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00:00Hey, how's it going? Dave2D here. This is the Asus Zephyrus M, the GM501.
00:10We saw the original Zephyrus last year. It's kind of like the thin and light GTX 1080 Max-Q laptop.
00:16Really powerful, but really expensive. This is a much more affordable version of that whole design.
00:20Very similar in exterior aesthetic to the original Zephyrus, but they've made quite a few changes on the inside.
00:26Still a really well-built laptop. The top panel is fully aluminum, and the bottom section is really durable polycarbonate.
00:32The ROG on the logo up top still lights up red. It's not like a super obnoxious red, it's very subtle, but it does light up.
00:38And the whole top panel has this brushed texture to it. It actually looks pretty nice.
00:42Okay, going around the sides, the port selection is okay, not amazing.
00:46It's got a lot of USB-A, four of them, which is great, and a Thunderbolt 3, but it doesn't have an SD card slot,
00:50and it also does not have a mini-display port.
00:52So I recently did a video on the Vive Pro with Beat Saber, and I wanted to do that whole video on this laptop,
00:58because the GPU can support it, it's running a GTX 1070, but because it didn't have a mini-display port, I couldn't use this.
01:04You might be able to adapt it through the Thunderbolt 3 port, but I wasn't able to test that out.
01:08The AC adapter is also not in a great position. It's running at the middle of the side, and then your cable just kind of runs along the length.
01:14I don't love that, but the port selection overall is fair.
01:17Okay, let's go to the inside. We're looking at a pretty big change on the input devices.
01:22So, the keyboard and the trackpad from the original Zephyrus didn't have the best position.
01:27They were shifted to the bottom of the keyboard deck to allow for better cooling for the 1080.
01:31This new Zephyrus M is significantly improved. It's a more traditional layout of everything.
01:35Keyboard is great, very easy to get used to this thing, comfortable to use, the spacing is good, and the keystrokes are responsive.
01:41The tiny arrow keys and the narrow number pad might be weird to look at, but I actually found them pretty comfortable to use.
01:47Granted, I'm not a huge number pad user. If you're used to, like, a regular full-size number pad, it might take a while to get used to this, but it is comfortable for me.
01:54The backlighting on this keyboard isn't super customizable or bright. It's more of, like, a subtle glow, which I actually like.
02:01The trackpad is also solid. It's got Windows Precision Drivers, it's got a glass texture, and the button mechanics are on point.
02:06It'd be nice if the trackpad was a little bit larger. Not that it's small, but I feel like in this genre of laptop, like that 15-inch gaming laptop,
02:13this is one of the smaller ones, but overall, inputs are good.
02:17The display, I have mixed feelings about it. It's a great panel, really fast at 144Hz.
02:24Of all the 6-core gaming laptops that I've used so far, so that's the MSI GS65, the Aero 15X, and now the Zephyrus M,
02:31I think this has the best panel for gaming. They're all 144Hz, they're all 1080p, but this is the one that has the fastest response rate.
02:373ms, the other ones are rated, I think, at 7ms, but it's not just that, it's the colors.
02:42They're a little bit more vibrant, and just, games look really good on this panel.
02:45The bezels are, unfortunately, quite big, and that's probably my biggest issue with this screen.
02:49It's not that they're really, really thick, but they're thicker than the competitors, and, like, it just doesn't look as nice.
02:55The truth is, and this is, like, an honest opinion, I've been using this for about 2 1⁄2, 3 weeks at this point,
03:01and when I first opened it up, I was like, wow, these bezels are thick.
03:04But, after using it for a while, like, they just don't matter.
03:07If you're gonna actually purchase this thing and use it, the bezels will probably be a non-issue in a couple of weeks.
03:12The color accuracy, however, is less impressive.
03:15The sRGB is usable if you calibrate it, and I worked on a couple of videos on this panel,
03:19but if you're looking for something long-term, and you kinda do a lot of photo or video work,
03:23then you're gonna need an external monitor, or just kinda skip on this laptop completely.
03:27But the screen is excellent for gaming.
03:29The webcam's located in the normal position up top, it's a pretty generic 720p image.
03:34One other thing, this laptop can switch between NVIDIA G-Sync and NVIDIA Optimus through software.
03:40So normally you'd have to choose one or the other, and your laptop wouldn't be able to have both.
03:44This one can switch between the two.
03:45So if you don't know what those are, G-Sync is this tech that allows your laptop
03:49to kinda reduce visual artifacting when it's in-game.
03:52So it just kinda smooths out the gameplay.
03:54It looks nice at lower frame rates.
03:56NVIDIA Optimus is this tech that enhances battery life, or extends battery life.
04:01So instead of using the GPU, like the discrete GPU, the 1070,
04:05it'll switch over to the weaker onboard GPU when it's not doing something intense,
04:10and it just kinda extends battery life.
04:11So this laptop can switch between the two in software.
04:14And I think this is the first one I've ever used that could do this,
04:17so it's pretty cool in theory, but I wasn't able to get great battery life.
04:20You'll see in a little bit.
04:21Now to get inside this thing, it's pretty simple.
04:23You just need to remove the screws and the panel.
04:25You get two RAM slots, two drive bays, one of them's NVMe, one of them's 2.5-inch SATA,
04:31and the Wi-Fi card is this new Intel 9265.
04:34It's an awesome card.
04:35The battery is quite small, 55 watt-hours.
04:38It's a little disappointing on a device like this.
04:41I'm getting around 3.5 hours of battery life.
04:43That's with screen at 250 nits, and that's with NVIDIA Optimus.
04:46If I had this on G-Sync, it's even less.
04:48It's like 2, 2.5 hours.
04:50The thing is, it's got a really small battery,
04:52so all that tech that I was talking about before,
04:54like the ability to switch between NVIDIA Optimus and G-Sync,
04:57like, it just, it would have made a much bigger difference if this battery was bigger,
05:01but because of the 2.5-inch drive, there's less space,
05:03so the battery's smaller, which is unfortunate
05:05because a lot of the laptops in this segment
05:07just have two NVMe drives, which is more space-efficient,
05:10but this one does not.
05:11Okay, performance on this laptop is really good.
05:14GTX 1070 with the new 6-core CPUs from Intel,
05:17it's a really good combination.
05:19The CPU is excellent for multi-core applications,
05:22and I'll leave a link below if you want more details.
05:24The GPU is also really good.
05:26It's basically the third most powerful GPU for laptops on the market right now.
05:29You're gonna get really good frame rates across any of the titles at 1080p,
05:32and when you pair that with a 144Hz screen,
05:34stuff just looks awesome.
05:36And because it's a regular GTX 1070 and not a Max-Q version,
05:39the thermal output should be a little bit higher,
05:41but the Zephyrus has this feature
05:43where when you lift the lid, the bottom panel opens up,
05:46and it gives it better thermal characteristics.
05:48The temperatures in benchmarks and in games
05:51are actually a little bit lower than the competitors.
05:53Not by a lot, but it is noticeable,
05:55especially on the stress tests.
05:57The fans can actually be really quiet if you want.
05:59You get software control.
06:01On balance mode, it's reasonably quiet,
06:03but on overboost, the fans can get quite loud.
06:05You do get better temperatures, though.
06:07The speakers on this laptop are located on the bottom,
06:09and they actually sound better than I thought.
06:11They aren't in the best location.
06:13I never like speakers on the bottom,
06:15but they actually sound good,
06:17and the bass is way better than I expected.
06:19So with the Zephyrus M, I feel like you're getting a device
06:21that is a better value this year
06:23You're just getting really strong performance
06:25for a lot less money compared to the previous generation.
06:27Overall, really good laptop.
06:29There are a few things I don't love about it,
06:31like the bezels on the screen
06:33and the smaller battery life,
06:35but if those things aren't deal-breakers for you,
06:37this is a really good pick.
06:39I actually think this is a better-built laptop
06:41than the other two, so I think it's better-built
06:43than the Aero and the GS65.
06:45They're all good, but this is probably the best
06:47in build quality.
06:49Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video. Thumbs if you liked it,
06:51and I'll see you guys next time.