I bought this laptop brand new February 18th of 2024 from my local Best Buy when the Geek Squad tech that helps me pick out my laptops recommended it as an upgrade from my previous Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 that I purchased in 2022.
My M16 has the Intel 13gen core i9, NVIDIA RTX 4070 and 16GB memory. In October BIOS update 212 to 213 bricked it and I had to take it into Best Buy to be sent to Asus for repairs. One motherboard and battery later, I got it back, but noticed a significant loss in performance speed overall and a slight overheating issue. I remember specifically telling the Geek Squad tech my M16 ran cooler than my G14, and that wasn't the case anymore.
Fast forward to December 22nd, I realized this thing was getting so hot I couldn't even touch my keys, hold the power button or safely handle the battery charger brick. This was with this laptop sitting on an induction cooling fan running at 2800 rpms to try to keep this thing cool/cool it down. I saved all my important files to my external SSD and took it back into Best Buy. It has been shipped off to Asus yet again, and this thing isn't even a year old. At the counter, as per the Geek Squad tech's notes, "30 seconds into the Sims 4 main menu the laptop exceeded 90*C and the counter test was stopped."
My CPU fan is essentially dead, rpm on the Armoury Crate, GHelper when installed/checked and on the BIOS menu (forgive me if it's called something else) all read 0 rpms for the CPU fan. No settings were altered and the fan upon inspection was fine, no cracks/breaks/chips/fragments/loose parts/etc. The back/underside panel of the laptop when removed looked like the metal had taken a decent bit of heat damage, not scorch marks, but the metal was discolored.
My fans aren't always on turbo or performance (I don't set custom fan curves, I'm still learning a lot about PCs/laptops), I try to clean dust/debris from vents/fans often, and I have never gamed without it sitting on a cooling fan or my induction fan. With all the issues this thing has had, and especially since it got worse after the first fix, it makes me nervous to get it back after a second trip under warranty.
I don't see my model "GU604VI-M16.I94070" listed on Best Buy's website for sale anymore, so if it does get junked by Asus or Best Buy, what happens then? This is the second Asus laptop, and second Zephyrus I've had, that I've had issues with. 😞
