We have been reviewing a few gaming laptops from Asus in the last couple of months but the Zephyrus GX531GW which we have today is one of their flagships. This one features an intelligent design and powerful specifications to provide an excellent gaming experience to the users.
Design and Display:
Zephyrus S GX531GW has a slim metallic body which follows the same design principles as previous ones in the series. The dimensions of the laptop are 360 x 268 x 15.35 and weigh about 2.1kg. The lid has a brushed metal finish with a glowing ROG logo. On the right side, we have one USB3.1 Gen2 Type-C port and a USB3.1 Gen2 Type-A port whereas left side hosts DC input, a 3.1 Gen1 Type-C port, two USB 2.0 ports and one 3.5mm audio jack. There are an HDMI port and a Kensington lock at the back. At the top, there is a 720p web camera placed in the middle.
The display is a 15.6-inch full HD (1920×1080) IPS panel that has a refresh rate of 144Hz and 3ms response time. Zephyrus S GX531GW has Pantone color certification for 100% sRGB color performance. There are very thin bezels on three sides and a thick one at the bottom similar to other models in the series. The display produces rich colors which are pleasing to the eyes during gaming and multimedia tasks.
Performance:
Zephyrus S GX531GW is powered by the 8th Gen Intel Core i7 8750H processor that has 6 cores and 12 threads with a clock speed of up to 4.1 GHz. There is 16GB of DDR4 RAM and 8GB of VRAM in the form of GeForce RTX 2070 (MAX-Q) GPU to take care of the heavy games and applications. The laptop is able to handle any games thrown at it with ease, even at maxed-out settings. Asus has managed to provide additional cooling as part of the thermal solution by shifting the keyboard to lower part and having space just for the intake of air which then flows out from sides and through the hinge at the bottom. This allows for better performance even after using the laptop for an extended time compared to similar laptops in this segment. In addition, there are dual 12V fans, 5 heat pipes, and 4 heat sinks to aid in cooling the laptop.
Overall, the user can just play any game without worrying about performance or heating. I played some really graphics-intensive games like Far Cry 5, GTA V, PUBG, and WWE 2k19 and the laptop churned out pretty impressive and consistent frame rates on ultra or high settings.
Keyboard and battery:
Zephyrus S GX531GW comes with the usual chiclet-style keyboard with RGB backlights that can be controlled with the Aura software. The key travel is 1.2mm and the keys are quite comfortable when it comes to gaming. The trackpad is placed on the right side of the keyboard which can also turn into a Numpad by pressing a key at the top. The only issue is that the keyboard might not be suited for any other tasks than gaming because of the position. The backlight effects can be changed through Aura by going to Armoury Crate.
The laptop comes with 60Whr which is a bit small in capacity for the configuration in this laptop. With screen brightness at 50%, the battery life was around 3 hours with some Youtube videos, photoshop, and browsing. While gaming, the laptop was always plugged in to avoid throttling and get better performance.
There are 2W x 2W speakers with SmartAMP technology which sound good and produces clear audio even at max volume. Sonic Studio III is provided by Asus for setting the volume of laptop and also to adust and set various profiles for speakers’ equalizer.
Verdict:
Zephyrus S GX531GW is certainly one of the best gaming laptops available in the market right now which ticks most of the features needed by the power users. With an intelligent cooling solution and design, the laptop is able to provide consistent performance for an extended period compared to many other laptops in the same segment. The only drawback could be the keyboard which cannot be used comfortably for typing but that is also because of the position by design. Priced at around INR 2.5L, this should be a great choice in the market for serious gamers who are looking for a powerhouse in the same budget.
