Gaming notebook ASUS ROG ZEPHYRUS GX501 GTX 1080 MAX-Q

 

INTRODUCTION

ASUS just announced the latest laptop in their Republic of Gamers line. The ROG Zephyrus GX501VI and GX501VS have an Intel Core i7–7700HQ processor and an NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1080 Max-Q graphics card in a design that is less than 1.7 cm thick and weighs only 2.2 kg. Even though not everyone needs a thin and light laptop, those who do will be glad to know that a new thin laptop can do even more.

ASUS has a great range of gaming laptops, from cheap ones to ones that can replace your desktop. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus is a premium high-performance computer that is smaller and lighter. NVIDIA’s launch of the GTX Max-Q GPU, combined with better binning and lower GPU frequencies, brings most of the performance of the GTX 1080 to even smaller notebooks. Before, the heat generated by this graphics solution would have been hard to get rid of without the larger volume that a larger, heavier laptop provides.

ASUS isn’t the only company making a thin and light GTX 1080, of course, and the key will be how they handle cooling. ASUS says that its Active Aerodynamic System (AAS) keeps the laptop cool and quiet. When the Zephyrus is opened, the chassis actually opens up a little to let in more air without sacrificing the thickness of the laptop when it’s closed for travel. ASUS says that this flexible design lets in 20% more air. But other thin and light GTX 1080 designs have been pretty loud, so hopefully the combination of Max-Q and AAS will keep the noise levels in check.

The ROG Zephyrus has a 15.6-inch screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. It also has NVIDIA G-SYNC. In all honesty, the GTX 1080 is usually too powerful for this resolution, but at least the high refresh panel should help it there. ASUS says that their monitors cover 100% of the sRGB colour space, but they don’t usually care much about accuracy and grayscale, so hopefully we can check it out.

The rest of the laptop is pretty much what you’d expect from a mobile device. The processing power comes from Intel’s Core i7–7700HQ, and ASUS will pair it with up to 24 GB of DDR4–2400. All of the storage is 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB M.2 PCIe SSDs.

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ASUS has been big on the Thunderbolt train, and it’s nice to see that the Zephyrus continues this trend. It has one USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 Gen2, but since that’s more for the future than the present, it also has four USB 3.1 Type-A ports. This laptop also has HDMI 2.0, so if you’re into VR, you should be able to use it.

ASUS moved the keyboard to the front of the laptop, which helps with cooling and makes it feel more like a desktop system. The keyboard has RGB lighting that seems to be in zones rather than on each key, but the WASD and QWER key groups can have their own effects changed. As a gaming laptop, it also has anti-ghosting keys that allow you to press up to 30 keys at once, just in case you grow a lot more fingers.

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The ROG Zephyrus will be on sale in the US and Canada at the end of June. The GX501VI model will start at $2699 USD, and the GX501VS model will start at $2299. ASUS doesn’t say what the two models mean, but it’s likely that the VS has a GTX 1070 GPU instead of a GTX 1080.