Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Hey, how's it going guys? This is Dave2D, and this is a video on two laptops, the Asus GL553 and the Asus GL753.
00:14Both have been updated with the Intel 7th generation chips, so the Kaby Lake HQ processors,
00:19as well as the GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti video cards.
00:24Both of them are pretty similar, this is the 15-inch model, this is the 17-inch model.
00:29So the design of these laptops are a mix between the older red and black devices, like the 552 and 752,
00:35but they've been updated with this bright orange accent.
00:38So it's got the aluminum top panel, brushed finish with these orange accents.
00:42When it's in use, the backlighting kicks in and gives a little pop.
00:46They're bright, I mean it's basically neon orange, but I personally prefer this look over the old one.
00:51I was getting tired of the red and black look.
00:53So the rest of it is made with plastic materials, even the bottom panel, but it's well made.
00:57And if I remember how the 552 and 752 felt, this feels better.
01:01Everything is a tighter fit, and there's just less material flex overall.
01:04Even the screens feel more rigid.
01:06The hinge is a little stiff, I can't open it with one hand, but the overall build quality feels really solid.
01:12The port selection is good on the 15-inch.
01:15Lots of USB ports, including a Type-C, but it's not Thunderbolt 3.
01:19There's also audio, Ethernet, and an HDMI port.
01:22The 17-inch model has an extra USB and a mini DisplayPort.
01:26And then both of them have SD readers up front, and if you've noticed, optical drives on the side.
01:30Now, optical drives obviously aren't for everyone, but if you need them, these laptops have them.
01:35The headphone jack and the right side USB port are both located towards the front,
01:39so when you have peripherals plugged in, it feels a little bit off at first.
01:42Like when you're playing games, the mouse cord is right there, and same with the headphone cord, but you get used to it.
01:47On the inside, we have two RAM slots, a 2.5-inch SATA drive, and an M.2 SSD.
01:52The one they include is a SATA stick, so speeds aren't amazing, but all of these are upgradable.
01:57The battery, as you can see, is small.
01:59We have the same issues we've seen in older Asus gaming laptops,
02:02where by adding the optical drive, yes, it's nice to have a drive,
02:06but you're taking up precious real estate on the inside, and consequently, the battery is smaller.
02:10So in these particular laptops, the 17-inch model, I'm getting around three hours of battery life.
02:14On the 15-inch model, we're getting three and a half hours.
02:17Not terrible, but I wish the battery was a little bit bigger.
02:20The 15- and 17-inch screens are both solid.
02:231080p panels, not touchscreen, but they're bright and have good contrast and viewing angles.
02:28Neither of my units had any kind of backlight bleeding.
02:30They're not G-Sync panels, and they're not particularly color accurate, but they're great for playing games.
02:35The keyboards are nice. I really like the layout.
02:38It's actually one of very few keyboards that have the number pad on the right,
02:41while keeping the arrow keys properly spaced, and without weird placement of shift keys or anything.
02:46The key travel feels nice, and then new for this year, both of these keyboards have customizable RGB lighting.
02:52It's done through software, and you can adjust four zones.
02:54It's not individually lit, but it's a nice addition.
02:57Lighting like this is always fun to play with.
02:59The trackpad is very good.
03:01Windows precision drivers, there's no skipping around, and there's good gesture recognition.
03:06The surface is plastic, not glass, but it has a nice texture,
03:09and it supports handwriting recognition, which is kind of neat.
03:13And that's not something that I'd ever use, but if you have a character-based language,
03:16like Japanese or something, then yeah, it can be pretty cool.
03:19In terms of CPU performance, the Kaby Lake chip is about 10% faster on benchmarks
03:24than the Skylake 6700HQ, but when I'm using it at work or browsing the web,
03:29I don't really notice that speed increase.
03:31It's maybe a little bit snappier, but combined with the GTX 1050 or 1050 Ti,
03:36it's a pretty capable machine for games.
03:38On the GTX 1050, we're looking at around a 20-25% increase in performance
03:42over the 960M on benchmarks.
03:44Depending on the game, you can either increase graphics quality
03:47or just stay at the same quality and get higher frame rates.
03:49I'm always about getting higher frame rates, so something like Overwatch.
03:53On a GTX 960M, even though I average 70 frames per second on high graphics at 1080p,
03:58when there's a ton of stuff happening, it can drop to low 50s,
04:01which I find difficult to play on.
04:03On the GTX 1050, I'm averaging around 90 frames per second,
04:06so when the fights get gnarly, I'm still above 60 frames per second.
04:09The 1050 Ti is even higher.
04:11It's pushing over 110 frames per second on the same settings.
04:14More demanding games like Battlefield 1 will hover around 45 frames per second
04:18on high graphics 1080p, and this is for the GTX 1050.
04:22And then on the 1050 Ti, it's closer to around 55 frames per second.
04:26The extremely demanding games like Witcher 3 are still not very playable
04:29on these cards on high settings.
04:31On medium settings, we're looking at 60 frames per second on the 1050
04:34and 70 frames per second on the 1050 Ti.
04:37Now, if you're looking to do VR, it's kind of capable, but not really.
04:41I'll be doing a more comprehensive video on that in the near future,
04:43so if you want to see that, be subscribed.
04:45The fans are controllable using the ASUS software,
04:48but if you set it on automatic, it's not too bad on idle,
04:51but when it's under load, especially on the 1050 Ti models,
04:54they can get pretty loud.
04:56There's no significant CPU throttling during benchmarks.
04:58The fans do a respectable job cooling it down,
05:00but the exhaust area gets pretty hot.
05:03The speakers actually sound quite different between the two models.
05:06The 17-inch ones sound better, they have better bass, more clarity,
05:10but the 15-inch ones actually get louder.
05:12None of them are amazing speakers, but they're not bad.
05:15Alright, so with the GL553 and the 753,
05:17you're getting devices with an aluminum top panel,
05:20plastic pretty much everywhere else, but good build quality.
05:23They both start at $1,100 with a GTX 1050,
05:26but you can configure them with a 1050 Ti and extra storage for $1,300.
05:32The screens are both 1080p panels, bright and with good contrast,
05:35but they don't have good color accuracy.
05:37The keyboard is nice to type on,
05:39and the RGB lighting that they've included this year is pretty cool.
05:42The trackpad is good.
05:43I actually think it's one of the best trackpads at this price point.
05:46Inside, the Kaby Lake i7 and the GTX 1050
05:49are a nice bump up from the previous generation,
05:51about 25% better than the 960M,
05:54and it's another 25% for the 1050 Ti.
05:56Both configurations are properly cooled.
05:58The 16GB of RAM and the two storage drives
06:00are all easy to access and upgradable.
06:02The 48Wh battery is relatively small,
06:05and despite the better energy efficiency of the new CPUs,
06:08it still only gets you 3 to maybe 3.5 hours of battery life.
06:11But overall, I like what they're doing here.
06:13I definitely like these more than the 552 and the 752
06:16from the previous generation.
06:17I mean, those were nice,
06:18but the design language is feeling a little bit dated.
06:20This has obviously been refreshed.
06:22I like the orange, I like the RGB keyboard,
06:24and it's kind of like a mid-tier, mid-budget gaming laptop.
06:27So if that's what you're looking for,
06:28take a look at these ones.
06:29That's the end of this video.
06:30Hope you guys liked it.
06:31Thumbs if you did, subs if you loved it.
06:33See you guys next time.