Asus has launched the brand new Zephyrus M GU502 laptop as part of their Gamers Spring 2019 collection which deviates from the usual sleek looks of it’s predecessors. It blends style, portability, performance, and value in a neatly wrapped package which makes it, not only a gaming machine but also a daily work/multi-media machine.
Zephyrus M GU502 specifications:
| Model | GU502GU |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Processor | Intel® 9th Generation Core™ i7-9750H |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB GDDR6 VRAM |
| Memory | DDR4 2,666MHz SO-DIMM, up to 32GB |
| SSD | M.2 NVMe PCIE 3.0 512GB SSD with RAID 0 support (2x M.2 slots) |
| Display | 15.6-inch Full HD (1920×1080) IPS-level panel, 144Hz, 3ms, 100% sRGB, Pantone® Validated |
| Keyboard | Backlit chiclet keyboard, RGB lighting |
| Weight | 1.9kg |
| Battery | 6-hour battery life (Web browsing) |
| Ports | 1 x USB3.1 Gen2 Type-C, 1x RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet, 1x USB3.1 Gen2 Type-A, 2x USB3.1 Gen1 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 2x 3.5mm Audio Jack |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 5(802.11ac 2×2) Wave 2 WLAN |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Dimension | 360(W), 252(D), 18.9 mm(H) |
| VR Ready | Yes |
We have been using the laptop for the last few days, and to be honest, this has been one of the best gaming laptops that we have played with. The design is minimalistic yet similar to other laptops in the Zephyrus series. The magnesium alloy provides a sturdy structural core which gives a solid feeling when handling the laptop with no flex. GU502 has a 14% smaller volume and is 22% lighter than the previous generation laptop making it a very comfortable one for both gamers and creators.
Zephyrus M GU502 has a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920×1080) display with a refresh rate of up to 144Hz and 3ms response time. The bezels are very narrow which allows for a great viewing experience on this screen. One thing missing from this setup is the webcam which Asus has completely removed from this model probably for cost-cutting. Overall, the display as good as it gets for the price range. There are a lot of I/O ports on the laptop which gives it a slight edge over the costlier counterparts in this segment.
Internally, the laptop is powered by the latest 9th Gen mobile i7-9750H processor, a hexa (6)-core processor with 12 threads that can boost its clock speeds up to 4.5GHz. There is also NVIDIA® GeForce GTX™ 1660Ti which handles the graphics-intensive tasks like gaming and video rendering etc. So far, there have been no hiccups running any games at high settings, thanks to the CPU, GPU, and the 16GB RAM.
The battery life is pretty good as well for a gaming laptop which is from the built-in 76Wh lithium-ion polymer battery. The CPU, GPU, and power-control related hardware are all cooled via copper transfer plates and heat pipes that lead to 4 thin-finned heatsinks and exhaust vents. The 0.1mm ultra-thin cooling fins are 50% thinner than regular fins. The fans get noisy only at sometimes when heavy games are being played but not constantly.
Overall, the Zephyrus M GU502GU is a great laptop that comes with pretty powerful hardware combined with a high refresh rate narrow bezels display. We will be using this for a couple more weeks to run through various benchmarks and give the final verdict on daily usage along with the pros and cons.
