Asus ROG Zephyrus S – At A Glance
Innovative Engineering meets ingenious Craftmanship in the Asus ROG Zephyrus S. Its makers manage to fit in the 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H processor and the GeForce GTX 1070 into a laptop that is so incredibly lithe and light.
Heralded by its makers as the “thinnest gaming laptop” on the market, the Zephyrus S GX531 is another spectacular rollout from the Asus Zephyrus assembly line. With a more compact and slimmer build, higher refresh rates, an improved 144 Hz IPS screen, and stronger processors, this laptop is simply…game-changing.
Asus ROG Zephyrus S – Complete Review
Appearance
This laptop is elegantly crafted and forged with aluminum to give a chiseled surface that catches the eye. It features a lid with a two-part design and can be effortlessly opened with one hand to reveal an equally impressive display.
The screen is massive, with a sparse edge-to-edge ratio that is complemented by the thinnest of bezels. Other worthy mentions include a hatch that is intricately woven into the lid to provide pickets of ventilation on opening the Iid. All of these are in a box that still retains its portability and a weight of 2.05kg. The best part of the design is the unusual positioning of the keyboard and the trackpad(more of that in a bit).
Accessories
There is a conspicuous deficit of ports on this laptop, and it can be frustrating at times for users. Some notable omissions include a card reader and the Thunderbolt-3. However, there is provision for headphones and microphones, as well as two 3.1-Gen2 ports (1x Type-A, 1x Type-C), two dated 2.0 ports(Type A), and a solitary 3.0 port(Type-C).
Keyboard
The keyboard layout ditches the traditional for a style that is both unusual and impractical at worst. It occupies a spot that is normally taken by the trackpad; further down the interior. The trackpad is similarly fascinating, sited near the right edge. This arrangement is problematic in more ways than one, lefties will find the trackpad clumsy, and the keyboard looks to be more suited for the desk than on your lap. Overall, the typing experience is not generally satisfactory, there is an apparent squish and flex to the keyboard. The touchpad is not great as well, its width of 6cm makes it appear horizontally cramped. The satisfactory feedback and smoothness offer something of a consolation though.
Display
15.6′ is a lot of space for 1920 × 1080pixels, more so as the bezels are narrower in this device. You get the clarity that comes with an IPS AHVA panel, as well as better viewing angles and vibrant colors that make this $1500 laptop great for gaming. A refresh rate of 144Hz and a 100% sRGB panel coverage makes for decent figures, and the brightness is still adequate, despite the 10% drop since the last offering.
The display is a position of strength for this laptop, as the screen is not glossy, you essentially get no glare problems. The visuals are sharper and well-suited for the immersive gaming experience.
Audio
There is considerable flexibility with the audio that this laptop offers, possibly a good option for a music production laptop. A reasonable sound quality that belies the small size and form factor of this device can be observed, albeit at the expense of solid bass. And with a maximum volume of 81 dB, your device will likely not be the life of the party, but it will do just fine in your basement. You can always resort to the in-house tools Sonic Rader and Sonic Studio, if you seek to adjust the sounds individually, that might just switch things up a little.
Graphics
The Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070 is a formidable graphics card, capable of WQHD and 4K gaming in high settings, albeit at high battery power costs. The makers of this laptop pride themselves as pioneers in ultraportable gaming laptop technology, and rightfully so. How they manage to fit in this graphics card with its attendant power draw into a laptop this thin is a thing of marvel. What you get with this laptop(especially with the Max-Q) is stunning graphics suitable for the most demanding games and multimedia editing.
Gaming
This laptop is touted primarily as a gaming laptop, it is, therefore, no surprise that it comes with a dedicated gaming platform aptly named the ” Armoury Crate”. It offers a variety of tweaks including customization of backlighting colors, ambient lighting among others. The NVidia GeForce GTX 1070 supports Gaming in 4k as well as VR gaming even at high details. Games like Forza Horizon 4 and the Witcher 3 can be played above frame rates of 60fps, at FHD resolution, and optimal graphic performance.
Simply put, this laptop delivers a thrilling and uninterrupted gaming experience that is largely unrivaled in the world of ultraportable Gaming.
Battery
Admittedly, this battery does not cover itself in glory, but for a gaming laptop, the Zephyrus S’ battery does just fine. A little bit of compromise will invariably prolong the runtime until the next charge becomes inevitable. Simple hacks like reducing screen brightness, cutting off all unnecessary connections, and setting your device to battery mode will get you about 3hours.
A vulnerable battery is the price to pay for powerful processor performance and ultra-portability, two hallmarks of the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531, plugged into an outlet though, means there’s no issue just like the Asus ROG G531GT. .
As long as you don’t pull the plug on this laptop, you’ll be good to go.
Heating
Powerful device components require cooling to function optimally, and the Asus ROG Zephyrus S has its fair share of these. Its fans have more fins, there are anti-dust channels in place, and that strange keyboard layout becomes even more logical. You’re, however, not encouraged to place this system on your lap for extended gaming sessions as the bottom peaks at 60degrees.
Its 50 Wh battery capacity is underwhelming and poses heat problems, but the fans are very efficient but equally noisy. There are more air vents, and that gulf in front of the keyboard provides the air that brings cooling to the laptop, thankfully
Performance
Asus does not sacrifice performance for aesthetics with this laptop. This device features a couple of the most outstanding processors, albeit with significant power requirements. The NVidia GeForce GTX 1070 and the 8th generation core i7-8750H are high-end processors native to this laptop.
They enable the laptop to carry out the most advanced and arduous tasks while operating in normal working conditions. I have written about its superior gaming and excellent graphics, the cherry on top of it is the powerful CPU(8750H). Capable of powering advanced gaming and creative work, VR experience, programming, and other high-load tasks uninterrupted, this laptop is a breath of fresh air. Its 16 GB of DDR4-RAM and a PCIe-SSD arm it with abundant reserves In memory and storage too. In conclusion, this laptop proves that appearance can be deceiving.
Final verdict
Asus has raised the bar with this laptop, successfully rolling in aesthetics and performance in good measure to produce a device that is simply a stunner. If you can work your way around the unusual keyboard/trackpad, the inadequate battery, and the din of the fans, this laptop is just the right fit for you…especially if you are a game freak.
Device Specifications
Processor
Intel Core i7-8750H 6 x 2.2 – 4.1 GHz, Coffee Lake-H
Operating System
Win 10 Home
Graphics adapter
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
Storage
512GB PCIe SSD
RAM/MEMORY
16GB DDR4
Display
15.60 inch 16:9, (1920 x 1080)pixel 141 PPI,IPS, Full-HD, 144 Hz.
Weight
2.095 kg or 4.62 pounds
Battery Life
2 hours