Along with its outrageous price, the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo SE GX551 features spectacular power. However, a contentious design, an inconvenient keyboard, and battery problems hurt it. Although the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo SE GX551 has a long moniker, it conceals one of the most potent and cutting-edge gaming laptops that (a lot of) money can purchase.
The GX551 features an eight-core AMD Zen 3 processor and a brand-new Nvidia RTX 3000-series graphics chip, combined with a second screen that is expected to revolutionize gaming and creative applications. The GX551 may be yours for £3,499, but the Duo’s special design comes with just as many drawbacks as benefits. Can it live up to its reputation as the best gaming laptop?
It’s for whom?
Zephyrus is Asus’ high-end sub-brand and ROG stands for Republic of Gamers, so it’s obvious that the GX551 is primarily made for people who want the greatest experience possible. According to Asus, the GX551 can satisfy both gamers and creative types because a significant number of gaming laptops are also utilized for content creation, such as streaming and video production. This system contains advanced graphics and processing hardware in place of simply one because of this.
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call screening
The second display is referred to as the Screen Pad and is a 14-inch touchscreen with a 3,840 x 1,100 resolution. The Screen Pad takes up half of the laptop’s base, and when the lid is opened, hinges are activated, pushing the Screen Pad upward. This is clever since raising the screen improves component cooling while also making it easier for users to utilize.
An application named Screen Xpert controls the Screen Pad. It puts apps together, snaps apps to the second screen, and has a convenient, reversible shortcut dock. The Screen Pad works with any programme. Gamers may use it with chat apps or browsers, while content creators can install timelines, controls, or additional software on it.
For Adobe applications like Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere Pro, the Screen Pad offers applets brimming with optimized touch controls. The Screen Pad employs a framework called Overwolf for gaming, allowing extensions to provide analytics, tracking, and tools for well-known titles.
It’s unfortunate for individuals who prefer to play single-player games since the majority of the supported games and services are esports games and related services like Fortnite, League of Legends, TeamSpeak, and Xsplit Gamecaster, but they’re helpful if you’re invested in the supported games.
A 15.6-inch IPS screen with a 4K resolution, AMD FreeSync, a 120Hz refresh rate, a 3ms reaction time, and Pantone certification make up the primary display. With a calibrated contrast of 1,144:1, the panel delivers superb quality and a formidable specification.
Inside the engine
Let’s indulge in some geekery now. The RTX 3080, which has 6,144 CUDA cores powered by Amperes, is Nvidia’s most recent and powerful laptop GPU. The GX551 marries that powerful graphics unit with an eight-core AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, 32GB of RAM, and two 1TB Samsung SSDs organized in a RAID 0 configuration. The beefier version, with 16GB of dedicated memory, has been employed here. What does it imply for gamers, then?
A beast, the Nvidia GPU is. Frame rates that readily sat over 30fps and frequently exceeded 45fps were achieved when playing top-tier games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Borderlands 3 at the laptop’s native resolution of 4K. and that’s with ray-tracing and DLSS enabled, as well as the highest graphics level in games. For a smoother experience in 4K, you can increase the frame rate with a few small settings changes in a lot of popular games.
It’s still a barnburner in 1080p. It effortlessly burst over 60 frames per second in the hardest games at their top settings and reached beyond 100 frames per second in a tonne of less taxing games. If you’re prepared to give up resolution, many single-player games will run at the speeds necessary to saturate that 120Hz display, and the Asus won’t be affected by any esports games.
Design
The GX551 features a brushed aluminium shell that gives it a professional appearance. It also has an amazing build quality and movement; the hinges are quiet, and the body is sturdy. The Asus is a large, weighty computer that will either be used at home or transported around in a backpack. It weighs 2.5 kg and is 21 mm thick.
However, those proportions are astounding when you consider the displays and components; they aren’t much larger than typical 15.6in gaming computers. It features an HDMI output, an audio jack, three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a Type-C connector that allows DisplayPort and power delivery, and a microSD card slot. On the interior, Gigabit Ethernet and dual-band Wi-Fi 6 provide connection.
Typecast
Another place where the GX551’s striking design has an unwanted effect is the keyboard. Since the keyboard is mounted at the base’s front, it lacks a wrist rest, a number pad, and has crowded arrow keys. It’s a letdown of an experience. The typing action is quick yet soft, and the buttons have an average 1.4mm of travel. Gamers like keys with more defined edges.
The keyboard is unpleasant since it doesn’t have a wrist rest, and the rubber wrist rest that is given by Asus is very tiny. The Asus keyboard is adequate for work and casual gaming, but traditional laptops offer better typing motions and more room. The trackpad is also affected. Anyone who is serious about working or playing on this pc should connect in a USB rodent because it is quite small and the buttons are mushy.
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Must I purchase it?
The best laptop for gaming? The AMD CPU is one of the greatest mobile processors on the market, and the RTX 3080 is the fastest laptop GPU currently available. Additionally, the RAM, storage, screen quality, and speakers are all excellent. Virtually every game can be played at 4K or 1080p on the Asus Duo SE GX551, and the CPU is powerful enough to handle streaming, video editing, and content production.
This system also gains a new dimension thanks to the Screen Pad. Depending on the games and innovative applications you use, it can be quite useful. But there are problems with that second screen. It interferes with the keyboard and trackpad, adds weight to the device, decreases battery life, and sharply increases the cost.
The GX551 aims to be the perfect gaming laptop, and in terms of performance, it delivers. If you utilize the Screen Pad, this device might support your gaming and work lives for years. However, the Asus will fall short for many consumers due to the contentious second screen and the exorbitant price, meaning that it will continue to be a strong but specialized alternative rather than the industry standard.
