Asus ROG Zephyrus G15-GA503 ( New 2021)

ASUS lifted the lid on its new updated Zephyrus G15. Designed for gaming, the ROG Zephyrus G15 includes multiple configurations, with a 15.6" screen with either a 1080p 144 Hz IPS or 1440p 165 Hz panel AMD's next-generation Ryzen mobile processor.

ASUS has updated ROG Zephyrus G15 with some notable features, including a new 90 Wh battery with a 200 W AC charger. Still, it can be used with its 100 W Type-C charging adapter, which is available separately. ASUS advertises a 10-hour battery life. In terms of size, the ROG Zephrus has a depth of 19.9 mm and weighs just 1.9 KG, which is quite svelte for a gaming notebook.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus can be had with up to 32 GB of DDR4-3200 SDAM, with AMD's upcoming next-generation Ryzen Mobile processors, and NVIDIA's next-generation RTX mobile graphics. Storage options include either a 512 GB or 1 TB NVMe based PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 drive, with a choice between a 1080p 144 Hz IPS or 1440p 165 Hz with 100% DCIP-3 color reproduction and up to 400 nits of brightness.

There are plenty of connections, including two USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, a DisplayPort 1.4, and HDMI 2.0b video output pairing, as well as a single 3.5 mm combo port and an RJ45 port with an unspecific networking controller. ASUS does, however, include a Wi-Fi 6 capable interface with support for BT 5.0 devices. Built into the G15 is a trio of microphones with three modes (Cardioid, Omni, and Stereo), six integrated speakers, with a 20% bigger touchpad than the Zephyrus 2020 G15 model.

Best Buy model looks like a great deal

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...pse-grey-eclipse-grey/6448848.p?skuId=6448848


CPUs range from AMD 4800HS with RTX 3060 for low end up to AMD 4900HS with RTX 3080.
No word if these are MAX Q GPU’s but it’s very likely.


Dimensions
35.5 x 24.3 x 1.99 ~ 1.99 cm

or

(13.98" x 9.57" x 0.78" ~ 0.78")


Link to all models

https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-zephyrus/2021-rog-zephyrus-g15-series/spec/

 

I'm looking forward to this one. I would like to get the 3080 model but I don't want white, plus it's $700 more.

 

That's an insane config in such a small package!

 

If rumors are true that we can expect RTX 2080 S mobile then thats still a pretty significant boost from last gens RTX 2070 and perfect for 1440p gaming.
Yeah I’d love to have the RTX 3080 model too but not sure if we can justify it being $700 better than the RTX 3070......yet, but time will tell.

Yes!
Very excited for this model , will you sell them on your site ?

 

Offcourse! I might even grab one myself. Small little beast with insane battery life and thermals plus AMD CPU so no Intel Spectre/Meltdown performance loss

 

Yea that $700-800 surcharge for a 3080 pushes me towards a 3070. I’m purchasing the Asus Zephyrus Duo 15 SE 3070 version. The 3080 is $800 more for the card and 1 extra TB. If the previous generation (20 series) holds true, your looking at a 10% difference in power.

 

Do you know what timeframe the Zephyrus G15 will be coming? Have been stalking your website to preorder it for a while lol. Thanks in advance!

Also, this laptop single-handedly revitalizes my interest in laptops again. Haven't logged on to this account for years lol.

 

Confirmed this morning the best buy variant has a glass track pad which isn't mentioned on best buys website but I wanted to be sure since the bestbuy variant is also not on asus website.

AND

It ships with windows 10 pro apparently. Also not really clear on bestBuys website.

According to the best buy rep i spoke too.

And they should also be arriving day of release via shipping, so they'll ship before release day apparently.

Can post chat transcripts if people want.

Can't wait to see if its a nice samsung ssd or some trash 660p

 

Nice if true but going by past experience most BB reps have no clue what they are talking about and just tell you what you want to hear.

 

That's what I'm afraid of.

 

1 RAM module soldered...

https://www.ultrabookreview.com/43871-asus-rog-zephyrus-g15-g14-2021/

I'm out.

 

It's definitely an odd choice.

My big question is whether or not all the RAM it ships with (16gb) is soldered and it has an open dimm

given Ryzen's dependence on dual channel, this would be such an odd move. But i'd absolutely welcome it because i wanted 32GB of ram and i'm happy to buy a 16gb sodimm to make it better

unfortunately 90% of people who buy this system won't have a clue so that will suck.

 

The article claims the 16GB it ships with is soldered and one can add up to 32gb using a sodimm. This means single channel with 16GB config, and maybe dual channel if one can upgrade using another 16GB matching module.

 

Right they also proceed to say its unconfirmed so yeah unsure

PRETTY Sure but not confirmed yet.

I am kinda thinking we'll get full blown reviews before they start shipping though so we'll know soon enough.

pretty sure Dave2D already has one in his possession and is just waiting for NDAs

 

Right, I just looked at the table, whereas later on they do state it's some sort of unconfirmed expectation... Nice click bait.

 

It does have a open RAM slot but I agree only one open limits options and is pretty lame but I don’t think it’ll be an issue for most users.

 

The issue will be if it has one open slot and one soldered slot, which means every unit will be operating in single channel when shipped which will impact performance significantly.

 

That kind of thinking and commentary supports OEMs confidence about making such terrible design decisions, potentially adversely affecting consumers, whether they realise it or not.

 

This really - if the cpu supports dual channel, and it does (like all do these days) it should have two slots outside of bizzare niche situations like special use case devices (Tablets for example)

 

I'm really confused by the various options offered. I guess in most cases the options vary by region, but some regions have 1-3, others have like 4 or 7.

Here's a bunch with model numbers that start with H in the second segment: https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-zephyrus/2021-rog-zephyrus-g15-series/spec/

Then the US version only lists 3 models, starting with X and B in the second segment: https://rog.asus.com/us/laptops/rog-zephyrus/2021-rog-zephyrus-g15-series/spec/

This region (FI? Finland?) has a whole bunch more again starting with H in the second segment, but different numbers than that first link: https://rog.asus.com/fi/laptops/rog-zephyrus/2021-rog-zephyrus-g15-series/spec/

Canada's version seems to start with D.

Best buys listed model doesn't seem to match any of those: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...pse-grey-eclipse-grey/6448848.p?skuId=6448848

Variances include windows 10 home versus pro, amount of RAM, GPU seems possibly tied to QS vs QR vs QM. I can't really seem to find a standard other than that.

Another observation: I'd read that 3080 mobile has 16gb ram ( https://www.techradar.com/news/the-new-nvidia-rtx-mobile-gpus-are-here-and-we-put-them-to-the-test). So why do the asus specs list it as 8gb ram?

 

Look I’m not disagreeing that only having one RAM slot available is lame and said so above and don’t like that OEM’s have started this trend but the reality is they do and there is really not much you can do but complain to the OEM’s about it.
Whether the 16GB config here has an 8GB module soldered and an 8GB stick or a 16GB soldered in with one free is unclear. The website says up to 48GB which indicates that at least the high end configuration has a 16GB soldered on but that one ships with 32GB total. I hope but don't anticipate a 16GB soldered slot with single channel from the factory, but it's very likely 8 which limits this to 24-40GB non-dual channel or 16GB dual channel.
Let’s us just be a little patient

 

The point is that soldering one RAM slot is nonsensical. It doesn't really offer upgradeability, because nobody would upgrade to a single channel config, and it might create potential issues if they don't supply a working dual-channel setup out of the factory (which they probably do, to be fair).

 

Easy Solution, as a consumer, you do not have to buy a model you don't like. Happy Shopping.

 

he came all the way into this thread to say 'tHE fReE MArKEt wILl rEGuLaTE ITsELf"

lmao

 

The problem @Darkhan is that a lot people don't really understand what they are buying, so companies can get away with too many shenanigans. BTW this reminded me of an excellent movie: Dark Waters

 

It’s telling that Strix laptops have two sodimm slots. Zephyrus is the Asus line meant to optimize toward thin and light. Soldering ram opens up a lot more options on where you can place it. Might have shaved off a mm or two with the placement, lack of additional pcb stack and connector, etc. That means weight reduction too, and one less failure mode since no connector. Only speaking for myself here, but I much prefer the middle ground of having one sodimm slot still, and shaving off some thickness and weight by having the rest soldered. If they gave me the option of having two slots instead, and having it be slightly thicker, heavier, and more expensive (soldering saves money in the manufacturing process too), I’d still choose the one slot soldered option. Thin and light requires trade off, the manufacturers try to find the right middle ground on that, and it’s up to the consumer to agree or not based on what features are more important. I go to zephyrus for thin and light. Otherwise, I’d probably be more interested in Strix line or a different thicker brand instead.

That being said, I’m waiting for the 32gb zephyrus g15 (2021) option to come out (16 soldered, 16 slotted). Ive never needed more than 32, and I’ve never had ram fail, always something else goes first for me when it comes to laptops. So soldered isn’t a problem for me personally, especially if it shaves off size weight and cost, because I’ve never really had to touch it once enough is there already.

 

Weight reduction due to SODIMM removal is a strange argument. How much weight do you shave off this way?
Yes, you can try and argue extra reliability, except any genuine RAM socket issues are exceedingly rate. Conversely, any soldered RAM issues would require very costly motherboard replacement, basically the laptop can be thrown away out of warranty.

I'm still curious though: when you say you'd choose the one slot soldered option, what's the rationale - what would you use the single SODIMM slot for?

 

I'm not as concerned about the soldered ram as I am about the differences in performance of the 3070.

Buyers Beware: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 Laptops Have A Total Of 28 GPU Variants Where Most Aren’t Specified By The Manufacturer

 

With this I completely agree, even with dynamic boost 2.0 you never know what your going to get until we see reviews.
One reason why I haven’t pre-ordered this .
Unfortunately from the little I have seen the 3070 MQ is not that much more substantially better for gaming than the 2070MQ I have now ( about 10%-20% ) but add the AMD HS CPU and that might make up some of the performance loss.
It will make or break this laptop , sure it’ll be a great upgrade from the G14 (RTX 2060 MQ )but anything with a higher tiered last Gen GPU maybe not so much.

 

Same here. From the reviews I've seen on the 3070 in other laptops there can be as much as a 30% difference in performance depending on the TDP.

 

Whelp - All this is sorta why i bought the best buy version - if only so that I can also buy the 3 year extended warranty on it and not worry about the soldered memory dying. It's a ****ty thing to do but if it keeps costs down and maximizes other preferable traits (thinness, while maintaining adequate cooling, etc) then ... what ever. I work in a laptop repair shop and failing memory that's soldered to the board is something we see once or twice a year, so it is exceedingly rare. And its usually also in very old computers (5-7 year old)

I'm coming from an 8750h/1060mq Razerblade 2018 Base model, so even if the 3070 is bottom of the barrel its still going to be like 2 times better than what I have. Which I am expecting closer to 2.5-3 times better. Honestly can't wait to run a string of benchmarks!

 

Sort of off topic but how does BB warranty the laptops for 3 years

Let say after a year you have a “accident” and it’s beyond repair, do you get a direct replacement or like the depreciated value of the one you had ?
Do they cover drops and stuff because I could see the potential for abuse and getting a new laptop every couple of years for little extra money

 

I read their terms of service and predictably they are vague, i am assuming i'll get a gift card if they can't fix it, which they usually attempt to do. They do specifically mention "you might get something worse" which is really troubling. I plan on giving it a thorough read when I get the system in.


edit:

i believe this is the TOS for my region but i plan on calling BB to confirm - going over the nitty gritty legal **** is usually the last thing i do after i buy a fancy tech toy, the toy itself has to appease first.

http://storage.bestbuy.com/geeksquad/terms/gs_protection_plan/gsp_2020_03_01_to_present_english.pdf

 

Weight reduction lol. So you chose the least impactful result of the soldering to attack, and without making a point, just calling it ridiculous. That said, hope you realize it’s not just the lack of pcb stack and connector that reduces the weight, it’s the thickness reduction as well that reduces materials in the case and otherwise, all contributing to lower weight. I think I also mentioned thickness and cost, and reliability. And you’re ignoring the point I’m making, which is that the Zephyrus line is the Thin and Light line. They’re going to have to make sacrifices to maximize those two characteristics in a way that won’t impact the average consumer, and my point is they’re probably right that the average consumer won’t need or want to go in and change their ram. I know that I wouldn’t, and I customize a lot of things about my laptops. I can sum up that point with the following sentence: you can’t push everything into thin and light, and that includes customizability— if that’s more important to you than thin and light, why are you looking at the zephyrus line? There’s other laptops brands and asus lines out there that aren’t making these sacrifices for thickness and weight.

I’m also not sure how you’re planning to argue that “genuine RAM socket issues” are exceedingly rare, but soldered RAM issues would require a motherboard replacement. You realized that soldering the ram will inherently make it much less prone to shake and shock issues than having the pcb stack and connector there and allowing the user to change it?

And to your question at the end — I wasn’t saying I prefer to have one slot available. In fact one of my points is that I wouldn’t touch it again once it has sufficient ram. Unless you’re running a dozen virtual machines, you’ll probably hit 6 or 7 other system bottlenecks prior to 32gb ram being your bottleneck. What I was saying was that if they gave me the choice to have a second slot versus soldering it to reduce thickness, weight, and cost, and add reliability, I’d choose soldering it. If the point you’re trying to make is that you should solder the second slot too, that would be fine with me, but I’m really not sure how that helps your argument or your crusade against soldering haha. That all being said, if the ram is going to have issues (which is unlikely compared to other components going first), that’s much more likely to happen in the sodimm slot, and then you could switch it out.

 

Sorry, just scanned this lol. The fact that soldered RAM is "more resistant to shocks" is completely moot given that SODIMM is resistant enough. The shock needed to dislodge a module from its slot would cause disintegrationof the laptop. OK fine, I accept lightwieight gamer users who switch laptop often don't care and don't care about resale value, but for me the capability to extend memory to 64GB is very valuable, and basically a requirement. Obviously I am in a minority, and that's OK

Soldering RAM could also be motivated by cost cutting and planned obsolescence. The downside is that it might put off users who care about future upgradeability or require more RAM upfront.

 

ASUS does offer a STRIX line that has 2 open RAM slots and to be fair a lot of OEM’s do the soldered RAM thing.
At least there other options right ?

 

Strix will be where I head if I'm unhappy with the Zephyrus - which I hope is not the case. The Zephyrus, on paper, looks perfect for my use cases except one minor detail. Lack of Media keys lmao

 

https://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Asus-ROG-Zephyrus-G15-Laptop-Blickfang.516742.0.html


>strong WQHD panel

>long battery life

>good sound

Hype intensifies

 

Is there a 15 inch strix? How is battery life?
Only aware of two other brands who dared to solder RAM.
Yeah, NBC seems to be doing more and more promotional work these days.

 

https://rog.asus.com/us/laptops/rog-strix/2021-rog-strix-scar-15-series/

 

Not sure if speculation on single channel RAM is accurate. For example on Excaliberpc it shows the Zephyrus G15 having 8 onboard and 8 in the slot as default when you go to customize the laptop. Though it does appear you're stuck with 8 onboard regardless if you increase RAM.

 

There are multiple conflicting sources at this point.

 

Thanks, looks pretty good on paper. 90Whr battery. The only immediate issue I can see is the lack of TB3. Of course, one has to helplessly wonder about the TGP offered by each variant...

 

TB3 only ever looks good on paper to me - there are so few reasonable practical applications for it. It has Type-C charging and DP via type C, those are the only things you'd really want from TB3 that Type-C 3.2 can't give. External GPUs are a complete wash because of the over head in both cost to dollars and cost to performance, you are literally better off spending the extra money to get a 3080 (the best) than skimp and expect an eGPU to save you in the future. This will at least be the case until we get some kind of direct x8 or x16 external access in the future.

I was hoping the much faster PCIe 4.0 would solve these problems by having the same bandwidth as an x8 or x16 PCIe 3.0 connection in a PCIe 4.0 x4 connection, but I haven't read much on it at all. Even then, you still need an enclosure that's going to set you back $250+ extra ontop of your big fat external GPU lolol.


The reason I didn't go for the Strix out of the gate was because it is slightly thicker and slightly heavier and that's important to me

 

Like it or not, TB3 offers 40Gbps, USB is 10 Gbps. This enables some cool applications:
* eGPU - the overhead is not actually that great, particularly at 4K. Outside of gaming, the overhead could be even less significant
Ref: https://egpu.io/forums/builds/2017-...-xg-station-pro-win10-1803-itsage/#post-57290
* TB3 docking stations
* Fast external NVMe enclosures
* 10GE NIC (ok, very niche)

Of course, it's disappointing that mobile Ryzen 5000 doesn't come with PCIe 4.0 and this will start to hurt more with as the rollout of TL/RL accelerates.I'm not sure if USB4 as a standard is out already? If it is then it's equivalent to TB3 and something that could provide respite to AMD, although not sure if it is backwards compatible with TB3.

 

Can someone confirm "rumors" that G15 has two M.2 slots?
are HDMI or Displayport connected to RTX3070 so I could get 4K 60 Hz to external monitor while gaming?

thanks

 

I linked a review page or 2 back

it has pics of the guts (Ugly ass red mobo)

can confirm 2 slots.

 

115W with dynamic boost up to 130W ( ROG STRIX SCAR 15 ) both for the RTX 3070 AND 3080

 

Lol the more the 115w vs 80w thing comes up the more it worries me, ngl

 

https://www.microcenter.com/product...-156-gaming-laptop-computer---black_Hatchfeed

Microcenter says the strix has 16gb of vram

O_O

Urge to buy instead rising.

edit:
I guess this is one(the highest end) variant of it - so uhhh jumped the gun on this post lol