If you’ve ever needed to lug your laptop round all day, you’ll know the significance of getting one which’s skinny, gentle and doesn’t kill your shoulders after spending eight to 10 hours in a backpack. I actually do, and let me inform you, hauling round something over 2kg for 8-10 hours on a regular basis is absolute homicide on the outdated backbone.
At 2.1kg, the Asus ROG Zephyrus S sits simply on the border of that weight restrict for me, however man alive is it skinny. Measuring simply 16.15mm at its thickest level (and 15.35mm at its smallest), this extremely slim metallic slab has a minuscule footprint in comparison with different 15.6in gaming laptops on the market, and it’s correctly highly effective too. Packed with an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16GB of RAM and as much as an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics chip, the Zephyrus S isn’t messing about. It does, after all, additionally value a small fortune.
I used to be despatched the center sibling within the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531GW household, which has an Nvidia RTX 2070 Max Q chip inside it, however even this mannequin will set you again an eye-watering £2290 within the UK and $2000 within the US. That’s fairly the premium over its 26mm however identically specced cousin, the Asus ROG Strix Scar II (which might at the moment be had for £1905 / $1879), so a big a part of the Zephyrus S’ attraction will in the end come right down to how a lot you need that teeny tiny chassis.
It is kind of the factor to have a look at within the flesh. Despite its diminutive dimensions, it feels sturdy and strong if you choose it up, and I’m additionally very keen on the small lip on the lid. This enables you to carry the Zephyrus S’ display with only a single hand. None of this prying it open together with your fingernails malarkey and holding it down to verify the bottom stays on the desk. Just one swift movement that screams, “I’m PREMIUM, peasant!”
The keyboard does, admittedly, take some getting used to, having been shunted right down to the underside of the laptop computer to make room for its massive, chassis-wide warmth pipes and cooling gubbins, however I rapidly obtained used to it. On a desk, anyway. It’s significantly much less sensible if you’re caught attempting to apply it to a aircraft or prepare desk, for instance, when your palms are sometimes hanging off the sting at the perfect of instances even on a extra traditional-style laptop computer. In these conditions, it might probably all begin to really feel a bit cramped, so in case you occur to spend most of your time being jostled round in rushing metallic tubes, the Zephyrus S in all probability isn’t the laptop computer for you.
Still, not less than the RGB-backlit keys are pretty to sort on if you do have a bit extra room to relaxation your palms on the desk, with all of them offering a really pleasing quantity of journey and tactile suggestions no matter whether or not I used to be gaming or typing up lengthy paperwork. I additionally fairly favored having the contact pad (which additionally doubles up as a quantity pad) over on the appropriate of the laptop computer. It’s not the most important factor on the planet, however having it that a lot nearer to my hand simply made it really feel a bit extra pure to make use of after I was brief on desk area.
And the display. What a beaut. Not solely is its 1920×1080 IPS panel pretty and shiny, peaking at 305cd/m2, however its color accuracy additionally covers a powerful 90% of the sRGB color gamut. Sure, that’s nonetheless a bit low in comparison with a correct IPS monitor (the place I’d usually anticipate to see round 96% protection), however in comparison with different laptops, it’s fairly good. Indeed, even the Scar II solely covers 85% of the sRGB color gamut, as does the Alienware m15 and HP Omen X 17. I additionally recorded a pleasant, low black degree of 0.28cd/m2 (the nearer to 0.00cd/m2, the higher), and a good distinction ratio of 1084:1, guaranteeing there was loads of shadow element to be seen in darker games, movies and images.
You could have observed it’s additionally obtained a Pantone Validated blue tick sticker on it. This isn’t fairly as necessary because it sounds, because it merely means the laptop computer’s been verified by the color science boffins at Pantone to say it’s higher than different laptops at displaying Pantone’s personal particular color system, which is utilized by skilled designers and the like internationally. It’s not a correct gamut just like the sRGB customary, and it doesn’t imply it might probably do something like HDR both. It’s simply excellent at displaying Pantone’s “Matching System Colours”.
That’s nice in case you want a laptop computer for doing correct design-y issues like photo-editing, but it surely’s not mechanically going to make your games look any higher until they too have been graded based on Pantone’s matching system. Don’t get me flawed – the display nonetheless seems sensible within the flesh, providing wealthy and vibrant colors that come out of the display at full brightness, however I wouldn’t get too caught up discovering one which’s Pantone authorized versus one which isn’t.
The greater query is whether or not the vitality environment friendly Max-Q model of its Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 chip makes it a good gaming machine – particularly when the Scar II had a full-fat one underneath its belt. The reply to that lies, as soon as once more, in how a lot you need that preposterously skinny chassis, as there’s a particular drop-off in efficiency in comparison with its chunkier cousin.
Ohhh, it’s so very pretty and skinny…
For essentially the most half, you’re nonetheless a minimal of 60fps on max settings throughout nearly each huge blockbuster going as of late, which might be high-quality if the Zephyrus S had a 60Hz refresh charge. However, very like the Scar II, this display can go all the way in which as much as 144Hz, and if you’re paying north of two grand for the privilege, you’d jolly properly hope it may make full use of all these further frames.
On max settings, nevertheless, it’s going to be a reasonably tall order for lots of present games, as even the well-optimised Forza Horizon four solely reached a median of 86fps on Ultra high quality at 1920×1080, which is a full 15fps behind what the Scar II managed on the identical settings. Elsewhere, the hole was nearer to 10fps, however I’d argue that’s nonetheless a large drop contemplating how rather more you’re having to pay for it.
In The Witcher III, for instance, the Zephyrus S managed between 65-91fps on Ultra settings, whereas the Scar II went from 68-98fps. It was an analogous image over in Monster Hunter: World, too, with the Zephyrus S ranging between 53-72fps out within the Ancient Forest on its Highest high quality preset in comparison with the Scar II’s 55-82fps.
In its defence, not less than you’re not getting a worse deal on the different finish of the body charge scale with the Zephyrus S. After all, 53fps goes to appear and feel lots like 58fps when the motion does get a bit hectic onscreen, and the identical goes for the distinction between 65 / 68fps, too. It’s simply these highs the Zephyrus S can’t fairly catch.
The identical factor occurred with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, too. While 55-64fps within the busy city sq. of Cozumel is completely easy and playable on the Zephyrus S, it’s nonetheless not fairly as tasty as 59-72fps on the Scar II. And if additional proof was wanted, I’d a lot slightly be gallivanting round Final Fantasy XV at 66-77fps with all of Nvidia’s fancy results turned off on the Scar II than 59-65fps on the Zephyrus.
Indeed, the one game in my benchmarking suite the place the Zephyrus S didn’t fall massively behind the Scar II was Total War: Warhammer II, the place its common of 59fps on Ultra settings was indistinguishable from the Scar II’s common of 62fps.
Still, that doesn’t actually scream good worth for cash to me, and it’s not simply the Zephyrus S’ graphics chip that suffers from its skinnier innards, both. Its Intel Core i7-8750H processor additionally returned slower outcomes after I ran it by Geekbench four as properly, hitting 4739 within the single core check and 20212 within the multicore check in comparison with the Scar II’s combo of 4931 and 22220.
There’s at all times going to be a little bit of variation on this check, after all, however for comparability’s sake, the i7-8750H within the Alienware m15 was additionally a lot nearer to the Scar II, coming in with 4905 and 22466. You in all probability gained’t discover that distinction in on a regular basis use, to be sincere, but it surely’s nonetheless going to be sitting there, niggling and gnawing at the back of your thoughts that you just’re in all probability not getting pretty much as good an expertise as one thing else that’s fairly a bit cheaper.
And that’s my essential downside with the Zephyrus S. While it’s undoubtedly the one I’d choose to have in my backpack (if just for the sake of my poor, mangled shoulders), it’s nowhere close to pretty much as good worth for cash because the £1905 / $1879 Asus ROG Strix Scar II. Sure, I’d in all probability hate myself a bit for making myself carry a 26mm thick, 2.4kg laptop computer round all day each couple of months, however I’d in all probability hate myself even extra for spending nearly one other £300 on one thing whose efficiency is objectively worse. Some of you may be prepared to make that trade-off, however for me, the Scar II continues to be my RTX 2070 laptop computer of alternative.
