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ROG Strix G15: Electro Punk
ASUS - ROG Strix G15 15.6" Gaming Laptop
The ROG Strix G15 Electro Punk embodies streamlined design, offering a formidable core experience for serious gaming and multitasking on Windows 10. Featuring up to the latest 10th Gen Intel Core CPU and a NVIDIA GeForce GPU, it offers high-FPS power that takes full advantage of up to a blazing fast display
Game at Professional Speed: An ultrafast 144Hz refresh rate makes the flow of fast-paced action look impeccably smooth and reduces motion blur for precision target tracking. ROG Intelligent Cooling: ROG's Intelligent Cooling philosophy mixes the right features and system settings to ensure the best experience. Performance is boosted with cutting-edge enhancements like liquid metal compound on the CPU and a well-ventilated exterior that keeps noise levels lower than the last generation. Comprehensive Connectivity: Get blazing fast transfers at Gen 2 speeds via the USB 3.2 Type-C with DisplayPort 1.4, or connect an ROG G-SYNC monitor for silky smooth gaming. Three Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports are ready for your favorite gaming gear, while HDMI 2.0b allows you to enjoy content on a 4K monitor or TV at up to 60Hz. Reliable Wi-Fi: Ultrafast Intel Wi-Fi 6 with Gig+ (802.11ax) lets you game reliably at LAN speeds wherever compatible connections are available. Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) enables a peak interface bandwidth up to 2.4Gbps.* Read More
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I’ve been quietly looking for a gaming laptop for a while now. Let’s face it, as much as I like the Surface Pro 7, that machine is not capable of playing any modern games.
I wasn’t looking to spend too much money, trying to keep it under $1,000, so when I saw this ROG Strix G15: Electro Punk laptop for $899, I couldn’t pass it up. Both New Egg and Walmart are selling this same laptop for over $1,100… so getting the laptop sub-$1k is still a good price.
For those that don’t know, this the Republic of Gamers Strix (ROG Strix) is a gaming laptop brand from ASUS. The G15 or G17 refers to the screen size, at 15 inch and 17 inch, respectively. Personally speaking, for portability, I prefer smaller screens, so I don’t mind the 15 inch, as it keeps the laptop lighter.
You can get the ROG Strix in a variety of colors, for example “Glacier Blue” or Black. This “Electro Punk” version (Black with Neon Pink trims) may actually be part of a bigger rollout of Electro Punk-related products… such as a Cherry Mechanical Keyboard, mouse, and headphones (and headphone stand?). Personally speaking, I probably won’t be buying any of those accessories, simply because I’m not a fan of the color scheme and I already own great products from Razer or Corsair, and they serve their purpose.
In order to keep costs down for the Electro Punk, there are some subpar or missing features. I’ll address some of these things, so you know what or what not to expect.
The laptop is all (or mostly) made out of plastic. It still looks good, but doesn’t have a “premium” look that some aluminum or metal laptops. The plastic looks durable to me, and I like the weird vents and cyberpunk look, so it looks fine to me.
The Electro Punk edition also has only 8GB Ram. The Strix G15 normally has 16GB, so I feel this is a stepdown. The good news is that you can always upgrade the RAM with one of their open Ram slot. I may eventually upgrade the RAM down the road, but for now, it’s not that important to me.
It also a lack of built-in webcam. This is a problem for game streamers, so if you’re one of those, you probably need to avoid this laptop. You can always buy an external USB webcam if you really need one. Most built-in webcam aren’t great anyway, it’s just a matter of convenience.
It doesn’t have a SD card reader, which really sucks… but again, you can always use an external USB dongle. Same goes for DVD/CD-Rom drive… if you need it, you’ll have to buy an external USB drive. That is not a problem for me, simply because I don’t want moving parts in a mobile device.
Keep in mind that not including those things above keeps the retail price to $999, so I think they made the right decision. If they offer a built-in SD Card Reader for $50 more, I would personally pay for the upgrade.
Let’s highlight some of the main features of the Electro Punk.
The best part about this laptop is that it has a 144Hz screen, which is unheard of for a sub-$1000 laptop. What that means is smoother gameplay. For example, it doesn’t matter if your game is outputting 120 frames per seconds if your screen can only show 60Hz (60 frames). You can only take advantage of the fast refresh screen natively on the laptop. If you output to a 4k monitor using the HDMI-out, it can only display 60Hz. I think 60 is fine.
We’re also getting an i7 with 6-core chip. Again, almost unheard of for a budget laptop. Most budget laptops or desktop uses an i5 chip (or i3). The last few computers I’ve had, I have used i5 and never thought it was lacking anything. The i5 chip is fast, so I feel i7 is just going to be better.
You also won’t find this in other laptops, but the 2020 edition of the ROG Strix comes with “Liquid Metal”, which was intended to keep the laptop cool. They use this technology on their high-end laptops, so I’m very happy to see it on their cheapest laptop as well.
I think a lot of people might scoff at the built-in 512GB SSD PCI Express, saying there’s not enough storage. You have to remember that you’re getting this in a budget gaming laptop, so it’s not a surprise that they are cutting corners on storage. The good news is that there are TWO NVME slots on the motherboard. This is amazing. Most modern desktop or laptops only offers one slot. I have already put in a 1TB NVME and plan on putting in another 1TB (for a total of 2.5TB of storage) soon.
That’s not all. We also get a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphic card (4GB GDDR6). It’s a mobile version, but it’s still very fast and can handle all my games. In addition, it’s powerful enough to fuel Virtual Reality headsets, like Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Unfortunately, this is budget Graphic Card, so it’s not going to have the latest “Ray Tracing” technology that all the new GPU cards are touting.
What is funny is that one of the main features that Asus is promoting is that the Electro Punk laptop weighs 5.29 lbs. I feel this is very heavy, but compared to other gaming laptops, 5.29lbs is actually reasonable. The 1" thinness (when closed), is pretty compact for a gaming laptop.
We also get the latest WiFi6 (802.11ax). They could’ve kept it cheap and used an older (and more common) WiFi chip, so I appreciate the latest wireless technology. Unfortunately, my current router does not support the latest 802.11ax, but I like the idea that the laptop can take advantage of a faster WiFi… for future proofing.
You typically don’t see extra RGB light strips in a budget laptop, so what’s nice about the Electro Punk is that there are underlighting in sync with your keyboard RGB lights. It uses the ASUS’ Aura software to control the lights. For example, you can have the light display red when it hits 60 degree Celcius, as a visual indicator that the laptop is hot. There are also games that will take advantage of Aura, maybe flashing lights when you’re low in health or when it spots an enemy.
I do have some minor nitpicks on the laptop. I think the Neon Pink accents might actually discourage this for boys. I mean, why not go for Neon Green or Orange? I think any color would go great with the black. If you ignore the pink, and maybe think of this as a Cyberpunk design, it sort of make sense.
The other annoying thing is that venting fans are loud. They run all the time. I don’t think you can turn these off (even on “Silent Mode”). In a quiet room, you can definitely hear the laptop running.
It’s also expected, but I should reiterate, that you should not run games on this laptop on battery. Not only do games drain the battery incredibly fast (a 30-min session cut the battery by 50%), but games are choppy and doesn’t run very well. If you do light browsing and email, the laptop will probably run for less than three hours… so you’ll always want to bring the power adapter with you.
I definitely recommend the Electro Punk laptop, if you’re in the market for an all-in-one gaming PC solution. You can use it as a laptop, or you can always get an external monitor and workstation dock and treat the laptop as a desktop.
If money is no object to you, Asus advertised an Electro Punk with GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER version, but I’m assuming it will be a lot more expensive than $1,000. Overall, I’ve been very impressed with my Electro Punk and its capabilities.
For those that don’t know, this the Republic of Gamers Strix (ROG Strix) is a gaming laptop brand from ASUS. The G15 or G17 refers to the screen size, at 15 inch and 17 inch, respectively. Personally speaking, for portability, I prefer smaller screens, so I don’t mind the 15 inch, as it keeps the laptop lighter.
You can get the ROG Strix in a variety of colors, for example “Glacier Blue” or Black. This “Electro Punk” version (Black with Neon Pink trims) may actually be part of a bigger rollout of Electro Punk-related products… such as a Cherry Mechanical Keyboard, mouse, and headphones (and headphone stand?). Personally speaking, I probably won’t be buying any of those accessories, simply because I’m not a fan of the color scheme and I already own great products from Razer or Corsair, and they serve their purpose.
In order to keep costs down for the Electro Punk, there are some subpar or missing features. I’ll address some of these things, so you know what or what not to expect.
The laptop is all (or mostly) made out of plastic. It still looks good, but doesn’t have a “premium” look that some aluminum or metal laptops. The plastic looks durable to me, and I like the weird vents and cyberpunk look, so it looks fine to me.
The Electro Punk edition also has only 8GB Ram. The Strix G15 normally has 16GB, so I feel this is a stepdown. The good news is that you can always upgrade the RAM with one of their open Ram slot. I may eventually upgrade the RAM down the road, but for now, it’s not that important to me.
It also a lack of built-in webcam. This is a problem for game streamers, so if you’re one of those, you probably need to avoid this laptop. You can always buy an external USB webcam if you really need one. Most built-in webcam aren’t great anyway, it’s just a matter of convenience.
It doesn’t have a SD card reader, which really sucks… but again, you can always use an external USB dongle. Same goes for DVD/CD-Rom drive… if you need it, you’ll have to buy an external USB drive. That is not a problem for me, simply because I don’t want moving parts in a mobile device.
Keep in mind that not including those things above keeps the retail price to $999, so I think they made the right decision. If they offer a built-in SD Card Reader for $50 more, I would personally pay for the upgrade.
Let’s highlight some of the main features of the Electro Punk.
The best part about this laptop is that it has a 144Hz screen, which is unheard of for a sub-$1000 laptop. What that means is smoother gameplay. For example, it doesn’t matter if your game is outputting 120 frames per seconds if your screen can only show 60Hz (60 frames). You can only take advantage of the fast refresh screen natively on the laptop. If you output to a 4k monitor using the HDMI-out, it can only display 60Hz. I think 60 is fine.
We’re also getting an i7 with 6-core chip. Again, almost unheard of for a budget laptop. Most budget laptops or desktop uses an i5 chip (or i3). The last few computers I’ve had, I have used i5 and never thought it was lacking anything. The i5 chip is fast, so I feel i7 is just going to be better.
You also won’t find this in other laptops, but the 2020 edition of the ROG Strix comes with “Liquid Metal”, which was intended to keep the laptop cool. They use this technology on their high-end laptops, so I’m very happy to see it on their cheapest laptop as well.
I think a lot of people might scoff at the built-in 512GB SSD PCI Express, saying there’s not enough storage. You have to remember that you’re getting this in a budget gaming laptop, so it’s not a surprise that they are cutting corners on storage. The good news is that there are TWO NVME slots on the motherboard. This is amazing. Most modern desktop or laptops only offers one slot. I have already put in a 1TB NVME and plan on putting in another 1TB (for a total of 2.5TB of storage) soon.
That’s not all. We also get a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphic card (4GB GDDR6). It’s a mobile version, but it’s still very fast and can handle all my games. In addition, it’s powerful enough to fuel Virtual Reality headsets, like Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Unfortunately, this is budget Graphic Card, so it’s not going to have the latest “Ray Tracing” technology that all the new GPU cards are touting.
What is funny is that one of the main features that Asus is promoting is that the Electro Punk laptop weighs 5.29 lbs. I feel this is very heavy, but compared to other gaming laptops, 5.29lbs is actually reasonable. The 1" thinness (when closed), is pretty compact for a gaming laptop.
We also get the latest WiFi6 (802.11ax). They could’ve kept it cheap and used an older (and more common) WiFi chip, so I appreciate the latest wireless technology. Unfortunately, my current router does not support the latest 802.11ax, but I like the idea that the laptop can take advantage of a faster WiFi… for future proofing.
You typically don’t see extra RGB light strips in a budget laptop, so what’s nice about the Electro Punk is that there are underlighting in sync with your keyboard RGB lights. It uses the ASUS’ Aura software to control the lights. For example, you can have the light display red when it hits 60 degree Celcius, as a visual indicator that the laptop is hot. There are also games that will take advantage of Aura, maybe flashing lights when you’re low in health or when it spots an enemy.
I do have some minor nitpicks on the laptop. I think the Neon Pink accents might actually discourage this for boys. I mean, why not go for Neon Green or Orange? I think any color would go great with the black. If you ignore the pink, and maybe think of this as a Cyberpunk design, it sort of make sense.
The other annoying thing is that venting fans are loud. They run all the time. I don’t think you can turn these off (even on “Silent Mode”). In a quiet room, you can definitely hear the laptop running.
It’s also expected, but I should reiterate, that you should not run games on this laptop on battery. Not only do games drain the battery incredibly fast (a 30-min session cut the battery by 50%), but games are choppy and doesn’t run very well. If you do light browsing and email, the laptop will probably run for less than three hours… so you’ll always want to bring the power adapter with you.
I definitely recommend the Electro Punk laptop, if you’re in the market for an all-in-one gaming PC solution. You can use it as a laptop, or you can always get an external monitor and workstation dock and treat the laptop as a desktop.
If money is no object to you, Asus advertised an Electro Punk with GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER version, but I’m assuming it will be a lot more expensive than $1,000. Overall, I’ve been very impressed with my Electro Punk and its capabilities.
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