ASUS ROG Strix GL503 First Impressions

ASUS unveiled the GL503 gaming notebook in Computex back in May, and launched it locally in August at the ROG Masters 2017 Philippine Finals. It comes equipped with a 7th generation Intel Core i7 CPU, GTX 1050 GPU, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 15.6-inch IPS display.

Before we take it through the gauntlet in our full review, here are our first impressions.

Upon lifting up the lid to get a peek of what your first-person view will look like when using this laptop, we get a 15.6-inch screen, an RGB-enabled keyboard with an (almost) full-size layout, and the trackpad.

The keyboard layout isn’t terrible, but the way the arrow keys need to be pushed out of the way to give room for a numpad makes usability slightly awkward at first. Also, the backlighting on the keyboard isn’t very bright, earning it negative points in the RGB department. The trackpad’s surface feels very plasticky and your fingers don’t easily glide across. The click also goes deeper than it probably should and isn’t as springy either.

Since the GL503 is a gaming laptop, however, the end user will probably opt to use a mouse instead of the horrible trackpad, and the one ASUS includes in the box is actually very nice. It has side buttons, on-the-fly DPI adjustment, RGB lighting, and a very smooth matte feel to it, which is how the trackpad should feel.

Moving on to I/O, the left side has the DC in, Ethernet, mini Display Port, HDMI, a couple of USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and a combo audio jack. The right side keeps a full-size SD card slot, USB 3.1 Gen.1 Type-C, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, and a Kensington lock.

Checking out the lid real quick shows a faux brushed aluminum finish with a red LED-illuminated ROG logo.

Powering the GL503, other than the 4-cell 60Wh battery, is a 150W power brick that is on the bigger side, but is reasonably sized, especially for a gaming laptop.

The hardware the GL503 packs is standard and right around the sweet spot for 15.6-inch gaming notebooks, and should perform decently in our testing when we take it for a spin in our full review, so stay tuned for that.

This particular variant of the ASUS ROG Strix GL503 (i7-7700HQ + GTX 1050) is priced at Php69,995USD 1,193INR 101,115EUR 1,136CNY 8,686.

ASUS GL503 specs:
15.6-inch FHD IPS display
2.8GHz Intel Core-i7 7700HQ CPU
NVIDIA GTX 1050 GPU w/ 4GB VRAM
8GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM
1TB SATA HDD
128GB SATA3 SSD
Wi-Fi 802.11 AC
Bluetooth 4.1
3x USB 3.0
1x USB 3.1 Gen.1 Type-C
1x USB 2.0
1x HDMI
1x mini Display port
1x RJ45 LAN jack
1x combo audio jack
Multi-format card reader
ASUS SonicMaster Technology
4 Cells 64Wh Battery
Windows 10 Home
383.54 x 261.6 x 22.9mm
2.54kg