Hi everyone,
I recently bought an open-box ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025 model, RTX 5070Ti) from Best Buy listed as "Open Box – Excellent."
After inspecting the unit, I noticed some issues near the hinge area:
• Visible separation/chipped off plastic along the rear hinge seam or Chipped plastic near the hinge corner
• Rear panel looks slightly misaligned near the hinge , i may be wrong
• I sometimes hear a faint clicking/creaking sound when opening or closing the lid
Additionally, during benchmarking or heavy load, I occasionally hear a light crackling sound. I'm not fully certain of the direction of the sound, but it seems like it might be coming from the hinge area — although I could be mistaken. Also temp and fps wise works amazong no issues there thanks to g-helper ❤️.
I paid about $1680 for this open-box excellent condition unit, so it was a strong deal price-wise, but I’m concerned whether this is just cosmetic damage or an early sign of hinge failure.
My main questions:
- Is this kind of hinge separation normal or seen on 2025 G14 units?
- Does hinge seam separation typically worsen over time?
- Could the crackling sound under load be related to hinge stress or panel pressure?
- If this were your unit, would you keep it or return/exchange it?
I still have return/exchange eligibility until early June 2026, so I'm trying to decide before committing long-term.
Photos attached for reference.
Thanks in advance!
I paid about $1680 for this open-box excellent condition unit, so it was a really DAMN good deal price-wise, but I’m concerned whether this is just cosmetic damage or an early sign of hinge failure.
My main questions:
- Is this kind of hinge separation common on the 2025 G14?
- Does this usually get worse over time with normal use?
- Would you consider this cosmetic only, or a structural concern?
- If this were your unit, would you keep it or return/exchange it?
I still have return eligibility till June 06, 2026, so I'm trying to decide before committing long-term.
NOTE: Already filed a BBB complaint after Best Buy acknowledged the unit was misgraded as ‘Open Box – Excellent’ but only offered a refund or $100 credit instead of a proper exchange and was asked to monitor prices to drop for exchange(crazy folks)
Photos attached for reference.
Thanks in advance!