I just got the new 2020 MacBook pro 13 when it was on sale on Amazon for $1599with the ice lake i5, 16gb ram, 512gb ssd. I bought the Asus about a month or so ago when it was on sale at Best Buy for $1350. With these two laptops I can do pretty much anything on any OS available to use.
I will take an Asus over a Razer any day. Apple is another ballgame altogether. However if you consider the MacBook Pro 13 is supposed to be the portable pro version of a mac able to do photo editing, video editing, and light gaming and it cost $1799 retail for the most up to date model at the lowest cost. If you compare it feature by feature besides software(of course) the Asus is a far more capable and powerful machine than the Mac in several ways. The AMD Ryzen 4900hs is a complete beast and serious game changer. It is so much faster, better integrated graphics, better battery life than anything Intel offers in the mobile space now. Asus has a 6 month lock on the 4900hs and then other manufacturers can use the same apu. Honestly, 14" is the perfect size and the G14 feels revolutionary while the MacBook is more of the same and is gimped by its usual lack of dedicated gpu and the processor although 10th gen intel is a quad core and 10nm it just can't compete with the AMD 4900hs is an octacore hyperthreaded 7nm processor. Then you say the MacBook uses premium materials, has an incredible screen and great speakers and has 512gb ssd. All that is true but you get a 1TB NVME ssd, better speakers, a good screen, and has a magnesium alloy unibody build. So if you were comparing the two and trying to decide based on features and performance not software then the Asus actually beats Apple in many ways. Now the G14 is no Razer or Apple as far as design and build quality but it is close enough that you still feel like you have a strong premium product.
As a bit of a nerd that others ask advice about laptops it is hard for me to recommend the MacBook pro 13 2020 not because it is not a great machine. It is probably the best MacBook 13" ever. It is just that the competition is so fierce and with manufacturers putting new AMD 4000 series processors in nice machines with decent gpu at decent prices it makes it hard to recommend a Mac. Again if you don't do anything that requires a dedicated GPU then the Lenovo flex 5 14" on Amazon is probably a pc that will fill 99% of average users needs. That pc costs $599!! Has the Amd 4500u, 16gb ddr4 3200 ram, 256 pci ssd, glass 10 point ips display with Wacom pen to use for note and light drawing. The AMD 4500u outperforms the Intel 10th gen i5 and i7 u series cpus and ice lake as well in the same category by a lot. Also better graphics. The Lenovo actually has a decent cooling solution and the 1080p screen in 14" seems very crisp. The colors suck compare to either of the laptops I have been comparing but for average user it would not be an issue. Decent 2 watt stereo front facing speakers and really good battery life! So if I am being honest even I could probably get away with the Lenovo. What I am saying is that anyone who buys anything above the Lenovo is buying something they probably don't need but we don't buy things just based on need and cost. There are intangibles like the software experience and materials used. Also if you are going to be using the same machine for years you want to enjoy using it not just know it can do what needs to be done.
Since this is a Mac sight I thought I would compare and contrast the Asus versus a similar mac model. To me I like to have more than one computer and more than one operating system. However if I could only have one computer I would probably get the Asus G14 even though I prefer the MacOS, the design and build quality of the Mac, I would have a hard decision because having much faster pc with double the storage would make more sense then the Mac. Also I am not really losing anything with the Asus while with the Mac there are a lot of compromises. Thermals on the Mac are not very good in comparison to the Asus. To me the Asus is a true Pro model in a compact form while the Mac is a bit of a compromise. Both are amazing machines though and anyone would be happy with either. I feel very lucky to have both. I just wanted to state despite what some have said Asus build on this machine is way better than I was expecting. Between a Razer and Mac the Asus sits between the two. I personally hate Razer build quality but love their design. Asus has a much more solid product than Razer that still looks good but Apple still makes a superior build quality product.
I would say the $1799 model MacBook 13 2020 is the sweet spot. I would not buy a more expensive model nor a cheaper model if you are interested.
