Engineered with the newest Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics, the ASUS Strix GL503 gives you enough gaming power
Usually, gaming laptops lack the sleek look that stirs you from the inside and makes you want them as soon as you set your eyes on them and have long needed a facelift. Well, the wait is over. ASUS has finally come up with a gaming laptop that looks as good as it performs. The ASUS ROG Strix GL503 is definitely one of the best-looking gaming notebooks that money can buy.
For GL503, ASUS has borrowed the design aesthetics from its flagship laptops. The GL503 features a sharp, bright display and an RGB keyboard with customisable backlighting – often found in ASUS’s more expensive devices. Let’s take a closer look at this sleek looking gaming laptop.
Design and display
The very look of the ASUS ROG Strix GL503 screams that it’s a gaming laptop. There is a beautiful reflective lid at the top with the ROG logo, and the addition of light makes it look gorgeous. The interior is also extremely attractive, with a programmable, full-sized RGB keyboard.
The RGB keyboard features chiclet-style keys with a great travel distance and is comfortable to use. The trackpad complements the keyboard. However, it suffers from the same problem as most laptops – it’s a fingerprint magnet. A soft cloth can come handy in wiping them off, so we recommend you to carry one in your laptop bag.
Highlighted WASD keys and N-key rollover considerably aid in what this laptop is made for – gaming, of course. It also has an intelligent thermal design that employs heat pipes and dual 12V fans to automatically adjust the cooling system for an optimised CPU and GPU performances.
The laptop houses plenty of ports for connectivity, including one headphone jack, one type C USB 3.0, three USB 3.0 Type A, one USB 2.0, one mini Display Port, one HDMI, one RJ-45 jack, one 2-in-1 card reader and one 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack.
Performance
Armed with octa core Intel Core i7-7700 CPU clocked at 2.80GHz and accompanied by 8GB of RAM, it’s really hard to slow down this PC – at least, in our experience. You can seamlessly edit 1080p videos or push the processor to some high-end tasks, and all will be handled in a smooth manner. The hinge is durable and the keyboard has very little flex. The company also claims 20 million key presses.
The full-HD IPS display with ASUS Splendid technology looks great and gives you vivid, accurate colours at all times. Whether you’re using it to watch videos, surf internet or read texts, the 300 nits of brightness offer a smooth experience.
The Strix's GTX 1050 GPU is not the most powerful graphics card on the market, but it does deliver enough power to run most games at modest settings. While playing Battlefield 1 – a game particularly optimised for the GTX 1050 – the laptop offered between 42 and 53 fps on ultra-settings at 1080p -- not bad but not great either.
Launched via a dedicated button, the ROG Gaming Centre is a portal to ROG utilities, apps and tools. It’s a one-stop interface for monitoring and fine-tuning system components, for managing various game profiles, keyboard profiles and macros, Splendid Display and Audio Equaliser profiles and for setting Internet packet prioritisation.
The laptop further packs latest iteration of the GameFirst utility that dynamically prioritises network traffic to boost game data bandwidth for faster load times and reduced latency, while preventing dropped or delayed packets that cause glitches, lag or in-game stutter.
The dual 3.5-watt, side-firing speakers produce loud sound. They sound best at 80 – 90 per cent volume levels, pushing appreciable bass. To test the battery, we played and looped Gravity movie, which gave us approximately four hours and 30 minutes of battery life. But, while the battery life is great, it’s the storage that’s a bit disappointing. For a gaming device, it’s always good to have 1TB or more, but the selection of hybrid drive in GL503 is not a great idea, as it slows everything down considerably.
The laptop comes with a lifetime subscription to Xsplit Gamecaster Standard, which allows live streaming and broadcasting directly to internet streaming platforms.
Conclusion
The ROG STRIX GL503 provides all the necessary tools to raise the bar in gaming and sets itself apart from other gaming laptops in discernible ways – from price to power. So, gear up, stake your ground and get ready to win.
