Asus ROG StrixStr G15G (2021)
A colourful 15in gaming laptop that deliversdeli in all areas; yet anotheranot fantastic outing for AMD and Nvidia
SCORE
PRICE £1,415 (£1,699 inc i VAT) ) from scan.co.uk
The Asus ROG Strix G15 wears its gaming credentials proudly on its sleeve. The Republic of Gamers branding is everywhere, from the logo on the lid to the ROG lettering stencilled subtly on the keyboard surround. It’s heavily laden with RGB lighting too: per-key lighting is customisable via the Aura Creator app, while a strip of LEDs wraps around the underside of the front portion of the laptop – the “Aura Sync light bar” – and lights up your desk in cheerful, multicoloured hues.
The plastic chassis doesn’t feel as bulletproof as the all-metal Gigabyte Aero 15 ( see p52), but it’s of a high quality and doesn’t creak or squeak when twisted.
As you might expect, though, you’re not getting an Ultrabook’s weight or slimness; if anything the ROG Strix G15 can be described as quite a lump. It weighs a shoulder-straining 2.3kg (plus an extra 0.7kg for the power adapter) and measures 354 x 259 x 27mm (WDH). That’s a fraction fatter than the Asus TUF Gaming
A15 opposite.
Surprisingly, there’s no number pad, but the keyboard is great. Each key has plenty of travel and a lovely soft-yet-positive landing that means it’s comfortable to both game and type on for hours. The cursor cluster sits neatly in its own space below the keyboard on the right-hand side, with no other keys nearby to accidentally press. The stack of media keys off to the right are, likewise, separated from the main keyboard by a small gap.
The spacious touchpad is superb. It feels smooth under the finger with left and right mouse clicks that are light without feeling insubstantial.
Note that the ROG Strix G15 lacks an integrated webcam, but that’s the only notable omission here, with Asus taking a chuck-it-all-in approach when it comes to ports. You get three USB-A 3.1 ports (5Gbits/sec), one USB-C 3.2 with DisplayPort and Power Delivery, one HDMI 2.0b output, and a 3.5mm headset jack. Wireless is handled by an Intel AX200 card, delivering 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5. Before I come to the display, I should explain that the ROG Strix G15 comes with a choice of three different types, as it’s important you choose the right one. The G513QR-HF010T on test here has the Full HD 300Hz panel, which is 100% sRGB. The cheaper G513IR-HN016T and G513QM-HN042T models come with an inferior 144Hz display only capable of reproducing 63% of the sRGB colour gamut and will likely look dreary.
“On most counts, the £1,699 Asus ROG Strix G15 outperforms the most expensive, exotic gaming laptops I tested in 2020”
The 300Hz panel on our review laptop is, however, impressive. It isn’t the brightest, only reaching 312cd/m2 at maximum brightness, but it’s colourful, capable of reproducing 99.6% of the sRGB colour gamut, and colour accuracy is solid with an average Delta E of 1.43. Add a matte finish that holds distracting reflections at bay, as well as that 300Hz refresh rate to keep games playing as smoothly as the graphics card can keep up with, and there’s little to complain about.
The graphs on p49, along with our more detailed comments about the similarly specified ROG Strix G17 ( see p46), mean there’s little point in going deep into the scores. The combination of a Ryzen 7 5800H and GeForce RTX 3070 is more than powerful enough to keep that 1080p display fed with highframe-rate action. On most counts, this £1,699 machine outperforms the most expensive, exotic gaming laptops I tested in 2020.
The good performance continues with the laptop’s 1TB SSD, which returned results of 2,824MB/sec for sequential reads – together with that large storage, it’s exactly what you want from a gaming laptop. Note that some other laptops offer space for a second M.2 SSD, though.
Noise and cooling are excellent: even when the fan is spinning at full speed it isn’t overly irritating, and both the wristrest and keyboard stay cool to the touch while gaming. Note the booming Dolby Atmos speakers too. Finally, battery life from the 90Wh battery was 8hrs 2mins in our video-rundown test, which is great for a gaming laptop.
So there’s plenty to like about the Asus ROG Strix G15. It’s reasonably priced, just as fast as any of its rivals, and could give you the advantage in esports with a 300Hz display. Whether you prefer it to the TUF Gaming A15 almost boils down to styling preference – both are excellent machines. 8-core re 3.2GHz (4.4GHz boost) AMD Ryzen 7 5800H 800H processor Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics hics 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM 15.6n non-touch ouch IPS display, 300Hz, 1,920 x 1,080 resolution ution 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth ooth 5 USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 3 x USB-A 3.1 HDMI I 2.0b Gigabit Ethernet 3.5mm combo jack 90Wh battery Windows 10 Home
354 x 259 x 27mm (WDH) 2.3kg 1yr C&R warranty anty part code: G513QR-HF010T