Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531 announced

Moderator note: Click HERE to see the owner's lounge for this model.

Successor to the GX501, should be avialable later this month. Thoughts?

https://www.asus.com/Laptops/ROG-Zephyrus-S-GX531/

Looks good, however what put me off the previous GX501 was the battery size. I doubt it has increased, but if they were able to compete with say RazerBlade/Aero 15x in the battery size department, I'd throw my money at it

For reference (all i7-8750H, 1070 Max-Q, FHD 144HZ):



I don't think there is a good enough reason to have such a low battery capacity as 50 Wh when it isn't really the smallest or lightest, so please Asus, 80 Wh+. It is the thinnest, but given that it is longer/wider, it cancels out the benefit somewhat.

 

I just see "slim yet mighty" and that's already red light for me.

 

They need to stop putting the keyboard up front. I have a GM501 and I could not even imagine having my hands cramped up using such a poorly positioned keyboard. Furthermore, given the Blade has similar specs it just seems like a better pick given the poor ergonomics of the laptop keyboard.
To contrast, it is pretty impressive that they made it so thin. I like the thinner bezels, too.

 

It's thin, but compared to the others, it's sometimes less than 1mm. But they have added quite a lot to the length and width to it, which makes it pointless. The final kick in the teeth is the 50 Wh battery, looks like they haven't changed this from old model. I'd understand if this was significantly cheaper than the others but it isn't - you'd have to be a fool to purchase this laptop.

 

I'm actually strongly considering the GX531 for several reasons

- cheaper by a notable 350usd (plus free 100 usd mouse) vs the Aero 15x, even bigger gap vs blade 15 and I dont like the gs65 because of tiny 256gb ssd.
- good build (entirely metal chassis)
- webcam at the top
- relatively low bloatware compared to competitors
- claims of sub 80 degree temps under sustained load for both cpu and gpu (cooling looks great with 5 pipes/4 heat sinks)
- 144hz/3ms screen, fastest in the market

 

They always lose me with the word Max-Q

 

I feel like I want to nitpick the promo materials using no-compromise and Max-Q in the same sentence, since compromise seems to be the entire point of that technology.

That said, it's a nice looking machine and I can't wait to see some comparisons to the existing generation.

 

Nice looking and no-compromise do not always go hand in hand. I feel like Max-Q is a gimmick, hopefully I am wrong, because people are going to be spending quite the chunk of change on that laptop.

 

Yeah, I decided to take the Amazon pre-order deal. hopefully the laptop turns out to be good. (Amazon has it with free COD4 game, free ROG Pugio mouse, 100USD off for pre-order

 

Out of curiosity after pre-ordering was the Asus redemption code for COD already on your receipt? I was about to pull the trigger on this one last week too but noticed something odd. On Amazon when you choose the laptop w/ mouse bundle information about the COD promotion disappears from the description. Just to check, I went on the Asus website and started an online chat with support to ask if for some reason the bundle does not qualify for the promotion. According to the support person I chatted with, the bundle does not qualify for the COD promotion. I was told that Amazon set it to either one or the other (free game or free mouse). This really does not make sense to me unless the bundle has a specific SKU that separates it from the laptop only option. Take this all with a grain of salt as I can not confirm at all whether the support person actually checked or just assumed based on what's shown on the website. On top of that, the redemption instructions for the COD Promotion on the Asus website says that you will receive an ASUS code from either "purchase receipt, e-mail" or "“Thank You Card” inside the product retail box" both of which Amazon can technically remove or not provide if the bundle doesn't qualify for the promotion.

I hope I was told wrong as a free mouse, game and $100 off is a great deal. If not I guess it's not that big of a deal but I really would rather get the free game than the mouse. ​

 

For me, I checked with Amazon instead. They said I'm entitled to the free game. Because actually when you take the mouse bundle, the order splits up and I was charged $80 for the mouse and $1820 for the laptop instead of $1900 and $0. By the way, if youre thinking of pre-ordering too, I'd recommend doing it fast, Amazon's initial allocation of units actually sold out over the weekend. They are now taking pre-orders on a second batch that will still ship on launch day

 

The Amazon webpage says preorders will be shipped 9/30 now vs. the 9/21 that was on there before.

 

My pre order was for Sept 21. I got an email that the release date was moved back to the 30th.

 

Me too. I think im switching to a msi gs65 because of the delay as well as battery life.

 

Yeah I was told they will give me a code for BO4 when my Laptop ships, which should be tomorrow.

 

Also, can anyone find out if it has a second m.2 slot?

 

Good News for me, my Zephyrus S will be here tomorrow!

I can't find any decent reviews though. First thing I'm checking is Thermals and Calibrating the screen. Is there an owners thread yet for this model?

 

Yup, just made it since you asked ^^

 

From what I've read. It has only one m.2 slot.

 

Weirdly it only says certain places that it has 2x 80mm slots so I have a 1TB 970 EVO waiting to put inside of it tbh.

 

I think the x2 is a mistake, on the Asus website it states this

M.2 NVMe PCIE 3.0 x2 512GB SSD

Notice the x2

I'm guessing they are mistaking the lanes with quantity.

But I'm sure people will find out soon enough

 

Well It does matter too much as I'll be either replacing the Nvme with the 970 EVO or place it in the second slot so either way I have more storage as I don't always want to plug in my external WD 1TB passport as it's s a pain to always plugging in while the speed is way too slow.

Edit: ok so now a couple of websites say that it has that x2 NVMe while there’s a second slot that fits a 80mm x4 NVMe

 

The COOLEST & Thinnest Gaming Laptop
Dave Lee
Published on Oct 5, 2018
Dave2D review of the Asus Zephyrus S GX531. The best gaming laptop from Asus for thin and light performance!

Spoiler: Details...

ASUS ROG Zephyrus S Ultra Slim Gaming Laptop
15.6” 144Hz Display 3ms
Intel i7-8750H CPU
GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q
Military-Grade Metal Chassis
Customizable RGB Keys

 

Yeah, he says it has great temps. Mine only has thermal throttles when I use it in the afternoon Cali sun, however It runs great and just is hotish warm when you game on it.

 

I haven't tested it for a actual thermal test since I'm waiting on tools to open and repaste while switching the m.2 out.

 

Wow, that's great, a blow by blow imparting of the setup experience!! Thank you for sharing!

Pic's?...Video?

If you can post screen image of benchmarks, please include hwinfo64 readings for CPU / GPU / etc too!

 

@Charles P. Jefferies - Can you please update the Forum announcement link to point to the new Owners thread?, it already has lots more traffic?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...es-asus-gx531-gaming-laptop-announced.823415/
http://www.notebookreview.com/news/forum-spotlight-new-iphones-asus-gx531-gaming-laptop-announced/

Maybe merge these into the owners thread too?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/asus-zephyrus-s-gx531.822389/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/asus-rog-zephyrus-s-gx531-announced.822605/

Thank you Charles!!

 

I put a link to the owner's lounge in the first post of this thread. As for merging threads, I'm not a fan of doing that with threads more than one page as the conversation tends to get lost. I think people will find their way to the owner's lounge thread, it's pretty active.

Charles

 

Pro:
Super impressive temp, better than any competitors.
Con:
NO THUNDERBOALT PORT... ... only 1 usb 3.0 a

 

With the 1080p screen and a GTX 1070 MQ, it plays any game no problem. So why would you even need thunderbolt?

 

Cuz long time gaming w/ 1070 MQ still problematic, for example, annoying fan noise and unacceptable temp in keyboard area.
And I have Gigabyte GTX 1080 and external vga box.

 

Just for reference, the keyboard doesn’t get hot. It goes get loud on long game sessions as I can go for 11 hours on it. More noticeable for other people around you when it’s quiet. The temperatures for when I game are pretty good, while I usually see 144fps while playing games on high like Black Desert Online, Warframe, PUBG(90-100), etc. I suggest you get a desktop for home with that 1080, while when on the move this laptop can handle anything you want good enough. If you don’t want that, then I say to save money with a cheaper laptop with the same parts but is more fat since you have to carrying about that separate box already.