I
t’sreceivedwisdomthatcheapgaminglaptops
aretoocompromisedtobeworthwhile,butAsus
istryingtochangethatperceptionwiththe
ZephyrusG.This£999machinelooksthepart:it’smade
frommattblackmetal,witha cleanandstylishdesign.It has
slimscreenbezels,smartlogosanda slattedspeakergrille- it lookslikeit couldcostdoubletheaskingprice.
Buildqualityisreasonabletoo.There’sonlya littlegive
inthewristrestandthescreendoesn’tmovemuchif you
pressthelid.Asus’machineweighs2.2kgandis20mm
thick,soit’snotparticularlybulkyeither,unlikemany
affordablegaminglaptops.It’snotallgoodnewsaboutthe
designthough.TherearethreeUSB3.1portsanda Type-C
connectionalongsideanHDMIoutput,butthere’sno
DisplayPortoutput,Thunderboltconnectororcardreader.
There’salsoonlyoneaudiojack.
Thekeyboardis a mixedbagtoo.
Ontheplusside,itstypingactionis very
lightandfast,soit’seasytoskipacross
thebuttons.Thefunctionrowhas
mediaandfancontrolshortcuts,and
therearefourextrabuttonsfor
openingAsus’ArmoryCrate
app,aswellascontrollingthe
volumeandmicrophone.
There’sanadjustablewhitebacklighttoo.
Thekeyboardisn’tidealforseriousplayerswho
hammertheirkeysthough.Thebaseisn’tsolid
enough,andthekeysdon’thaveenoughtravel.
Thelayouthasomissionsaswell– there’sno
numberpad,theReturnkeyis single-height,and
thecursorbuttonsaresmall.Thetrackpadis fine,
witha coupleofdecentbuttons,butyou’llwantto
usea properUSBmouseforgaming.
Meanwhile,graphicspowercomesfroma
GeForceGTX 1660 Ti.It’stheMax-Qversion,so
itstillhas1,536streamprocessorsand6GBof
GDDR5memory,butitsboostclockis reduced
from1770MHzto1335MHz.Unusually,theNvidia
GPUis pairedwithanAMDprocessor.
TheRyzen7 3750HusestheZen+architecture
ratherthanZen2, soyoudon’tgetthemovetoAMD’s
efficient7nmmicroarchitecture.TheCPUoffersfour
coreswitheightthreadsviaSMT,alongsidebaseand
boostspeedsof2.3GHzand4GHz.
REVIEWS / LAPTOP
SPEC
CPU
2.3GHzAMDRyzen7 3750H
Memory
16GB2400MHzDDR4
Graphics
NvidiaGeForceGTX 1660 Ti
Max-Q6GB
Screen
15.6in1,920x 1,080IPS
120Hz
Storage
512GBIntel660pM.2SSD
Weight
2.2kg
Networking
Dual-band 802.11acWi-Fi,
Gigabit Ethernet
Ports
3 x USB 3.1, 1 x USB3.1
Type-C, 1 x HDMI 2,C,1 x
audio jack
Dimensions (mm)
360 x 252 x 20 (W xD x H)
Operating system
Microsoft Windows 10 Home
64-bit
Warranty
One year parts and labour
return to base
GAMING LAPTOP
ASUS ROG ZEPHYRUS G
(GA502DU-AL025T)/£999 inc VAT
SUPPLIER scan.co.ukIt’s paired with 16GB of 2400MHz DDR4 memory and a
512GB Intel 660p, and you get 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Gigabit
Ethernet support too.Performance
The cut-back GTX 1660 Ti remains solid for 1080p gaming.
In our tests it ran at minimums of 38fps or better at peak
quality settings. Averages often went beyond 60fps too, and
switching it to Asus’ Turbo mode added a couple of frames
per second here and there..
The pace here also means the Asus can handle esports
games at triple-figure frame rates, ideal for smooth
gaming on the 120Hz screen. However, the GTX 1660 Ti
does have limitations. You won’t get tougher single-
playergamesrunningatmorethan100fpsunlessyou
cutback the settings. It doesn’t have any dedicated ray-
tracing hardware either.