Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531

1.What are the main characteristics?

 All-metal chassis with "military-grade" durability standards

 Active Aerodynamic System for cooling
 Intel Core i7-8750H CPU
 16GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM (up to 24GB)
 storage options upto 1TB
 802.11ac Gigabit Wi-Fi/Bluetooth 5.0

2. What is this laptop good for?

It is a premium gaming product designed to deliver excellent gaming

performance. There are different configurations available with a choice of GPU
(graphics processing unit), storage and memory options.

This laptop has Ultrabook-style and wouldn't look out of place in the office
or on the train, yet will still allow you to crush your enemies in the evening with a
good gaming session.

The chassis of this laptop is CNC milled in a process that takes over an hour
for each laptop alone. This device isn't made from a slab of metal that's pressed by
a machine, instead it's lovingly crafted to be much more lightweight and robust.
The machine is put through military-grade durability testing to ensure it can stand
up to the everyday hustle and bustle. It's apparently designed to even withstand a
drop from a height of just under a metre (760mm) - though that's not something I
tested. At a mere 15.35mm thick, this new laptop weights just 2.1kg - so it's easy to
throw in a bag and take with me anywhere I need to go.
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 The body is smartly designed. A subtle ROG logo here and there, funky
looking scratch marks on top of the air intakes, a brushed aluminium-style finish
on the body.

3. What are the display visuals and settings?

 Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q
GPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 8GB Max-Q GPU
 15.6-inch 1080p IPS panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time
 178-degree viewing angles, 100 per cent sRGB gamut, Pantone validated
panel

This screen boasts a 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time, so it's more
than capable for its gaming-focused task with that higher refresh rate. The screen
has excellent viewing angles and an equally impressive colour range.

The machine includes the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics
processing unit. The latest and greatest of Nvidia's GPU line-up offers ray tracing,
DLSS and DXR capabilities.

I ran the machine through its paces by testing with Shadow of the Tomb Raider,
Battlefield V, Apex Legends and Metro Exodus.

4. What are the compatibility and outputs?

 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port with DisplayPort 1.2 and Power Delivery
 1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port
 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port
 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports
 Full-size HDMI out
 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack and 2 x 2W speakers

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 As well as an impressive screen, the Zephyrus S features dual front-facing
speakers with smart-amplifier technology and virtual surround-sound capabilities.
There's a 3.5mm headphone jack and a multitude of USB ports.

The Zephyrus S GX531 is capable of powering other screens too. An HDMI 2.0
port located to the rear of the laptop is capable of outputting 4K 60Hz visuals to
another display. Using this output I found the laptop was able to comfortably
handle the duplicating or extending of the display to another monitor.

As well as the HDMI output there are USB ports on both left and right sides.
I've been able to run an Oculus Rift on this laptop. One of the USB-C ports is also
DisplayPort capable, meaning you can hook up an external screen that way as well.

5. What is my final verdict?

The Zephyrus S GX531 is the pinnacle of the Asus ROG laptop line-up,
which shows in its balance of features, specs and design aesthetics.

It's not the best gaming laptop ever though. Battery life fails to impress,
cooling is also a big niggle given the fan noise.

When plugged in - it's powerful enough to run modern games on ultra

settings at a decent frame rate and even work with VR devices. With an RTX
graphics card it also runs compatible games with the full joy of ray-tracing
goodness.

All this does come at a cost though, with prices reaching £3000 for the RTX
2080 model I tested.