Asus’ RoG Zephyrus bucks all trends. While the Razer Blade showed gaming laptops could be stylish, the Razer Blade Stealth proved it wasn’t possible to pack ultra-slim laptops with masses of power. The Asus RoG Zephyrus, aided by Nvidia’s Max-Q design ethos, marries those two possibilities together, creating a beautiful and powerful ultra-portable gaming laptop.
That may sound too good to be true and it certainly comes with a hefty price tag, but I suspect it’ll be something die-hard laptop gamers will happily fork out for. And while Asus’ more beastly GX800, which comes complete with SLI GTX 1080s, will have hardware nuts salivating at the mouth, for gamers more focused on portability, the Zephyrus looks like it could hit the mark.
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Expect a more detailed breakdown of performance and battery life in our upcoming review – for now though, here’s my first impression of Asus’ new beauty from the Computex show floor.
Asus RoG Zephyrus review: Price and release date
Let’s get the sticky issue of pricing out of the way before we delve beneath the Zephyrus’ flesh. Set to be released at the end of June 2017 (so, very soon) the Zephyrus comes in two flavours. We’re still waiting on UK prices, but in the US the laptop will start at $2,299 (around £1,800) for the GTX 1070 model and $2,699 (£2,100) for the flagship GTX 1080 version.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, both of those models are at the upper end of what you’d usually pay for a gaming laptop. That may well disappoint some of you hoping to pick up an ultra-portable gaming laptop at a palatable price but it’s not too much of a surprise.
A cheaper Zephyrus with a GTX 1060 will also be made available, but that won’t come to market until July 2017, so you’ll need to hold on just a bit longer.
Asus RoG Zephyrus review: Specifications and performance
For a laptop that’s just 16.9mm thick, the Zephyrus is quite the beast. The top-line model unveiled at Computex comes equipped with a luscious 15.6in Full HD 120Hz “Wide View” screen, an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU, up to 1TB of SSD storage and capacity for an eye-watering 24GB of RAM.
This translates to a silky-smooth gaming experience wherever you decide to sit down and play. I was unable to actually benchmark the Zephyrus that was on display, but was able to play a little Mass Effect: Andromeda. With the game pumped up to its maximum settings, Asus’ new laptop handled itself just fine.
Asus RoG Zephyrus review: Design
From afar, the Zephyrus is a head-turner. It measures a mere 379 x 262 x 16.9mm (WDH), weighs 2.2kg, and its svelte frame and angular, brushed-metal chassis looks gorgeous. As you open the Zephyrus’ lid, a flash of red light shines forth from its underside as the plastic base raises itself off the desk, tilting the keyboard forward and raising the screen ever so slightly. It’s a subtle touch, but a welcome one.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel anywhere near as well built as the likes of Razer’s range of laptops. The metal casing is more flexible than I’d like, it picks up fingerprints like there’s no tomorrow, and the positioning of the trackpad – off to the right of its MacBook Pro-like keyboard – is somewhat awkward, too, although I’m willing to be persuaded that I might get used to it over time.
Asus RoG Zephyrus review: Verdict
Despite its small design niggles, though, the Asus RoG Zephyrus is undeniably beautiful to look at and unprecedentedly powerful for such a thin and lightweight device. It isn’t the only Nvidia Max-Q laptop available – MSI has also released a rehashed version of its VR Stealth laptop under the new design principles – but it is the best effort I’ve seen so far.
We’ll have a full review and breakdown of the Asus Zephyrus closer to its release later this month. Until then, feast your eyes...
