ASUS ROG G501 Unboxing / Impression / Review
We Unbox the slimmest gaming laptop of ASUS the G-series ROG G501 check out the video down below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7nCPrUpNEA&feature=youtu.be
ASUS G-Series G501 Specs
- G501JW-DM138H
- Windows 8.1 64bit
- Intel Core i7 4720HQ
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX960M 4GB DDR5 VRAM
- 4GB +DRAM DDR3 8GB
- 1TB HDD
- 15.6-inch LED Back-lit Ulstra Slim FHD 1920 x 1080
- 38.2 x 25.5 x 2.06 ~ 2.13cm
- Bluetooth / Wifi
- 2.27 KG
- 1 Years Global Warranty
- Php 59,995
check out also the other gaming laptops ASUS has announced
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23tsEPQTRxs
check out the other specs here
timecheck its 4pm and I started using the laptop 15mins ago after full charging I have installed the battery bar to monitor the battery usage. initial screenshot a while ago while installing the adobe creative suite software for the productivity performance test.
battery check 96% while starting to download the adobe apps.
System information
I’m still using it right now without the mouse and so far just the trackpad is very responsive I love the two finger gesture while scrolling really very smooth and the large track pad is big plus while it has a large space for my palm to rest, since the texture of the body in the keyboard is matte finished in my opinion this will not easily fade away and using while sitting is not even hefty since the weight of the laptop is very light. Using it while sitting is not a problem for it’s weight.
Closer look at the trackpad and keyboard
This (3) three finger gesture swipe up is awesome it shows a multi windows selection where I can easily click which app I wanted to use. then three finger swipe to minimize all the windows 🙂
Sound Quality
Since the speaker grills are located at the bottom near the rubber feet, sound quality is pretty average but for the max volume it’s above average for the loudness, no sound distortion while playing Music Playlist on YouTube even on max volume.
My battery toolbar seems not accurate will try to do my second test later but for now here is the initial battery life since I started posting
here is the ASUS smart gesture application, very responsive i’m loving it so far 🙂
Keyboard
Keyboard has some nifty quick access functionality, first I love the large palm rest area it’s a great way not to touch the trackpad easily, similar with the macbooks 😉
The keys have backlit and the color can’t be change it’s fixed to color red but the light intensity can be controlled using the quick access keys in the F3 and F4 button with the combination button of FN.
as a default the numpad are inactive and it will act as navigation buttons for up,down,left and right.
to activate the numpad just press num lk key but it will indicate if its already activated once pressed not like the airplane mode button, caps lock and power button that has a LED light in the lower right corner of the keys.
The ASWD keys are more emphasize with the red highlight color at the sides of the keys for gaming purposes.
typing with the keys is very comfortable the height of the keys are just right and has enough room space for every keys for better accuracy for typing.
gestures work in the windows core application but for the Photoshop rotate gesture doesn’t work.
but most of the listed smart gesture functionalities works fine very well.
Battery Update
Been using for 1hr and 30mins now and I’ve felt some huge amount of heat so I needed put it on my table. for the past hour it’s placed on my lap and due to the amount of heat I feel its burning my legs LOL! and even in the palm rest area. I think must buy a infrared heat sensor so I can monitor the amount of heat coming from different devices 😉
I think the backlit LED lights affect the excessive heat coming from the back panel will do another test without using the Backlit since in the first test I turned on the backlit of the keys all through out the first charged.
I’ll be charging it in a bit since it only have 12% of battery juice. on my next test will do the performance and rendering test plus the gaming test 😉
will monitor how long the charging time also.
##Charging Time
UPDATE: started charging at 5:55pm full charge around 8:30pm and that is roughly 2hrs an 30mins for it too fully charge pretty fast for a gaming laptop 🙂
for this session I will not use the backlit of the keys just to check if I will still encounter the heating issue, but i’m glad it has great keyboard ergonomics so I can still type accurately even without the backlit 🙂
While waiting for the download of the apps and games here is the initial battery juice still pretty fast to drain 🙁
take note this is in performance mode will now switch to balance mode
Time to install some games
I rendered some videos and i’m glad using Adobe Premiere Pro CC does have enabled Mercury Playback and export rendering for CUDA,OpenCL and Software.
Here is the log file for the 3 different rendering.
Cuda Mercury Playback Engine Renderer
06/13/2015 03:35:33 PM : Queue Started
- Preset Used: YouTube HD 1080p 29.97
- Video: 1920×1080 (1.0), 29.97 fps, Progressive, 00:05:28:29
- Audio: AAC, 320 kbps, 48 kHz, Stereo
- Bitrate: VBR, 2 pass, Target 8.00 Mbps, Max 8.00 Mbps
- Encoding Time: 00:10:43
- 06/13/2015 03:46:16 PM : File Successfully Encoded
06/13/2015 03:46:17 PM : Queue Stopped
OpenCL Mercury Playback Engine Renderer
06/13/2015 04:26:57 PM : Queue Started
- Preset Used: YouTube HD 1080p 29.97
- Video: 1920×1080 (1.0), 29.97 fps, Progressive, 00:05:28:29
- Audio: AAC, 320 kbps, 48 kHz, Stereo
- Bitrate: VBR, 2 pass, Target 8.00 Mbps, Max 8.00 Mbps
- Encoding Time: 00:10:21
- 06/13/2015 04:37:18 PM : File Successfully Encoded
06/13/2015 04:37:19 PM : Queue Stopped
Software Mercury Playback Engine Renderer
06/13/2015 04:41:58 PM : Queue Started
- Preset Used: YouTube HD 1080p 29.97
- Video: 1920×1080 (1.0), 29.97 fps, Progressive, 00:05:28:29
- Audio: AAC, 320 kbps, 48 kHz, Stereo
- Bitrate: VBR, 2 pass, Target 8.00 Mbps, Max 8.00 Mbps
- Encoding Time: 00:10:35
- 06/13/2015 04:52:34 PM : File Successfully Encoded
06/13/2015 04:52:34 PM : Queue Stopped
As you noticed a 5mins video is rendered in just 10mins which is not really bad for a full HD 1920 x 1080 video using GTX960m. but what’s interesting is the OpenCL is quite faster in terms of rendering 🙂
Battery update so I’ve manage to optimize the G501 and it got a 3hrs of battery life with the balance mode and without using the backlit. but take note this is just on a casual and moderate use us expected for extensive usage it just manage upto 2hrs of battery life. I am not sure if this is just on my unit since this is a review unit. but seems quite ok for G501 🙂
here is the status
for me the biggest advantage of this laptop is the weight I can say this in really one of the lightest gaming laptop you can have right now and without affecting the performance.
Display
I just noticed with the display it has a slight shifting of colors in a angled view. The best viewing angle is the 160 degrees which I think is the max, if you’re viewing it on a straight angle like 90 degrees you will notice a different color shift.
Here is the actual quality in different angles , focus in the first 2 photos
But still overall the display panel is really thin and doesn’t heat only the body 🙂
