Wait for 30x GPU Laptops?

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Ordered one of the few remaining ROG Strix Scar QHD 3070's from ocuk, couldn't wait any longer, as much as I did want the Legion 5 Pro. Really looking forward to it coming through, hopefully some time this week... not sure what they're like on delivery lead times at the moment.
 
Soldato
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Been a few days...
Ahaaa touché!

So my initial thoughts and psuedo-review on this beast.

First a bit of context - I am not a massive gamer these days (I do have the obligatory Steam library with a few hundred unplayed games etc) and my last gaming device was my 4790k / GTX980 system from around 2014/2015. This is my first venture into gaming laptops so have nothing to compare it to from this range. My previous laptop was a Huawei Matebook X Pro (i7, 16gb, 512ssd) and I have had Dell XPS 15's in the past and MacBook Pro's as well

Ok, the G15.

My device is the infamous BestBuy unit with RGB in Gray. It is the R9 5900HS / RTX 3070 / 24GB / 1TB variant.

Design
First things first, mine is the grey variant with the single zone RGB keyboard.
I love the lid personally, I think its a nice balance between professional and gamery. The half panel funky colour thingy works well and is understated enough I don't mind taking it into work. I have had a few comments of it looking smart and when they see the inside I get the whole 'oooh fancy keyboard'. My only gripe about the top panel is the ability to fill the holes with random dirt :(

Inside its robustly built, other reviewers have complained about build quality, glue issues on screen, creaks here and there.
Fortunately mine has no such issue. I am a fan of the ergo lift hinge as I think it suits the laptop nicely

The speaker design is strange for me, the recesses for the sound to come out are fairly small and I know I am going to drop something in there that I need to fish out! Speaking of speakers, this is my only complaint about the laptop. Sadly mine suffers from the popping issue reported on some. It's a non issue really as I have headphones I use but is annoying and I hope that a software update fixes this.

Port selection is decent and I haven't needed to grab my bag to find an adapter or anything since I have had it.

Screen / Keyboard / Trackpad
The screen is absolutely gorgeous. The best laptop display I have used bar none! It is colour accurate, the software allows loads of tweaks, can be OC'd to 3ms and is native 165hz. Its an absolute gem. My only minor gripe here is brightness as I basically live in the sun out here. I wish it was a little brighter in the day but sitting here this evening even on 50% it looks fab.

The keyboard takes some getting used to but again is perfectly balanced. Nice travel and not too spongey as these laptop keyboards can be. Its not too clacky like the boards on MacBooks and I prefer it to the Huawei I am coming from. RGB is nice although the pedant in me would like per key control.

The trackpad is nice and responsive. I use it rarely as I have my MX Master 3 hooked up but its large and easy to use whenever I have needed it.

Performance and Battery life
The performance on this thing is insane. To be honest I have been using it my work profile where the CPU and GPU are limited and it burns through anything and everything I need.
Its completely overkill for my use case as I do basic programming, have about 100 chrome tabs open at anyone time and do a lot of spreadsheet work.
Nevertheless when at work it absolutely wants for nothing. It has never slowed, given me a BSOD or any performance related concerns at any time. All the while sitting comfortably around 30-40c in silence with no fans spinning.
Remarkable.

The battery life on this thing with a few tweaks is north of 8hrs.
Ive done a full day of moderate usage (8hrs) and left with circa 20%. It's genuinely unbelievable and if I pushed it could probably see 10hrs which is insane.
My screen brightness is around 50%, sound is off and profile set to silent. Anything that can affect battery has been limited. (iGPU on, panel set to 60hz and 3ms switched off)

The only game I have run as of now (and that was to appease the geeks at work) is GTAV and it was awesome. Average FPS on max settings was around 110 and temps never exceeded 70c.
This was with the power brick plugged in. I am yet to try USB C PD but as it charges in an hour with the brick I don't see why its needed.
Maybe in emergencies.


Final thoughts
I love the laptop. It does everything I need it to without any compromise. I think I have been very fortunate not to get one with the various issues widely reported. (other than the speaker popping)
I haven't touched the boundaries of what this laptop is capable of but look forward to exploring that over the next few weeks / months.
I will take some pics and post some performance scores when I have the chance to run them.
If anyone has any specific questions let me know and I can try my best to answer them.
If you're on the fence and your use case is similar to mine, just buy it.
You won't be disappointed.
 
Soldato
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Thanks for taking the time to write your review. Does sound like a very good laptop.
This is awesome, much appreciated and thanks.

My Zephyrus is meant to be here next week and my missus Scar 15 is arriving today via DPD. Can't wait :)
Cheers guys, back at work today and I have set the battery to only fill to 80% to prolong the life. This is a setting in MyAsus which apparently is good for the battery.

Anyway, I started the day at 70% and currently on 65% with a projected 7hrs and 38 mins remaining. Genuinely shocked at how good this is on battery life!

Edit
Just realised that there is a dedicated thread to the G15 GA503QR so will be posting in there and updating that thread with more pics and benchmarks.
 
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Associate
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Ive noticed that at times my laptop GPU 3070 boosts to 1770mhz or something like that. Im assuming that I dont want it running at that speed all the time?

Is that where the +15w or whatever the GPU gets kicks in?
 
Associate
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Looks like the Asus Zephyrus has been delayed by 2 / 3 weeks according to an email from the supplier. They've said it is a UK wide issue getting supply into the retail channel :(
 
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My Zephyrus G15 3060 QHD arrived but likely is going back :(

Great build quality, fast, gorgeous screen, perfect for what i want but sadly it also has the all too common speaker problem. Once the bass hits certain frequencies above 50% volume they start to sound awful. Successive driver updates from Asus appear to try and mask the problem rather than address it. They've tweak the bass profile down so the bass virtually disappears depending upon the profile selected in the Dolby app. That isn't a fix for me and simply obfuscates the issue. Turn off the enhancements and it is obvious.

Disappointing for a device that otherwise initially seems stellar.

Oh and the Ryzen / RTX stickers were put on crooked which just seems lazy / poor to me.
 
Soldato
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My Zephyrus G15 3060 QHD arrived but likely is going back :(

Great build quality, fast, gorgeous screen, perfect for what i want but sadly it also has the all too common speaker problem. Once the bass hits certain frequencies above 50% volume they start to sound awful. Successive driver updates from Asus appear to try and mask the problem rather than address it. They've tweak the bass profile down so the bass virtually disappears depending upon the profile selected in the Dolby app. That isn't a fix for me and simply obfuscates the issue. Turn off the enhancements and it is obvious.

Disappointing for a device that otherwise initially seems stellar.

Oh and the Ryzen / RTX stickers were put on crooked which just seems lazy / poor to me.

Will you be getting another one or trying something else?

I wish they didn’t put stickers on laptops, it looks dorky - I remove them anyway - but they always leave a sticky residue and require rubbing alcohol to remove properly.
 
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Will you be getting another one or trying something else?

I wish they didn’t put stickers on laptops, it looks dorky - I remove them anyway - but they always leave a sticky residue and require rubbing alcohol to remove properly.
Not too sure yet. I've boxed it back up but tempted to open up the bottom and see if there is anything i can do with the speakers.

If it isn't fixable i suspect i'll try another because there is nothing quite like the spec and how it ticks the boxes for me. If it isn't possible or it looks like a sizeable delay on a swap out i'll refund and see what Intel do later in the year.

The sticker thing irritates me because it shows a lack of care or quality control. If it had been a cheap machine from a budget supermarket far enough, at £1600 and a premium range model i hold it to a higher standard!
 
Soldato
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The stickers were wonky on my G14 but they were removed immediately as imo the laptop looks much better without stickers, straight or wonky!
 
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I think he decided against it in the end because it doesn’t come with the 150W version of the GPU. I think he built a SFF PC instead.

Cancelled my pre order because of the confusion in the GPU specs (3070's beating 3080's??? good job nvidia!)

I upgraded to a 5800x in my main rig and got hold of a 3070 to go in my 8700 rig and just leave it all at work (I don't travel so no real need for a laptop) built it into a 220T case.
 
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I preordered the Zephyrus G15 3070 edition almost 2 months ago, and still have no clue when it will arrive. Anybody in the same boat as me?
Yup, I ordered my one on the 21st of January, right after the G15 appeared on OCUK to pre-order, and there's still no sign of it. Fingers crossed it arrives this month.

On the plus side, at least you know now that you're not the only one waiting!
 
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This is actually mad frustrating. The supply issue with the RTX 3070 G15 is driving me crazy. Im leaving the UK in late May and I need the laptop before that. It's been 2 months...
 
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