ASUS ROG Zephyrus S GX502GW Laptop Review

A Closer Look

The ASUS GX502GW is packaged within a fantastic box which folds out to reveal the laptop as well as the documentation. The packaging is truly of an excellent quality and would genuinely work as a viable means of transporting it within a bag.

Inside you will find the laptop and a fantastically branded box containing all of the key documentation for the laptop. ASUS has spared very little expense in this packaging and, as a consumer, you are going to be immediately reassured that you’ve made a quality purchase.

The Laptop

The laptop carries a nice black/silver design which with a grained pattern really catches the light in a subtle but pleasing manner. There is, of course, some ASUS ROG branding on the top, but even that is somewhat understated.

In terms of aesthetics though, the design is exceptionally nice on the eye. Some may consider this a bit plain on the outside. There are no big bold logos to catch the eye. To us, however, it’s a design that would look great in a work or play environment.

The interior of the laptop carries the design through and again looks solid and professional. Although, as you will see later in the review, it does get a little more colourful when you turn the power on!

Ventilation

As this is a high-performance laptop, one that has a slim and lightweight design, temperature regulation is clearly going to be an important factor. As we have seen with many prior ASUS ROG Zephyrus releases though, they have more than a few tricks up their sleeve.

The rear of the laptop carries the two of the four main exhaust vents. These are both nice and large and to the centre contain a little bit of product branding.

The real ‘party piece’ of the laptop, however, is the base of the laptop which is designed to lift when the screen is opened. This exposes a significant area of the underside which allows for a much greater air intake than seen on your average laptop.

The gap isn’t huge, but it is enough to really help this try and keep as cool as possible which, when the fans need to start working harder, can be an important factor.

The Keyboard

The keyboard carries a relatively low-profile key design which are surprisingly nice and responsive to the touch. While you may not necessarily want to write a novel on it, it’s more than good enough for general usage.

It contains a number of operational shortcuts which includes the lighting effects, volume and the ability to mute the build in microphone.

When powered on, the keyboard carries RGB lighting effects. While not particularly bright, they can be altered via the aforementioned control and are actually about perfect in terms of their brightness.

You’re not blown away by the colours, but they are a nice aesthetic touch that even the most ardent RGB haters couldn’t dislike. All in all, it’s a nice solid keyboard design and layout which would be perfect for working or gaming.

Mouse Pad

I must admit that I’m not the biggest fan of laptop ‘scratch pads’. For the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX502GW, however, I was willing to make an exception. It was both nice to use and surprisingly responsive to the touch. While I still preferred to use a traditional plug-in mouse, I wouldn’t have had a problem using this in the absence of one.

Display

The display carries a 1080p resolution which operates at 144Hz. The screen quality is undoubtedly good as images look nice, crisp and clear. In addition, the 3ms response time would clearly be highly desirable for gamers looking for that peak level of performance.

Speakers

Laptops can often have a pretty poor quality of audio output. In regards to the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S, however, the sound quality is remarkably good. While you shouldn’t expect any hardcore base from this, the high-res audio system provides excellent quality. There is genuinely no real requirement to wear headphones for standard operating, YouTube or even casual music.

Connections

The ASUS RoG Zephyrus GX502GW has two main banks of connection ports which are located to the left and right side of the laptop. Starting with the left side, it includes;

• Power input
• Ethernet port
• HDMI output
• USB 3.1 port
• 3.5mm headphone and microphone ports.

The right side is a little more low key featuring:

• 2 x USB 3.1 ports
• USB Type-C port
• Kensington Lock

There is a little bit of what I feel is ‘give and take’ in these connections. While I would’ve preferred to have seen one more USB 3.1 port, I am at least grateful that they managed to get an ethernet port into the slim design of the laptop. As such, on the whole, I’m more than happy with this!

Overall

In terms of the laptop as a whole, I really like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX502GW. Yes, it may not be shouting to grab your attention, but what is there looks absolutely fantastic.

ASUS has clearly placed a strong emphasis on the design here. Specifically ensuring that this laptop wouldn’t look out of place in any environment. A factor in which I think they’ve absolutely nailed it!

For work or play, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX502GW would be an ideal laptop to own. With the incredibly powerful hardware it has inside, I daresay the play aspect would be hard to ignore!