ASUS ROG Strix G G531 In-Depth Hands-On

Last April 2019, I shared my initial impressions on one of ASUS ROG’s newest gaming laptop under the Strix series — the ROG Strix G. We weren’t able to experiment with it but now that I finally got my hands on this device, here’s a more detailed take on it!

The Strix G is the most affordable Strix gaming laptop but its design doesn’t fall far from the existing Scar and Hero lineup. It has a brushed aluminum finish with the signature ROG logo at the right side of the device. Opening the lid shows the 15.3-inch screen with slim side bezels while the bottom is quite thick. The screen doesn’t wobble much when I tried flexing it which means that it’s sturdily built.

The display produces good sharpness with decent color reproduction. There are two models in the Strix G G531 that differ in its refresh rate, the 120Hz variant, and the 60Hz — the unit we have onhand has the latter. Given this configuration, there’s really no unique feel when I tried playing games here as the viewing experience is practically the same with other gaming laptops without high refresh rates. Audio quality; however, is above average as the highs, mids, and lows can be heard clearly and it doesn’t distort when set to the highest volume.

Looking to the left side shows the triple USB Type-A 3.1 ports along with the 3.mm audio port. Glancing just below them is the loudspeaker while at the bottom is an RGB LED strip.

The right side houses the exhaust vent along with another loudspeaker and RGB LED strip. It feels weird that ASUS didn’t put any ports on this side but it looks clean nevertheless.

Looking at the back part shows two more exhaust vents situated on both ends while between them is the charging, USB Type-C, HDMI, and RJ-45 ports. This is a refreshing setup for ASUS ROG as they don’t frequently put any ports behind their devices.

The Strix G uses the usual 80% chiclet keyboard layout with RGB lighting. The “W”, “A”, “S”, and “D” keys have transparent keycaps indicating that the device encourages people to play first-person shooter games here. The keys feel somewhat soft but I find myself enjoying the experience of typing in this laptop.

The Strix G’s trackpad also serves as a virtual numpad which is pretty neat. All you have to do is to press the “Num Lk” text on the upper right portion to activate it. Holding it again will turn the numpad off. Overall, the pad is pretty smooth with minimal resistance when I ran my fingers across it.

The ROG Strix G feels premium, yet, it is relatively light as compared to its siblings like the Strix Scar and Hero laptops. This device is a more viable traveling companion as I do not have problems with carrying it inside my backpack.

It has an Intel Core i7-9750H processor paired with an NVIDIA GTX 1660ti graphics and 8GB of RAM. I’m currently testing this gaming laptop and so far, it can run games such as PUBG, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Resident Evil 2: Remake, and Tekken 7 very smoothly. I will discuss more once I take ROG’s newest gaming beast for a full spin so stay tuned.

Here are the prices of each laptop:

• 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD – PHP 89,995USD 1,534INR 130,007EUR 1,461CNY 11,168
• 512GB SSD – PHP 90,995USD 1,551INR 131,451EUR 1,477CNY 11,292

It is currently available in authorized ASUS ROG stores nationwide.

ASUS ROG Strix G G531 specs:

• 15.3-inch FHD 60Hz display @1920 x 1080px
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
• Intel Core i7-9750H processor
• NVIDIA GTX 1660ti (6GB GDDR5)
• 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD + 1TB HDD
• 8GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
• WiFi 802.11ac
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 3x USB 3.1 Type-A ports
• 1x HDMI port
• 1x RJ-45 LAN port
• 1x USB Type-C
• 1x 3.5mm audio port
• 1x USB 3.1 Type-C port
• 2x speakers
• 360 x 275 x 26 mm
• 2.395g