ASUS ROG G501 Gaming Laptop - Hands-on Review

The Asus Republic of Gamers G501 aims to bridge the gap between notebook portability and gaming prowess. Our model, the G501JW-DS71, is only eight-tenths of an inch thick and weighs four and half pounds, figures that put it in line with a MacBook Pro 15. Unlike that system, though, this Asus pairs its quad-core Intel processor with Nvidia GTX 960M graphics, sixteen gigabytes of RAM, and a 4K display.

These specifications give it few peers in the notebook world. Only the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition looks its equal on paper.

Asus is not one to give away its best hardware for a bargain price, however. It charges two grand for our G501 review unit. That’s $600 more than an Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition with a 256GB solid state drive (our Asus review unit had a 512GB SSD). Is the price difference justified, or did Asus bite off more than it can chew?

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[nzo]

This is a bad review. Who agree?. I mean is it necessary to involve materials on design? And it's availability to change to 1080p. Something this review didn't mention.

[shaunleow]

Why is everyone hating on this laptop. I own a G501 and so far I am absolutely loving it.

I mean, yeah ok, there is plastic on this laptop. But the reason why they used plastic for some parts of the laptop like the bezel is to reduce the overall weight. If it's going to be all-metal, it would be much heavier than it is now. And the whole purpose of this laptop is to be a portable powerhouse, so as light as possible, while as powerful as it can be. I honestly would prefer it to be metal, but I'm not complaining, cause this makes sense. Besides, the plastic is decently strong enough to withstand daily usage.

And yeah, the GPU is DEFINITELY not powerful enough to power a 4K screen. But I'm fairly certain ASUS is well aware of the fact that the 960M is not meant to power 4K screens. If you think about it, they never claimed that you can run the majority of games at 4K on this laptop, did they? (Correct me if I'm wrong). All they said in their advertisement was: "desktop level performance with the GTX 960M" "Beautiful 3840x2160 screen" They never actually put two and two together. I think the 4K screen is more aimed towards creative professionals or major multitaskers who could use the extra resolution space to run more programs at the same time.

Once you look past the so-called terrible build, and the fact that it can't run games at 4K resolution, what you're left with is a decent solid high-performance gaming laptop. It's not the best, not by a long shot. But this is most certainly an excellent laptop in my eyes :).

[Naxblintz]

sorry bad review... though 4k with 960m is expectd not to be good, but there's also a FHD version of this. and saying the design is bad is very subjective. there are a lot of users who want minimalistic designs. overall this unit is a thumbs up for me, upgrade options to 970-980 would be great though.

[sinistertutiboy]

whats better this or the acer v nitro (Acer Aspire V-Nitro VN7-591G)?

[ZachdUpp]

now it is actually a good buy since its only about 900 dollars on amazon now fantastic bang for your buck now that the new asus laptops have came out

[K-Choi]

I don't quite understand, did he mean that Shadow of Modor and BattleField 4 run at 30fps on 1080p ultra settings because of the 4k screen?

[_stephenramos]

Hey guys, I'm struggling to decide whether to get the G501 or this UX501. Can the UX501 handle games very well like the G501? Because I plan to use a laptop to play some games like Assassin's Creed, GTA V, DotA 2, etc; and I also plan on using a laptop for my computer engineering degree. Which would you recommend? Thank you. :)

[vel_]

i have 1 question...does it have high fps for minecraft?

[shrikantdandge]

what frame rates you get using 4k display

[bryanskrantz]

Because those two games are locked at 30.

[shrikantdandge]

I think 30 fps is really good frame rate on 4k display

[RazacxX]

Dude, turn off adaptive v-sync. That GTA benchmark was horribly incorrect.

[kennethpurdy]

Don't think this review had much effort put into it. Yes it's expensive, but I don't ever hear DT knock Apple products which are equivalent in expense but lack comparable specifications. It seems to be nit picking tiny details about the system without taking into consideration what it does well.

My take, the notebook is good other than the price. If you can configure it with a 1080p configuration and lose the PCIe HDD, it should/would be priced like other comparable models.

[Profato]

I don't get why they have to go with mediocre 4k panels! There are much better panels out there around the 1440p range, which is enough DPI at this size... They think 4k is smart marketing apparently.

[welshmouse]

You lose all credibility when you talk about a mid-range laptop 'only' being able to play games at maximum settings at 30fps.

[wyattk]

These ASUS gaming laptops are better than MacBook Pros.  If your review is accurate that is too bad because my experience with ASUS gaming laptops has been positive.  I was advised to get an ASUS ROG over a MacBook and I took that advice and have been more than happy with the performance.  I am not a gamer, but I use demanding programs and these ASUS ROG's are amazing.  I don't know why thin is so in.  You get a lot of bang for the buck on a bulky ASUS ROG that has an optical drive several USB ports, thunderbolt etc.  I am surprised that ASUS would risk taking a ROG where you say it has.  They have a lot of laptops in their catalog.  They have a 1, 500 dollar laptop with a touchscreen that is nothing short of amazing.  Get a G751-JM.  Forget how bulky it is.  The power behind it is awesome!