Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsSurpass expectation, bad rollover
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 18, 2022
**Update on 31 July: After using for half of a month**
So after more usage I realized more downside of this machine. The most unforgivable one is the rollover. FYI, rollover means the max amount of keys the keyboard can detect at once. The number is very inconsistent, but I realize it can't detect W, A and Esc at the same time. Just THREE keys. And three keys commonly pressed by the left hand. It's worse than the much cheaper non-gaming-laptop keyboard model I used before, an ASUS vivobook. I checked and it seems rollover is an hardware issue, meaning there's no way I can change it without using an external keyboard. Because of this I have downgraded the score from 4 stars to 3 stars.
Then, the speakers quality.....is really not good if you're listening to some good music.
And then the heat issue. The good thing is heat control on the central components (CPU, GPU) is not bad. The bad thing is heat accumulates a lot above the keyboard....Basically the area above F3 to F11. It gets really hot. Well, there's no key there so you won't normally touch it, but if you're running some stuff and close your screen.....Your screen can also get really hot. Hope it won't damage the screen.
**End of update on 31st July**
Bought this laptop from US store because there's only 144Hz 62%sRGB trash screen version locally, which is Taiwan. Yes, TAIWAN, WHERE ASUS IS FROM.
Anyways. I read many reviews before deciding to buy this machine and it actually performs better than I expected. For example, many people complained of heating issues. I haven't tried playing some ultra-demanding game or prolonged stress test, but for some popular MMORPG, I can play it at ~90% best appearance in crowded meta-event area on my lap. Literally a laptop. And the heat level of both the CPU and GPU still goes below 80 degree C most of the time and never goes above 85, while still performing the expected benchmark scores. I'm super lazy and love to play on my bed with the laptop sitting on my legs so that's really nice.
Fans are noisy on turbo mode, but that's expected. As long as they do their job I'm fully content.
And the screen. It's surprisingly well, especially when the screen is not the selling point of this machine. Both this machine and the screen of my gf's years-old macbook pro have a 100% sRGB rating, but this machine looks better. And thanks to the "game visual" feature in the Armoury Crate app you can change saturation, contrast etc. based on the situation...I find it quite pog.
All the CPU GPU ram ssd stuff are running well from benchmark checking (though I encountered slight difficulties). Impressive.
There're 3 default modes, I think it's already shown on the description. You can change mode from simply pressing fn+F5. Apart from the MUX mode, there's also a "Windows" mode.....I dunno what it is, and doing completely fine without it.
These are the good stuff.
Now, I find the audio and speakers mixed with good and bad. It gives me a good 3D feels and the sound quality is also good. But the down side is it sounds like it's preset with a mixer. For example, when you listen to a pop song...You will hear rich instrumental sound, rich base, but the singer's voice become less acute and kinda "foggy" compared to an ordinary speaker (and the years old macbook).
It still sounds good. But maybe not so good if you love to hear sounds clearer on the high pitch end.
Now the down side.
Despite I bought a new machine, some driver software are already out-of-date. There was once I restarted the machine and realize the screen is tearing like a broken one. I was like holy sh_t if I gotta return it and buy another one it would be another month for me without a computer...Luckily the Nvidia kicked in and updated the software automatically and restarted the machine. The screen is nice for now.
Similarly, it took me some time to figure out what to do when the 3060 GPU "disappeared" despite the power is plugged in. If you're a pro gamer or someone familiar with PC there should be no problem for you. Just took some hours to figure out the settings and everything is fine. But imagine if someone is switching from Mac to this machine....Would be a terrible day.
Front cam is terrible, but more than enough for working or meeting. But don't rely on it for taking some actual video. Keyboard lighting is surprisingly cool.
Generally speaking at its listed price it's a really good value for money. I gave it 4 stars because I think some super discounted machine on Amazon deserve that 5 stars....But those are usually sold out within 1 or 2 hours, so it requires some luck to get one. If you're not trying your luck, this one is really nice.
And I hate it why you can charge the laptop on USB-C in the ROG series, but not on this one! Though, I believe that can be solved by simply adding an adapter...
