ASUS 15.6" 144 Hz Intel Core i7 8th Gen 8750H 2.2GHz NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 16GB Memory 512GB PCIE (NVMe) SSD Windows 10 Home 64-bit Model GX531GM-DH74

Comment

Wow, what can I say... let me try to constrain my emotions and keep my ROG fan boy inside my pants for a moment and write an unbiased review to the best of my abilities. 1. \CPU is amazing\ it blows my dells i7-7700HQ out of the water. x700HQ has been a staple for years and who wouldve thought 8th gen intel has come so far. it does everything so buttery smooth in windows 10 and 6-cores (12 threads) 2. \GPU is amazing\ This is one of the thinnest laptop if not the thinnest that I have ever seen or used with these type of specs. GTX 1070 max P is definitely a powerful beast. It runs BF1 at max settings at 1080p perfectly fine, with G-Sync turned on I would say at this point, built-in display limited at 1080p is becoming a let down but matters not, I am going to test the limits of it via a USB-C thunderbolt to DisplayPort cable and hook it up to an AGON AG352UCG6 monitor and run it at 120Hz G-Sync and see how it does at 3440x1440 3D Mark11 yielded around 22K of score most importantly is there is a switch for turning the dedicated graphics off, just using Intel that saves a lot of battery power if I am just doing a presentation on the go, it is nice theyve thought of this instead of making a pure gaming machine (no laptop should be so single purposed) 3. \Friggin fast SSD\ I do graphics work and video editing work on this occassionally and it has kept up with loading Premier and transcoding the files very fast, thanks to the graphics card being utilized by Adobe. When transfering the large files, its kept up its paces too although I am not putting the drive to work nearly its advertised limits since I/O is still the limitation. There is a Dell thunderbolt 3 external SSD Drive out, I may buy that and test it out I believe this SSD inside the ASUS is an iteration of the Samsung 970 EVO, definitely one of the fastest out there (except for the Pro) the 1TB hybrid drive is no slouch either, enough to store some of the files (while the rest are on NAS), and hasnt been too much of a bottle beck 4. \Clever chassis design\ The chassis is pretty smart, since it has a piece on the bottom that pops open when I open the lid to a certain degree this has allowed for cooler air to enter from the bottom and sides, especially useful as a tilt that helps with my typing too This is particularly useful too when using on the lap or on the bed where bottom tends to get muffled with blankers or something soft with about an hour of encoding, the cooling setup inside has kept the machine not too noisy, doing its job of efficiently cooling the GPU and CPU the keyboard area has remained fairly cool, under 45C for most of the time 5. \Decent screen\ Screen and its bezels are the only partial let down of the machine visually, the quality is great and i havent noticed any blurring or tearing with G-Sync turned on color accuracy seems good enough for most graphics work although I still use an external monitor with higher DCI-P3 profile for video editing I havent experienced much input lag or slow response time so things are peachy there bezels though.... they are still large in a day and age where infinite edge displays and super narrow bezels are becoming common on $1300 laptops, yet this $2k machine is still rocking the thick arse bezels... what gives? 6. \Fancy keyboard and lighting\ There is some glow around the laptop and backlit keyboard is pretty colorful I am not one for the rainbow scheme of color in my gaming laptop so ive set it to just red and dim for now there are so many apps and settings that I havent gone deep enough to figure it all out yet and that is one of the problems... too many apps and settings! I suppose I am not geeky enough wanting to tinker with those all the time 7. \Upcoming upgrades\ Seeing how I am running close to the 16GB of RAM, I plan on adding another 16GB soon I opened up the mem bay and it is a good sign that both slots are operable, while only one is occupied by the 1x16GB 2666, I will add another 16GB soon Another upgrade is I plan on adding a thunderbolt 3 port hub that has more USB ports, displayport out (USB-C alt mode), gigabit ethernet hard to find one that exactly matches my need so will need to do a bit more research (watch out for compatibility with 4K monitors)

Show more

Comment

Powerful laptop. Runs everything Ive thrown at it. Looks great. Lightweight. Very quiet when not under load. If you crank the fans up, expect to hear a jet engine nearby, though! I gave it -1 star because it gets INSANELY hot unless you properly configure it for your games. ThrottleStop is your friend. -1 star because, upon opening this morning... the casing for the hinge seriously just broke off. Nothing of note happened upon opening. I seriously just opened the lid and "POP" -- clean break into two difference pieces. It appears as though there was supposed to be some type of metal rod inserted inside of it to better anchor the plastic cap -- but mine doesnt have one. I am now left here debating if I should call them for a replacement due to this -- or simply superglue it back on. In either case, this never should have happened and has really left a bad taste in my mouth for any potential future purchase from ASUS as I continually hear issues about their QC.

Show more

Comment

Amazing Laptop. Glad I waited a couple months before comitting to a new gaming laptop. Screen quality, keyboard feeling, hardware and finitions, usb and other inputs placements...this laptop is a beast. Only a couple negative points which doesnt affect the 5stars rate: the bottom case feels weirdly delicate when you take it in your hands while opened, or on you knees (because of the cooling system which looks awesome so far), hope it holds up with time. Also, Fingerprints easily stay on the metallic back. Oh, and for the price tag a protective sleeve would have been nice instead of ROG stickers.

Show more

Comment

i love this machine, already a good part of my life. here is why i like it, and some considerations - graphics: - gtx1070 is really strong. BDO and Farcry5 ran on max graphics >60fps, 1080 res. - i plug hdmi to my TV to view 4k res, it runs at 30-40 fps comfortably at max graphics. - asus auto throttles the GFX if it gets too hot, lack of power, etc. this is kind of irritating, you can turn on fan to full blast - which generally sets GPU performance higher. but surely sound a lot noiser. gfx fan: - to start, most AAA games will make the fan whirr fast, high pitch and noticeably loud. - you can throttle anytime with pre-installed ASUS software (ROG gaming center), but that will reduce your FPS. i let it run and turn up my game louder. my mind will selectively ignore it after a while. hdd: - the solid state is very fast, but smaller, my config has 237gb usable space SSD. the 1TB is a hybrid SATA HD (with small SSD component) that supposed to auto prioritize frequently accessed files for faster speed. not noticeable difference for me. has 931GB usable space, reported by windows my computer. processing power/ RAM: CPU: i7-8750H intel coffee lake 6 core, 12 threads = incredibly fast. multi-tasking mastery. also includes intel UHD 630 onboard GPU - this GPU sidekick can run youtube/ pptx, without slowing down your GFX card working hard on your games. my config is 16gb ram, great for most purposes - i wish i had 32gb for my VM images, which cost quite a bit - maybe ill upgrade sometime later. physical design/ dimensions: really thin when closed. metal finish is great. when screen is open, bottom lifts up a bit to give a gap for airflow. nice design. HOWEVER, the laptop must stay open, for better airflow. this is a small problem, as i plug laptop to my big TV, hoping to keep my laptop closed for gaming. partial workaround is to display to TV but not laptop, saving my laptop screen/ better FPS by using only 1 screen, etc. laptop stays at comfortable temperature throughout the intensive gaming. this is much better layout than other zephyrus, with large toughpad below keyboard, like all other laptops. i carry this when i travel (about 3kg+ with big brick charger), now i game on the fly!! i use wireless mouse/ keyboard, with this laptop plugged to my big screen. so GFX fan noise dont bother me. keyboard lights are very useful in the dark. and you can turn them off completely if you need to.the gamevisual app that does this is a bit slow/ laggy. it is nowhere as portable as my MS surface pro (<1kg), but much more portable than most gaming laptops. ports: lots of ports on the left/right side of laptop. nothing behind it, to allow incredible design for air flow. note that power port on the left side. if that matters to where you place your laptop. power: its reviewed that battery do not last long - when im not plugged in, i can play farcry for 1-2 hours (tested) otherwise, for reading, ms office work, it should last 3hrs+ (not tested)

Show more

Comment

I spent a lot of time going over reviews and product specs since my G750 kicked the bucket and I wanted something with just as much oomph which was considerably more portable. All ill say about performance is this machine kicks butt at everything I throw at it. Ive yet to find a game that I cant run on Ultra settings @ 1080p that dips below 60fps. The display is also something to behold, video reviews do not do it justice. The ability to play games at 100+fps on a laptop is quite surreal. The build quality is impeccable. The magnesium alloy chassis and the fan opening on the underside move a lot of air in a manner that is very comfortable to use in the lap. Which is one of the things I was concerned about before using the device. It may just be that I was spoiled by the fantastic accoustics of the larger Asus G74 series laptops but the first thing I noticed is that this machine does sound louder than other well-cooled gaming laptops (read: thicker). I measured the sound myself compared to my G74JH and the meter reads them as within 2dB of each other. The Zephyrus just has a higher pitch fan noise going on. In balanced mode its not unpleasant but if youre doing any serious gaming in your lap, youll want to run it on overboost. That said, just using the cheap in-ear buds that came with my Note9, phase out the fan noise quite well. When not gaming, the machine runs perfectly and cool to the touch in Silent Mode, for all you coffee house goers. The battery life is good, but you wont be doing any gaming on the battery. So I dinged a star on battery life for that because its sort of misleading. The desktop-class 1070 needs more juice than the battery can provide and if you try to run it off battery you will see severely reduced frame rates. All in all an excellent option of great gaming potential and portability for school/work.

Show more

Comment

If you are looking for a small form factor gaming laptop that provides top notch performance without the heavy logistical footprint, then you dont have to look any longer! The Asus ROG Zephyrus answers the call for any serious PC gamer that needs their gaming fix while on the road. I replaced a much heavier and larger ASUS G701VI-XS72K gaming laptop (8.5 lbs. and 17.3") with the Zephyrus. I wanted something lighter for when I conduct business travel, and the Zephyrus was one of the best choices for me. Here are my Pros and Cons for this laptop after owning it for about 3 weeks: PROs - One of the first small form factor gaming laptops to come with Intels next-gen Coffee Lake 6-core CPU - Lightweight at only 5.5lbs. and 1.4cm thick, yet has a very high quality build; mostly solid metal for the bottom and lid! - Gaming display with high refresh rate (144Hz) AND has G-Sync = BUTTERY SMOOTH GAMING! - Very easy to upgrade hardware components; direct access to the NVMe slot, 2.5 inch hard drive bay, memory DIMMS, and WiFi mini-PCIe slots - Equipped with next-gen USB ports and plenty of them! 4 x USB 3.1 Gen2 ports and 1 x USB Type-C Thunderbolt port - USB Type-C port is directly compatible with external DisplayPort (eDP) video/audio output, so no need for a mini DP port! - AC adapter is compact and not nearly as bulky as previous generation power bricks - Fan noise is lower than expected thanks to the new highly efficient cooling solution Asus incorporated into the Zephyrus; open the lid and the rear bottom of the laptop opens up to allow for cool air to directly circulate into both the CPU and GPU fans - Intel 802.11AC 9560 WiFi card provides the very best "Gigabit Wave 2" wireless connection (up to 1.7Gbps bandwidth), so make sure you have a decent 802.11ac WiFi router in order to take the most advantage of this very fast wireless card! - The fully customizable sRGB keyboard is just icing on this amazing gaming cake ;-) CONs - Cost may be prohibitive for those that dont want to spend +$2000 on a gaming laptop - No Ethernet port provided; you will have to buy a USB 3.1 or USB C -to- Ethernet adapter if you want wired internet connection - Use of any external monitor may require a special USB Type-C -to- DisplayPort or DVI adapter OTHER THOUGHTS: This is one amazing laptop. Its fantastic at everything it does. The only one complaint is the price. I will have to be honest - had I not been able to buy this unit "open-box" for just $1700, I probably wouldnt have bought it. The hardware specs are great, but are on par with cheaper competing laptops (except for Razer, which is way overpriced no matter what).

Show more

Comment

Pretty much exactly what you think it is. Great at running pretty much whatever game you want to throw at it at big FPS numbers on a pretty screen in all the thinny goodness you paid for. It is quite lovely to behold in person... Also, its hot. Physically. To the touch. The panel above the keyboard gets downright spicy when under load over time. The keyboard stays touchable, but the right side vent blows directly on your mouse hand and that gets a bit warm over time as well. The fan sound is... obtrusive. Im aware that its a thin gaming rig, so its going to have to move significant volumes of air through tight passages, but its more about the tone. Ive read some find the pitch less grating than other set-ups, but its annoying to me. I wear a headset V-MODA Crossfade M-100 Over-Ear Noise-Isolating Metal Headphone (Shadow) (get the v-moda boom mic to go with and you will know audio bliss while gaming) most of the time for game audio, so like... not "return it" kind of annoying, but yeah... And at the end of the day, when Im legitimately giving the old gpu the what for, it posts temps for both cpu and gpu in the low 70s to high 60s with the fan set to overboost. Another gripe I want to point out is the flexibility of the lid. Its pretty rubbery. That being said, I love the screen. Vibrant, quick, clear, no pixel issues or light bleed. The battery is laughable. I havent even done a rundown test. I dont need a specific number of minutes in order to know its trash... Overall I would recommend this machine to a friend. As long as that friend knew what they were getting into... Now a quick write up on getting rid of the most obnoxious part of this machine... the boot noise. It. Is. Abhorrent. So heres how to turn it off: 1 Enter BIOS by holding down F2 as you press the power button. Keep F2 pressed until the BIOS screen pops up. Hold steady, the ROG roar is coming and it can be difficult not to jump as it comes through at MAXIMUM VOLUME!!! because, you know, it just makes sense... 2 Click on "Advanced Mode" in the bottom right or just hit F7 3 Click the "Advanced" tab in the top left 4 Use the arrow keys to navigate down list to "Animation Post Logo Configuration" and press enter 5 Arrow down to "Animation Post Logo Audio" and use the + or - keys to select "Disabled" 6 Press the F10 key and select "OK" by hitting enter You will now enjoy a peaceful boot sequence that is as tranquil as it is rapid. I do really love owning this laptop. Its REALLY good at doing 2 things I enjoy. Playing games and getting people to look at my cool stuff!!!

Show more

Comment

The case feels great. Its thin and tight. Runs great. No problems with screen or backlight on the keyboard. Theres a beast under the hood, so it does crank out all kinds of crazy heat, even on mid-level games, and the fans really get going but it doesnt bother me if I have headphones on. Other thoughts: After the first week, it looks like one of the temperature gauges might be faulty. In the control center, the CPU temperature will jump from 50-something to 80-something and then back again every few seconds. Im still observing.

Show more

Comment

Absolutely amazing performance, extremely capable of dealing with thermals, and a very tactile keyboard. The only flaw is the battery life, but If you are like me and dont need it to last more than 3 hours, then its a non-issue. Also, switching the setting to Optimus noticeably increases its battery life if you really need it. But lets be honest...thats not a factor for anyone looking to buy a gaming laptop. Worth Noting: When I got mine, It was losing network connection randomly. The device manager and Asuss website showed the network cards drivers as up to date. But when I went to Intels website, I found there was an update. Now it works perfectly! Simple fix, that I figured anyone planning on buying should know.

Show more

Comment

Seriously. This is the laptop for you.. Simply put it like this.. For the extra YOU WERE going to spend on something much more expensive than this, you could have bought an external gpu with a gpu, ultrawide monitor and a gaming controller and still blast past the others. This laptop is so easy to connect and disconnect from your gaming hub and keeps up in school. Sure, the battery life isnt the best.. However, this should be plugged in to game. This laptop is smart btw.. Meaning, it knows how to use its own fans, GPU/CPU settings, etc.. so you dont have to mess with it everything every time (may not sound like much but trust me.. youll love it and this laptop is one of the FEW to do it this WELL) you unplug it. Its as thin as a nickel is tall, and the keys are an absolute pleasure (I write a lot) to use. It connects with devices around your home and treats your cell phone like a brother (Apple or Android). The thunderbolt three port is the best Ive seen and the screen is phenomenal. Get the 1070 version and go external for everything else. TRUST ME.

Show more