ASUS K501 LX Review: Metallic Built But Lightweight Laptop

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ASUS K501 LX: At First Glance

The ASUS K501 LX is an addition to the already populated ASUS repositories of laptops. It comes with a lot of impressive features that are mostly found on high-end models for a lesser price.

To mention but a few, the ASUS K501 LX has hyper-cool technology that effectively keeps overheating to a minimum. It also allows you to enjoy watching full-HD resolution videos.

However, for a laptop that promises to deliver high-end performance at a cost-effective price, it might come with some compromises. Hence, to find out if it does, continue reading this article.

ASUS K501 LX: Design, Dimension, and Weight

When it comes to design, the ASUS K501LX is a sturdy laptop with an all-aluminum design. In fact, the first thing you will notice when you see the ASUS K501 LX is its high-quality build.

The laptop comes in dark blue color with a premium brushed metallic finish and a surface that is nice to touch. The choice of color and texture of this laptop gives it a classy and unique look.

On the brushed metal lid of the ASUS K501LX, you will find a chrome ASUS logo at the center. Meanwhile, when you open the lid, you will find the 15.6-inch display beaming at you.

The display is adequately wide and excellent for working and playing games.

As for the bezels that envelop the display, they are neither slim nor thick. However, the bottom bezel is thicker than the top and side bezel because it houses an ASUS logo.

Meanwhile, you would expect the top bezel to house a webcam, but it does not. Hence, users cannot make video conferences via messaging apps like Skype.

For resolution, the ASUS K501 LX display features a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. This resolution is good enough for most multimedia content.

Furthermore, this resolution gives you a lot of visual detail for your images and videos. In fact, there will be no problem in making out little texts and details on the display.

Not only that, but the display also has an anti-glare feature. If you don’t understand what “anti-glare” is, it is a rather simple way of saying that the display is matte.

Hence, it will handle reflection well. As a result of that, you will have no problem using this laptop outdoors.

Proceeding to the keyboard, the ASUS K501 LX uses a full-size chiclet keyboard that produces accurate typing. Also, because of its 1.6mm key travel, you will enjoy responsive, reliable keystrokes and a pleasurable typing experience.

For better understanding, key travel refers to the distance that a key goes down when it is pressed.

Another fascinating thing about the keyboard is that the keys are backlit. Needless to say that typing in a dark setting will be pleasing.

Also, the keyboard has an integrated Numpad. Consequently, users who work with numbers will appreciate that.

For the touchpad, the ASUS K501 LX features an integrated touchpad located off-center to the left of the palm rest. Thankfully, the touchpad supports multitouch gestures and offers you outstanding levels of intuitive and accurate finger input.

Moving to the audio, the ASUS K501 LX features two inbuilt stereo speakers that deliver good sound quality. However, I would recommend that you connect external speakers or headphones if you are watching movies or playing games.

Notably, the ASUS K501 LX uses a hyper-cool technology that has a Duo-copper thermal solution. This is an upgraded smart cooling system that has independent copper fans responsible for cooling the GPU and CPU.

Impressively, this exceptional cooling system keeps the temperatures low in other to prevent overheating. This cooling system also ensures that the laptop is stable when performing intensive tasks.

Moving to connectivity, the ASUS K501 LX offers basic connectivity ports. Specifically, it comes with two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, an RJ-45 port, and an HDMI port.

Also, it features a headphone/microphone jack and an SD card reader. As you can see, these are just basic ports.

Nevertheless, that is not totally a bad thing, as having any more ports would result in a thicker and bigger form factor.

Speaking of the form factor, the ASUS K501 has a dimension of 382 x 255 x 21.7 mm (W x D x H). Hence, it can be regarded as being averagely portable.

However, it has a bigger and thicker form factor than the Dell G7 15, which measures 357.2 x 267.7 x 18.3 – 18.8 (W x D x H).

Additionally, I consider the ASUS K501LX to be a lightweight laptop because it weighs just 2000 g. Impressively, the ASUS K501 LX is lighter than the 15-inch Dell G7 15 which weighs 2560 g.

Hence, we can see that while the ASUS K501 LX is lighter than the Dell G7 15, the Dell G7 15 is more compact than the ASUS K501.

Overall, the design of the ASUS K501 LX is impressive, its display size is big enough for computing work, and its FHD resolution is adequate. However, if you desire a bigger display or a higher resolution, you can connect the laptop to your TV via the HDMI port.

After all considerations, I think the ASUS K501 LX does not have too many downsides in its design. As a result, a rating of eight out of ten is fair.

ASUS K501 LX: Processor (CPU) Performance

When it comes to processors, the ASUS K501 LX uses a dual-core Intel Core i7-5500U.

For clarity, a dual-core processor is one with two cores working simultaneously in the same integrated circuit. Ideally, this type of processor will perform processing tasks twice as fast as a single-core processor.

For more facts about this processor, it has a 4 MB cache memory. Besides, it has a base frequency of 2.40 GHz and a boost frequency of 3.00 GHz.

From the specs above, the Intel Core i7-5500U is a fifth-generation processor that is powerful and can handle intensive tasks well. However, we need to confirm its processing capability by taking a look at its performance in the Cinebench R15 benchmark test.

In case you don’t know, Cinebench R15 is a benchmark test employed to estimate the processor performance of a computer. Also, the Cinebench R15 test involves two different tests – the single-core and the multi-core tests.

The single-core test assesses the processing ability of a single processor core. On the other hand, the multi-core test assesses the processing power of all cores (2 cores in this case).

It is important to note that a higher score in these tests represents a better processor’s performance.

According to the tests, the ASUS K501 LX had a single-core score of 118 points and a multi-core of 283 points.

When compared with another ASUS laptop, the ASUS K501 LX performed less. Specifically, the laptop, in comparison, is the ASUS ROG GL502VM which scored 148 points in the single-core test.

Meanwhile, in the multi-core test, the ASUS ROG GL502VM recorded 680 points. However, it is vital to note that the ASUS ROG GL502VM employs a more powerful quad-core Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor.

To conclude this section, the CPU performance on this laptop is on the good side. For this reason, I rate the ASUS K501 LX eight in this section of the review.

ASUS K501 LX: Memory (RAM) Performance

The ASUS K501 LX provides only one DDR3L slot with an 8 GB standard capacity. Nevertheless, this laptop supports a maximum of 12 GB RAM.

This means that it is possible to upgrade the 8 GB memory but not above 12 GB.

Regardless, with the 8 GB standard memory that this laptop comes with, it can handle a respectable amount of multitasking. For example, the ASUS K501 LX laptop I am reviewing can comfortably open about 20 Chrome browser tabs.

Even so, switching from one tab to another is pretty swift.

Having highlighted the multitasking ability of this laptop, let us evaluate its performance in the Octane V2 test. I will be using an Octane V2 test due to the lack of a PCMark test for this laptop which is our standard memory benchmark at www.itechguides.com.

Hence, the Octane V2 test is also a benchmark tool that assesses a computer’s memory performance. Just like the Cinebench R15 benchmark we discussed in the previous section, a higher score in the Octane V2 test also represents better performance.

Therefore, from the test, the ASUS K501 LX scored 13623 points. In comparison, the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr recorded a score of 27,593 points on the same test.

You should be aware that the HP Notebook 15 ay011nr also uses a DDR3L-1600 SDRAM.

To recap, the ASUS K501 LX has a single memory slot. However, its typical memory capacity is impressive.

More impressively, its RAM can also be upgraded above the standard capacity.

Based on that, I will be rating it eight in this section of the review.

ASUS K501 LX: Storage Options and Performance

For storage, ASUS made the K501 LX available in two storage options which are HDD and SSD.

The HDD storage comes with a maximum storage capacity of 1 TB, while the SSD storage comes with a maximum storage of 128 MB. Some people may not know this, but HDDs usually offer larger storage spaces, while SDDs offer faster storage speed.

Hence, if you prefer faster storage, you can buy a model of this laptop that is equipped with SSD storage. Meanwhile, if your preference is large storage space, you can go for an HDD model.

Impressively, ASUS also included an SD card slot on the laptop in case you have any need for memory expansion. In this review, we will be considering the performance of an ASUS K501 LX with 128 GB of SSD.

To understand the performance of this laptop, we will take a look at its result in the CrystalDiskMark benchmark test.

If you don’t already know, CrystalDiskMark is a benchmark test used to determine the performance of a computer’s storage by assessing its read and write speed.

To make you understand what read and write speed means, for example, when you open a file on your computer, the rate at which the file opens is called “read speed.”

On the other hand, the speed at which a computer saves files is called “write speed.” Hence, if your computer can open and save files swiftly, you’ll have a good storage performance.

From the test result, the ASUS K501 LX had a sequential read speed of 2811 MB/s and a sequential write speed of 996 MB/s. Another ASUS laptop, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S15, had 1294MB/s of read speed.

On the other hand, it had a write speed of 2612MB/s. This means that while the ASUS K501 LX will open files faster, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus will save files faster.

In conclusion, with the K501 LX, ASUS has given users the option of choosing a storage configuration that suits their needs. It also provided a slot for external storage expansion.

Hence, the ASUS K501 LX deserves a rating of seven out of ten.

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ASUS K501 LX: Graphics Card Performance

Like the storage, ASUS also provides two graphics options for the ASUS K501 LX. Speaking of the graphics options, they are an Intel HD Graphics 5500 and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M.

The Intel HD Graphics 5500 is integrated graphics, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M is dedicated graphics. By integrated, I mean a graphics card that does not come with its own dedicated Video RAM (VRAM).

Hence, integrated graphics cards usually share the computer’s RAM with the processor for performing graphics tasks. In the case of my test model, it will share the 8 GB RAM that we discussed in the memory section.

On the other hand, dedicated graphics card have their own Video RAM. This makes them powerful enough to perform heavy graphics tasks.

Speaking of Video RAM, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M has a 4 GB DDR3. In addition to that, it has a base frequency of 993 MHz and a boost frequency of 1124 MHz.

Meanwhile, the Intel HD Graphics 5500 has a base frequency of 300 MHz and a boost frequency of 950 MHz.

At this point, it is worth mentioning that my review model ships with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M graphics. I will now proceed to share its result in a 3DMark benchmark test.

For clarity, 3DMark is a benchmark test for evaluating the performance of graphics cards, including integrated and dedicated graphics cards. Again, a high score on this test signifies better graphics performance.

Thus, the ASUS K501 LX scored 979 points on the test. In comparison, the Dell G7 15, with a more powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q, scored 6516 points.

Based on all I have said in this section, including the test performance, I rate the ASUS K501 LX eight in this graphics section of the review.

ASUS K501 LX: Battery Life and Performance

In the aspect of battery, ASUS K501 LX is powered by a 3-cell 48 Whr battery. However, ASUS did not tell us the battery life to expect from this laptop.

Notwithstanding, I will provide you with that vital information in the subsequent paragraphs of this section.

Hence, according to a battery test performed by computercritique.com, the battery lasted 4 hours in light of average usage, which includes web surfing.

However, when used to play a high-resolution video at 50% brightness and volume, it lasted for just 3 hours. In my opinion, this battery life is poor as there are other ASUS laptops with better battery life.

For example, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S15 lasted 7 hours 23 minutes in the same video test.

In conclusion, the ASUS K501 LX has a poor battery life, and for that reason, I rate it six out of ten.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The ASUS K501 LX is a solidly designed laptop with a durable all-aluminum chassis. Despite its metallic build, it still manages to be lightweight and portable.

Technically, it offers a fifth-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Full HD display, and two storage options to choose from. Furthermore, it offers dedicated graphics that you can use to fire up the latest games and perform video editing.

Also, it uses an effective hyper-cool technology that keeps overheating to a minimum. However, this laptop does not have a webcam, and its battery life is not great.

Nevertheless, I will recommend the ASUS K501 LX to anyone that wants a laptop to perform computing tasks and a decent amount of gaming.

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