Torn between your professional adult persona and inner gamer nerd? Want a machine you can flex at the office while beating up smurfs on the go?
Then get yourself a laptop that can do both!
The ROG Zephyrus series aims to marry power and portability in a small yet powerful package. The unit we will be taking a look at today is the Zephyrus M (GU502G), which lies in the middle-ground of the Zephyrus series.
Let's go!
A Tiny Temptress
ROG claims that the Zephyrus M GU502 is 25% thinner and 42% lighter than your usual 15-inch laptops, and that is certainly indisputable. The laptop measures in at just 18.9mm at its thickest point and weighs a mere 1.9kg - which even your skinny gamer arms should be able to lift without much effort.
Even at this size, it comes with a generous amount of I/O ports and even manages to fit in a LAN port, courtesy of a slight extrusion to house its girth.
Its slim exterior belies the fact that it is packing serious hardware within its gorgeous magnesium alloy chassis. Our particular model was outfitted with a GTX 1660Ti GDDR6 6GB graphic card, an Intel Core i7 9th-gen CPU, a 512GB NVME M.2 SSD, plus an additional M.2 slot supporting RAID 0 configuration. The default configuration only comes with an admittedly stingy 8GB of DDR4 RAM, but can be easily expanded via the extra memory slot.
The only real downside to the compact size is that there is no webcam (bezels so slim and nice ma) and that the laptop runs a little bit hot while running intensive software (but not as hot as your temper when someone steals your mid again).
There's also no SD card slot for people who are looking to do creative work, but the provision of ample USB slots to house an external card reader should ameliorate the problem.
Looks to Kill
Aesthetics-wise, ROG never disappoints - and this model is certainly not an exception.
The brushed 2-tone aluminium lid is emblazoned with the iconic ROG logo, which lights up with its signature red to provide tasteful contrast against the sleek black exterior.
Inside, the sandblasted black plastic provides a welcome change from the usual slippery metal finishes that are usually found on high-end laptops.
The keyboard is comfortably spaced and wonderfully tactile - key presses are firm and solid, providing clear and satisfying feedback when you're rage-typing a wall of text to your teammate, while n-key rollover ensures none of your creative writing gets lost in the frenzy.
In case you feel that the simple and sleek exterior doesn't pay enough tribute to your true gamer identity, then the per-key RGB lighting certainly will. ROG has always executed RGB lighting excellently, and the buttery smooth rainbow beneath your fingertips is living proof.
You can switch between up to 8 lighting presets from the built-in Armoury Crate software, which is easily accessible from the row of hotkeys situated above the keyboard.
Built to Be On the Move
One thing most of us hate about bringing our laptops on the go is the clunky-ass power brick. Well, with the Zephyrus M you don't even have to, because its USB Power Delivery allows you to feed it with juice from a power bank via its USB-C port.
That means you no longer have to fistfight that obnoxious kid hogging the power outlet at Starbucks just to watch his stupid anime for HOURS while only ordering one drink.
NVIDIA Optimus technology also improves efficiency by switching off the discrete GPU when it's not in use, prolonging the battery life of your laptop.
Also, let's not forget the sweet ROG backpack bundled FREE with the package, so you can have matchy matchy gear to carry your prized possession around.
While the Zephyrus M isn't the most value for money choice in terms of price to performance, it's definitely worth paying every penny for its portable form factor. It's hard to put a price on convenience, so if you're looking for a slim and lightweight machine without compromising on performance, then the Zephyrus M is made for you.
The Zephyrus M (GU502G) gaming laptop retails for RM5,999 and comes with a free ROG backpack worth RM399. You can find more details on their website.
