Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502 Owner's Lounge

So, this line has 3 variants, GTX 1660 Ti, RTX 2060, and RTX 2070. I got the version with GTX 1660 Ti.

Another confusion I think is best buy listing it as Zephyrus S, when it should really be Zephyrus M. Also, the SKU sold by BestBuy during the black friday/boxing week sale is not GU502-XB74 but GU502GU-BB71-CB which is the version I got but they are to my knowledge, identical.

There is also a lot of uncertainty regarding the weight, as there are 2 weights quoted: 1.9lbs, and 1.99lbs. According to the official site, it is 1.9lbs, but according to most reviews, it is 1.99lbs.

The specs of the laptop is quite strong, but it does have issues containing the thermals compared to a desktop. So I've been trying to reduce the TDP of the GPU, but have had no success yet.

One strong point of this laptop compared to other laptops in the same class is that it supports USB Type-C/PD charging which makes it a lot more portable. I've also tested that when connected to a G-Sync monitor via an adapter G-Sync does work so that is good.

Depending on your needs, you could possibly get a much cheaper laptop with the same specs. But the overall package is still quite strong depending on your needs (PD-charging for one).

 

Hi.
What cheaper options do you mean? If something other than TUF and Helios (and maybe a Lenovo) please tell.

Recently got the same one (1660ti also. But Glacier Blue), it's pretty nice
Compared to other thin and light unscreaming laptops I chose it in the end indeed because of the USB Power Delivery, and also because of the the keyboard (long shift and at end of the keyboard/far enough from the rightmost key line, so easy to press not looking).
No thunderbolt 3 is probably not a big deal (as it also has DP1.4, and I don't plan to posses a storage device fast enough to use TB3), and no SD card reader is also fine.
The battery is big enough, considering the greatness of the small power adapter possibility.

No camera is a bit of a bummer but it's not such a big factor for me, and more so I guess with the possibility to get an app and use the phone camera (so no need for special additional equipment), I think it's possible.
And the laptop is pretty light! Even almost as desired I might say.


I can't understand what is the material that is making up the body. Is the lid aluminium? Or magnesium? Is the body plastic?
Did you get an Asus branded 65W power adapter in the box?


Cheers and congrats on the new machine!

P.S. Could you upload a closeup (high resolution) photo of the upper strip of the screen please? Thanks!

 

I'm not sure if there are any other cheaper options in Canada, but there are tons in the US at least. For me I'm in Canada and it seemed like a decent deal price-wise at the time.

For me no camera is not a big deal either, since we have smartphones these days.

I'm not sure what material the lid is, but it might be plastic. The body should be magnesium alloy though.

I did not get an Asus branded 65W power adapter in the box, did you? I bought a 60W Anker power adapter though, and it works nice. I can even play some games on it with the 60W power adapter. I got this power adapter btw, https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07PP1W7S8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For me it is more important to get a small power adapter than one that is 65W but is bigger or heavier. This one is only 130grams and is very compact, it's pretty nice for use on the go.

 

I think the lid is aluminium (or a different metal. It feels cold meaning it conducts heat well, so probably metal), and the body is some kind of magnesium alloy. Although, I think this "magnesium alloy" is plastic with talc (as written on the bottom part inside side), and talc (according to Wikipedia) contains magnesium. It's light though and feels+looks nice, so no complains.

I didn't get a small power adapter either, bought one regular-sized small, it's small and light enough (although I didn't see the one you bought and it does seem great, the smaller and lighter the better).

Are you able to play these games with the battery not draining? Which games are these? Didn't really do any gaming yet.

The laptop is pretty good so far (to what I need), very quite and cool on "silent mode", I will be using it in the library. The CPU gets very hot on gaming though (tried Witcher 3 for a couple of minutes), unless I limit the frequency to 3000Hz, then looks like it drops by ~20 degrees Celcius. Might be bad thermal paste application, which someday I might try to reapply myself, as the heat builds up very fast.

BTW, I don't know if it's any good, and it's very pricey, but if you'd like there is this small power adapter ("smallest"): https://www.amazon.com/Innergie-Adapter-US-PowerDelivery-Technology-USB-World-Small/dp/B07GBYVF4Q


Could you upload a closeup (high resolution) photo of the upper strip of the screen?

 

I upgraded the ram to 32GB now.

Games I can play without the brick include Fire Emblem: Awakening, Pokemon X, Octopath, Tree of Savior, Asphalt 8, Guild wars 2. Quite a bit actually. Only the really intensive ones you don't want to run on USB-C power like Witcher 3 or Final Fantasy 15... I mean I prefer 720P as a resolution over 1080P anyways though and like to lock the FPS to 90.

Actually, upgrading the ram to 32GB makes a really big change, so I think selling it with only 1 stick isn't doing the laptop any favors tbh. I mean single channel ram doesn't really cut it for games like FF15. With only 1 channel of ram, I tested 1280x720 Standard, and not only is the FPS only around 60-ish, it also drops down to 10ish at points. With dual channel ram (32GB), it basically maintains a locked 90FPS. Wonder if someone else can verify these results.

With 32GB ram this laptop actually feels like a beast that it should be. If you go to the Asus Repair Centre at Markham you can ask for them to open the lid up and you can just snap the ram in yourself (they won't do it for you).

PS this laptop comes with 1 year of ADP, so if you break it for any reason they will fix it. No risk I guess to upgrade the memory, like literally none.

 

hello,

I just got myself the RTX2070 version.

I ordered a second memory stick to go to dual channel and into 32gb. so far specs are solid. Will probably try to see if I can OC the cpu. Maybe I will buy a second ssd and raid, not sure yet.

 

It's a good laptop in the sense that everything else besides the CPU and GPU is top notch. I would much rather have the 4800HS or 4900HS instead of the i7-9750h though. It is really only held back by the cooling or lack thereof.

Anyone figure out a way to lower the TDP of the GPU?

 

You could undervolt it using MSI Afterburner.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but undervolting and lowering the TDP are two completely unrelated things. For example, I can fix the TDP of my intel CPU and undervolting would not reduce the TDP of it at all. It might result in slightly higher clocks. Undervolting as I understand it would result in higher clocks, but it wouldn't affect the TDP.

 

Attempting a hard change of TDP would likely require a modded vBIOS.

 

So I see the folks in the Zephyrus G14 topic is talking about how to cap the TDP of the CPU. I guess it's much easier to do that for the i7-9750H since even the default intel XTU is more than enough. I cap it at 15W TDP myself and it is enough for my needs for the most part. For the GPU I use GPU Tweak 2 and set temp target to 75C which forces the clocks down to 1455MHz when the temperature surpasses 75C so then it would use a voltage of 768 (is that the lowest for the GTX 1660 Ti 80W?) but I don't know how to check the TDP on that voltage. I also game on a custom fan curve where I lowered the fan speed so that I don't hear them when gaming and I also like to keep both the CPU and GPU under 80C which is why I need to lower the TDP on both the CPU and GPU.

Anyways, it would be nice if I could lower the TDP of the GPU some more and give the CPU a bit more TDP but I can't figure out how and Nvidia is really annoying, not giving any control to the user in this area like Intel.

https://imgur.com/a/26NntEg

 

I just had a relatively good experience with Asus warranty/ADP.

So basically 2 screws fell out, and the GPU would sometimes downclock in FF15 benchmark on silent mode, and there were some dents etc.

They ended up replacing the LCD, the outer case (top and bottom cases), and the motherboard. I got it back and temps are much better, and dents were all fixed since they replaced like basically everything at no charge.

ADP is the real deal.

I mean I would still rather have a Zephyrus G14, but can only say good things about Asus's ADP. Basically everything is covered in ADP.

Note: Did not pay shipping because I dropped it off and picked it up (live close to Asus Markham) so can not comment on shipping costs.