Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 review (GX701GX model – Core i7, RTX 2080 100W)

28 Comments

  1. Tim Lesnick

    January 29, 2019 at 6:58 pm

    Excellent review. That keyboard and trackpad is a disaster for us lefties, though I recognize that we're a minority.

  2. poopy

    February 6, 2019 at 10:17 am

    are you guys going to do the msi gs75 like this?

    • Andrei Girbea

      February 6, 2019 at 12:44 pm

      We're working on the GS65 (RTX 2080) and GE75 (RTX 2070 and 2060) right now, and hopefully will also be able to review the GS75 next

      • poopy

        February 7, 2019 at 6:31 am

        Awesome, I look forward to these reviews.

  3. yivanes

    February 14, 2019 at 7:39 am

    Are you sure the GX701GW uses the Max-Q version? It's listed as a regular RTX 2070 on asus.com

    • Andrei Girbea

      February 14, 2019 at 10:53 am

      Hmmmm, good point. I'll ask about that, maybe they were able to squeeze a full 2070 in there. The smaller GX531 does seem to get the Max-Q variant though.

  4. JACOB

    February 14, 2019 at 3:18 pm

    Just Bought it based on your review – the only concern is the battery spikes – i hope its not hardware related problem – the GS75 getting much longer battery life according other websites – 82mAh comparing to GX701 who have "only" 76mAh .. i hope they will fix it ASAP

    Detailed review – THANKS !

    • Andrei Girbea

      February 14, 2019 at 3:27 pm

      Looking forward to your detailed impressions. I'm also curious about battery life and performance. If you're planning on running benchmarks, perhaps we can further chat on email?

      • Jacob

        February 14, 2019 at 3:30 pm

        yeah, I defiantly will run a lot of benchmarks and ill update my results here – ill get it by the end of this month so stay tuned

      • Andrei Girbea

        February 14, 2019 at 4:07 pm

        cool, looking forward to it

  5. Vin

    February 18, 2019 at 6:21 am

    Can you tear it down so we could see its serviceability?
    Also how many nvme m.2 slots are there?

    • Andrei Girbea

      February 18, 2019 at 11:18 am

      I wasn't allowed to do that, but I'm being told there are two M.2 slots inside. Can't confirm 100% though

  6. Dilusha Bandara

    March 5, 2019 at 6:31 pm

    Hi, I'm considering buying RTX 2060 variant of this laptop. Will it have lower temperatures when working/gaming?

  7. Dilusha Bandara

    March 12, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    I really want to see some benchmarks of this laptop.

  8. Stephen James

    June 8, 2019 at 3:38 pm

    Does the laptop need to be undervolted at all to accommodate lower temps or does it run fine stock with no throttling etc

  9. LWT

    June 26, 2019 at 4:50 pm

    Excellent reviewer. I just wish you had covered silent mode on this review.
    I'd quite happily give up 20% game performance to run this machine quietly.

    I imagine silent mode + mild gpu overclock would fit this machine perfectly.

    • Andrei Girbea

      June 26, 2019 at 6:03 pm

      Yeah, I didn't look into it at that point, but I covered it in later reviews of the ROG GX502 and GU502. I'd expect similar results to the GX502, with a 20% drop in performance and an increase in temperatures. Undervoltign the GPU is something else to look into if you plan to get the maximum performance on Silent.

      • LWT

        June 28, 2019 at 11:05 am

        Thanks for replying Andrei. And yes I noticed you started doing this. It's much appreciated – gives a much better idea of what these machines are capable for different users / scenarios.

      • Chun Kui

        July 7, 2020 at 3:40 am

        Hi,

        Does the rgb logo on the lid lights up?
        Mine stays black

      • Andrei Girbea

        July 7, 2020 at 10:35 am

        As far as I know it's black on the newer 2020 models, was RGB on the 2019 variant.

  10. Sergio

    July 22, 2020 at 3:51 pm

    They must have changed the laptop because I just got mine and it has Thunderbolt 3. I upgraded to the latest BiOS as well and it only lets me undervolt to -80 at max. Such a shame hopefully they will fix this later. It's still a beast though. I got this as a replacement for my desktop for video editing, but also wanted something I could take out on the field to edit video when I have downtime in between filming locations.

    • Andrei Girbea

      July 22, 2020 at 3:59 pm

      This is the 2019 model, yours is the 2020 update, that's why it gets TB3. -80 mV is fine imo, helps the performance and prevents any stability issues.

      • Sergio

        July 22, 2020 at 4:07 pm

        Oh yeah… I should probably read dates… Do you guys have a review of the 2020? I'd like to see what you have to say.

      • Andrei Girbea

        July 22, 2020 at 4:14 pm

        Nope, I haven't tested the 2020 GX701 and probably won't. We did test the smaller 2020 GX502 series with similar hardware: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/37939-asus-rog-zephyrus-s15-gx502lxs-review/

        For what is worth, I'd expect slightly improved performance and thermals for the 2020 GX701 over the one reviewed here, but I'd still complain about the form-factor. Having tried a couple of different models over the years, this sort of downshifted layout is not something I can see myself using every day, especially on a cramped desk or on the lap. It's fine on a spacious desk, but even in this case, I don't like that the screen ends up slightly farther away than on a standard laptop. What do you think?

  11. Ck

    July 27, 2020 at 4:29 pm

    Hi

    Does the GX701 run cooler or the Razer blade pro 17 inch 2020

    • Andrei Girbea

      July 29, 2020 at 10:46 pm

      I haven't reviewed the 2020 GX701, but from what I can tell, the Blade Pro seems to run cooler, however, the GX701 outmatches it in performance

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