ASUS ROG Zephyrus review: A glimpse at the future of gaming laptops
This isn't the start gaming laptop to have an NVIDIA GTX 1080 inside for supreme gaming operation on the get. But it's also no ordinary GTX 1080. The Zephyrus is the poster kid for NVIDIA's new MaxQ technology, designed to aid squeeze ridiculous performance into ever slimmer form factors.
Compared to most "normal" loftier-end gaming laptops, this is slim and low-cal and incredibly portable. It is the laptop equivalent of a high-powered sports auto.
About this review
Our review was conducted using a review unit provided by ASUS U.k. to Windows Cardinal. The specs are detailed below. Throughout the course of the review, the laptop was running on the latest public release of Windows 10 and the latest NVIDIA drivers with Chiliad-Sync enabled. The retail price is $ii,699.
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ASUS ROG Zephyrus tech specs
| Category | Specification |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-7700HQ Quad Cadre |
| Display | fifteen.6-inch 1080p with G-Sync 120Hz refresh rate |
| Storage | 512GB SSD |
| RAM | 16GB dual-channel DDR4 2400MHz |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 with MaxQ 8GB of GDDR5 VRAM |
| Os | Windows 10 Home 64-chip |
| Networking | Integrated 802.xi Air conditioning (2x2), x/100/thousand Base of operations T Bluetooth 4.1 |
| Ports | Thunderbolt iii USB-C, 4 USB three.0, HDMI 2.0 |
| Audio | Built-in Stereo 2W Speakers Array microphone |
| Webcam | Hard disk drive |
| Battery | 50Wh lithium-iron polymer battery |
| Weight | 2.25kg |
| Dimensions | 37.ix cm x 26.ii cm x 1.79 cm (W 10 D x H) |
The model nosotros have in for review is the acme spec version with a 512GB Samsung NVMe solid-state drive (SSD) and GTX 1080 with MaxQ design. There is a less expensive model available with a 256GB SSD and a GTX 1070 that costs $1,999.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus hardware and design
ASUS has been known to get a lilliputian mad when designing gaming laptops (we all remember the gargantuan G752). Things have toned downwards in recent times, and the Zephyrus is its all-time-looking to date. When closed, it's an all-black metallic affair with brushed effects on the lid, that stealthy monotony cleaved only past copper chamfers and exhaust vents on the rear. When open up, the visitor logo on the hat lights up.
There are no tapers here, the laptop is the same thickness right through. And while information technology'due south no Ultrabook, you can inappreciably phone call it thick. It's easily small enough to fit into a normal laptop purse for 15-inch laptops and doesn't counterbalance that much. It certainly doesn't feel whatever more cumbersome than those 15-inch MacBook Pros people lug around.
The outside is understated but stylish, and then you open up the lid and things are quite different. ASUS didn't just motility the keyboard forward to make it stand out, all of the expert stuff inside that makes the gaming magic happens is beneath the ROG logo, and as such, it'south where you'd normally find the keyboard. To relieve some of the discomforts of typing when at that place is nowhere to put your wrists, ASUS includes a wrist remainder in the box with the laptop.
It'south not particularly platonic if you travel a lot and use the Zephyrus for more just gaming, since information technology'south something else to pack, but it's one of those thoughtful touches that show ASUS properly considered customer feel.
Another unique attribute of the design is how it lifts up underneath when you open the lid, providing a nice gap beneath for air to flow. This area also lights up red, only to describe attention to information technology, though if y'all're using information technology on your lap it flexes quite a bit. It'due south a clever design touch to help cool the laptop down.
Within, nothing is missing. In that location'southward a MaxQ 8GB GTX 1080 GPU, a Core i7-7700HQ processor at two.8GHz, 512GB NVMe SSD and 16GB of RAM. It'due south not quite Razer Bract Pro-calibration, but it'due south pretty close. And a lot cheaper.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus keyboard and display
Since the keyboard is at the front, the trackpad has had to make way, and it's to be found on the correct-hand side of the keyboard, a la the Razer Blade Pro. The positioning doesn't accept much getting used to (if you're right-handed anyway) since information technology's basically where you'd motion your hand on a mouse. Information technology's actually really natural when you become over the initial muscle-retention issue.
What might be less comfortable is the size of information technology. The trackpad has been positioned then it's taller, non wider, but even then it'southward definitely smaller than you'd go on most laptops. Gamers won't be playing anything with information technology, so in that regard, it's not a dealbreaker, but if you relish a large trackpad y'all're out of luck. It uses Precision drivers, though; it's merely on the pocket-sized side. The best scrap about the trackpad is that with a single button press information technology can transform into a number pad, so if you demand it or you use a mouse all the time you tin have a total keyboard layout.
The keyboard itself is fantastic. It's not mechanical, but it's not super depression-profile, either, so there's quite a bit of key travel. In a pinch, it wouldn't be too bad to game with if you lot're out and about. For typing, it'due south grand.
Given what's inside this laptop you lot may await to find a 4K display in the lid, just you'd exist wrong. Instead, you become a 120Hz 1080p display with NVIDIA G-Sync. Personally, I'd have 120Hz and Thousand-Sync at this size over 4K at 60Hz without question. The lack of a 4K touch brandish also helps keep the price inside the stratosphere.
It's a really nice display, too, with a matte finish and so there's no nasty glare interfering with your games. But it's the high-refresh rate and Grand-Sync that thing nearly hither. With a GTX 1080 within, you lot're pushing high frame rates on a display that can actually handle it.
ASUS has a congenital-in app that can alter colour profiles on the fly depending on which type of games you're playing, just personally, I retrieve they all expect terrible. I left it in the sRGB fashion the whole time and wasn't disappointed.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus performance
The interesting design makes this laptop stand out from the crowd, but it'due south not honestly why we're actually interested in it. The Zephyrus was 1 of the first laptops announced to use NVIDIA MaxQ technology to squeeze a GTX 1080 inside a laptop that normally wouldn't stand a take a chance.
The added bonus is that if yous're shelling out for one of these, information technology'south powerful enough to exist both an astonishing laptop and a high-stop gaming rg when hooked upward to an external display.
And so, with a Core i7-7700HQ and 16GB of RAM bankroll upwards that GTX 1080, as well as an NVMe SSD, we came into this expecting big things. Here's a look at the figures (click to see each department).
CPU
Geekbench 4 Benchmarks (Higher is better)
| Device | CPU | Single core | Multi cadre |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus | i7-7700HQ | four,322 | thirteen,213 |
| ASUS ZenBook Pro | i7-7700HQ | four,021 | 13,270 |
| ASUS GR8 II | i5-7400 | iv,093 | 11,819 |
| Lenovo Legion Y720 | i7-7700HQ | 4,697 | fourteen,810 |
| Razer Blade Stealth | i7-7500U | four,211 | viii,333 |
| Dell XPS xv | i7-7700HQ | four,503 | 13,587 |
| Surface Laptop | i7-7660U | 4,677 | ix,538 |
There are no surprises in CPU functioning aside from a few mild variations compared to other laptops running the same CPU. It beats out a desktop quad-core Core i5 quite handily
GPU
Geekbench 4 Graphics OpenCL (Higher is ameliorate)
| Device | Score |
|---|---|
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus GTX 1080 MaxQ | 168,596 |
| ASUS ZenBook Pro GTX 1050 4GB | 65,444 |
| ASUS GR8 II GTX 1060 3GB | 126,311 |
| Razer Bract 14 GTX 1060 6GB | 139,603 |
| Surface Volume GTX 965M | 63,029 |
| Surface Studio GTX 965M | 53,685 |
| ASUS Strix GL753 GTX 1050 | 76,007 |
Compared to past and present generation GPUs of diverse levels, the immense operation advantage the MaxQ GTX 1080 offers is clear.
Storage
CrystalDiskMark (Higher is better)
| Device | Read | Write |
|---|---|---|
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus | ii,380.ane MB/southward | i,284.1 MB/southward |
| ASUS ZenBook Pro | 523.ix MB/s | 501.2 MB/south |
| Razer Blade (960 EVO) | 2,079 MB/southward | 1809 MB/due south |
| MacBook Pro 13 (2016) | one,549 MB/due south | one,621 MB/s |
| Spectre x360 512 | 1,332 MB/s | 589 MB/s |
| XPS 13 (9360) 256 | 1,287 MB/s | 794 MB/due south |
| Surface Book 1TB | 1,018 MB/s | 967 MB/southward |
The Zephyrus has a 512GB Samsung NVMe SSD drive inside it and it is fast. In both sequential and 4K benchmarks in CrystalDiskMark, it performs uncommonly well.
Nosotros also used Futuremark'due south 3DMark benchmarking tools, putting the Zephyrus through the Fire Strike and Fourth dimension Spy DX12 tests. In this case, specifically to see how it matches up to the Razer Bract Pro with a GTX 1080 from late 2022 (click to meet each section).
3DMark (Fire Strike 1.ane)
| Device | Score |
|---|---|
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus | vii,546 |
| Razer Blade Pro 1080 (2016) | seven,857 |
3DMark (Time Spy DX12)
| Device | Score |
|---|---|
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus | five,551 |
| Razer Bract Pro 1080 (2016) | 5,591 |
The Blade Pro scored marginally higher, though the numbers we ran are from 2022 and the showtime version of the new Blade Pro. But, the Razer Blade Pro is the one to vanquish, and the Zephyrus comes very close to it.
When it comes to games, functioning is very potent. For consistency, these were all run at their highest settings on the native 1080p resolution of the laptop'southward brandish. NVIDIA G-Sync was turned on.
- Gears of War 4: 113.7 frames per 2nd (FPS) average.
- Rise of the Tomb Raider: 93.27 FPS average.
- GTA V: 113.7 FPS average.
- PlayerUnknown'due south Battlegrounds: 65 FPS boilerplate.
This laptop is clearly capable of delivering to a higher place 1080p gaming at high frame rates, but maxed out these games are all making the best of that 120Hz refresh rate.
Checking out how hot the Zephyrus gets when gaming, and information technology seems to top out at 42.4 degrees C (108.iii F), with the rut almost entirely centered around the ROG logo behind the keyboard and in line with the vents on the rear. As yous can come across from the second image, the heat doesn't misemploy much over the keyboard, and fifty-fifty at the hottest betoken, it'southward non called-for to affect. At that place's a fair amount of fan noise, but nothing extraordinary.
The Zephyrus also easily meets the spec for Windows Mixed Reality Ultra, and with an HDMI output right next to a USB 3.0 port, connecting a headset is a breeze. Performance is solid, comparable to my ain desktop PC, and it'due south peachy to play VR games on also.
The bottom line on ASUS ROG Zephyrus
This laptop was used by NVIDIA as its poster kid for its new MaxQ GPU technology, and with good reason. The unique pattern stands out, but information technology'south also the very essence of what you lot'd be looking for in a high-functioning gaming laptop. ASUS congenital a laptop for serious gaming, and and so you miss out on 4K and a touch display, simply instead, you get a 120Hz refresh rate and One thousand-Sync for silky smooth, tear-gratis gaming.
It isn't perfect, and even though it'due south considerably cheaper at $ii,699 than something like a Razer Blade Pro, there are compromises. The way the hinge raises the bottom of the laptop to aid cooling is ingenious merely as well makes it awkward to use on annihilation but a sturdy surface. Considering this is a portable laptop, you still won't exist propping it on your lap.
Pros
- 120Hz G-Sync display is swell for gaming.
- Incredible performance.
- Thin, innovative blueprint.
- Keen keyboard.
Cons:
- Difficult to employ on a lap.
- The trackpad is on the small side.
- High price of entry.
Where the Zephyrus excels is in its operation. Cooling is splendid, restricting heat to an area you won't be touching, leaving the keyboard and trackpad nice and cool. It's also insanely fast, pushing games to take advantage of the display. Information technology'due south non near how well you can play games hooked up to a monitor at 1440p or 4K; instead, it'due south about how proficient the feel is on the laptop.
This is a first look at the future of gaming laptops. It's thinner, lighter, and more powerful than ever earlier. The time to come nevertheless comes with a price, though, and y'all'll be spending at least $2,000 to arrive on the action. The Zephyrus is however significantly cheaper than the tiptop model Razer Blade Pro, though, while offering similar gaming performance. Yous don't get everything on this laptop, but as far as high-finish gaming notebooks become, it's a remarkable piece of engineering.
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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/asus-rog-zephyrus-review
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