ASUS ROG GL552VW Review

ASUS has recently launched their new ROG Line-up and one of them is the ASUS ROG GL552VW which comes under the affordable gaming notebook segment. The ROG GL552VW comes packed with the 6th Generation Intel core i7 Skylake processor and is powered by NVIDIA GTX 980M GPU. This gaming notebook comes packed with 8GB DDR4 RAM, which can be expandable up to 32GB. Also they have added 4GB of DDR5 video RAM to enhance your gaming experience. The notebook has a 1TB of HDD at 7200 RPM and also have an upgraded slot for M.2 SDD at the back-door.

The 15.6 inch FHD IPS display gives a very decent visuals wile playing games and watching videos. The display has a 170 degree viewing angel.

Pros	Cons
Easy to upgrade Stays cool even after heavy use Under budget	A bit heavier as compared to the competitors Not the best track pad

Inside The Box:

Inside the boxy you will find the following:

1. A power adapter
2. Power Cable
3. Cable Tie
4. User Manual

Also Read: Corsair K70 RGB

Connectivity Options:

Looking at the connectivity option at the ASUS ROG GL552VW, it comes with an HDMI port, Ethernet port, a USB 3.0,  USB 3.1 and another Type C port that you will find at the left. At the right hand side, you will find an audio-out and audio-in jack, with two USB 2.0 port and a DVD player/writer. At the front you will find a SD card reader.

The USB 3.0 port gives a transfer speed of 5Gb/s, which is quite decent as compared to the other notebooks. The only problem that I faced while using this notebook connectivity option was that, the spacing between them is less, hence you tend to face issue while using multiple connectivity options in one time.

Body:

As compared to the previous ROG models, they have removed the black and read theme and has given a new look to the gaming laptop. The new GL552VW comes with metallic greyish finish and at the bottom they have the same plastic body. They have a rounded corners and the aluminium body gives it a smooth finish. You will find the ASUS ROG Logo at the hood with a backlit that makes the notebook look better and gamer centric. The hinges is comparatively stronger than the GL552JX, but it is still week.

The notebook is 2/50 Kg in weight and is 34mm thick, which is slightly heavy to other gaming notebooks, but gives the best performance in the price range.

Display

The ASUS ROG GL552VW comes with a 15.6-inch FHD IPS Display and the display of this notebook have no grains or noise. Most of the notebooks having a matte panel encounters grains in the display, but not with the GL552VW. The display comes with a very decent color, which makes watching movies and playing games no stress to eyes, but we notice that when the brightness is increased to 90%, we feel a bit strain in our eyes, hence you can have an headache issue.

We suggest that you should keep the brightness between 53% to 81% to give you the best display experience. What we have notices while our display test was that the screen shows slow response rate, which is not that satisfactory. The viewing angel of this device is quite impressive. But, on the direct sunlight, you will feel uncomfortable eyes. Whereas, the viewing angel on the GL552VW is quite stable and much impressive than other Gaming notebooks.

Performance:

The ROG GL552VW comes with the 6th Generation Intel i7 Processor and a supportive 4GB DDR5 VRAM. It is powered with NVIDIA GTX 960M processor. The overall performance of this notebook s quite decent. This notebook stays cool even after running multiple games. The Core i7 processor is clocked at 2.3GHz that makes heavy work easy on your notebook.

Please check our Benchmark test below of the GL552VW.

Upgradable Option:

One of the key feature of this Notebook is that, it is really easy to upgrade. You can upgrade the RAM up to 32GB and also you have an extra M2 SSD slot. There is a small door at the bottom of the notebook that can easily be removed. Once removed you can easily change the RAM and HDD/M2SSD. This ensures that even after your notebook becomes older, but you still have room to make it faster.

Verdict:

The ROG GL552VW is one of the best option for those who are looking for an affordable gaming notebook. It comes with a decent display, but gives an amazing performance considering the price.

We suggest this laptop as one of the best choice for gamers.