Most gaming laptops are Intel this and Nvidia that as of late, making the totally AMD-powered Asus ROG Strix GL702ZC one thing of a rarity. Indeed, whereas AMD’s Ryzen CPUs could also be a well-known sight on desktop PCs, that is the primary time their top-end Ryzen 7 1700 chip has been taken out for a spin in laptop computer type, making it an admirable adversary for its Intel Core i7-7700HQ-equipped competitors.
Backed up with certainly one of AMD’s 4GB Radeon RX 580 graphics chips and an enormous 17.3in 1920×1080 IPS show, the Asus ROG GL702ZC might be simply the ticket for these after easy 1080p gaming you may (form of) tackle the go. Let’s see whether or not it’s any good.
I say form of tackle the go, as a result of any laptop computer with an enormous 17.3in show naturally comes with a number of portability points. Yes, it’s simpler than carting a complete PC spherical in a suitcase, however when the GL702ZC weighs a whopping 3kg (or extra while you consider its jumbo energy provide) and has a footprint measuring 415x280x34mm, you’ll nonetheless want some pretty hefty transportation equipment to save lots of your self from crippling your again and shoulders. Really, this can be a desktop alternative laptop computer, as its measly battery means you’ll must maintain it plugged in just about on a regular basis.
At least that big display is pretty pleasing to have a look at. While my i1 DisplayPro calibrator confirmed its IPS panel is barely able to displaying a quite middling 83.9% of the usual sRGB color gamut, the display’s excessive peak brightness of round 400cd/m2 meant that colors nonetheless seemed like that they had loads of pop and vibrancy. They misplaced a little bit of lustre after I lowered the display brightness all the way down to about 50%, however on the entire it’s a display I’d be completely comfortable for each work and play – significantly when it additionally helps AMD’s FreeSync tech to assist remove display tearing and stutter.
Black ranges have been additionally an affordable 0.44cd/m2 (the nearer to 0.00cd/m2, the higher), and the GL702ZC’s excessive brightness helps compensate for its barely decrease than common distinction ratio of 894:1. Indeed, after I booted up Little Nightmares, the darkish mist swirling across the mysterious Lady determine within the recreation’s opening sequence confirmed no indicators of disintegrating into horrible, apparent bands of shadow (as I’ve seen screens with decrease distinction ratios do prior to now), and there was nonetheless an honest quantity of sunshine and darkish element to be seen within the recreation correct.
Of course, contemplating the GL702ZC prices a fairly steep £1300 / $1500 (though not as ludicrous because the £3000+ MSI GT75VR Titan Pro), you is likely to be upset to listen to it solely comes with an RX 580 graphics chip versus one thing a bit beefier. However, for the reason that GL702ZC’s decision solely stretches to 1920×1080, pairing it with an RX 580 makes plenty of sense, as I used to be capable of play most of my gaming check suite on the very best graphics settings accessible with out a lot hassle.
Hitman, as an example, sailed by on Ultra at 1080p, commonly hitting a median of round 58fps, and Doom equally by no means dipped under 60fps when kneecapping Ultra-fied demons within the face. Likewise, Wolfenstein II coped extraordinarily properly with its prime Mein Leben settings, sometimes dropping to round 40fps when wandering by its submarine hub, however the body price usually settled round 55fps after I was coping with precise fight.
Rise of the Tomb Raider’s powerful SSAAx4 anti-aliasing proved a bit of an excessive amount of for the GL702ZC at instances on Very High, averaging round 35fps throughout its three benchmarks, however choosing its primary FXAA as an alternative noticed the body price virtually double to a silky easy 65fps common, that means I didn’t must compromise on total graphics high quality.
Naturally, there’ll at all times be some video games that require a bit extra tweaking. Middle-earth: Shadow of War, as an example, felt far more snug on High in comparison with Ultra, because it was solely right here that I used to be capable of get a full 60fps. On Ultra I nonetheless managed to get a wonderfully playable 40-50fps, however body price fiends might not discover this as much as their exacting requirements.
An identical story performed out on The Witcher III. Ultra noticed Geralt jog alongside at round 40-50fps, however dropping the standard all the way down to High immediately restored him to his 60fps finest. With Total War: Warhammer II, however, I needed to accept Medium to get anyplace close to this sort of pace, as my Lizardmen may barely muster the power for a 30fps spear swing after I tried to do battle on Ultra.
In reality, it was solely Assassin’s Creed Origins that actually noticed the GL702ZC work up a sweat, as High returned a transparent ‘Unstable’ verdict from its built-in benchmark, regardless of operating at a median of 44fps. Indeed, even dropping all of it the best way to Low didn’t enhance issues a lot. The recreation was declared ‘Stable’, however the body price solely nudged as much as a median of 50fps, with city scenes dragging it down as little as 30fps.
Fortunately, the GL702ZC dealt with the beastly Final Fantasy XV far more effectively. While Highest floundered between tough lows of 30fps and fleeting highs of round 48fps, Average noticed Noctis and his buddies glide round Lucis at a easy 55-60fps, saving you from having to take care of its quite horrid, flat-looking Low setting.
On the entire, then, the GL702ZC is a extremely succesful 1080p machine, and its useful combo of a 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD ought to provide you with loads of house for storing all of your video games, too.
Its octa-core 3.0GHz Ryzen 7 1700 CPU and 16GB of RAM additionally give it a beautiful little bit of processing heft for extra on a regular basis duties like photograph and video modifying, and its multicore efficiency in Geekbench four simply outstrips its frequent Intel-based rivals, the Core i7-7770HQ and Core i7-7820HK. Admittedly, its single core rating was roughly the identical as these specific chips, however total it nonetheless felt completely nippy and responsive throughout each day use.
My solely actual beef with the GL702ZC is its keyboard. The low, backlit chiclet keys gave loads of tactile suggestions, however their shut proximity to the squished in quantity pad on the fitting meant I used to be consistently hesitating or hitting the mistaken keys after I needed to seek out Enter, Delete and Backspace. Given the ample dimension of the keyboard tray, a bit of extra respiration room wouldn’t have damage.
Likewise, the actual fact all of the keys are situated so excessive up on the keyboard tray meant that I needed to relaxation fairly a big portion of my forearms on the laptop computer’s arduous decrease edge. This turned fairly uncomfortable after some time, though these with bigger fingers might not have this drawback. Still, if the keys had been positioned just a bit decrease down, then I’d be loads happier recommending it for lengthy gaming periods. At least the beneficiant touchpad didn’t pose any issues, though I’m positive most of you may be plugging in a mouse as quickly as you crack it out of the field.
You’re pretty properly catered for when it comes to ports as properly. While I might need appreciated a fourth USB port, the presence of a USB Type-C port is a welcome further to its trio of USB3.1 slots. You additionally get a full-sized HDMI output and miniDisplayPort for connecting it as much as an exterior show, in addition to an SD card reader, a Gigabit Ethernet port and a mixed headphone and microphone jack.
Is the Asus ROG Strix GL702ZC an excellent purchase, although? The equally priced and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060-powered Dell Inspiron 15 7000 I reviewed earlier within the 12 months has the sting on efficiency, however its display was so horrible that I’d quite surrender the additional frames for the GL702ZC’s nicer trying show. Then once more, the keyboard on the GL702ZC is an equally huge flip off for me, and a big a part of me simply desires to chuck each of them within the bin and shell out the additional money for the beautiful little Alienware 13 and its juicy OLED display. It’s a no-win scenario, actually.
All issues thought of, although, it’s best to most likely go along with the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 when you’re after one of the best graphics efficiency around the £1300 mark, as I used to be capable of get extra out of it with fewer settings modifications. If solely I may have the Asus ROG GL702ZC’s display on the identical time…
