Customer Ratings & Reviews

The speaker is noisy and headphone jack doesn't work. As an electrical engineer, I spend 2 hours on it and finally find that GU501 is installed with other model audio driver. Then I install it with GM501 audio driver and it works. Maybe I should get an offer from bestbuy

DISCLAIMER: I have internet DL/UL speeds of 25/5 though AT&T U-Verse. This ASUS gaming laptop is what I have been looking for... Fortnite Battle Royale, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and Rocket League are the games being played the most. This laptop comes in a box in a fancy box. Pretty sweet packing job. Package includes the PC, power adapter brick/cord, stickers, key chain, and pamphlets. Rather than go over ALL the specs which you can already find on this Bestbuy.com page, I'll try to give more observations of those specs instead. PROS: ----------- * Great-looking laptop. Keys light up and change color from left to right. * Solid feel, well-built construction. Keyboard is solid with little/no flexing. * PC is built for speed which I do like. * I have played all 3 games listed above, and I honestly don't have any issues with latency and graphics. I DO have to wear over-the-ear headphones to drown out the fan noise (see below - CONS), but the graphics and movement of the screen graphics is what it's all about. The specs claim a 120Hz refresh rate and it seems up to par. * Rocket League is probably the most graphics-intensive game I play, and most of the movement was seamless/smooth. * Connectivity was a cinch to wi-fi. I was able to hook up to 5MHz channel with ease. Installation of updates and programs was quick. * Boot-up time was incredibly fast. * Plenty of 3.0 USB ports (4). No one wants to have to hook up a USB hub. All inputs are on left side except 1 USB & 1 Thunderbolt port which gives more room for mouse. * Built-in speakers actually sound better than even high-end laptops. The sound really surprised me in a good way. * PC comes with 16GB DDR4 RAM and upgradeable to 32GB. This will be a viable option to take advantage of in the near future. Also comes with the latest in 8th-gen intel i7 processors - the 8750H - which really flies. * BT devices (headphones, keyboard, mouse) all connect seamlessly and work great. Absolutely no latency with the Logitech input devices I used... and Sony BT headphones. * Quick accessibility to dedicated volume buttons (usually embedded in a Fn button). The MUTE function is in the Fn button area though. CONS: ----------- * With the smallest of tasks, it seems like it's working hard due to the fans always coming on. The simple task of downloading updates cause the fans to run in excess. * FAN AGAIN... Perhaps this is the goal of the PC - to try and ALWAYS keep the inside cool because the fan really hardly ever stops when playing online. It's not going to blow up, but it feels like it. On the bright side, the PC doesn't get overheated where your palms sit... so that's a positive. * Because of the fan, you will want to wear noise-cancelling headphones. Even desktop speakers (at times) can get overshadowed by the constant fan noise. * Battery life will shrink quickly due to excessive fan use. OTHER OBSERVATIONS: ----------- * Keys are a bit small on the right side (numeric keypad, arrow keys)... however, if you use a full-size BT keyboard/mouse, you'll be ok. * I have not tried anything VR-related, but it does state it is VR-Ready. Unable to vouch for VR performance. * I used Skype at the last minute so I could test out the camera, and it worked fine. Very little-to-no latency with the other party. Video was crisp. Picture on their end (they said) was very clear. * To keep the PC minimal, an optical drive is not built-in to the unit. With all of the downloadable games today & USB/SD-cards taking over, optical drives will become more scarce. * Screen is 1920x1080.... so NOT 4K. However, at this size, 4K isn't needed, and speed is improved with staying at 1080. ASUS made a good choice here to avoid latency issues. * The PC is already pretty fast and includes a 1TB "Hybrid" SSHD (8GB of "SSD" built-in). I'm not really seeing much difference in performance due to this feature but perhaps over time, it will help. CONCLUSION: ===================== This is one of the new low-end gaming laptops that ASUS is offering this year. The more expensive versions offer up a better GPU (GeForce GTX 1070) and 256SSD. That may be a good upgrade, but unless then fan usage changes, you may want to stick with this model as movement and online play is quite good. I would like to know why the fans are used as much as they are though. They are quite loud, and perhaps that's by design in order to keep things as cool as possible. However, for gaming, it's also good to be able to play with headphones on and not annoy people around you with fan noise. This is a good PC with great performance. ASUS is on the right path here as they continue making high-quality PCs... It would be nice to see what can be done about keeping the unit cool without so much fan usage.

I've got a tower already, but I wanted something powerful enough to run all the games I normally play on the go. It's been fantastic at running everything, but there are a lot of small problems that continuously pop up. For example, the headphone jack doesn't work for normal headphones for audio at times. Normally that's not an issue because I have a USB headset, but for the price tag, I expect something like that to work. Sometimes when switching user accounts, the keyboard stops working and the laptop has to be restarted to get it working again. They aren't product-breaking by any means, but it's absolutely annoying to deal with. I expect a laptop to be fully functional without issue when brand new. I'm not sure if they're problems caused by Windows 10, software, hardware, or a combination of everything. Aside from those small problems, the laptop is great. A full number pad and super soft keyboard make it really nice for gaming or just general use. The color of the keyboard backlight can be customized if you download the right software (it can be set to a single color, alternating colors, a breathing pattern, etc). The processing power it has makes navigation through programs really fast, and the SSD makes it boot up super fast, as well. The display is nice and has rich colors. The only final complaint I have is the boot up noise, where it likes to announce that it's a ROG laptop. If I could remove that, I would. As for gaming, I've been able to play pretty much anything I want on Ultra graphics, or just "Very High" if it's an extra demanding game. The graphics card makes it possible to play pretty much anything out today on the best settings available, and the processor is able to keep up, too. I haven't really encountered any issues yet with a game I couldn't play well on it.

It should be said that I am a 57 year old coming from the ASUS G51J gaming laptop. It has a GTS 360 graphics card, 1080p screen and the 1st generation I-7. It's a 2009 model and it still works. Based off of that, I decided to go with ASUS again. I wanted the GL504 GS, but $2000 was just out of my reach. I just happened to be in Best Buy in July and found the GU501. After reading every review on the Best Buy web site on this and a couple others online, I made the jump, besides it was on sale for $150 off. Overall, I gave it a 5, but only because it doesn't have a half or quarter rating, (otherwise a 4.75). I find it has a very good build quality, very good performance, doesn't run hot with normal tasks and the battery actually lasted more than 3 hours with some left over (internet surfing, not game playing). It looks very nice, key board is nice to type on, but could have just a little more travel (I am a heavy handed typer) and the track pad is very responsive. The screen looks good, more than bright enough for everyday use. I am not a gamer, but I prefer gaming computers, because they are a better build quality then regular computers. Since I travel a lot, a well built computer is a must. I do use the graphics GPU for picture heavy presentations, with my old computer it would overheat and shut down once in a while. The fan on it is like a jet engine. However, I have never heard the fans kick in on the GU501. I really like the thinness of this computer, but it has some weight for how thin it is, not an issue, the old one is thicker and heavier. I did have some issues with this initially, but after updates it was mostly good to go. The remaining issue I blame on Windows and Microsoft Office. I really hate Windows 10 (I liked Windows 7 much better). The issues I have remaining is the Office Power Point will lock up and then shut down. It's a program issue, not the computer. I would like to shut the startup sound off, but I am having a difficult time figuring out how to do that. I like it, but the people I work with find it annoying at start up. Professors might have an issue with it too. Now, what I don't like, No SD card reader, only 75% color accuracy, battery life could be better and the 128gb M.2 card. Its not even a PCIe card, Other than that, I have no issues with this computer. This is my third computer, second ASUS. I got 9 years out of both the Gateway and ASUS G51J laptops. I hope I can get another 9 out of this, I see no reason why I shouldn't. I wish I could afford one for my wife and my 3 kids (kids are all college bound), because I would get them the same model. I would also like to upgrade the screen to the new 144hz screen on the GL504, but what I have is more than acceptable. It should also be said, that I looked at the MSI 63, MSI 65, the Blade 14, Blade 15 models and a couple of the HP gamers. Because of price, screens and also some performance issues on the others, I chose the GU501. I also looked at the upgrade ability of each, ASUS has that in the bag, I hope this helps. I highly recommend this to first time gaming buyers or anyone looking for a really good quality laptop.

Excellent ROG platform from ASUS. + This 8th gen i7 6-Core is perfect for everything! averaging around 3.9ghz + m.2 NMVE SSD Support, is beautiful! I threw a 512gb Samsung 970 Pro in there as the 128gb Kingston SSD that comes with this is pretty slow for an NVME averaging Xfer speeds of 800mbs. This also comes with a perfectly fine 1tb SSD/HDD drive for data storage. + I upgraded this model for Dual Channel with 2x16gb G.Skill RipJaws (total of 32GB). The single 16gb it comes with is plenty for most people I am sure. I run GNS3 and VMWare applications and also do video editing, so I need all the RAM I can get. + A total of 5 USB 3.1 ports (1-C Adapter) you can actually use the Oculus Rift VR's Sensors at maximum performance. Seeing as the sensors each prefer a single USB 3.1 port There are other "VR Ready" Machines, that for some reason are still providing 2.0 ports and only 1 or 2 3.0 ports. hmm hm msi hmm. Remember you need at least TWO Sensors for Oculus Rift Touch!! + GTX 1060 6gb is the actual Full Version (not Max-Q) and is plenty powerful to deliver graphical beauty if your snob like me. Its playing most games at Very High settings. Albeit not "ALL" settings are maxed out but most are. Good enough for a graphics snob like me. I have a 980ti in my Desktop. + 120hz display is great. @ 1080p it provides a very clear quality picture. There is an HDMI out port for your Oculus VR or external Monitor. + Speakers could be louder but the sound is very rich for laptop speakers. I could easily distinguish between bass, mids and highs. I mean, your gonna wear a headset anyway but they could be a little louder. + Keyboard is excellent and not cramped. Although, I would have liked my Directional Keys to be a little bigger. The numeric keypad is pretty easy to use. The lighting has 4 zones and is really great. Games with automated LED profiles like COD BO 4 will take over the illumination of your keyboard to facilitate game functions. This is an awesome feature. + Overall, this is a great "investment". That is what you are doing here. Your making an investment. Remember to research exactly what you want and look e v e ry where!!!! I bought this in 9/2018 and I highly recommend it. Out of the box it is a great machine! It can be even better with some upgrades to RAM and SSDs

Here’s my 1 month use summary of owning the machine. DAY TO DAY: I've been pretty amazed at the performance of this laptop since I got it a month ago. The 6-core CPU breezes through all my tasks and my work, although there are some hiccups (little lags) along the way. It's not as bad as you might expect but it's still annoying if you're working and it just does that hiccup. Sometimes it recovers, sometimes not. With a hefty weight of 5.5 lbs, this isn't your regular thin and light. Given the weight, it is still portable enough to be carried around in a backpack. It's not uncomfortably heavy and bulky, but you'll need the power adapter in the pack as well because the battery isn't really the laptop's strength. I the laptop and the power brick in a Sprayground back pack, with the 12.9 inch Ipad pro and a couple of portable hard drives and a 2016 Roccat Kova. FANS AND NOISE Fan Overboost found in the ROG Gaming Center gives you 3 different fan speeds, Silent, Balanced and Overboost. Overboost I think isn't helpful because it's too loud and it probably adds heat to the system because the fan is spinning at a higher rate. Balanced is something that I use often when playing, and Silent is my default when just working, and doing casual things. Balanced and Overboost sound like airplanes getting ready for take off. Balanced isn't that loud, but Overboost... It's loud enough but can still be drowned out by using headphones. Also, the fans are always on, even in Silent mode. HEAT Sadly, this laptop does not have the rising bottom flap that its more expensive siblings have. The bottom panel has grills for air to come in and out, and some rubber feet to elevate the machine. The heat? Meh. It's a gaming laptop for crying out loud! Which the fans will do if you set it to Overboost! I mean, loud fans, and heat are staple identities of gaming laptops. With Gore developing cooling solutions for Dell, and the rise of the vapor chambers, I'm sure gaming laptop heat problems will be a thing of the past, but for now, we can always undervolt. re-paste, or use cooling pads. WORK My recent workload consists of doing animation in Flash and Spine and some drawing work in Photoshop. The performance of the laptop while working has been top notch ever since I got this as the replacement of the q535ud. The 1080p screen resolution means that I don't need to adjust UI scaling for Photoshop and Spine. I plug in my Huion GT-156D, which is also 1080p, when I want to draw. Setting up was just plug, install the driver and play. I wanted to use my Intuos tablet paired with this laptop but Windows Ink would not cooperate with Wacom drivers, so I had to give up. Palm rejection needs a little work as well. I find myself turning off the touch pad every once in a while if I want to rest my palms while typing. Of course, this is when I have a mouse plugged in. PLAY I am pleased to say that most of the games that I play runs well. I play Destiny 2 and Diablo 3 most of the time. Destiny 2 makes the laptop a little bit warm. I got about 75-90 frames average and the max temp that I saw through HWInfo was 90degrees C while Diablo 3 reached at about 85. It could be just a spike, because if it held at 90, the laptop would've throttled. This is all with the balanced fan setting. I played PUBG for 30 minutes (2 games of approx 15 min each, no wins) and it never choked on me. Overwatch reached 80 degrees on high settings but the framerate held above 100. Everything was buttery smooth thanks in part to the 120hz display. This laptop can basically handle most games at medium to high setting on 1080p. BATTERY LIFE The GU501GM only has a 55-Whr battery. This is its weakest link. Even the higher end GM501 has the same battery. I don't know what ASUS was thinking when they decided to pick this one. Longest that I can get is 3.5-4 hrs half brightness, keyboard backlight off, screen at 60hz. So you have to bring the 180W power adapter. The only thing going for this device is Nvidia Optimus. It is a mixed bag for some but for me I like saving battery life when I'm unplugged. So when you unplug the device, the screen turns off of a bit, then turns back on again, switching to the Intel UHD 630, and then restarting the display at 60hz. People with the GM501 with the AAS do not have this feature and have to do it though the ROG Gaming Center, which will require a restart. KEYBOARD Keyboard is great. I'm not really particular about the depth and the actuation force since I am a heavy typer. It's definitely not as light as my Logitech G810, but it works. I'm just also used to a more central layout instead of a left-leaning one because of the numpad. I found myself missing the backspace and pressing the numlock key and sometimes I press the enter key instead of the shift. I also occasionally miss the arrow keys and hit the num0 key. This keyboard has a back light as well you can adjust it through the ASUS ROG Aura Core. It has 4 lighting zones and you can choose any color from the RGB spectrum. DISPLAY The display is a Full HD, 120hz IPS Panel. It is in the average color accuracy but the brightness is good enough. The only thing that I see with regards to the display that could potentially be a downside are the bezels. I mean, the competition as super thin bezels but this one doesn't. I mean, I don't really care. For the past month that I've been using this laptop, it really has not bothered me at all. Colors are ok. Great in games and in normal use, but for work it is sometimes washed out. I do animation and drawing, and sometimes I have to rely on the hexcodes to get the right color. There is little to no light bleed and the 120hz screen is a charm. Possibly the best feature of this display. The 120hz only turns on when the machine is plugged though. Otherwise, Optimus will kick in and reduce the display frequency to 60hz. It is an automatic feature and this specific feature isn't available on the higher tier models. There's also an HD webcam on the top bezel and I'm pretty sure it's the same as every laptops' webcam. STORAGE Another low point of this version of the Zephyrus is the storage. I am glad they didn't cut corners anywhere else. This spec only has 128GB M.2 SSD and a 1 TB 5400rpm spinner. It isn't that bad, but some laptops at least have a 256GB for their primary but the downside is that they're probably thicker, screen is probably not 120hz and it also probably has a lesser quality build. The quality of the SSD isn't that bad. It loads Windows fast and does copying and pasting well. I recommend upgrading when you have the budget. CHASSIS The build quality of this laptop is solid. I love how it feels and how you know that it's 5.5lb isn't just the internals. This Zephyrus is missing the bottom flap (AAS) but the design is identical to the rest of it's family. Black with copper(bronze) accents, brushed aluminum lid, and hard plastic on the main body. There's no gamer red except for the ROG logo on the lid, and the power LED on the keyboard panel. The lid has a cutout on the bottom middle so that when you close it, you'll still see the status LEDs situated on the top middle of the keyboard. There are 13 screws that hold the bottom panel and the internals in place. Removing these will grant you access to the M.2 SSD, the HDD, RAM and the Wi-Fi card. The chassis comes with 4 USB 3.1 Type-A ports and a USB Type-C with Thunderbolt, HDMI 2.0. They've also changed the keyboard layout to a standard one with the Numpad on the right instead of a dynamic touch pad, and placed the touch pad on the default position. Overall, I can say that I am pleased with the design and build quality for the price. TOUCH PAD The touch pad is a little small compared to other laptops out there. Reason is that they gave enough space above the keyboard for cooling. Touch pad is too smooth and sometimes too sensitive as well. And since it's not centered but a little bit to the left, I often 0find myself hitting the right-click area of the touchpad instead of the left. Otherwise it's a great touch pad. It uses Windows Precision and works as intended. SPEAKERS They are louder than I expected. The full blast of these speakers will fully drown out the Overboost of the fan. Well, not really, but it's really loud. It isn't perfect sounding but they're great for what they are. It also sounds like it has a subwoofer. Just a side note though, depending on what music you're listening too, or movie you're watching, raising the volume above 60% can cause the keyboard area to vibrate and the sounds would we distorted. Ideal volume is 30-50%. CONCLUSION Amazing. I never thought I'd buy an ASUS ROG laptop and will love it. They've come a long way from designing a gamerish looking beast of a machine to something sleek without sacrificing the performance. Granted that the specs of this gaming underdog isn't over the top, and is limited by not having the AAS, this laptop will still blow you away. Maybe not too far. Battery life is also something to consider. With only 4-4.5 hrs of usable power, it could be the biggest drawback, or maybe a deal-breaker for some. The heat and fan noise is also to consider but why will you buy a gaming laptop if you're not going to use it's power? Priced at $1499 in the US, I can say that this machine is well worth it. I just wonder if there is a similar priced and spec'd model for the market outside of the US since this one is particularly a US Best Buy exclusive. TL;DR PROS Good overall performance Toned down gamer look Great keyboard Nice Power brick Sleek design Thunderbolt 3/USB-C Worth-it Price Nvidia Optimus CONS Could potentially be loud No Ethernet port Battery life/Small Battery Small SSD Slow HDD No AAS Nvidia Optimus NITPICKS Touch Pad Heat Management Display Bezels Display​ ROG LOGO

This is a great all around laptop, the screen has good enough color accuracy, viewing angles, and a 120hz refresh rate that is a pleasant surprise for anyone who hasn't used one before. The noise can get up there but it does a decent job of keeping itself running optimally. The software is hit or miss sometimes, but you can change the keyboard backlight colors and options and adjust the fan speeds and so forth so on etc. Performance wise, specifically in games, I have had zero issues making use of the higher refresh rate screen as long as I don't go trying to max things out 100%. - I have a chonker of a desktop PC so I know what it feels like to max things out, but I also very much prefer how the 120hz screen feels - that being said it's not like you have to run things on low or even medium, you just may need to find a happy medium between ultra/high with a medium or two thrown in depending on the game. Speaking of the screen and the refresh rate - the 1080p screen may be a turn off for people nowadays who are used to 1440p and 4k screens, or even ultrawides (one of us!), however at this screen size the pixel density is fine and the aforementioned 120hz makes up for a lot of visual ease with the machine (you may need to adjust a setting to get the iGPU to run the screen at 120hz on battery, if you are so inclined and don't care about the battery life hit). I've also used the unit for audio production and had no issues with DPC latency - something I had a horrible experience with on a Dell XPS. Shame. Overall this is a great unit, and if you can find one on sale or as an open box it is an absolute steal - build quality is great too, tough sturdy plastic on the bottom followed all around the rest of the unit by brushed metal that feels much higher quality than the majority of the all plastic "gaming" laptops out there. Keep it up Asus.

I needed a new computer for work because mine just died out of the blue and very reluctantly I purchased this one....I was surprised by how well it works, how easy it was to transition from my oldo ne to this one; though I do work through the cloud so there's not much setting up required. Very fast and quite nice to look at too. I would say the only con is that the fan can get a bit noisy but I attribute it to the fact that it is made for gaming. Nice graphics so far and I'm really liking the rainbow color changing keyboard. This is my first Asus computer and it definitely did not disappoint.

I have been using this laptop for gaming almost daily for the last 2.5 months. I have had no issues with it at all. The screen brightness is fine, I saw that some people have complained about it but I have no probelms. I'm no expert on monitors, but it looks sharp, bright, and responsive to me. The performance is snappy. The fans are obviously audible while running a graphic intensive game, but they are not annoyingly loud. The laptop does not overheat or blow hot air on your hands if they are near the laptop using a mouse or other controller device. My previous laptop had a vent which blew directly onto my hand on the left side, so I appreciate the more subtle heat dissipation that this laptop provides. I love the keyboard, the keys have just the right amount of pop. The backlight is beautiful, I have it set to phase through all the colors which is very pleasing to my eyes. The speakers! They sound more full than any other laptop speakers I have ever heard. I do not love the "boom" on the ASUS splash screen at bootup which is the default setting. It woke up my dogs when I powered it up the first time! You can turn off this sound in the bios menu, thankfully. The size and chassis is one of my favorite things about the laptop and is the reason I picked this model. It's slim, clean, and compact. Fingerprints do show pretty easily on the black surface inside, but I just keep a cloth and cleaning solution around to wipe it down every so often. The exterior shell on the top does not show fingerprints as badly because of the steel texture. Overall, I really love this laptop and have been very happy with it, especially for the price when it is on sale :)

Superb laptop for all my high-end gaming. Currently, there isn't a game I can't play on this. Keyboard types wonderfully, touchpad feels like it fits in the right spot, and is super thin. At first I was worried about the heat due to the thinner size, but I don't feel it almost at all when I'm not playing games, and is better than other models when I am. Light-up keyboard is a plus: it's also customizable colors.

This laptop is great for gaming and lightning fast. Graphics look great and sound is pretty good for a laptop. Only complaint is that no matter what I set the fans to, the pc gets VERY hot. I use a cooling pad underneath it and that seems to help, but it can become a problem if you’re gaming for a long time. Also, the fans can get loud, but if you use a headset when gaming it isn’t really an issue.

For the most part, everything about this laptop is great. I use it for software development with a little bit of gaming on the side, and haven't run in to any major issues that weren't my own fault. The shell this thing comes packaged in was pretty shabby though. In around 3 months, the plastic pieces that cover my hinges completely fell off. I'm not rough with this thing, and from what I can tell, the strain of opening the screen is the sole reason that happened. Can't find replacement anywhere. Although I gave it 4 stars, and besides the good performance and sleek design, I might consider looking elsewhere.

I know many say that the fans are "loud" but they really are not unless its on over boost, or you're gaming on balanced. The fans are amazing and do their job. The 1060 is a decent graphics card, but runs games with little to no issues. I average 55 FPS in No Mans Sky, as many of you know, is a pretty consuming game. Entering large mass areas in the game do cause lag, or stuttering, but that is only when entering a different large world, and only lasts for 1-2 seconds. It is beautiful inside and out with a premium look. The keyboard gives me no problems. The only complaints I have are the screen bezels, and the battery life. Personally I don't care about the battery life because I am always plugged in, but this laptop will give you 3 hrs and 30 mins of regular browsing before it is low. But don't even bother gaming on the battery. It'll maybe last 40 mins.

I needed a laptop for 2 reasons, music production and 4K editing/rendering. This system meets my requirements and is obviously a great gaming laptop. I needed a powerful system that used a real 1060 and this has it. Its not really mobiled down like the 1060 Max Q's. Surprisingly, the system is really quiet when editing multiple audio tracks and even rendering my 4K drone videos. What you will want to do right away is get it set up, create an image of your system and then restore it to a bigger SSD, 128GB is a joke. I kept the 1TB drive for DATA and installed a 500GB Samsung EVO 970 NVME m.2. I mainly use this laptop in its closed position with 2 high def 27 inch monitors. I can game, edit 4k video and run crazy amounts of multi-track audio. Its not overly loud like most systems and it wont heat up small rooms hahahahaha. Everything works flawlessly and am quite happy with ASUS.

I bought this laptop so I can use my Oculus Rift anywhere easily. This laptop with a GTX 1060 6GB runs my Rift just as good as my desktop and runs any other games I have tried as well. The Aura keyboard lights are limited compared to my Razor keyboard but do give good basic options for light features. The only thing I have noticed with the laptop so far is it gets hot fast, its thin design with good fans keep the CPU and GPU cool if the fans are turned up all the way. The fan noise is not that bad (At least my headset does not pick up the sound). I would get a Laptop cooling pad with good fans. Overall, the laptop looks and feels amazing. I love the design and was a great cost for the power this laptop provides.

Bought this for dirt cheap ( I think it was like 1200 or something iirc) from the best buy down the street knowing that my main concerns were how upgradeable it would be and could I bring it in line with the way more expensive, newer models for less than the 3 grand they want for em generally. So the guy assured me that It would take another 16 gigs of ram and it did, I ordered the ram off "A" and it went right in and is sitting pretty at 32 gigs of ram now. Also, the main hard drive just had to go, It's not anything impressive to be quite honest and has lackluster specs. Ordered the 970 Pro 512 and used Samsung's software that they let u download for free to copy the main drive to the new drive (had to buy a usb3 converter to connect the new drive during copying, after that I just switched the drives and kept the old one as a faster than average flash drive so as not to waste the adapter) Then of course I snatched out the 1tb drive which isn't a bad drive for what it is, but personally I had to slap in the 860 EVO 1TB drive to have blazing fast, solid state worry free performance between my two drives. My stuff is ultra important to me so I don't trust any of it to mechanical drives, but that's just me. I keep the old 1TB drive in a really awesome waterproof usb3 external drive enclosure and it makes a nice drive for games and 4k movies and other noncritical stuff that I also have backed up on drives elsewhere. The cord on this thing is just magnificently designed. Not once have I had to worry about snagging or bending the jack because it comes in at a right angle, not straight out like most laptop cords. The fan system is brilliantly positioned away from your usb ports and everything else, the heat all blows away from you and not across anything you would have your hands or objects around. The game performance is just magnificent. blows through every game ive thrown at it on max settings. I work in the video game industry and use 3d modeling and animation software as well as cloth and fluid simulation software that would be agonizing to try to produce any professional grade results with on anything less. Im very satisfied that this machine renders and performs cpu intense fluid simulations like the baby beast mobile workstation I built it to be. Very happy with my purchase.

Solid build, excellent performance with the GTX1060. No real bloatware to speak of which is also a plus. Just manageable enough size/weightwise for travel too.

I am writing this review on 8/10/2020 more than a year later of owning the laptop. I use it for school and gaming and it does everything I need. Yes, 1060 could have been better but I never had any complaints. Still runs as fast as when it was bought. This is my first ASUS ROG product and I will be building my desktop with those parts as well. The only thing I would advise anyone buying it is that it needs to be plugged in for full usage (which is normal in any gaming laptop). I never had an issue, it barely left my house.

I decided to return a laptop I purchased and decided to get this smaller 15.6" Asus ROG laptop. The 17.3 was too big for travel and felt slightly flimsy. This laptop feels more solid and will wear better as my traveling Gaming laptop. Screen is a nice 120HZ refresh rate which feels right for the spec of this laptop. Great harddrive space and a good size boot drive ssd. The keyboard feels great. Only CONS so far is it is a slight bit loud with fan noise... But hey with the right headphones wont be a problem, also the speakers a re great to overcome the fan noise.

I bought this laptop 2 weeks ago and I'm loving everything about it, battery life could be better but its expected from gaming laptop that 5 hours is about all you'll get so not taking any stars away for that. The i7 and 16gb of ram is fast and great for multi purpose use then add in the 1060 for gaming with a 144hz monitor, you can't go wrong for the price! It's also very light compared to other gaming laptops and it looks so good!