ASUS has brought two newgaming laptops ASUS ROG Zephyrus S (GX531GX) and ROG Strix SCAR II (GL504/GL704), which are equipped with new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series video cards. Traditionally, the presentation began with some information about the current state of the laptop market and ASUS in particular. At the moment, ASUS ranks second in Ukraine and has 24% of the market. For gaming laptops - third place with 15% of the market. At the same time, the gaming segment itself is showing rapid growth: from 10 thousand gadgets in 2017 to 32 thousand in 2018. More obvious and logical trends include the growth in sales of thin laptops with a thickness of 10-15 mm and laptops with 8 GB of RAM (models with 4 The headaches are gradually going away). Now let's move on to the new products.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus S (GX531GX)
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ASUS ROG Zephyrus S (GX531GX) - Updatedthe version of the Zephyrus already familiar to us, which at one time became one of the first gaming notebooks with NVIDIA GeForce video cards in Max-Q design. Externally, the laptop is similar to its predecessor, but has its own important features. According to the manufacturers, Lamborghini supercars became a source of inspiration (the company once had a whole line of ASUS Lamborghini VX). Structurally, all the main features remained in place, including the bottom panel of the laptop for cooling.
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The body is made of metal and is military gradeMIL-STD-810G standards. It has become thinner: 15.35-16.15 mm, the linear dimensions have also decreased, and the frame around the perimeter of the display has become much thinner: only 6.5 mm, which is very cool, considering the power inside the laptop. The laptop is equipped with a 15.6″ matte IPS display with FullHD resolution, 144 Hz refresh rate, 3 ms response time, 100% sRGB color space coverage and Pantone certification (a first for the company’s gaming laptops).
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Powerful Intel Core processor installed insidei7-8750H and NVIDIA RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics accelerator. In nature, there are more modest configurations with RTX 2070 Max-Q, but there are no plans to bring them to us yet. RAM can be 16 or 24 GB (8 GB soldered on the board plus an 8 or 16 GB stick). As a permanent drive - PCIe SSD with a capacity of 512 GB or 1 TB, depending on the configuration.
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The ROG Active system cools all this stuffAerodynamic System. It consists of five heat pipes and two 12 V fans. As mentioned, to allow air intake, the bottom of the case lowers slightly when opening the display. This whole thing is highlighted on the sides. Useful additional features include the Anti-Dust system and automatic cleaning of coolers: all dust and small particles are removed through a special channel to the outside. There are three modes of operation of the cooling system depending on the load.
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The ports include 2xUSB 2.0 for connecting peripherals, 1xUSB 3.1 Type-C, power connector, full-size USB 3.1 Gen2, combined 3.5 mm audio jack and another USB 3.1 with support for Thunderbolt 3 (DisplayPort 1.2 and Power Delivery 65 W), through which you can charge the laptop (in addition to proprietary connector). The price of ASUS Zephyrus S (GX531GX) will be from98,000before100,000 uahdepending on the memory configuration.
ASUS ROG Strix SCAR II (GL504 / GL704)
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The second new product was ASUS ROG Strix Scar II.It's not as compact and impressive as the Zephyrus, but it's also more affordable. It comes with 15.6″ (GL504) and 17.3″ (GL704) displays. Almost the entire body is plastic, only the top cover is made of metal. But it is made in a very interesting way: the working surface is matte, with a camouflage pattern, the buttons are transparent on the sides, which, together with their RGB backlighting and the illuminated strip on the front end of the laptop, makes the appearance very unusual.
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Scar II has IPS screens (15.6 or 17.3 inches depending on configuration) with FullHD resolution, 144 Hz refresh rate, 3 ms response time and 100% sRGB coverage. Without G-Sync, although at this frequency it is not significant. G-Sync is supported when connecting an eligible external monitor to the Mini DisplayPort. And HDMI 2.0b supports image output up to 4K HDR 60 frames per second.
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Inside there is an Intel Core i7-8750H processor andNVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB or RTX 2070 8 GB video cards in full (non-Max-Q) versions. RAM can be installed up to 32 GB (there are two slots for memory sticks). The storage options can be either a 512GB PCIe SSD or a combination of a 256GB PCIe SSD and a 1TB SSHD. The dimensions made it possible to install more ports: there is USB-C 3.1 Gen2, USB-A 3.1 Gen2, 2xUSB-A 3.1 Gen 1, mini DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0b, RJ-45, SD card reader, 3.5 mm audio jack.
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The cooling system also has two 12V fans and an automatic dust removal system. The 15.6-inch ROG Strix Scar II model with an RTX 2060 6 GB video card was rated at68 800 UAH. Versions with RTX 2070 8 GB graphics card - from74,500 UAH.The 17.3-inch version of ROG Strix Scar II with RTX 2060 6 GB will cost68 800 UAHand with RTX 2070 – from85,500 UAH.