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The ASUS ROG Zephyrus S is the slimmest gaming laptop you can buy with a GeForce GTX 1060

By Koh Wanzi - on 16 Nov 2018, 6:18pm

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus S is the slimmest gaming laptop you can buy with a GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q

Updated on 16 November 2018: Added details on local price and availability. 

Originally published on 16 August 2018:

Zephyrus gets even slimmer!

Gaming laptops are fast leaving their reputation for being chunky and heavy machines behind. ASUS today announced the ROG Zephyrus S, the thinnest laptop yet to feature an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060.

It measures just 15.75mm at its thickest point, 12% slimmer than the original Zephyrus GX501.

However, it’s just as powerful as any other gaming notebook. Here’s an overview of its specifications:

  • 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080-pixel IPS-type 144Hz display
  • Intel Core i7-8750H (2.2GHz, 9MB L3 cache)
  • 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
  • Up to a 1TB PCIe SSD
  • 360 x 268 x 14.95-15.75mm
  • 2.1kg

There are also two variants of the laptop. The ROG Zephyrus S GX531GS will come with the GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q, while the GX531GM will come with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB. Interestingly enough, the latter will also feature 24GB of DDR4 memory.

Like the ROG Scar II GL504GS, its 15.6-inch display sports a 144Hz refresh rate and a speedy 3ms response time. There’s no support for G-Sync, but you won’t really miss it with that high of a refresh rate.

Thanks to its slim bezels, the Zephyrus S is also a relatively compact 15.6-inch notebook. It’s closer in size to a 14-inch notebook, so it’s really one of the more portable 15.6-inch laptops around.

The laptop features an aluminum and magnesium alloy chassis that takes after the cooling design on the original Zephyrus. When the lid is raised, the bottom panel drops open to create an additional air intake. The keyboard is also pushed forward to the edge to make more room for the thermal system.

It’s been improved over the original, however, and ASUS says there are now more heatsinks to help with heat dissipation. The anti-dust tunnels from ASUS’ TUF Gaming FX504 also make an appearance here to prevent dust build-up and degradations in cooling performance.

There’s an ample selection of connectors as well, including two USB-C, one USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-A, two USB 2.0, and one HDMI 2.0 port.

On the software front, the ROG Game Center has been replaced with the Armoury Crate, which unifies system and Aura Sync lighting settings in a single place.

The ROG Zephyrus S will be available starting 30 November at S$3,198. You'll be able to buy it at the ASUS Brand Shop and all authorized retailers. The laptop will also come bundled with a limited edition ROG x Crumpler Endeavour backpack (limited to 300 pieces worldwide) if you buy it between 22 November and 31 December. 

A look at the Crumpler pack you'll get with the Zephyrus S.

 

A large screen Strix that looks like a 15-inch laptop

ASUS also introduced the ROG Strix Scar II GL704, a 17.3-inch laptop that wants to be part of the slim-bezel crowd. The company says it’s the first laptop of its class to be less than 400mm wide, so it’s more akin to a 15.6-inch notebook.

Like the Scar II GL504GS, it also features a camouflage-textured design and a highlighted WASD key cluster for FPS gamers.

Here’s an overview of its specifications:

  • 17.3-inch 1,920 x 1,080-pixel IPS-type 144Hz display
  • Intel Core i7-8750H (2.2GHz, 9MB L3 cache)
  • Up to 32GB of DDR4-2666 RAM
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
  • Up to a 512GB SSD PCIe SSD + 1TB SSHD
  • 399.8 x 273.5 x 24.9-26.4mm
  • 2.9kg

The laptop uses what ASUS calls its HyperCool Pro cooling system, which comprises three heatsinks and two fans. One heatsink is dedicated to the GPU, while the other two soak up heat from the rest of the components.

For fans of fancy lighting, the ROG Strix Scar II GL704 will also support customizable Aura Sync RGB lighting. There are seven customizable zones in total. Four on the keyboard, two on the 'light bars' on the front, and the ROG logo on the notebook lid.

And like the ROG Zephyrus S, the ROG Strix Scar II GL704 will also get the Armoury Crate unified control center that manages all customizable aspects of the notebook, including Aura Sync settings and performance modes.

ASUS states that availability will be later this year and that pricing details will be announced closer to launch.

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