ASUS has recently announced their newest additions to their ROG Zephyrus series, The Zephyrus S, sporting the latest in gaming technology in a small package and claiming to be the world’s thinnest gaming laptop.
The Zephyrus S sports the latest Intel i7-8750H CPU and an NVIDIA GTX 1060 GPU, making this laptop great for gaming, work, and content creation as well. Of course just as the most gamers will say, these things wont matter if you’re not able to see the action as quick as possible, and with that in mind the Zephyrus S also sports 15.6 inch AHVA panel display with a refresh rate of 144Hz with a response time of 3ms. The AHVA panel also has excellent image quality, and covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut, ensuring richness of color, and wide viewing angles keep the picture from washing out when viewed in split screen.
One of the key problems most people have with having all these components together in a very small package is the cooling, which is essential in keeping the high performance required of these types of machines. Just like with the original Zephyrus, the Zephyrus S features the Active Aerodynamic System(AAS) where when the screen is lifted, the back portion of the laptop will open about 5mm to allow more cool air to be drawn in effectively improving airflow by 22%. The laptop also contains 5 heat pipes to pull heat away from both the CPU and the GPU, along with the circuitry that feeds them power, ensuring that the components stay at under 80°C. To preserve the cooling performance to lengthen the useful life of the laptop, they’ve also included self-cleaning fan designed to eject dust particles from the system. With regards to the fans, ASUS also has also included a software to help track temperatures, and also adjust the fan speed from silent up to Overboost.
The laptop will also feature Overstroke technology in the keyboard for quicker responsiveness and a longer post-actuation distance, maximizing the 1.2mm travel. The switches are also very durable, having been rated for 20 million presses. It will also include an upgraded sound system. Dual front-facing speakers inside the hinge cover are powered by smart-amplifier technology that keeps the speakers within thermal and excursion limits, so the volume can reach higher limits without distorting the output or damaging the cones. Sonic Studio III adds virtual surround-sound for deeper immersion with stereo headsets, and it features a new APO injection capability that extends speaker virtualization to a wider range of gear, including standard analog headphones along with USB headsets, external DACs, and VR devices.
as a bonus the Zephyrus S will also include DDR4 2666MHz memory and NVMe® storage, 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi, USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C™ (USB-C™) and full-size HDMI 2.0 ports support desktop monitors and big-screen TVs, allowing users to connect dual auxiliary displays. More USB ports are ready for essential gaming peripherals and ubiquitous external storage, and there’s a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port offering additional bandwidth for compatible devices.
All of this will be housed within the ultra slim casing, made with a mix of aluminum and magnesium alloys, it achieves the balance of strength and weight.
With great hardware, it requires great software to back it up. The Zephyrus S will also be coming with the Armoury Crate, and the Aura Sync. Armoury Crate, which was previously the ROG Game Center, will make managing all the different hardwares of the laptop that much easier, bringing it all under one program.
Specifications
ASUS ROG Zephyrus S (GX531)
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Processor | Intel® Core™ i7-8750H Processor 2.2 GHz (9M Cache, up to 3.9 GHz) |
| Graphics | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060
6GB GDDR5 VRAM |
| Memory | DDR4 8GB (on board) + DDR4 2666MHz 8GB |
| SSD | PCIE NVMe 512GB M.2 SSD |
| Display | 15.6-inch Full HD (1920×1080) IPS-level panel, 144Hz, 3ms, 100% sRGB |
| VR Ready | Yes |
| Keyboard | Illuminated Chiclet Keyboard 4-Zone RGB with Aura Sync |
| Audio | 2x 2W speakers with smart amplifier technology Built-in array microphone |
| Software | Armoury Crate
GameFirst V Splendid Sonic Studio Aura Core XSplit Gamecaster (Free) |
| I/O Ports | 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C™ (USB-C™)
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C™ (USB-C™) 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A 1 x HDMI 2.0 1 x 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack |
| Power | 180W Power adaptor |
| Wi-Fi / Bluetooth | 802.11ac 2×2 Wave 2 Wi-Fi
Bluetooth® 5.0 |
| Dimensions | 360 x 268 x 14.95~15.75mm |
| Weight | 2.1kg |
| Bundled Peripherals | ROG Impact Gaming Mouse |
ASUS ROG Zephyrus S (GX531) will be available on October 2018 in all ROG stores nationwide.