Asus G501 offers 4K, new GeForce, PCIe SSD and even Thunderbolt in superthin case - taylorshantoote1978

The laptop world we unfilmed in dictates that as system of weights drops and dimensions shrink, capacity get squeezed forbidden of the depict.

That's the precise line Asus has to walk with its new G501 play laptop, which boasts a tour of duty de force of check-off features while remaining imposingly svelte.

The G501 features a 15.6-in, 3840×2160-pel 4K IPS board in a 4.5-beat body that measures 15×10 inches and only 0.81 inches tall. That's about 20.5mm thick, for the metrically minded verboten there.

The CPU is, of class, a 4th-generation quad-essence Core i7 4720HQ chip. Why no 5th-gen quad-core? Because while dual-core Broadwell chips have existed for nearly five months now, Intel inactive hasn't released quad-core CPUs. That intrinsically has spurred whispers that quad-substance mobile Broadwell chips will be thrown out the air lock before ever being released, simply Intel officials have told us they'Re still on schedule.

Since this is a Democracy of Gamers laptop, there's a discrete GPU—but it may be a little off in the power weighing machine. Information technology's Nvidia's refreshing GeForce GTX 960M, essentially a process-landscaped GeForce GTX 860M. Performance of the new 960M hasn't been reviewed by PCWorld yet, but I preceptor't expect it to qualify to its siblings, the 980M, 970M Oregon 965M, for gaming. I besides think it'll drop off right, far short of beingness able to thrust the 4K panel at its native resolution for play.

g501 left open135 — The G501 packs GeForce GTX 960M, quad core, M.2 PCIe SSD and Thunderbolt port into a 20mm thick dead body.

The rest of the G501 is nicely specification'ed though, especially in store. Few to no laptops have have shipped with M.2 PCIe SSD drives thus far, instead choosing slower and cheaper M.2 SATA SSD drives. Asus says the G501 will attach to a 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD running on a x4 PCIe Gen 3 connector that'll hit 1,400MB/s transfer speeds. The make is unknown, but it mightiness be Samsung's SM951 drive, which the fellowship showed off at CES.

Past amenities include 16GB of DDR3 and a unary USB-C port! Kidding. Really, just kidding.

Asus actually offers three USB 3.0, HDMI, earpiece and mic port, SD card reader and—drum roll—a Thunderbolt embrasure. Yes, for those World Health Organization've given sprouted on Thunderbolt as a dead technology that even Apple abandoned on its a la mode MacBook, this is certainly not an indication that Intel and Apple's high-speed user interface is rather the road kill multitude have assumed it is.

At 4.5 lbs. and 20.5mm thick, the most natural competitor I look to the G501 is either HP's Predic at 4.6 lbs and 19mm broad, or Razer's updated Razer Blade.

I reviewed the original HP Omen a few months past and plant it to be a beautiful laptop but a trifle light for my tastes in the essential GPU section. HP late upgraded information technology from the GeForce GTX 860M to the same 960M used in the G501.

g501 19 — The new G501 is 20.5mm thick when closed.

The lumbering hitter in this category is going to be the Razer Steel. Besides being thinner at 17.9mm and a miniscule smaller (it also has a 14-inch QHD+ panel too) the Blade's killer feature should be its GeForce GTX 970M part. Although I haven't seen that part either, I'm going to guess a 970M-socio-economic class GPU is going to heater the 960M in the G501. One reader also points out that that the MSI GS60 Ghost deserves a mention and He or she is right. The GS60 offers a 970M and 4K option—It's just not as thin as the Razer Blade.

The G501 does feature an reward over the Forecast and Blade in battery capability. Asus has jammed a massive 96-James Watt-hour battery into the chassis. Compare that to the 70-watt-minute in the Blade and the 58-watt-hour job in the Prefigure.

Finally there's cost. With a space core part, 16GB of Ram down and 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD, Asus says information technology's passing to charge you $2,000. That's actually nifty. The Steel with 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM wish band you back $2,700. Ouch. The HP Omen comes untold closer when spec'ed with 16GB and 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD: IT'll tug $2,100.

Updated to mention the MSI GS60 Ghost

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/432385/asus-g501-offers-4k-new-geforce-pcie-ssd-and-even-thunderbolt-in-superthin-case.html

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