Introduction, Design Features
It’s no tip that lower-priced products tend to sell in aloft volumes than higher-priced ones. This is generally loyal for gaming notebooks, which, even in their lower-end versions, are already deliberate costly subsequent to their non-gaming counterparts.
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567)
we reviewed a few weeks ago is a stream aristocrat of bill gaming notebooks. The $899 indication we tested (which was serve ignored to $849, as we typed this) had Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics estimate territory (GPU), charity adequate opening to play today’s games during a 1080p fortitude and mostly high fact settings. But we weren’t fans of a TN-type 1080p shade on a examination model, and a complement had usually 8GB of RAM during that cost point.
The new Asus Republic of Gamers (RoG) Strix RoG Strix GL553VD aims to be a tantalizing choice to that Dell. The theme of this examination is a RoG Strix GL553VD-DS71, a bottom indication in this array accessible in a United States. At $1,099, it’s a good bit some-more costly than a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567) we tested. However, it offers a series of pivotal advantages contra a Dell, a many critical of that is a aloft 1080p IPS display. The Asus also has a Core i7-7700HQ processor, as against to a Core i5-7300HQ in a Dell we tested, and 16GB of RAM. Finally, a Asus RoG Strix GL553VD has a multi-zone RGB backlit keyboard. (The Dell’s was usually bright in red.) Those items, collectively, competence have been adequate for us to contend a RoG Strix GL553VD is value a additional income over a Dell, steer unseen. But that’s not a whole story.
Unlike a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567), a Asus RoG Strix GL553VD doesn’t offer a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, usually a customary GTX 1050. This is an critical distinction, as, according to a benchmarks, a GTX 1050 Ti chip has adult to 30 percent softened opening in a genuine world. That creates a value tender for a Asus RoG Strix GL553VD many some-more volatile. We’ll plead a implications of this from a opening viewpoint in a benchmarks territory of this review.
For now, let’s get underneath a hood of a Asus RoG Strix GL553VD and see what it is done of, and what it can do.
Design
One demeanour during a Asus RoG Strix GL553VD is adequate to tell it’s directed during a gaming crowd. The black extraneous and orange accents mount out even from a distance. The Republic of Gamers trademark and prominence stripes on a behind of a lid are passively bright by a arrangement itself, definition they can’t be incited off while a arrangement is on.
Everything on a outward of this cover is plastic, solely for a black brushed-aluminum lid backing. The mistake brushed-aluminum finish on a palm-rest area is reduction convincing in chairman than it is in photos. We’d indeed have elite well-spoken plastic, as we don’t consider a fabrication demeanour does a whole lot for a design.
The inward-sloped edges of a RoG Strix GL553VD make it demeanour trimmer than a 1.2-inch thickness. We could detached hairs here and indicate out that it’s 0.2 in. thicker than a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567), yet that doesn’t take divided from a fact that a RoG Strix GL553VD is respectably skinny by gaming-notebook standards in this stretch class. The rest of a framework is on customary with a customary 15.6-inch notebook, during 15.1×10 inches.
The arrangement hinges anchored during a behind of a framework are unbending adequate to forestall arrangement wobble, yet they are also unbending adequate that we need to use dual hands to get a lid open. You can open a lid 45 degrees past a straight orientation, as we expect.
The keyboard is a pro and a criminal for a RoG Strix GL553VD. On a and side, a pleasing feel is above average, mostly interjection to a plenty pivotal transport distance. It provides for an enchanting typing experience. We’re also fans of a four-zone RGB backlighting. We suspicion it looked good in darker environments, yet was harder to make out in a daytime.
You can emanate adult to 3 backlighting profiles in a pre-installed Asus Aura Core software. It’s a comparatively elementary utility, as we can see here…
Each section of a keyboard can take on one of a approximately 16.7 million colors in a RGB spectrum, and a section can be divided incited off. As for tributary bling, a “breathing” light outcome is available, yet zero else; don’t pattern a endless presets you’ll see in one of a latest luxe gaming laptops from, say, Razer. The settings are altogether not quite advanced, yet they positively kick a single-zone, single-color backlighting accessible on a competing Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567).
Where we had some quibbles was with a keyboard layout. There are no dedicated Home, End, Page Up, or Page Down keys unless we invalidate NumLock, in that box they’re accessible in a series pad…
When NumLock is enabled, however, a Function (Fn) pivotal doesn’t double adult with those same keys to act as delegate functions. There’s no status-light indicator for NumLock, either. Another distrurbance is a fact a energy symbol is a keyboard key, located during a tip right corner. It’s humorous how such a tiny thing like this can lessen a altogether demeanour and feel of a notebook. Last, we aren’t a fan of how a arrow-key cluster intrudes into a categorical keyboard area instead of being divorced out into a possess cluster. This pattern cut down a stretch of a right Shift and series pad “0” keys. Asus is frequency alone in doing this among gaming laptop makers, that is because we like to singular out a Acer Predator line for doing this cluster “right.”
The button-less hold pad is a bit ungainly to use. The anti-glare aspect marks fine, yet a volume of vigour compulsory to furnish a click is a small excessive, and we feel a stretch a pad needs to transport for a click to occur is too long. Tapping to click works usually fine, however.
The RoG Strix GL553VD generally does good when it comes to pier selection. You’ll find a AC energy jack on a left, along with an Ethernet jack, HDMI video output, dual USB Type-A 3.0 ports, a USB Type-C 3.1 pier (it has no Thunderbolt 3 support), and a audio combo jack. The latter was giveaway of immobile during all volume levels we tested.
The front corner of this cover has a full-size flash-card reader and a status-light cluster, both of that we were happy to see…
The right corner has a rest of a connectivity, including a USB Type-A 3.0 port, a tray-loading visual drive, and a Kensington-style cable-lockdown notch…
The visual expostulate in a examination territory was a DVD burner. We wouldn’t have complained if Asus had left out a visual drive, yet we positively aren’t going to protest that a designers chose to embody it. Even today, we never know if you’re going to need it. Some buyers are some-more married to DVD drives than others, so it’s good that this choice is available.
The fact a ports are mostly clustered toward a front of any of a sides is a amiable annoyance. Ideally, they’d be located serve back, so that when peripherals are plugged in, they don’t have a intensity to protrusion out into your mousing space, as many folks will use a detached rodent when gaming. This is some-more of a regard for left-handers, as many of a RoG Strix GL553VD’s ports are located along a left edge.
The RoG Strix GL553VD-DS71 has an Intel 7265 wireless label with 802.11ac rope support. This worked yet issues in a testing, as did a inner Bluetooth connectivity.
Asus enclosed no built-in biometric facilities on a RoG Strix GL553VD, such as a fingerprint reader. The 720p Webcam centered above a arrangement has poor quality, even for infrequent use. A softened one would positively be appreciated a subsequent time around. That said, we have low expectations of built-in Webcams in many non-elite-priced laptops these days.
Features
The IPS arrangement on a Asus RoG Strix GL553VD-DS71 is a clever offered indicate for this model. As we remarkable in a intro, a competing Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567) doesn’t now offer a 1080p IPS panel, usually a malnutritioned TN row that was on a examination unit. (Dell pronounced it has skeleton to offer a 1080p IPS hold display, yet so distant it hasn’t announced accessibility or pricing specifics.)
The picture peculiarity and observation angles are glorious on this IPS display. The low blacks, sheer whites, and well-saturated colors move usually about any kind of calm to life. Asus advertises a row with better-than-average 72 percent NTSC tone progression coverage. The anti-glare aspect cloaking is easy to appreciate, as well, generally when operative around light sources that could emanate reflections. Last, a 1080p fortitude is suitable for a GeForce GTX 1050 graphics label inside this notebook.
We’d like to see Nvidia G-Sync support, yet so distant that’s a wishlist object that has left violent on a bill gaming notebooks we’ve reviewed. The RoG Strix GL553VD was good brief of progressing a 60-frame-per-second (fps) normal in a games we tested, and that’s where G-Sync could have helped well-spoken out a altogether demeanour of games.
The audio from a RoG Strix GL553VD’s twin speakers is good enough. They’re located underneath a palm rest and face downward, raised their sound off a aspect where a cover is resting. The setup has adequate volume, midrange, and drum for a endurable gaming knowledge in a eventuality we forget your headphones.
Asus RoG Strix GL753VE. The GTX 1050 Ti is also found in a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567)
, that is maybe a RoG Strix GL553VD’s strongest aspirant we’ve seen so far.
According to a benchmarks, a GTX 1050 Ti is about one-third faster than a customary GTX 1050. That creates a conditions a small worried for a RoG Strix GL553VD, as a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567) can be had for $899 (or a small less) with a GTX 1050 Ti, or $200 reduction than a Asus examination unit. Granted, a RoG Strix GL553VD-DS71 has a better-quality arrangement than a Dell, double a RAM (16GB), and a faster Core i7-7700HQ processor. On a flip side, a Dell laptop includes a 256GB SSD during a cost point, instead of a roomy-but-slow 1TB tough expostulate in a RoG Strix GL553VD-DS71. It’s a conflict of a specs, yet in terms of gaming opening for a money, a climax undoubtedly goes to a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567).
The Asus RoG Strix GL553VD is still some-more than able of putting on a good uncover with a GTX 1050 graphics. It’s critical to note that a GTX 1050 in this cover has 4GB of dedicated memory, not 2GB as a label is infrequently configured. That creates a vast disproportion for today’s games, as some new-gen titles are starting to suggest more than 4GB for a aloft hardness settings. You wouldn’t wish any reduction than 4GB in a complicated gaming machine.
We’re positively not unhappy by a Core i7-7700HQ processor in a examination unit. This “Kaby Lake” CPU has softened opening over a effusive Core i7-6700HQ “Skylake” silicon. We also like a fact Asus includes 16GB of RAM in this model. The many cutting-edge games are starting to need 8GB of RAM during a minimum, so double that ought to be good for a while.
Our genuine beating with a RoG Strix GL553VD-DS71 is a miss of solid-state storage. Its 1TB tough expostulate felt dull and superannuated subsequent to a SSD storage we’re used to saying during this cost point. We think Asus will offer an upgraded chronicle of this cover with an SSD-and-hard-drive multiple during some point, yet we couldn’t find such a indication for squeeze during a time of this review. You could always supplement your possess SSD to this indication if you’re feeling adventurous, possibly by replacing a 2.5-inch drive, or by regulating a accessible M.2 Type-2280 (80mm) container on a motherboard.
Access to a storage and memory on this cover is achieved by stealing a bottom cover. All 11 Philips-head screws holding a cover onto a framework contingency be removed, 10 of that are visible…
The final screw is underneath a rubber cover in a center. We had to use a razor blade to get underneath a edges and examine it up, as it was hold down by adhesive. (This was a initial for us.) After all screws are removed, you’ll need to use fingernails or a credit label to get between a bottom and tip halves of a framework and kindly examine them apart. This didn’t take as many bid as we suspicion it would.
Once inside, we have entrance to a RoG Strix GL553VD’s 2.5-inch expostulate bay, a M.2 Type-2280 (80mm) slot, and a dual DIMM slots for memory. That’s about as upgradable as notebooks get.
Thermals
One cooling fan is all that’s inside a RoG Strix GL553VD. Two vast copper heatpipes start during a center of a cover where a graphics chip is located, and afterwards pass over a processor before reaching a cooling fins. Exhaust atmosphere is finally sent by a fins by a fan and afterwards out a left side of a chassis. We cite to see atmosphere sent out a back of a chassis, as it eliminates a probability that comfortable atmosphere could blow on your rodent hand. (That’s usually a intensity problem for lefties with this notebook, and if we live in, say, northern Alaska, who knows? That could be looked on as a positive.)
This cooling resolution worked good adequate during a testing. The GeForce GTX 1050 GPU strike usually 72 degrees C during a 30-minute gaming session, that is really on a cold side for a gaming notebook. The CPU was a opposite story, though, as a Core i7-7700HQ processor appearance during 88 degrees C, that isn’t too distant next a maximum. This isn’t a dangerous temperature, yet as a order we’d like to see a processor run a integrate of degrees cooler.
The outward of a framework was cold on a tip and bottom. Not one partial of a framework exceeded 91 degrees F on a heat gun. To put this in perspective, we’ve totalled aspect temperatures on some gaming notebooks in additional of 110 degrees.
The singular cooling fan is opportunely still and subdued. You can tell it’s using while you’re gaming, yet there’s no apparent fan or engine noise. We’d suppose we could get divided with gaming on a RoG Strix GL553VD in many environments yet unfortunate a folks around you.