Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 (Ultra Slim Gaming Laptop)
This is the Asus Zephyrus g15 it’s their new one for 2021. When I originally got the engineering samples in January, I had a sneaking suspicion that I would be replacing my existing personal laptop the razer blade with one of these. Because they just seem so good on paper and this is a purchased retail unit and it is on point. This is a half polycarbonate half magnesium alloy device. So Asus G15 top surface has this grid of dots and it’s a very recognizable grid right when you look at this you can tell it either g14 or g15 and it’s a very simple muted design it looks really nice. But as I mentioned a year ago when this stuff first came out you can easily get grime and just stuff stuck in the holes.
I’m not even talking about super dirty people that just smear mud on their devices. I’m talking about just simple everyday use there’s just stuff that can get inside here. I already have one of the holes clogs from I don’t even know what it is but it’s in there and I can’t easily get it out. The other thing is that this does not light up so the g14 last year had an option. Where you can get like these leads that would shine through the matrix. But you can’t get it on the Asus g15 it’s whatever I don’t really think it’s a big deal. But if that’s some of those important to you the g15s don’t have it but this is a better machine.
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Keyboard
When you pop it open it’s got that lid thing that some of the Asus devices do. So when you lift the Asus g15 open you can see that I think they call it ergo lift there’s a whole bunch of names they use but it tilts the keyboard up in this ever so slight angle and you are presented with a great keyboard. This is a nice layout easy to get used to easy to type on good for games good for getting stuff done. Asus g15 has one complaint I have and it’s just a very small one there’s no print screen key, it’s a key that I think very few people actually use anymore but it’s something that I use pretty regularly for work and it’s not there. So if you depend on it ain’t there but otherwise no complaints about the keyboard.
Now the actual lighting backlighting on this is a white backlight or like a grayish, blue, white backlighting it’s not like pure bright white. It’s a little dim and it’s one of the reasons why I’d prefer this device over the white keyboard because the white keyboard has it’s got the same kind of backlighting. Asus G15 keys themselves are so white it’s actually difficult to see the backlight against those super white keys. So it’s just easier to actually see these keys in the dark with the backlight off because then there’s a more contrast like the black text against the bright white plastic it’s kind of weird. There’s a fingerprint sensor up top on the power button and the trackpad. So this is a large trackpad easy to use great click mechanics glass you’re going to like them.
Screen
Asus G15 screens have these black bezels on both of them the white model and the gray model. And I was a little concerned when I got the engineering samples in January. I was like is the white one really going to have this dark bezel and even the retail models do. This is weird to me like obviously put a lot of time and effort into designing these new devices. So it’s a little bit strange that even on the white device they’ve kept the black bezel. But the panel itself is excellent it’s 1440p 165 hertz fast response time. I think that this is an amazing panel for the stuff that I do obviously everyone’s different. I edit videos so the higher resolution is nice and the type of games that I play can really take advantage of the 1440p.
But that’s not everyone I tend to play games that aren’t super demanding like I like to play competitive shooters. If you’re someone who plays a lot of like you know open world high demand like cyberpunk 2077 say you play that frequently. Having the higher resolution screen can be a bit of a disadvantage like you are forced to run at like if you want the best possible image quality you’re forced to find a 1440p. And it just puts more strain on your hardware. But I personally like it it’s just a personal preference.
Speaker
On the left and right are speakers that look really cool. And they also sound better than your average gaming laptop as well.
Webcam
There is no webcam. I think for a lot of people that can be a deal-breaker like the g14 didn’t have it last year. And some people were bothered by that. But I like my devices not having webcams and if I do any kind of like video conferencing. Which I do very frequently now especially during the pandemic. I just like I’ve purchased an external and I use it or just use my phone. But if you’re someone who’s highly dependent on video conferencing then you’re gonna have to get an external for sure.
Performance
Ok, let’s talk about performance because that is where the magic happens. The great one I have here is the best buy configuration it’s 1799 and it’s really powerful. 3070 with a 5900 hs these chips are awesome and they deliver excellent multi-core performance. Now in terms of the graphics that is the biggest difference between the gray one I have here and the white one. This is running at 3070 and this is running RTX 3080. Now the thing you need to keep in mind is that both of these devices are they’re thin and they’re light and they’re meant to be very portable but powerful gaming laptops. But they don’t pump a ton of wattage through either of these GPUS.
It’s not like you know 150 watts ripping right through this machine. The 3070 is appropriately specced and I think this is the best value of these devices that 1799 version. But the moment you step up to a 3080 because I mean it is faster than a 30 70 but it’s not as impressive it doesn’t deliver. It doesn’t make use of the 3080 to its full potential because of the limitations of this chassis design. So my suggestion is unless you absolutely need I know the Cuda cores or the benefits of the 3080 most people like the vast majority of people will be happy on the 3070. The one other advantage that the white model as well. If you like the white color but the other advantage that the 3080 has is that you get more ram.
Fan Noise
Fan noise is a topic that is a little bit more complex on this system. And maybe it’s because I’m looking at it from the perspective of if this was mine right like this is the device I’m gonna be using going forward. So I’m more critical when it comes to stuff like. The fans on both these devices can be very quiet if you put it on silent mode. But I feel like if you want realistic performance on these devices you need to have the fans going pretty aggressively.
The settings that they have like the balance mode are way too conservative like the fans don’t come on enough. It just chokes the system a little bit and the turbo mode is really loud. So I feel like there should be something in between or they should bump up the performance of balance mode but there are manual options you can tweak things to your heart’s content. But overall the thermal systems on both these devices are quite good.
Battery
The battery down here is pretty big it’s the 90-watt hour. And I’m getting a solid six and a half hours on it. A 15-inch device of this weight and size seeing a big battery like this is uncommon and quite frankly refreshing. The AC adapter is 200 watts it’s not a super chunky one. But you also have the ability to charge these things through USB-c. So if you have the capability if you have a charger that can do it. Power delivery 100 watts fuel this thing up. It doesn’t run at full speed if you’re just using the USB-c charger but you have the option to juice it up in a pinch.
Port
The port selection is pretty good you get two USB-a two USB-c they don’t support Thunderbolt 3 but the overall device is great. And I feel like there’s very little to nitpick about it. If I had to it’s going to be a few things number one I don’t like the position of the ac adapter plug-in spot like it’s on the side and your cable kind of runs along the length of or half the length of the device. And I much prefer it if it was in the back. So it’s out of the way or just towards the rear of the device. But this is kind of in the middle which I don’t love. The other thing is that the way that the device exhausts its heat a lot of it comes right out of the kind of rear of the device towards.
The overall device bangs it bangs hard. And I feel like this is likely going to be the laptop of the year like actually. I don’t see a lot of competitors on the Ryzen that can compete with this in terms of the overall package and the price. I do think Lenovo’s legion products can possibly hit it when they come out. But this is really good if you’re interested in this thing it gets my whole heart of recommendation especially the $1800 kind of best buy model. I think this is gonna be on amazon as well in the near future I’ll link it below.
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