ASUS ROG Zephyrus S Review: An Ultra-Slim Gaming Laptop

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ASUS ROG Zephyrus S: At First Glance

ASUS’ ROG (Republic Of Gamers) was established with the intention of manufacturing some of the most powerful gaming laptops in the world. Hence, in 2019, the brand released the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S – one of many powerful gaming laptops in the ROG Zephyrus series.

Moreover, this gaming laptop offers a sleek design with a slim build as well as an adequate cooling system. Besides that, the laptop comes with some powerful specs that make it suitable for high-end gaming.

However, all these amazing features come at an expensive price tag. Specifically, when this review article was published in March 2022, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S had a starting price of $1,579.99.

With such a high price tag, will this ASUS laptop deliver performance that satisfies the demands of competitive gamers? The answer to that question and more are in the remainder of this review.

Hence, kindly read on!

ASUS ROG Zephyrus S: Design, Dimension, and Weight

As expected from an expensive gaming laptop, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S comes with a sleek and sturdy design. To be more specific, the entire chassis of this laptop is made of aluminum and features a soft-touch brushed black texture.

Impressively, according to ASUS, the ROG Zephyrus S passed the military-grade MIL-STD-810G test. What this means is that the laptop will be able to handle rough handling, extreme temperature, heavy vibration, and multiple drops.

That aside, like the chassis of this ASUS laptop, the lid offers a brushed black texture and is also made of aluminum. Furthermore, the right side of this lid features a red-lit “ROG” logo at the center.

Moreover, the lid of this laptop doesn’t flex a bit, even when nudged with force. This is due to the fact that it is attached to the base of the laptop by two sturdy and tight hinges.

However, due to the tightness of these hinges, you might not be able to open the laptop’s lid with one hand. Nevertheless, when you finally open the lid, you will be greeted by a good-looking 15.6-inch display.

This display features an FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution, making it capable of delivering colorful and decent picture quality. In addition to that, the laptop’s display has an anti-glare coating on its surface that retracts reflection.

Hence, you should be able to use the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S outdoors or in a well-lit area without the fear of reflection. Besides, the laptop’s display is surrounded by slim bezels that are made of plastic with a matte-black finish.

However, the bottom bezel is significantly thicker than the sides and top bezels. This is because it houses a “Republic Of Gamers” inscription in the center.

Meanwhile, at the center of the top bezel, you will find an HD webcam and an in-built microphone. Focusing more on the webcam, it is ideal for taking selfies as it delivers decent image quality.

In addition to that, the webcam is also good for video conference calls or regular skyping.

Moving on, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S comes with a standard full-sized RGB-backlit keyboard. Performance-wise, this keyboard has well-spaced and responsive keys, thereby allowing for a comfortable typing experience.

Besides, since the keyboard is backlit, you should be able to type comfortably in dark environments. However, this keyboard is in an unusual position – it is positioned at the lower part of the laptop’s deck, where the palm rest and touchpad are supposed to be.

Hence, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S practically doesn’t feature a palm rest. Therefore, due to the lack of a palm rest, typing may not be particularly comfortable when the laptop is on your lap.

Nevertheless, that shouldn’t be a major issue since the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S is a gaming laptop. Basically, you will be doing less typing on the laptop and more gaming.

Usually, the touchpad is supposed to be located underneath the keyboard, at the center of the palm rest. However, due to the unusual placement of the laptop’s keyboard, the touchpad is at the side of the keyboard.

Essentially, instead of a full number pad, you will find a long touchpad on the right side of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S’ keyboard. Like a regular touchpad, this laptop’s touchpad features two dedicated click buttons that work well.

Also, the surface of this touchpad is very smooth, allowing for seamless finger-gliding and navigation. However, due to the limited space on the side of the laptop’s keyboard, this touchpad isn’t wide enough.

Therefore, performing multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom on the touchpad might be difficult. On a positive note, this touchpad can also be used as a virtual Numpad due to the lack of an actual Numpad.

However, anytime you activate the virtual Numpad, the touchpad is automatically disabled for swiping or navigation. Also, the virtual Numpad cannot be exactly the same as an actual Numpad because it lacks accuracy and good feedback.

It is more like a touchscreen type of feeling when using the touchpad as a virtual NumPad.

Since the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S’ keyboard is at the lower part of the deck, there is a large space at the top of the deck. Well, this large space above the deck accommodates the laptop’s powerful cooling system.

This cooling system draws air from the laptop’s surroundings to keep the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S cool during intensive gaming. Besides, there are multiple vents at the backside of the laptop that pushes hot air out the laptop.

However, the laptop’s cooling system produces lots of noise during operation.

Moving on to the ports, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S offers a decent number of ports. Precisely, the right side of this laptop features a USB 3.2 Type-C port, USB 3.2 Type-A port, a power port, and an HDMI port.

Meanwhile, the left side of the laptop houses a USB 3.1 Type-C port and two USB 2.0 Type-A ports. Sadly, this ASUS laptop lacks an Ethernet port and Thunderbolt.

In terms of dimension and weight, the ROG Zephyrus S measures 360 x 268 x 15.3 – 16.1 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 2100 g. Comparatively, this laptop weighs far less than one of its closest competitors, the Dell G7 17.

To be more specific, the Dell G7 17 measures 399 x 274 x 26.4 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 2900 g. 

In conclusion, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S offers a sleek design with a sturdy aluminum chassis. However, the laptop lacks a palm rest and the placement of its keyboard and touchpad are awkward.

Hence, I will rate the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S an eight out of ten in this design review section.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus S: Processor (CPU) Performance

To begin with, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S offers two processor options. These processor options include the 8th generation Intel Core i7-8750H CPU and the 9th generation Intel Core i7-9750H processor.

Moreover, these processors are both Hexa-core processors, meaning they feature 6 cores on their chipsets. Therefore, either of these processors is going to offer better performance than a processor with a lesser number of cores.

That said, the 8th generation Intel Core i7-8750H processor has a 9 MB cache memory. On the other hand, the 9th generation Intel Core i7-9750H processor features a cache memory of 12 MB.

Also, this 9th generation processor has a 2.60 GHz base frequency and a 4.50 GHz maximum frequency. Meanwhile, the 8th generation CPU has a 2.20 GHz base frequency and a 4.10 GHz maximum frequency.

Performance-wise, both of the laptop’s processor options are powerful enough for handling basically any competing task. Hence, with either CPU, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S should be able to perform heavy-duty tasks like video editing and high-end gaming.

However, for the sake of this review, we will be focusing on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S with the 8th generation Intel Core i7-8750H CPU. Hence, to further verify the performance of this laptop with this processor, I will now be discussing its result on a Cinebench R15 test.

However, before mentioning the laptop’s result, I will like to emphasize what the Cinebench R15 test is all about. To start with, the Cinebench R15 is a cross-platform benchmark test that measures a computer’s processor performance by evaluating its cores.

Thus, this benchmark test carries out two tests which include the single-core test and the multi-core test. For clarity, the Cinebench R15 single-core test measures the performance of the processor when one of its cores is in use.

On the contrary, the multi-core test measures the processor’s performance when all its available cores are in use. Besides, the higher the scores on these tests, the better the processor performance of the computer.

So, based on the Cinebench R15 test result, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S scored 168 points on the single-core test. Meanwhile, on the multi-core test, this ASUS laptop scored 1122 points.

Sadly, when compared to the Lenovo Legion Y530, which uses the same processor, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S underperformed. Specifically, on the Cinebench R15 test, the Lenovo Legion Y530 scored 175 points and 1219 points on the single-core test and multi-core test, respectively.

Regardless, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S offers two powerful processors that can handle most computing tasks, including intensive gaming. Therefore, the laptop deserves nothing less than a nine out of ten in this CPU review section.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus S: Memory (RAM) Performance

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus S comes with two memory slots and a standard memory of 8 GB DDR4 2666 MHz on one slot. In addition to that, this laptop supports a maximum memory of 24 GB.

However, the standard 8 GB memory on one of the laptop’s RAM slots is “onboard”, meaning it is soldered directly on the motherboard. Hence, this standard memory cannot be removed or upgraded.

Nevertheless, with the help of the second non-onboard memory slot, you can upgrade the laptop to a maximum RAM size of 24 GB. Meanwhile, for this review, we will be focusing on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S with 16 GB DDR4 2666 MHz RAM.

Honestly, with this amount of memory, expect this laptop to perform seamlessly when handling intensive apps. Also, this laptop should be able to play most games with this amount of RAM.

However, there are a few high-end games that require a larger memory size. Hence, since the laptop supports a higher memory size, you can simply upgrade it to the memory requirement of such games.

That aside, with 16 GB RAM, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S should be able to multitask with ease. Precisely, this laptop will be able to run about 35 Chrome tabs simultaneously while streaming multiple YouTube videos without lagging a bit.

As a matter of fact, switching between the YouTube videos and Chrome tabs should also be very easy for the laptop. To further prove all these, we will now be discussing the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S’ result on a PCMark 10 test.

For clarity, PCMark 10 test is an application-based benchmark test that evaluates a computer’s memory performance by simulating office-related productivity tasks. Furthermore, based on the setting of this benchmark test, a high score indicates good memory performance.

Hence, according to the benchmark test result, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S scored 5492 points. When compared to the Dell G7 17, this ASUS laptop performed better.

To be more specific, the Dell G7 17 was only able to score 5289 points on the PCMark 10 test. Thus, I will rate the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S a nine out of ten in this memory review section.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus S: Storage Options and Performance

For storage, ASUS equipped the ROG Zephyrus S with an M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD that supports a maximum storage capacity of 1 TB. Without a doubt, 1 TB of storage space should be enough for regular users to save movies, songs, and documents.

However, for a gamer, 1 TB of storage space is quite limited. This is due to the fact that there are numerous high-end games out there that require a large storage space before installation.

A typical example is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which requires about 231 GB of storage space before installation. Hence, if you download about three of such games, you are definitely going to run out of storage space.

To make things worse, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S lacks an SD slot for storage expansion. Hence, if you know you love downloading plenty of games, you should consider purchasing an external hard drive with this laptop.

On the bright side, due to its SSD (Solid State Drive), this ASUS laptop should offer a fast boot time and transfer speed. That’s not all; the laptop should also offer fast read and write speed.

To prove this, I will now be talking about the laptop’s performance on the CrystalDiskMark test. Briefly, CrystalDiskMark is an app-based benchmark test that assesses the performance of a computer’s storage drive by measuring its read and write speed.

If you’re wondering, read speed is the time that it takes a storage drive to open a file. Meanwhile, write speed is the time that it takes the storage drive to save a file.

Moreover, the higher the “MB/s” value on the CrystalDiskMark test, the faster the read and write speed of the computer’s storage drive. Hence, based on the test result, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S has a sequential read speed of 1238.57 MB/s.

On the other hand, this laptop has a sequential write speed of 920.07 MB/s. Comparatively, despite also using SSD, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S has a faster read and write speed than the Dell G7 17.

Specifically, according to the CrystalDiskMark test, the Dell G7 17 has a sequential read speed of 924.7 MB/s. However, the laptop has a sequential write speed of 230.4 MB/s.

In conclusion, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S comes with a fast SSD that offers limited storage space. Also, this laptop lacks an SD card slot for storage expansion.

Hence, I will rate the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S an eight out of ten in this storage review section.

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ASUS ROG Zephyrus S: Graphics Card Performance

Like the processor, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S offers two graphics card options. Hence, you can either purchase the laptop with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2070 Max-Q or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU.

In terms of speed, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2070 Max-Q has a base and boost frequency of 885 MHz and 1185 MHz, respectively. Meanwhile, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q offers a base and boost frequency of 735 MHz and 1095 MHz, respectively.

Besides, these graphics card options are both dedicated graphics cards. Hence, they feature a dedicated VRAM of 8 GB each.

As a result, with either of these GPU options, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S will be able to smoothly run most high-end and title AAA games. However, for this review, we will be focusing on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU.

With this GPU, this laptop should be able to achieve a frame rate of 79 fps while playing The Witcher 3 under high graphics settings. That’s not all, this laptop should also to able to deliver an outstanding frame rate of 124 fps while playing Doom Eternal under high graphics settings.

These numbers are really impressive, but what’s more impressive is the laptop’s performance on the 3DMark test. Briefly, 3DMark is an app-based graphics benchmark test that evaluates the graphics rendering abilities of a computer.

Furthermore, on this test, a high score implies good graphics performance. So, based on the test result, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S scored 21237 points, which is way above the category average of 20658 points.

As a matter of fact, this laptop outperformed all the laptops in its category. For example, on the 3DMark test, the Alienware m15 that uses an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU scored 16010 points.

Hence, I will rate the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S a nine out of ten in this graphics card review section.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus S: Battery Life and Performance

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus S comes with a 4-cell Li-ion 60WHrs 4S1P battery. However, ASUS didn’t mention the amount of time that this laptop would last with this battery.

Hence, to figure out the laptop’s battery life, we will discuss the laptop’s result on a battery rundown test. Briefly, this battery rundown test involves continuous web surfing over a WIFI connection while the laptop’s brightness is at the minimum level.

Thus, at the end of the test, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S delivered a battery life of 3 hours and one minute. This was actually expected due to the fact that most gaming laptops nowadays suffer from poor battery life.

However, when compared to the Lenovo Legion Y740, this ASUS laptop has better battery life. Specifically, on the battery rundown test, the Lenovo Legion Y740 delivered a battery life of 2 hours and 16 minutes.

To conclude this battery review section, I will rate the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S a seven out of ten.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus S is a sleek gaming laptop that offers powerful specifications and features. To be more specific, this gaming laptop comes with multiple amazing processors and graphics card options.

That’s not all; the laptop supports an impressive maximum memory of 24 GB and has an adequate cooling system. However, this ASUS laptop offers limited storage space.

Also, the placement of the laptop’s keyboard and touchpad is awkward. Besides, as with most gaming laptops, this laptop is quite expensive and has poor battery life.

Nevertheless, if you need a laptop for high-end gaming, I totally recommend the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S.

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