level price right there, just to be clear.
The reaction on Reddit has been disbelief, coupled with resignation to the ever-increasing prices of hardware. There’s even a noticeable body of people who say they’d be willing to buy a MacBook given the new Asus ROG prices, despite the fact that Apple’s laptop is clearly not a gaming laptop.
What this story of price woes highlights is that it’s worth looking at last year’s model – at a discount, as is currently the case in the UK – rather than paying a fortune for a modern laptop, and this is true now more than ever.
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