Hey guys! I feel compelled to offer you a review of this product because of how much praise I believe it presently deserves. It is seriously, without a doubt, one of the best laptops I have ever had the privilege of owning. I am also a computer technician by trade, so I wouldn't throw around such confident statements unless I truly meant them!
Let's break things down to some finer points now...
MAJOR PROS:
- Overall processor speed. The Ryzen 7 4800H chip is the bee's knees! It handles, with absolute ease, literally everything I throw at it. It also tops out at 4.292GHz, not 4.2. Then, under medium-sustained loads it holds anywhere between 3.3GHz and 3.6GHz boost ON ALL THREADS. Of course, after thermal throttling sets in (a great while later and with a high GPU load to really boggle it down, as the two share heatpipes) it levels out to anywhere between 2.2GHz and 2.8GHz (again, on all threads). But that's only under super-heavy-benchmark loads. Basically overkill to the average user who will likely never stress it down that much for that long. Nevertheless, at 8C/16T these speeds are hard to beat in today's day and age (for the mid-range laptop CPU class that is). Translation: whether you're a gamer, a student, or a working professional, you won't be disappointed in the least!
- GeForce RTX 2060. In a laptop? With an 8C/16T processor? Sold! I can't find a AAA game that it doesn't quickly devour at 60-100 FPS on "ultra" settings. I believe the stock AMD variant of this GPU comes overclocked by default, as I am seeing 1005MHz base / 1350MHz boost in GPU-Z rather than the standard 960MHz base / 1200MHz boost. (Then, on top of that, I was able to safely *even further* overclock it with MSI Afterburner by an additional +125MHz core / +500MHz mem, which is just dandy!). Of course, overall cooling between the GPU and CPU remains adequate and consistent, as I have not experienced any overheating / shutting down / erratic frame drop / etc. issues whatsoever to date (even though the fans do get somewhat loud at times).
- Two NVMe M.2 slots. I stuck a 500GB 970 EVO Plus in as my OS drive, while repurposing the 1TB Intel 660p as my data drive. Easy peasy upgrade using standard cloning software (I used Macrium Reflect). Also, I was able to leave the Intel drive in the "primary" M.2 slot (the one right next to the GPU heatpipe) which allowed me to put the EVO Plus drive in the "secondary" M.2 slot (even though it's now the OS drive) -- all so as to allow me to keep its temps down lower (like by an additional 10-20C that is) when compared to having it hang out over by the heatpipe! Basically, the BIOS doesn't care which SSD is physically located in which M.2 slot, which is just awesome IMHO. In fact, to those of you who won't be adding a secondary SSD for awhile -- go move that Intel 660p over anyways so that you can save yourself some degrees regardless! Doing so won't hurt a bit / will only help extend the life of your drive.
- DisplayPort over USB 3.2 Gen 2. THE reason I upgraded to this laptop from a previous gen one. Paired with a decent 240Hz ASUS VG279QM monitor, I have yet to experience a single display issue WHATSOEVER. Everything works just perfectly. Drivers work perfectly. G-Sync works perfectly. I literally couldn't be more pleased with my setup. Also, if anybody wants (much) more finite control over their NVIDIA Control Panel settings, go find and download NVIDIA Profile Inspector. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you can tweak with it! Also checkout Blurbusters.com for tutorials on how to setup your G-Sync, V-Sync, and FPS cap settings. (So you know, I have G-Sync on at all times, V-Sync on at all times, and a FPS cap set at 3 less than my monitor's refresh rate).
- 144Hz screen. On this topic, I see everybody and their mother being overly-picky, bashing the screen in this laptop as if it's complete trash. Honestly, for 90% of the regular users out there / a good amount of gamers, the technological advancements of 144Hz screens over yester-generation's 60Hz screens is simply astounding, and absolutely nothing to complain about. I am personally quite impressed with the screen. Anything nicer and you're (appropriately) looking at the next price-point up, like the G15 or something. So give this screen a break! It's bright enough, sharp enough, and fast enough to satisfy the typical "mid-range" gaming class of laptops that it was specifically manufactured to be used in. Yes, it doesn't have the best grey-to-grey response time on the market, but unless you're an absolute professional gamer who has a long history of playing at lower response times, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference (if at all, seriously). Same goes for color gamut. It's not like the screen is so "washed out" that you're looking at a freaking monochrome display! For the majority of regular users / gamers out there, the vibrancy is *more* than sufficient (and can be turned up in the display settings, to help a little there, for that's what I do to compensate and I'm quite happy with the results). More importantly, in my opinion, is that the display pushes 144Hz. Compared to 60Hz, the difference is LITERALLY NIGHT AND DAY. I kid you not. And just as important (if not more than) is the fact that it utilizes FreeSync, a technology identical to G-Sync that completely eliminates screen tearing (something I can't stand far more than anything else when gaming). I swear, once you go "variable refresh rate" there's no going back! Absolutely nothing beats the buttery-smooth experience it provides when enabled. (Like seriously, if you haven't gamed with it before, you are in for a real treat!) NOW FOR SOME SIDE NOTES: Regarding brightness, there's a feature buried in the AMD Radeon Settings app -- called "Vari-Bright" -- that evidently ships enabled by default, and to which disabling should somewhat improve the brightness of your screen (and especially so when viewing it outdoors). ALSO: Regarding ghosting, make sure that "motion blur" is disabled in your games (if the setting exists) as doing so should somewhat improve the sharpness of your screen / help mitigate the negative effects of its higher response time (again, if you even notice it in the first place).
- 90Wh battery. Simply put, this is unheard of in a gaming laptop with these specs. Thank goodness for M.2 slots (so we can finally get rid of those pesky 2.5" drive bays!). Also, if anybody is interested, go download HWInfo64 so you can see precisely how fast your laptop is discharging, by the watt. You may find that certain apps / tasks / etc. artificially drain your battery faster than others.
- Third USB port (on the right). I never thought I would need this port so much, but lo and behold, it has become quite the invaluable addition to my setup. Now I can have one USB 3 hub connected to one port, one USB 2 hub connected to another, and one USB 3 port left free for dedicated external drive support (as they often work better/faster when connected directly and not through any hubs). At last, my desktop replacement is complete!
- Aluminum lid. Very robust. Doesn't collect fingerprints easily. Not as silverish in the dark as I thought it would be (which is a good thing, as I wanted something closer to black anyways).
- Dedicated L/R mouse buttons. Having dedicated touchpad buttons is a major improvement over the previous gen configuration, IMO. I couldn't stand the previous gen's "all-in-one" trackpad.
- Keyboard. A little bit more tactile / more responsive than their previous gen keyboard. Of course, I'm not a fan of such tiny UDLR buttons this time around, but laptop manufacturers are probably never going to settle on where to put those guys!
- Internal speakers. I'm surprised at how much punch they pack! When compared to their previous gen speakers, they are indeed a little bit louder, while also offering a little bit wider audible range (bass especially).
- Flawless hardware/software compatibility. I haven't had A SINGLE freeze up, BSOD, driver issue, etc. to date. This is definitely one of the most important requirements for me as computer technician. Honestly, good job ASUS for building such a rock solid machine! SIDE NOTE: I did experience one issue, where after manually updating the AMD chipset drivers directly from their website, I began experiencing awful external mouse stuttering issues when connected to an external display. I'm not surprised, however, that this happened, because of how most drivers (with the exception of NVIDIA GeForce drivers as I have historically experienced) are better left up to the OEM to have updated, so as to ensure that they are properly vetted by them. As in, most drivers should be left alone by the typical end user, unless they happen to see an update become available directly on their laptop manufacturer's support site for their particular model of device. So ultimately, there is nothing *wrong* here, as the chipset drivers I attempted to install weren't actually ASUS approved ones. I mean, if everything works as it should "out of the box" (which it undoubtedly does with this particular model) than there's really no need to seek out driver updates anyways, let alone external ones not found on the laptop's support site. I'm just a hobbyist of sorts, I guess? But as the famous saying still goes: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Needless to say, after rolling back the chipset drivers (to stock) everything was back to normal again.
- Minimal bloatware. Just had to uninstall McAfee and a few windows store apps, and that was pretty much it.
MINOR CONS:
- Highish CPU temp under load. Strictly speaking, it isn't technically "high" so much as it is "higher than I am personally comfortable with seeing." I mean, based on my tests, it is clear that ASUS/AMD explicitly set the max temp for this CPU to top out at exactly 95.0C before thermal throttling consistently kicks in (and fans go up / clocks go down). So, just to be clear, BY DESIGN, the CPU in this laptop is evidently meant to hold 95C perpetually. In fact, during thorough benchmarking, I never ONCE saw it go above 95.0C, or my computer shut down, or anything like that. So it is somewhat reassuring that my system is supposedly working *as it should.* I guess I just get nervous, in general, anytime I see anything above 90C in a laptop. Fortunately (and for anybody else out there interested in dropping their CPU temps down significantly) I found a neat trick online that involves setting the "Maximum Processor State" to 99% in Control Panel > Power Plan Settings, and to which doing so has perpetually lowered my peak CPU temp down by 10-20C under sustained load! Of course, this trick only works at lowering temps because it effectively disables turbo boost, as well as lock all base clocks to a measly 1.7GHz on all threads. But after extensive testing, doing so only drops the average FPS in my games by 10-30% or so, which for me is an acceptable trade-off for what I get in return! (BTW, I believe ASUS does something similar with "Silent" mode in their Armoury Crate app, though from my testing it appears that my 99% trick isn't as crippling to system responsiveness as their Silent profile is). Also, I should note, when performing this 99% trick, my overall laptop's fan noise is much quieter, albeit not absent from the system entirely.
- 802.11AC wireless adapter. It would have been nice to see the new AX standard here. But then again, it only set me back a whopping $25 to upgrade the adapter to a nice Intel AX200 one (and to which I have not experienced any compatibility issues with, either).
Boy, other than that, I honestly can't think of any other cons worth mentioning. This series is in its fourth generation for crying out loud (from the 503 days). Almost every kink possible has been worked out. These are seriously WELL OILED MACHINES at this point.
MY FINAL WORD: If/when you get the chance, don't pass up the opportunity to own one these babies!
EDIT: For the longest time, I was pretty bummed that mobile Ryzen chips were not tweakable using AMD's famous Ryzen Master utility. But fortunately, I have recently come across "Ryzen Controller" -- a third party utility that is almost just as good! After playing around with it, I have managed to cap my CPU's TDP at pretty much any value I want, and to which in turn (coupled with an easy undervolt of my GPU using MSI Afterburner) has allowed me to keep my temps at pretty much anywhere I want -- all depending on how many FPS I feel like seeing! With detail being the constant, think 75C on both the CPU and GPU w/ an average FPS of 110, for example, or say, 85C on the CPU and 80C on the GPU w/ an average FPS of 120, or perhaps 90C on the CPU and 85C on the GPU w/ an average FPS of 130. (All this compared to stock being at 95C on the CPU and 86C on the GPU w/ an average FPS of 125, btw.) Basically, the "99% trick" explained above is a great place to start for beginner tweakers, but to which the clock speeds get artificially capped at a lowly 1.7GHz, while finely tuning one's system with Ryzen Controller allows for much more advanced tweaking, but to which still allows regular turbo boost to continue on all threads (at a frequency capped only in relation to how much TDP you decide to throttle it with). THE FINAL RESULT: I have been able to boost my FPS farther (even past stock!) and keep my CPU temps and fan noise down lower (much lower!) with Ryzen Controller, than with the 99% trick. Hope this helps, and happy computing!
SECOND EDIT: A commenter of my review suggested a better way to disable turbo boost on the CPU while not dropping its base clock as much / if at all. Indeed, the new trick does provide a higher base clock! Unfortunately, however, I found that it didn't do much to lower my peak CPU temp in certain games, which still hovered at around 95C during gameplay. I think I might still have a few uses for the new trick, though, as I'm sure I'll find some games that do benefit from it. But ultimately, until then, nothing has been able to beat the results I have obtained by way of manually capping my CPU's TDP using Ryzen Controller. Thank you nonetheless for the sweet tip, my dude! Excellent find indeed, and a formidable replacement to the 99% trick where base clocks are of primary concern.
UPDATE: As just mentioned, the RC app yielded me better control over CPU temps, in certain games, than what the turbo-boost-disabling trick was able to accomplish. However, in other games it appears to be a wash. Let me share a particular benchmarking analysis with you, so you can see precisely what I mean! This is the DiRT Rally benchmark, with most detail set to ultra, 4X anti-aliasing, and "Performance" mode set in Armoury Crate (as I prefer the lower fan noise over what "Turbo" mode provides):
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STOCK EVERYTHING =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 95.0C / 86.0C
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 125.40 / 98.28 / 156.58
MAX CPU CLK: 4292 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1319 MHz @ 0.709 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 19.1 W / 67.2 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STOCK CPU + GPU UV/OC =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 95.0 / 86.0
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 128.17 / 96.86 / 167.45
MAX CPU CLK: 4292 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1500 MHz @ 0.700 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 20.9 W / 64.7 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
99% TRICK =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 83.2 / 86.0
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 80.65 / 53.16 / 110.96
MAX CPU CLK: 1700 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1634 MHz @ 0.849 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 10.6 W / 74.4 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
99% TRICK + GPU UV/OC =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 75.9 / 74.2
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 79.45 / 52.58 / 105.39
MAX CPU CLK: 1700 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1500 MHz @ 0.700 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 10.0 W / 50.1 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
TB DISABLED =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 88.7 / 84.6
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 118.43 / 83.47 / 162.66
MAX CPU CLK: 2890 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1413 MHz @ 0.739 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 15.1 W / 69.7 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
TB DISABLED + GPU UV/OC =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 84.4 / 80.5
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 125.33 / 84.48 / 168.51
MAX CPU CLK: 2890 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1500 MHz @ 0.700 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 14.9 W / 64.8 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RC TDP @ 8W =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 87.8 / 84.7
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 116.42 / 90.18 / 150.84
MAX CPU CLK: 4292 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1421 MHz @ 0.744 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 14.3 W / 70.7 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RC TDP @ 8W + GPU UV/OC =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 84.5 / 80.5
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 121.01 / 93.26 / 149.23
MAX CPU CLK: 4292 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1500 MHz @ 0.700 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 14.6 W / 65.9 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RC TDP @ 9W =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 91.2 / 85.8
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 118.12 / 91.03 / 155.67
MAX CPU CLK: 4292 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1233 MHz @ 0.681 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 15.6 W / 60.1 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RC TDP @ 9W + GPU UV/OC =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 85.7 / 80.9
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 126.20 / 96.98 / 163.15
MAX CPU CLK: 4292 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1500 MHz @ 0.700 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 15.8 W / 66.0 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RC TDP @ 11W + GPU UV/OC =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 90.0 / 81.7
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 129.47 / 81.51 / 166.97
MAX CPU CLK: 4292 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1500 MHz @ 0.700 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 18.6 W / 65.8 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RC TDP @ 6W + GPU UV/OC =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 78.2 / 76.3
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 110.62 / 82.08 / 138.84
MAX CPU CLK: 4292 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1500 MHz @ 0.700 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 12.0 W / 65.3 W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RC TDP @ 5W + GPU UV/OC =
AVG CPU / GPU TEMP: 75.7 / 74.2
AVG / MIN / MAX FPS: 101.30 / 77.67 / 133.44
MAX CPU CLK: 4292 MHz
AVG GPU CLK: 1500 MHz @ 0.700 V
AVG CPU / GPU PWR: 10.9 W / 62.6 W
CONCLUSION: If you're looking for a quick and dirty, set-it-and-forget-it mod, it appears that disabling turbo boost while simultaneously undervolting+overclocking the GPU can indeed yield you some pretty great temps -- in some games -- while leaving your FPS on par w/ stock no less! THEN, if you want complete control (regardless of the game) you can always squeeze out a little more FPS (or a little less on temps) by using Ryzen Controller, albeit thus requiring a little trial and error along the way to find the ideal TDP value. Basically, one method (the turbo-boost-disabling method) keeps CPU temps down by capping boost clocks, while the other method (the RC method) keeps CPU temps down by capping chip TDP. The two work in similar ways -- but differently -- and as such, it appears that each may have their own respective benefits depending on which game you play / what your goal is / how granular you are willing to go with your tweaking. As in, the RC method works better for me when playing NFS, because it does a better job at preventing me from going past 90C, while the turbo-boost-disabling method works better for me when playing DiRT, as that game doesn't seem to push me past 85C anyways, and the RC method didn't yield much better results in the alternative. NOW OF COURSE, if you're into squeezing as many FPS out of your machine for as little power spent / fan noise as possible (like gaming on battery for instance) nothing beats the RC method, hands down. Not the 99% trick, not the turbo-boost-disabling trick, and certainly not the Silent Mode profile in Armoury Crate for that matter, either (as that setting is easily the most crippling of the three). I mean, to see 78C/76C on the CPU/GPU, w/ 110 FPS on average, all while using only 12W/65W of CPU/GPU power? THAT'S PRICELESS! Ultimately though, it should be noted here that the real mod making these CPU mods worth doing (any one of them) is the GPU undervolting+overclocking mod using MSI Afterburner. For without it, CPU temps just aren't as capable of being dropped so easily (because of how the two share heatpipes, remember). So make sure to mod that GPU of yours!
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Processor | 4.2 GHz ryzen_7_4800h |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Memory Speed | 3200 MHz |
| Hard Drive | 512 GB Flash Memory Solid State |
| Graphics Coprocessor | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti |
| Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Card Description | Dedicated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 6 GB |
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth, 802.11ac |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 3 |
