ASUS ROG Zephyrus G GA502 Laptop Review

Let me present you with the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G GA502, the least expensive laptop with this ID to date. It might seem absurd to assume that you can purchase one of Asus’ ROG Zephyrus gaming laptops for close to $1,000. A powerful GTX 1660 Ti GPU, excellent battery life, and a reliable pair of speakers are all included for $1,199 and are housed in a stylish design. The Zephyrus G’s development is being hampered by a mediocre AMD processor and an extremely dull display, among other things. In spite of this, the Zephyrus G is a good gaming laptop overall.

Options for the Asus Zephyrus G GA502’s price and configuration

The AMD Ryzen 7 3750H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU with 6GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD are all included in the $1,199 Zephyrus G that I tested. There is a model that Asus sells for $1,099 that only has 8GB of RAM.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G GA502

Technical Specifications

pros and cons

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G GA502 Review

Display

The display on the Zephyrus G, which has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 and measures 15.6 inches diagonally, is particularly dismal and dim, even more so than the typical display on a cheap gaming laptop. On the other hand, a positive aspect is that the panel offers a smooth refresh rate of 120 Hz.

A scene from Dark Phoenix had a trailer, and in it, the X-black Men’s yellow uniforms and Mystique’s red hair didn’t stand out nearly as much as they should have. When Jean Grey was standing at the front door of the manor, I could hardly make out the details of her surroundings. On the other hand, the display was sharp enough for me to distinguish each individual stitch on Professor X’s jacket.

It was challenging to see the boundaries of the woodland surrounding Lara and Jonah when they set up camp at night in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Lara’s jade necklace and Jonah’s orange accent on his blazer appeared to be very plain choices. But Lara’s hair was so well-defined that I could practically see every strand coming out of her head.

Our colorimeter determined that the Zephyrus G’s panel only covered a meager 71% of the sRGB color gamut, which is much less than the 110% average for popular gaming laptops. The G5 15 SE (154%) and the Legion Y7000 (153%) demonstrated authentic gaming laptop displays, outperforming the GF63 8RB (73%) by a razor-thin margin.

The Zephyrus G’s 240-nit display is the darkest of the group, falling just short of the 271-nit average. Although the GF63 8RB (246 nits) didn’t make it, it is still superior to the Zephyrus G. The G5 15 SE (270 nits) and the Legion Y7000 (277 nits) were essentially playing footsie with the average.

Design & Built

Even though the Zephyrus G belongs to the Zephyrus line’s budget segment, it nevertheless has a tonne of style. Halfway around the lid, the aluminum hood is brushed both vertically and diagonally. A glossy ROG logo featuring red backlighting that only barely illuminates the top half can be found there. The deck is visible through a stylish hole at the hinge, which also houses three LED indicators.

In contrast, the interior of the chassis features a similarly understated appearance, departing from the RGB craziness and forward-facing keyboards of earlier Zephyrus models in favor of a conventional keyboard layout with white backlit keys. The holes for the intake are situated adjacent to diagonal grooves that have been etched into the chassis above the keyboard. The device also features amusingly thin bezels and no webcam.

The Zephyrus G is a popular gaming laptop that is significantly lighter and thinner than the Dell G5 15 SE (5.6 pounds, 14.3 x 10.8 x 1 inches) and the Lenovo Legion Y7000 (5.3 pounds, 14.2 x 10.5 x 1.10.9 inches) at 4.5 pounds and 14.2 x 9.9 x 0.8 inches. The MSI GF63 8RB is the lightest of the group (4.2 pounds, 14.1 x 10 x 0.9 inches), although the Zephyrus G is still more slender.

Audio

The audio quality was good overall, and Zephyrus G’s bottom-firing speakers were able to fill a small office with Missio’s “I See You.” The keyboard and the opening vocals were bright and clear. Except for the stronger bass drums, which felt muted, most of the percussion came across strongly.

I ran around Lara’s manor in Shadow of the Tomb Raider while she was a young girl, being serenaded by gorgeous chirping birds and exciting music that transported me to the experience of affluent people. Lara spoke clearly, and her footsteps were audible over the screaming fan of the Zephyrus G. The satisfying thud that came from the stone floor when she fell from the roof and landed on her ass without getting a scratch on her was also satisfying.

The Sonic Studio 3 program, which has preset for Music, Movie, Gaming, and Communication, allows you to adjust the audio. You can change the treble, bass, voice clarity, and even the reverb within those presets. You may assign these settings to particular apps of your choice, and the app also offers you access to a comprehensive equalizer.

Keypad & Touchpad

It must be better now that Asus has given the Zephyrus a standard keyboard layout. Yes and no, I suppose. Although the new keyboard includes palm rests and has a high necessary actuation force for its keys, the keys are still excessively shallow, and there is a lot of give and take.

Also on the 10FastFingers.com typing test, I typed 71 words per minute, which is somewhat faster than my typing speed of 70 wpm. The keys’ meager 0.8-millimeter travel is much less than the 1.5 to 2.0 mm that we want. The keys did, however, demand an enormous 80 grams of actuation force, which is much higher than our 60g standard.

The touchpad was one aspect of the earlier design that I did like because it was obscenely soft and its vertical layout featuring discrete buttons made it more practical for gaming. Although it lacks separate buttons, the 4.1 x 2.8-inch touchpad on the Zephyrus G is nevertheless soft and enjoyable to operate. Windows 10 gestures, like two- and three-finger scrolling, and the pad’s precise drivers do function well together.

Performance

The AMD Ryzen 7 3750H processor and 16GB of RAM found inside the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G GA502’s tiny casing allowed it to flawlessly manage 40 Google Chrome tabs and five 1080p YouTube movies while Shadow of the Tomb Raider ran in the background. On our benchmarks, it didn’t perform as well, though.

The Zephyrus G scored 14,059 on the Geekbench 4.1 overall performance test, which is unable to compete with an ordinary popular gaming laptop (20,539). While the Core i7-8750H processor in the Legion Y7000 (22,474) and the GF63 8RB dominated our testing, the Core i5-9300H processor in the G5 15 SE performed marginally better (16,744). (21,811).

On our HandBrake benchmark, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G GA502 transcoded a 4K movie to 1080p in 14 minutes and 23 seconds, taking over four minutes longer than the category average (10:40). However, the Legion Y7000 (9:24) and the GF63 8RB (10:20) breezed through the test like champions. To be fair, the G5 15 SE was even slower (14:31).

The 512GB SSD from Asus replicated 4.97GB of data in just 12 seconds, or 424 MBps, which is slightly faster than the average 382 MBps of mainstream gaming laptops. The Legion Y7000’s SSD was still faster, even if the laptop destroyed the 256GB SSD in the G5 15 SE (130 MBps) as well as the GF63 8RB (318 MBps) (636 MBps).

Heating

The Zephyrus G, unlike its brothers, did not make use of Asus’ Active Aerodynamics System, which caused the bottom to lift. Despite this, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G GA502 doesn’t heat up much, despite the fact that its fans can be rather noisy.

The underbelly reached 108 degrees after 15 minutes of playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which is higher than our comfort threshold of 95 degrees. Both the touchpad and keyboard’s centers were at 79 and 108 degrees, respectively. The machine’s middle vent, where it became the hottest, measured 125 degrees.

The bottom of the laptop reached a maximum temperature of 89 degrees on our standard heat test, which involves playing a 15-minute 1080p video; the keyboard reached 86 degrees, and the touchpad reached 75 degrees.

Gaming & Graphics

I ran, chopped, and shot my way through a jungle using the Zephyrus G, which burned through Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest, 1080p) at 36 frames per second thanks to its Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU and 6GB of VRAM. The gadget occasionally stumbled, but mostly it was reliable.

The Zephyrus G averaged 43 frames per second on the Very High, 1080p Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark, which is roughly on par with the average for popular gaming laptops (44 fps). It outperformed the G5 15 SE’s (GTX 1650) 37 fps, the Legion Y7000’s (GTX 1060) 27 fps, and the GF63 8RB’s 27 fps (GTX 1050 Ti).

The Zephyrus G achieved a respectable 73 frames per second on the Hitman test (Ultra, 1080p). However, it outperformed the Legion Y7000 (70 fps) and the GF63 8RB, even though it didn’t reach the category average (80 fps) (69 fps). The G5 15 SE (85 fps) ran the game more smoothly, though.

The Zephyrus G regained control and outperformed the competition with 57 frames per second on the Grand Theft Auto V benchmark (Very High, 1080p). The Zephyrus G is only slightly slower than the typical gaming laptop (54 fps), but the G5 15 SE (40 fps), Legion Y7000 (46 fps), and GF63 8RB (35 fps) all performed significantly worse.

Despite Zephyrus G’s GTX beginnings, it is more than capable of supporting virtual reality. On the SteamVR Performance Test, the laptop achieved a score of 9.2, which is higher than the category average (8.2). The Legion Y7000 and the G5 15 SE both performed marginally worse with VR.

Connectivity

The Zephyrus G has a good number of ports. The charging jack, an RJ45 Ethernet port, an HDMI 2.0 port, a USB Type-C port (DisplayPort 1.4), a headphone jack, and one USB 3.1 port are all located on the left side of the chassis. The right side features two more USB 3.1 ports than the left.

Battery

The Zephyrus G provides a respectable amount of battery life, even for a gaming laptop that is more reasonably priced. The battery lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes while continuously browsing the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, which is longer than the typical mainstream gaming laptop (4:06). It even outlasted the Legion Y7000 (4:28) and the GF63 8RB (3:30), but the G5 15 SE was too powerful for it to defeat (6:53).

Conclusion

If you have a somewhat flexible budget, Asus’ ROG Zephyrus G GA502 ($1,199) is a fantastic gaming laptop. You also get a good battery life, a pair of speakers that are both powerful and VR-ready, and outstanding graphics performance. Not to mention that everything is contained in a very thin and light design. Even yet, the Ryzen processor falls short of those offered by Intel, and the display is too flat and dark for gaming.

However, the Legion Y7000, which costs $1,099, has a better processor, a brighter and more vibrant display, and even comparable battery life. You will, however, give up portability and perhaps even some graphical performance.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G GA502 is a reliable gaming laptop all around and one of the most portable you can purchase for the money.