Asus’ ROG Zephyrus GX510 raises the bar for slim gaming notebooks

• Slimmest gaming notebook to be fitted with a top end Nvidia GPU
• Asus ROG hold qualifiers for its eSports competition with total prize pool of US$23,795

ASUS’ Republic of Gamers (ROG)has announced its new Zephyrus GX501 gaming notebook, that it hopes will appeal to hardcore gamers looking for a sleek gaming machine.

For gamers looking for a cutting-edge machine to match the games they play, the Zephyrus comes with a 15.6-inch ultra slim full HD resolution display that features Nvidia G-Sync with a fast 120Hz refresh rate to reduce screen tearing and stuttering.

The Zephyrus comes with a rather unusual keyboard layout with a backlit RGB keyboard that lights up your late-night gaming sessions and a trackpad (that also doubles as the number pad) off to the right side. 

The Taiwanese device maker boldly says that the Zephyrus is the world’s thinnest gaming laptop to be powered by a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, the top-of-the-line graphics processing unit (GPU) that is normally found in larger and heavier notebooks. The GPU is complemented with Max-Q technology that is said to deliver top performance but at cooler temperatures.

Interestingly, the Zephyrus has a unique bottom that flexes when the lid is open to allow space for air circulation, reducing temperatures by 20%, according to Asus’ estimates.

Asus has also billed the Zephyrus as a virtual reality (VR) ready laptop with plug-and-play compatibility with VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It delivers a stutter-free VR performance with frame rates exceeding 90 frames per second.

Measuring just 17.9mm thin, which is almost as thin as a 15-inch MacBook Pro, it has a specially designed cooling system on the chassis that cracks open when you lift the lid. Asus also manages to keep the weight in check at 2.2kg making it easy on your back when carrying it around.

Of course, it runs on Windows 10 but on the inside, you get a seventh generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ (2.8Ghz) CPU that can come with 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 16GB of DDR4 DRAM and 1TB solid state drive (SSD).

In terms of ports, you get a HDMI, Thunderbolt, four USB 3.0 and headphone out and audio-in combo jack.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501 is available now and carries a price tag of RM15,999 (US$3,807).

Asus ROG also held its annual e-sport tournament ROG Masters 2017 Malaysia Qualifier on Sept 16 and 17 at 1 Utama. Now in its second year, the ROG Masters has grown into a global phenomenon after its first year, tailored towards players from Asia and Oceania.

Sixteen aspiring Dota 2 and Counter-Strike teams participated in the qualifying round to take home part of the total prize pool of RM100,000 (US$23,795).

The winners of the qualifiers will represent Malaysia at the ROG Masters 2017 APAC qualifier in the Philippines from Oct 26 to 29. Following that competition, the ROG Masters 2017 International Grand Final is set to take place at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from Dec 7 to 10.

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