ASUS has a line of gaming laptops called the ROG Zephyrus laptops and
they're like the premium laptops from ASUS. Like the premium gaming stuff that
is the best built, the best performing, the thinner and lighter machine, this is the ROG Zephyrus Duo, Zephyrus M15, and the Zephyrus S15.
Zephyrus Duo
Let's start with Zephyrus Duo because this was a device that I wanted to use as my
primary machine. It was going to be this or the XPS 17 different devices but
you'll see why it's this really cool implementation of a secondary screen. It really doesn't matter what you're doing if you're
playing games or browsing Reddit or doing video production or music production.
Because having more screen like this is always a good thing and because of the
tilt is just a lot more useful than other implementations of a secondary screen
on a laptop. Now in order to have a screen like this, they have to shove
everything down and the keyboard is in this lowered position. I don't mind the ergonomic
change as a result of this like there's no more palm rest. You do have the
optional palm rest that it comes with here, it slots right in front of it
doesn't attach magnetically or anything, it's just like this piece of rubber. It's
comfortable, I don't really need it but the one thing that I don't like about
this keyboard is because of your hands are forced to be further away like eight-nine
inches away from the screen than you normally would. If you're going to use the
Zephyrus Duo you have to be comfortable with being seated further away from the
screen than you normally would. The keyboard itself is fine, I actually like
the way that it types, the layout is good and the trackpad even though it's shifted
over to the right is a perfectly fine, but it's just the positioning that you
guys should be aware of if you're going to drop this kind of money on this
machine. The rest of the device is good, I’m not going into thermal performance
until the very end. I’ll kind of talk about the thermal designs of all these
things at the end.
This machine
is equipped with an RTX 2080 Super MAX Q and the unlocked 8 core CPU from Intel.
It has got 32 GBs of RAM, 2 SSDs but only a single slot of replaceable memory. The
other 16 GBs on this device are soldered on the Wi-Fi module which is baked on.
The battery
life is okay, it's a 4-hour battery. It's a big one, 90-Watt hours but because
of the secondary screen and the device that I have has a 4K panel up top I was
only getting just over 4-hours on my regular battery test. There's one other
thing I would say is like a minor quibble I have about this, it's the ac
adapter. It comes out like not only does it come at the side, it's quite close
to the front of the device. So, it's just in this relatively inconvenient spot
I really like to have seen it in the back.
Zephyrus M15
This is the
least expensive of the bunch it's actually my favorite of these machines. I
like it a lot not just because of its price, the price is better, but this is
designed really well for a 1200 or 1300$ machine. It's well built with a solid
chassis unibody construction so there's no seams or anything like that on the
paneling. It's just what you would expect for a Zephyrus product and I’m
actually surprised they're selling this for this price point. At least
surprised that they're able to do this type of build at this price point
because it's almost identical to the one that's double in price in terms of
build quality. It comes in this nice Gray color; I think they call it Prismatic
Gray and it's got this dot matrix looking thing that's slightly holographic. It's
super subtle but looks really nice and the gray is all over the device as well.
It's not just the top panel it's on the keyboard deck and everything. It also
has slightly soft-touch finish but it's also complemented by this nice white
backlighting on the keyboard which in this day and age is not that common, a
lot of gaming laptops go for like crazy RGBs and this is just a nice pure white
the keyboard has a pretty standard ASUS layout. I think most people like it or
at the very least get used to it quite quickly and there's also the small arrow
key cluster on the bottom right. There's one thing I noticed in terms of the lighting;
it is nice white lighting. The trackpad standards are good.
Now, let’s
have a look at the inside, very similar innards between all of these devices
but this one has the weird thing, it's the cheapest one but it's got the same
mediocre speakers as the one that's triple the price. There are two SSD slots
and a single RAM slot.
Again, and
this one has a 76-Watt hour battery but you're getting five hours of battery life which is a little bit better than the surface duo. This is running a
single screen for one and a lower res-screen for two so it's just going to have
a slightly better battery life than the big boy.
The screen is
1080p with a 240hz refresh rate, it's a great screen. This unit is running the 6-core
Intel CPU as well as the RTX 2070 MAX-Q which is again a very decked-out system.
I am surprised that they're able to sell this at that price point like if you
look at the other competitors that are selling well-built machines that look
good, look simple, and have like a full package if you're getting a 2070 MAX-Q
at 1500$, it's pretty good.
There are some things which I don't like about
this machine which are minor but I’m just going to mention them, the ac adapter
coming out on the left side again like right in the middle it can be
inconvenient when your cables are coming out there, standard port selection
otherwise. There's no webcam so not everyone needs a webcam for the people that
do, have to purchase an external one. Some people might love that, the whole
privacy thing going on right now.
Zephyrus S15
Now, let’s
talk about the Zephyrus S15, this machine used to be the flagship, this used to
be ASUS’s most expensive laptops like the first Zephyrus S, the premium super
thin, super-powerful machine. The difference between this one and the Zephyrus M15 are components, this has an 8-core Intel CPU and an RTX 2080 super MAX-Q. It's going
to be the fastest stuff that you can get in a laptop but to cool components
like this an 8-core CPU, it's difficult, these things pull a lot of wattage and
that RTX 2080 super MAX-Q is a power hog so you've got to vent the stuff
properly. Now, in order to do it in a thin chassis, ASUS does the gap thing
right, when you raise the lid the hinge opens up to allow for better airflow it
is effective absolutely does a good job removing heat but the question is it
really worth it, because this is double the price of the M15 and they're very
similar, there's a lot of stuff that's like identical between the two; the
shape, the design, the construction of the two. They're so similar even the
internals are very close to each other.
Conclusion
So, here's
my take on this when the Zephyrus S first came to the market this super thin, super-powerful device was special. It was weird to be able to see something
that was this form factor with this kind of capability. But over the years,
every company including ASUS has just gotten better at cooling laptops and
keeping them thin. So, now all three of these devices are now running liquid
metal, they have great thermal systems and you don't need crazy hardware to get
the excellent performance right now and that's not to take away from what the S15
is right. It's a very powerful 8-core RTX 2080, super equipped, and thin
machine, it's difficult to do. But not a lot of games can take advantage of
what this thing offers over what the half-price M15 offers. It also doesn't
have as nice of a screen, it's a 300 Hz screen but it's not as bright. I
personally prefer the screen on the cheaper one Zephyrus M15 if I had to choose
between the two. So that's basically the lineup, we have the appropriately
priced one Zephyrus M15, we got the baller version Zephyrus S15 and we got the
super baller like Zephyrus Duo.
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