GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL PERFORMANCE: NO HOLDS BARRED ROG
This new gaming notebook
from the R.O.G. series gives you topof-the-line specifications at a
value-for-money price
Asus has recently updated the ROG ( Republic of Gamers) line of gaming laptops with 6th generation
Intel processors. The GL552VW is the cheapest offering from the company in the
new range and offers specifications that are not usually available at this
price.For the price you get the sixth generation Intel Core i7 processor with
16GB of DDR4 RAM (2133Mhz), an Nvidia GeForce GTX960M GPU with 4GB dedicated
memory and a combo 1TB hard drive and 128GB SSD. As far as gaming notebooks go,
these specifications are good enough to run any game you can get.For our
evaluation, we ran various games on the notebook including the basic Counter
Strike: Global Offensive to the graphics heavy Call of Duty: Ghosts and Need
for Speed: Rivals. The notebook was able to play all games at full HD
resolution in high settings without any issue. Photo editing on Photoshop as
well as Lightroom was butter-smooth and the notebook had no issues playing 4k
video. As with any gaming laptop, the battery life was average. The 4-cell
battery lasted us just about 3 hours with continuous gaming. What impressed us
more was that there was no excessive heating issues on the GL552VW -thanks to
the large heat dissipation area on the side.Asus has stuck with the typical ROG
design language on the GL552VW. You get a matte finish plastic lid with a
brushed metal finish center panel. The center panel houses the ROG logo for
added style. At 2.6kg, it is slightly on the heavier side, but this can be
overlooked considering the specifications. On the right side is the optical
drive, a USB 2.0 port and separate jacks for headphone and microphone.
Separating these is a useful feature for gamers since voice chat is an
important part of some games. The left side has a USB Type-C, two USB 3.0
ports, HDMI out and Ethernet port. You get a chiclet style keyboard, separate
number pad and highlighted W,S,A and D keys (gaming buttons) -we found the keys
were responsive and had good travel. The keyboard is backlit in red which adds
to the overall gaming bling. The single piece trackpad which is fairly large in
size for comfortable use -this will be for day-to-day use since most gamers
prefer to use a dedicated mouse with adjustable DPI settings. The 15.6-inch dis
play has a resolu tion of 1920 x 1080 pixels and it im presses with high
brightness levels.
It has an anti glare finish
which makes it easy to get into the game, even with a lot of ambient lighting.
Asus has included a Gaming Center software which lets you switch between
various gaming profiles. Switching profiles can change display settings for
optimum viewing among others. Asus has stuck to a matte finish on the bezels
around the display which is a welcome change from the glossy finish we usually
see.One major issue with the notebook is the speaker output. The audio output
feels muffled, even at maximum volume and there is little bass. Switching
between various preloaded audio profiles did not help improve the audio output.
However, audio output using headphones is great. Overall, the Asus GL552VW is
easily one of the most powerful gaming laptops available in the sub-`90,000
price bracket. Highly recommended if you want the best possible bang for your
buck.
Karan.Bajaj @timesgroup.com
ET18MAY16
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