The Asus Zephyrus S GX701 stands out to be one of the best gaming laptops out there with the powerful Nvidia RTX 2080 MAX-Q graphics card and an Intel i7 processor paired with more than sufficient RAM. Although its design is pretty unique with the differently placed keyboard and touchpad, it’s not that great a compromise for those who wish to extensively game on this laptop with external devices connected. And so, for those who really want the best gaming laptop, which is super thin and looks pretty aesthetic, the Asus Zephyrus S GX701 is a great option worth considering. If you’re also interested in a gaming laptop that can convert into a tablet, consider the best 2-in-1 gaming laptop too.
Why We Like It – Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701
Placing on the high end in terms of both performance and design, the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 stands with a unique build and a large 17-Inch screen. It is powered by the Nvidia RTX 2080 MAX-Q GPu which gives it one of the best graphical performance among gaming laptops and paired with its thin design and G-Sync capability, the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 allows you to play some of the best games out there with a splendid performance.
- Powerful GPU
- Incredibly Slim
- Individual RGB lighting on keyboard
- No webcam
- No armrest for typing
Performance
Powered by the Intel Core i7-8750h processor, the RTX 2080 MAX-Q GPU, 24 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB M.2 NVMe SSD, the Asus Zephyrus S GX701 is a more than capable gaming machine. It brings out the best performance out of games with the highest settings thanks to the new ray tracing technology, and paired with its 17-Inch IPS display with a 1920 x 1080 Full-HD resolution, it offers you one of the best viewing experiences. The screen also has a 144Hz refresh rate and a 3ms response time, which makes playing games all the more enjoyable and dynamic.
Related: Learn more about this, a similar gaming laptop by reading our ASUS ROG Zephyrus M GM501GS review
While all of this surely makes for an amazing gaming performance, playing games above the 60fps limit, it does come at a cost. The large screen size, and the powerful GPU drain out the battery pretty fast, leaving it with not that great a battery life. You can get about 5 or so hours of watching videos on it, but playing games drain it out much, much faster. This is however similar to many gaming laptops like the Dell Inspiron I7559 and much higher than that of the MSI Ghost Pro. But on the other hand, unlike the Zephyrus G14, this isn’t the best laptop to take out to a coffee shop or class, if you do, you’ll surely need the adapter.
Moving onto the heat and sound maintenance, the Zephyrus S GX701 allows you to switch between multiple modes like the Armoury Crate which gives the best gaming performance, or the balanced or silent modes which adjust the fan noise and heat dissipation to your needs. Thanks to the free space up top of the keyboard and the rear wide opening, the laptop has great heat dissipation and doesn’t get hot too quickly, allowing you to game comfortably for a longer period of time. Moreover, in order to let the heat go, a bottom panel lifts up the laptop and this is pretty unnoticeable because of the 17-Inch screen, not making it much of an issue.
Related: Check out our ASUS ROG Zephyrus S Ultra Slim review
While the Zephyrus S GX701 has a decent sound quality with stereo speakers, they aren’t even near the best. The Lenovo Y700 is a great option for those looking for good sound quality in a gaming laptop thanks to its JBL speakers. On the other hand, the GX701 does come with the flexibility of being upgradable. While 8 GB of RAM is soldered on, you can easily replace the second RAM card for greater performance and responsiveness.
Finally, moving onto the keyboard and touchpad, while we will talk about their placements in just a while, the keyboard itself has a pretty shallow key travel making the laptop pretty unsuitable for typing while the touchpad is responsive and allows for flexibility with the integrated numpad system.
Design
Sure, the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 is one of the most aesthetic gaming laptops out there with its individual key RGB lighting and sleek metal build. And measuring to be 0.7 x 10.7 x 15.7Inches, it is pretty much one of the most thin gaming laptops out there. But while that paired with its weight of almost 6 pounds makes it pretty heavy but still pretty portable, due to the fact that you have a 17-Inch screen, fitting in your backpack may not be possible for everyone.
Moreover, now that there’s so much space up front of the keyboard for cooling, you don’t get any form of arm rest, making typing on the keyboard while the laptop is on your lap, just simply uncomfortable. Apart from that, the touchpad is placed on the right-hand side, which is unique and may need some getting used to. But for those who are left-handed, it simply just becomes a hassle to use the touchpad. Then again, considering the fact that it is a gaming laptop, you’ll be using a mouse most of the time, making the placement of the touchpad not much of a compromise.
When it comes to ports, the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 doesn’t compromise, it provides you with an ample amount of port availability, ranging from 3 USB 3.1 ports, 2 USB Type-C ports, a HDMI output and the headphone jack. This means you’ll no longer need as many dongles, but on the other hand, you don’t get thunderbolt support nor an ethernet port. But even, so this is more than enough for most people, and much better than some other laptops out there.
Value
Pricing way above many of the other laptops like the Dell Inspiron I7559 and the LenovoY700, the Asus Zephyrus S GX701 is truly a flagship gaming laptop. However, it justifies its price to a certain extent with the RTX MAX-Q graphics card, an Intel-i7 processor and also the large vibrant 17 Inch display. But still, considering its limitations and the fact that you may need to buy an extra webcam, its price is pretty high. It does make up with a unique and sleek design, and so it might be a good choice for anyone who fancies the design. Moreover, the lower priced version with the RTX 2070 MAX-Q GPU might be worth the money at certain sales and if you upgrade the RAM later on.
Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 Wrap Up
Sure, it falls behind with an uncomfortably placed keyboard and touchpad. It doesn’t have the best battery life. And maybe it isn’t as portable with its large display size. But, with super thin bezels, a great display quality, G-Sync capability and the amazing RTX 2080 MAX-Q, the Asus Zephyrus ROG S GX701 outperforms many gaming laptops when it comes to performance. And paired with the individual RGB lighting and a thin design with plenty of ports, the Asus Zephyrus S GX701 is a great gaming laptop, that is if you can afford it.
