Excellent performance sustainability and a beautiful display make the GL504 one of the most impressive 15-inch gaming laptop in the market. The GL504 is available in two major variants, the GL504GM Hero II and GL504GS Scar II. Both the laptop have a great configuration with the same chassis design and almost the same similar internals.
The Asus ROG Strix GL504G Hero II fits in the gap between the Asus ROG G700 series which is too big and the ROG Zephyrus GX series. Asus has made a middle-ground solution called the GL504 series, the new models are a great successor over the last generation of the series by a brand new narrow-bezel chassis designed by the much costlier Zephyrus series. Great RGB lighting all around and the 144hz display with great specification on paper, does this means it is the best gaming laptop for your money? Let’s find out in our full in-depth review of the Asus ROG Strix Hero II Review.
Asus ROG Strix GL504G Hero II Specification
Category: Esports Gaming – MOBA
Operating System: Windows 10 Home
Processor: Intel Core i7-8750H
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 VRAM
Memory: Up to 32GB DDR4 2666MHz SDRAM (Dual-Channel)
SSD: M.2 NVMe PCle 256GB SSD
HDD: 6.35cm (2.5”) 5400rpm 1TB SSD
Display: 39.62cm (15.6-inch) Non-glare IPS FHD (144Hz) Full HD (1920×1080) IPS panel, 3ms
VR Ready: Yes
Windows Mixed Reality: Basic
Keyboard: Backlit chiclet keyboard, RGB 4 zones, Aura Sync, Marked QWER keys, Hotkeys: Volume up/ Volume down/ Mute/ ROG Gaming Center, 1.8mm travel distance, 0.25mm keycap curve.
Audio: 2 x 1W speaker with Smart AMP technology, Array microphone
Software: ROG Gaming Centre 2.5, GameFirst V, Splendid, Sonic Studio & Sonic Radar 3, Aura Core 2.5, XSplit Gamecaster, Android, iOS App
I/O Ports: 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2(Type-C), 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2, 1 x mDP 1.2, 1 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x RJ-45 jack, Only support SD card, 1 x 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack, 1 x Kensington lock.
Power: 180W power adapter
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Design
The Laptop has a premium design and feel. The top panel is made up of metal and has a ROG logo on it which has RGB lighting built it. Opening the laptop reveals the slim bezel 15.6-inch IPS panel. The chin is relatively huge and houses a ROG logo and the webcam. The webcam does not fit in the best place which stands out to be one thing you should ignore about this laptop.
The top panel is been made up of metal while the bottom houses the keyboard made out of polycarbonate material. The laptop feels premium and looks like it can last for a long time. The RGB backlit keyboard and a trackpad are been placed at the bottom. The RGB lighting scheme on the laptop adds in much of the style making it look like a gaming beast. The I/O on the ROG Strix Hero II gets you covered with almost every port possible you would ever need in day to day life.
The upper-right section is elegantly hairline brushed. It’s additionally joined by an engraved, metallic-dim ROG logo that sparkles with RGB shading. The vents on the back of the laptop feature a ROG Strix logo and fashioned in red. The inner, plastic chassis has a comparative slash structure, utilizing grey and-dark paint to make a cyberpunk-style wrap-up.
The power, charging and other notification LEDs are easily available even when the laptop is shut or flap is closed. There is an RGB light strip up front which is unique and gives a nice feel to the gaming laptop. The downward firing speakers on the laptop are loud enough and sound pretty good. But when the audio levels are taken up to 100 per cent the speakers start to struggle and there might be some amount of sound disruption.
The placement of the fans on the Asus ROG Strix Hero II, blow out hot air from the right side where usually people use their mouse. This might be a concern for a few people.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Display
The laptop sports a 15.6-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The most exciting and impressive part about the display is the 144Hz refresh rate and the response time which improves the overall gaming experience. The display has very minimal bezels on three sides but a significant larger chin at the bottom.
The display on the laptop takes the gaming experience to a next level. The performance of the games looks a lot smoother than the old traditional laptop panel. Day to day usage like web browsing also delivers smooth and fast performance. The display gets up to 310nits of brightness level which is enough for most scenarios. The colours are accurate and well on point.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Performance
Asus Strix Hero II accompanies the Intel i7-8750H eighth Gen CPU which is a 6-core processor and can without much of a stretch run anything tossed at it. The 16GB of RAM can make perform various tasks with simplicity and you can without much of a stretch open up to 50 tabs on your browser and the RAM would still have room to take in more programs. The GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card with 6GB of VRAM was effectively ready to deal with any diversion we tossed at it.
We could able to achieve around 250 to 300 fps on CS: GO with High settings. Additional requesting games like PUBG ran easily even with 1080p ultra settings. Nonetheless, to pick up somewhat more FPS we turned down the settings to High and the laptop delivered a reasonable figure of 90FPS.
As this PC is focused towards MOBA recreations, we likewise tried out games like League of Legends and Dota 2 which ran great and gave us a smooth interactivity experience even at the highest settings.
The laptop has numerous modes for the fan, Silent, Balanced and Overboost. The Overboost mode wrenches up the fans to the quickest and helps in chilling off the GPU and the CPU with the goal that you don’t confront any FPS drops. The fans are pretty much loud and they probably won’t trouble you while you are wearing earphones.
The 256GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD on the laptop makes a real-world difference in performance. The Windows boot time was outstandingly quick and operation, loading and installation of updates on the SSD did not take a long time. The SSD performed really well and boosted up the performance of the laptop to the next level.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Keyboard and Mouse
The laptop is really comfortable and has a good amount of travel. The keyboard is not going to be a problem and can take up any task easily. The RGB lighting is 4-zone for every key. A software is been provided by Asus which can easily control the lighting and have them switch colours or remain static on their own.
The trackpad is a standout amongst all the gaming PC. Most organizations will, in general, utilize less expensive trackpads as they consider individuals are going to utilize a devoted mouse for gaming at any rate. The trackpad accompanies Windows Precision drivers which make Windows 10 signals entirely smooth. They have separate buttons for left and right click which is not the most case for Asus laptops.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Battery
A gaming laptop is made for performance; much battery life cannot be expected. During our testing, the laptop was able to deliver around 4 hours of usage on a single charge with heavy gaming. The backup time can be increased by reducing the refresh rate of the display to 60Hz and turning off the RGB lighting all around the laptop. Using a power brick can always boost performance.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Verdict
Asus ROG Strix Hero II brings a great performance at the price point it is been offered. Although the laptop is focused on gamers, it is also good for video editing who need more performance. The laptop is not that easy to carry around and seek real attention with all its lighting effects. You might always need to carry around with a power brick.
The Asus ROG Strix Hero II offers an extraordinary incentive for money. There is yet another Scar edition made available which comes with somewhat similar specifications. If you are looking for a laptop with great performance, display and in the budget, we recommend you buy this laptop without a second thought.
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