ASUS 15.6" Republic of Gamers Strix GL502 Notebook

Thin, but not too thin. Asus seems to have struck a perfect balance in the race for a thinner and thinner gaming notebook while still maintaining case rigidity and enthusiast-level Nvidia GPU options. Inevitably, some important features have been omitted along the way.

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  very accurate colors; nearly complete sRGB coverage, relatively thin considering the hardware, GTX 970M w/ 6 GB GDDR5 VRAM, no major throttling issues, high quality matte panel, respectable runtimes, easy serviceability, good build quality, NVMe support

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  poor bass reproduction; no dedicated subwoofer, PWM on all brightness levels except maximum, slow sequential write rates from Lite-On SSD, no native Thunderbolt 3 support, only two internal storage bays, only one DDR4 SODIMM slot, no dedicated Macro keys, no manual fan controls, no G-Sync options,...

Either way, if you’re looking for the least-compromise gaming notebook today with a thin-and-light design, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a friendlier choice than the Strix GL502VT, provided you're willing to work through its compromises.

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  Very thin and light for a gaming laptop, Good 1080p gaming performance, IPS display is better than many gaming-laptop screens, Solid-sounding speakers, Competitive battery life

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  Mostly plastic construction, Chassis gets too hot while gaming, Power button is a keyboard key, Support for Nvidia G-Sync only in pricier model

Between the Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M graphics, the ROG Strix GL502VT-DH74 is both a capable gaming system, especially at the system's native 1920x1080 resolution, and a good all-around performer.

For the size and the price, the $1,599 Asus ROG Strix GL502VT is definitely a keeper. Garish color accents aside, the 15.6-inch is fairly portable and packs a wallop. Even better, if offers a captivating 1080p display, a comfortable keyboard and nearly 6 hours of battery life.

Well, the Asus GL502VT ROG Strix gaming laptop can’t really convince us, no? The machine itself has no too significant caveats for such a price. Performance is good as can be expected. Noise is relatively low. Keyboard and touchpad are quite good and comfortable.

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  Very good performance/price ratio with a GTX 970M I7-6700HQ for $1200, Very good keyboard and a nice touchpad, Relatively lightweight at around 2.2kg (except PSU), Quite a quiet laptop, even under higher load levels.

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  Currently an (acceptable) TN panel. Can be replaced easily. $1400 and up versions have an IPS display, CPU may throttle under full load of Furmark + Prime95 or gaming scenarios, but only rarely.

Regardless of its slight differences in weight, the GL502 offers a premium experience, both inside and out.

I love this machine. I replaced the HDD with an SSD which was a painless process... ASUS makes it easy to do your own upgrades.... except, of course, if you ever want to change the battery... I don't think it's even possible to do so. I'm satisfied with this purchase.

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  Almost no setup required... some bloatware is shipped with it, but it was easy to uninstall it, Seems very reliable, Light, fairly thin, looks great to me, Games run great on it, Works flawlessly, Good warranty

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  No SSD (I bought a 1TB SSD separately and sold the one that came with it), Battery is not removable, Runs very hot when playing games, Looks kind of like it came from the '90s with the giant orange logo on the lid... would have preferred something more elegant that doesn't light up