Only thing I need to check is how much performance drop is there when trying to run the damn 275HX CPU cool and what temps it actually hit. Those things, even the best of the reviewers tend to miss out on so unsure how long this will take.
Legion Pro 7i 16 G10 for a bit more money for lower DPC latencies if you're an audio engineer and also +10% better gaming performance on the same hardware.
XMG Neo 9955HX 5080 - if available in your region
SCAR 16 for a lot more money
Summary/Purchase Decision Videos
Although this is not the Scar laptop, it's also not the budget TUF series so yes, there are cuts but there aren't cuts everywhere like Dell did and you can see by going through the large list of pros.
40% discount on MRP: Cheapest 5080 laptop till now. Lenovo can't even beat this price with all their extra savings. You just have to be fine with the cuts made here in cons below.
There are a lot of good things about the laptop if you take a look inside it: Tool-less RAM/SSD upgrade. Right side ports aren't on the motherboard.
Just to avoid the Intel HX BSODs, you might consider other AMD 9955HX or 9955HX3D laptops. Sadly, Asus just like Lenovo doesn't offer 5080 with their AMD lineup.
Cautions: VVI before you buy
This is not the SCAR 16 with a mini LED screen. It's the non-SCAR variant.
If this exact laptop model: G615LW-RV148WS is available in your local store, it's worth visitng it and trying to pick up the laptop in hand to see if an all plastic laptop is fine with you or not. Might as well check the display there too.
False Advertisements and actual stuff written only on Asus's site in fine lines. Stuff like:
No Per-key RGB
Touchpad Numpad is a question. Assume it's not there. Will update if I find
concrete proof.
No 500nits or 100% DCI-P3 Display. it's 165Hz 1200p 300nits IPS display. No Dolby Vision.
G-sync is not confirmed although Mux+Advanced Optimus is here.
Create a Windows 10/11 Pro installation on the drive and encrypt all the drives with Bitlocker. The laptop can be opened without any tools so anyone can take out your SSD.
Intel HX CPUs so the usual stuff:
BSODs with no confirmation of when they will stop. Many negative reviews confirm this. Maybe it will be fixed, maybe it's problem with Intel Unit, regardless, try to buy from someplace where you can return it or at worst get the ADP for 3 years or more.
There are good reasons to turn of DLSS and people have reported that even with the 5080 turning on any sort of DLSS causes horrble stutters and framedrops that makes it unplayable, so check laptop gaming peroformance without DLSS
Large laptop but no numpad. Make sure you're fine with that.
Power button on the keyboard means if it goes wrong you will have to replace the whole keyboard and it's a fairly common thing after using laptops for many many years.
Long battery life: 8hrs WiFi video test and 11 hours offline video test
Extra Notes/To confirm later/FAQ for people who can't find something on it.
Please comment on youtube video if you have more.
Pros/Cons
Pros
Usually cheaper than other preimum laptops like Lenovo's Legion, Acer's Predator, Dell's Alienware & Asus' ROG Strix
Thermals:
Most of the keyboard, touchpad and the WASD keys remain cool while gaming.
The backside gets hot ~50°C so don't put it on your lap when gamign.
CPU: 275HX
Great CPU performance even matching and crossing the Legion Pro 7i's 275HX in long terms tests, in short term tests, just 1-2% behind.
GPU: 5080:
Maximum 150+25W TDP version.
Stable performance under constant load.
Display:Anti-glare 100% sRGB display: Good enough for gamers or media consumption and indoor usage, not for color-accurate work.
Two Thunderbolt 5 port for connecting many docks and displays: 120Gbps.
Two RAM and SSD slots. Note: It's DDR5 so don't worry if the RAM is only in one slot.
Extremely easy to maintain the laptop: Cleaning fans, upgrading RAM/SSD can be done without a screwdriver.
Keyboard is very comfrotable and quite to type on and the arrow keys are full sized.
The last row of media keys will take some getting used to but having media keys that you don't have to press another key for is a win nonetheless.
Large touchpad and is good.
Stable system performance and no issues with stability(Do check cautions however)
Great speakers and are also vvery loud.
Neutral
Neutral-Good
IR Camera so Windows Hello Face Unlock
WiFi 7 triple band and 5.4 Bluetooth and speeds are very good and stable.
You can completely deactivate the RGBs on the laptop.
Even though it's not a Copilot+ laptop, studio effects for webcam and live subtitles still work.
Comes with large 90Whr battery but such high end CPUs means you can't expect good battery life unless you do some advanced tuning to make sure the CPU doens't take a lot of power.
Included 380W adapter is sufficient for highest performance
Neutral-Doesn't Matter
Large 380W charger
Laptop lid only goes to 130°C
No electronic noises from machine like coil whine.
Laptop makes a lot of sound in turbo mode but that is to be expected.
Neutral-Bad
No clean setup. All the ports are on the sides so they will get in the way but most ports are on the left so if you are right-handed cables wont' get in way.
Yeah, and fuck left-handed people in particular.
No PCIe gen 5 SSD support but for gaming you won't notice the differnce anyways in games that are out right now.
GPU: Even though it's the full power variant of the 5080, the Legion Pro 7i.
Cons
Built:
You expect a full metal body at such an expensive price but it's all plastic, good plastic but plastic nonetheless.
Hinges are not the best.
Large 16" laptop but no numpad.
It's a heavy laptop: 2.6kg + 1kg charger. Make sure you're fine with that.
Display: Usually you find better quality(OLED/mini-LED vs. IPS) brighter(500 vs. 300nits), higher refresh rate (240Hz instead of 165Hz) and HDR displays in a high price range but you have to accept the display is just okay when compared to other laptops of this price point.
Specs
Benchmarks
Thermals
CPU: 275HX: Hits 175W but later stabilizes at 150W.
At around 80W 80°C which is what the CPU will remain around in AAA single player titles.
But in CPU demanding games the power draw can stabilize around 150W at which temperatreu data is simply missing.
GPU: 5080
140W @ 75°C
Battery Runtime
Cyberpunk 2077 ultra 150cd 0h 48min
WiFi Websurfing 7h 49min
WiFi Websurfing max. Brightness 6h 30min
Big Buck Bunny H.264 1080p 10h 58min
Load (maximum brightness) 1h 28min
Idle: 18W power draw only.
PC Can take 360W peak and later stabilizing at 300W.
Idle: 10.8 - 17.7 - 18.8 W
Load Average: 134W
Other Benchmarks
AIDA64:
Memory Copy: 86,549 MB/s
Memory Read: 83,408 MB/s
Memory Write: 73,246 MB/s
Memory Latency: 111.7ns
PC Mark 10: 8856
DPC Latencies/LatencyMon: 1501.6 → Can he highly dependent on background tasks and Windows 11 has a lot of them.
proof.
