Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502 review (GU502GU model – i7-9750H, GTX 1660Ti)

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Specs Sheet
Design and exterior
Keyboard and trackpad
Screen
Hardware and performance
Noise, heat and speakers
Battery life
Price and availability
Final thoughts
Comments

By Andrei GirbeaAsus ROG Zephyrus M GU502GU, last updated on May 24, 2020

Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502GU

Summary: The Zephyrus M GU502 is an excellent multi-purpose laptop, and while expensive at the time of this review, it will increase in value in the months to come, as it gets discounted. Asus put together an excellently crafted and practical notebook, a good typer and a solid performer once tweaked, both with everyday use and with demanding loads and games, but there are still a few particularities and certain missing features that might steer those interested in a competent all-rounder towards something else, as you'll find from our in-depth review down below.

Our score: 4.25 / 5
Price when reviewed: from $1799

THE GOOD

sturdily built, compact and light
mostly practical design
fast and quiet keyboard
good 144 Hz IPS screen
good performer, but tweaking is required for the best experience in games and demanding workloads
decent battery life

THE BAD

no card-reader or Thunderbolt 3, no biometrics
you'll want to upgrade the SSD and add 32 GB of RAM
runs hot and loud out-of-the-box, but manual tweaking improves these aspects
average quality bottom placed speakers
expensive for a 1660Ti configuration

Table of Contents

The specs sheet as reviewed
Design and exterior
Keyboard and trackpad
Screen
Hardware and performance
Emissions (noise, heat), Connectivity and speakers
Battery life
Price and availability
Vs the Competition
Final thoughts

We’ve talked about the mid-2019 lineup of Asus ROG Zephyrus gaming ultraportables in several previous articles, and in this one, we’ll further take an in-depth look at the Zephyrus M GU502 subseries.

The Zephyrus M sits just beneath the top-tier Zephyrus S versions and above the much more affordable Zephyrus G, as a compact and light gaming machine with modern hardware specs and features. It’s lighter and sturdier built than the S models and slightly more affordable as well, but it lacks GSync and the AAS cooling system, and is only available with mid-tier Nvidia Turing graphics, either the GTX 1660Ti or the RTX 2060 chips.

Our test unit is the Zephyrus M GU502GU that’s already available in most regions at the time of this article, with the Core i7-7950H processor, Nvidia GTX 1660Ti graphics and a FHD 144 Hz screen. That’s a well balanced mid-tier configuration, but with a starting price of $1799 at the time of this post, this is not as competitive as the GX502, especially since the RTX 2060 90W variant of the GX502 is just $100 extra.

Prices will adjust in the future, though, so it’s best to look at this laptop’s capabilities and flaws, which we’ll analyze in the review below, and then factor in the pricing and the competition, before deciding if this is the right unit for you or not.

The specs sheet as reviewed

	Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502GU
Screen	15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080 px resolution, IPS, 144 HZ, matte, AU Optronics AUO82ED panel
Processor	Intel Coffee Lake-R Core i7-9750H, six-core
Video	Intel UHD 630 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB 80W (GeForce 430.86)
Memory	32 GB DDR4 2666 MHz (16 GB soldered, 1x DIMMs)
Storage	512 GB SSD (M.2 80 mm PCIe x2 – Intel 660p SSDPEKNW512G8) + 1 extra M.2 80 mm slot
Connectivity	Intel 9560 AC 2×2 WiFi with Bluetooth 5.0, Realtek RTL8168/8111 Gigabit LAN
Ports	3x USB-A 3.1, 1x USB-C gen 2 with DP and charging, HDMI 2.0b, LAN, headphone/mic, Kensington Lock
Battery	76 Wh, 230 W power adapter, 65W USB-C adapter included in some regions
Size	360 mm or 14.17” (w) x 252 mm or 9.92” (d) x 18.9 mm or .74” (h)
Weight	1.91 kg (4.21 lb), .80 kg (1.76 lbs) power brick and cables, EU version
Extras	RGB backlit keyboard with per-key control, 2x bottom stereo speakers, FHD external webcam

Our review unit is a pre-production sample offered by Asus for the purpose of this review, but it performed just as you should expect from the final retail models.

Update: Our review of the updated 2020 ROG Zephyrus M15 is also available here.

Retail configurations might get different amounts of memory and storage, but for the most part you’ll get two different GU502 versions, the GU502GU reviewed here, with the GTX 1660Ti 80W GPU, and the GU502GV, with the RTX 2060 90W GPU, both mostly available with 16 GB of RAM and the 144 Hz display.

Design and exterior

We’ve talked about this lineup’s design and construction particularities in our review of the GX502, so we’re not going to get that in-depth about it here anymore, since the GU502 is pretty much identical to the GX502, with a single important difference: it no longer gets the AAS system underneath.

The AAS (Active Aerodynamic System) consists of the bottom flap that lifts up the laptop in order to ensure extra room for the fresh air to be sucked in, thus improve cooling. Normally, not having this system might seem like a significant downgrade, as cooling is extremely important when you cram powerful hardware inside such a thin notebook, but in reality, it’s not.

If you’ll look at the picture below that compares the GX502 and the GU502, you’ll see that the GU502 is already designed with a slight downwards facing angle and taller rubber feet at the back, to ensure there’s still enough space for cooling, so the only difference is in the fact that the bottom of the GU502 gets perceivably hotter to the touch with demanding loads, while the GX502 will feel cooler because you’re not actually getting in touch with the part of the chassis that’s right next to the components, as that’s hidden behind the flap.

That aside, the GU502 is actually a sturdier device for on-the-go use, without the magnesium flap, and eliminates a moving part that could potentially break in time. It’s also a tag lighter as a result, at only 1.9 kilos, and cleaner, as it ditches the RGB LEDs hidden behind the flap on the GX502 models.

All in all, the GU502 is, in my opinion, the more practical and potentially more reliable design of the two, and I prefer this simpler bottom construction over the AAS system.

The two lineups are otherwise identical in design and construction, with the same sturdy magnesium shell and hard plastic underbelly that feel great to the touch and do a great job at concealing fingerprints, the same brushed aluminum lid-cover, the same restricting hinge mechanism that only allows the screen to lean back to about 120-130 degrees, and the same lights and branding elements. Those include an always-on red power button, status LEDs placed just beneath the screen, and a red panel-lit ROG logo on the lid, which cannot be controlled or turned off, since it’s tied to the panel’s illumination.

I should also add that I’d advise placing this laptop inside a protective sleep when carrying it in your backpack, as the lid is not as strongly crafted as the main chassis. You should also be careful if you wear a watch with a metallic band, the black coating on the magnesium interior can dent fairly easily, revealing the true-silver color of the alloy underneath. In fact, I’ve managed to accidentally dent this unit with my watch, as you’ll see in the second picture from the gallery just above.

As far as the IO goes, the Zephyrus M GU502 is once more identical to the GX502 lineup, with most of the ports lined up on the left edge, but no Thunderbolt 3 support or card-reader.

Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard is another aspect shared between the Zephyrus M and S lineups, with a pretty good layout and quick, friendly feedback.

The main deck consists of properly spaced and sized 15 x 15 mm keys, slightly smaller function keys at the top and rather small arrows, but at least these are well spaced from the keys around. There’s also an extra column of Function keys at the right, again spaced out from the main deck, as well as some multimedia keys at the top that allow to quickly adjust the volume, control the microphone and launch Armoury Crate, features gamers like to have at their fingertips.

The keycaps are softly coated and comfortable to touch, and typing on this keyboard felt quick and reliable, once I got used to the feedback, which is similar to most ultraportables out there, so rather familiar for me. It will take a while to get used to if you’re coming from an older laptop or a deeper-stroke keyboard, though, so your experience might differ from mine.

This is also a very quiet typer, with most of the domes being imperceptible in a normal environment, however the space key squeaks and it might draw attention in the quietest of places, like in a library.

The keys are individually lit, with bright LEDs beneath each keycap and very little light creeping from underneath. Illumination for the F1 to F12 writing on the function keys is missing, though, as only the secondary functions light up (see the pictures below for details), and that can get really annoying when looking to hit a browser shortcut in the dark.

The illumination is controlled in Asus’s Aura subsection of Armoury Crate, which allows opting for a few different effects. The software is still not as detailed as the ones on the Razer or Lenovo laptops, but it includes 8 different lighting effects, sync with external compatible peripherals and certain games, allowing you to use lighting to highlight different aspects that you might find useful, like your health and mana bar, or perhaps emphasize the commonly used combos. I still find that mostly a gimmick, but hey, I’m no longer a gamer, so don’t mind me if you feel otherwise.

I should also add that swiping your fingers over the clickpad immediately activates the illumination, just as it should, and Asus also implemented a useful CapsLock indicator within the CapsLock key.

Better control over the overall lighting system would be nice, though, including control over the light in the power button and the ROG logo on the lid, if that were RGB lit. As far as I know, Asus is aware of this and working on an updated Aura Sync app that should be available sometimes in an indefinite future.

Just beneath the keyboard, centered on the main-chassis, sits an averagely sized clickpad with a smooth plastic surface, Elan hardware, and Precision drivers. It performs well with everyday use, taps and gestures, but you might want to increase the sensitivity from the settings, I found it a bit slow out-of-the-box. I haven’t noticed any sluggishness, stuttering, skipping or other issues during my time with the laptop, but make sure to give yours a proper test, Asus have had issues with Elan touchpads in the past.

The clicks are integrated within the surface and they’re clicky, but also rather clunky and loud. The surface still rattles when tapped firmer on the bottom half, but less than on the GX502 sample we’ve tested in the past, which suggests a degree of QC randomness.

These aside, I’ll also add that there are no biometrics on the 2019 Zephyrus M GU502, just like on the other models. Back when I got to ask Asus’s officials about this, I was told they’re working on implementing a finger sensor on future generations, but they couldn’t get something good-enough this time around. As far as IR cameras go, that’s very low on people’s list of preferences according to their studies, and they didn’t even bother with it. In fact, they totally ditched the webcam on this laptop anyway, opting for an included external camera instead.

Screen

According to the official specs, Asus offers the Zephyrus M GU502 with either a 144 Hz/3 ms or a 240 Hz/3ms panel, both matte 15.6-inch IPS FHD screens. However, most of the available configurations ship with the 144 Hz panel, the one we got on our review unit, leaving the 240 Hz screen primarily for the Zephyrus S lineup.

The 144Hz option is the popular AU Optronics AUO82ED (B156HAN08.2) that’s available on many other gaming ultraportables out there, pretty good for daily use as long as you keep it indoors, and an excellent option for gaming, due to the short response times and high refresh rate. We have seen various implementations of this panel, though, with brightness ranging from 250 to 300 nits and different black/contrast levels, so there’s most likely a QC variation in this as well.

In fact, the panel on this particular review unit turned to be dimmer and poorer calibrated than the same exact panel on the GX502 model we’ve tested a while ago, and I’m pretty sure that’s associated with the pre-production manner of this unit. Hence, I’m not going to include the findings in here, because they’re skewed and not what you’ll get with the retails units, based on my experience with this particular panel on multiple other implementations reviewed in the past, but I’ll paste the characteristics of the same panel tested on the GX502 configuration instead:

Panel Hardware ID: AU Optronics AUO82ED (B156HAN08.2);
Coverage: 97% sRGB, 70% NTSC, 75% AdobeRGB;
Measured gamma: 2.2;
Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 273 cd/m2 on power;
Contrast at max brightness: 680:1;
White point: 6300 K;
Black on max brightness: 0.40 cd/m2;
PWM: No;
Response time: 3 ms advertised, ~11 ms BTW.

I will also add that Asus ships the panel with a Pantone certification, so it should be fairly well calibrated out of the box. Light bleeding and uniformity shouldn’t be an issue either, and PWM is not used for brightness modulation.

That aside, you should know that unlike the Zephyrus S GX502 series, the Zephyrus M does not offer a dual GSync/Optimus mode and as far as I’ve been told, as it lacks the physical MUX switch required to route image via either the dGPU or the iGPU. As a result, it only supports Optimus, which disables the Nvidia GPU when not needed in order to save battery life. GSync should still be possible on compatible external monitors via USB-C >> DP adaptors, but I haven’t looked into this. GSync via HDMI >> HDMI is not supported, as you probably know by now. We’ll further touch on this matter in a different article, right now I don’t have the required USB-C >> DP cable to properly test this out.

It’s also worth mentioning that the system automatically lowers the screen’s refresh rate to 60 Hz when unplugging the laptop, and resets it back to 144 Hz when plugging it back in, to further save up battery. You can dig through the settings to set it at 144 Hz on battery, in the eventuality you don’t want to give up on the smoothness of a high-refresh screen even with daily use, but you’d have to manually do it every time and then manually set it back to 144 Hz, so I wouldn’t bother.

Hardware and performance

Our test model is a mid-range configuration of the Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502GU, with the Core i7-9750H processor, 32 GB of DRR4 2666 MHz RAM (16 GB soldered, and an extra 16 GB DIMM), a single Intel 660p M.2 PCIe SSD and dual graphics, with the 80W version of the Nvidia GTX 1660Ti graphics chip alongside the Intel UHD 630 chip within the Intel CPU.

It’s worth noting that the included SSD will most likely differ from region to region, but the Intel 660p on our sample is a rather slow QLC SSD, and pretty much all the other laptops in this class ship with faster drives. Don’t forget our unit is a pre-release sample, so final retail units might actually ship with something else, but make sure to check the SSD’s performance if you plan to keep that drive that comes preinstalled.

Getting to the components is easier on this Zephyrus M than on the S models, as there’s no longer that AAS system to remove. The laptop opens from underneath and you’ll have to remove the screws that keep the bottom panel in place in order to get inside. All these screws are visible, and inside you’ll find the single RAM slot, the two SSD slots, the battery, speakers and the complex thermal module.

Before we proceed to talk about our review unit’s behavior and performance you should know that it is a pre-production model, but with mature drivers from Nvidia (GeForce 430.86), thus it performs in our opinion in line with what you should expect from the retail models, that’s why we put this through our standard set of tests and published the results below.

While the ROG Zephyrus M is still primarily advertised as a gaming ultraportable, I consider that status is mostly reserved for the GX line with the beefier graphics, while this is mostly a well-balanced allrounder that can tackle mundane use, intensive work tasks and gaming at the end of the workday.

We’ll get to gaming down below, but first, you should know that this handles everyday chores smoothly, while running coolly and quietly. The fans never stuff completely off, not even on the Silent mode in Armoury Crate, but spin slowly (at about 34-38 dB according to out metter, and 25-28 dB according to the reading in Armoury Crate), so you’re not going to hear them in a normal environment, but you still will in a quiet room. Nonetheless, here’s what to expect in terms of performance and CPU/GPU thermals with browsing, text-editing, and video streaming.

Back when we tested the GX502 we mentioned there’s an Edge bug that plagues ROG laptops and keeps calling on the dGPU, with an impact on battery life. The log above showcases that the bug is still present, so you might want to use another browser (preferably not Chrome, though, if you care about battery life).

On to more demanding tasks, we’ll start by testing the CPU’s performance in 100% loads, and we do that by running Cinebench R15 for 10+ times in a loop, with 2-3 seconds delay between each run, with the laptop on the Maximum Performance Power profile. Most implementations of the i7-9750H CPU return high-scores for the first Cinebench runs, and then settle a little lower as the CPU heats-up and can no longer maintain its maximum Turbo speeds for more than a few seconds.

Asus’s ROG laptops get three standard power profiles: Turbo, Balanced and Silent, and we’ve tested our sample on Balanced and Turbo, since Silence caps the performance and favors low noise levels instead.

The Balanced profile sets a TDP limit of 45 W, which simulates what a standard implementation of this processor would normally return: Clock speeds of 3.3+ GHz, 45W+ TDP, temperatures of around 75-76 degrees Celsius and scores of 1100+ points.

The Turbo mode ups the TDP limit and favors improved performance. On this mode, the 9th gen i7 CPU performs better than most standard implementations, settling for speeds of 3.8-4.0 GHz, a TDP of 62+ W, temperatures of around 80-84 degrees Celsius, as well as scores of 1230+ points. Power Limit Throttling is still the limiting factor here, and not Thermal Throttling.

It’s worth noting that the CPU runs a little hotter and returns marginally lower scores on the GU502 compared to the GX502 previously tested, but that might well be due to the normal variation between processors or the different thermal solution, as we’ll explain in a further section.

Next, we proceed to further tweak the CPU by undervolting it. Asus tends to already bake in an undervolt on these Zephyrus lineups, which explains the solid out-of-the-box performance on Turbo and leaves little room for further tweaking. Just like on the GX502 and GX531, we were only able to lower the CPU’s voltage by a further -50mV before it became unstable. That was still enough to alleviate the PL Throttling and get stable 4.0 GHz frequencies during the Cinebench loop test, with temperatures of 80+ degrees Celsius and a TDP of 62+ W, returning scores of 1260+ points, which is pretty much the maximum performance you can expect from the i7-9750H processor.

The performance is limited on battery, though, as the CPU is capped at only 18 W on the Balanced mode (Turbo is not available on battery), which translates in clock speeds of 2.3+ GHz, scores of 700+ points and temperatures under 60 degrees Celsius. That’s perfectly fine for everyday use, but don’t expect to run demanding chores while unplugged.

Next, we’ve included a set of benchmarks, for those of you interested in numbers. We ran some of them on the default Turbo profile first, with out-of-the-box settings. Here’s what we got:

3DMark 11: 17305 (Graphics – 19626, Physics – 13091);
3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 13314 (Graphics – 14827, Physics – 16859);
3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 5829 (Graphics – 5667, CPU – 6959);
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 3081;
GeekBench 4.1.1 64-bit: Single-Core: 5209 Multi-core: 23845;
CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 1277 cb, CPU Single Core 177 cb;
CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 2975 cb;
x264 HD Benchmark 4.0 32-bit: Pass 1 – 215.95 fps, Pass 2 – 79.34 fps.

We also ran a few more tests on what we’ll further call the OC profile, with the CPU undervolted at -50 mV, Turbo Mode and the GPU overclocked in the Asus GPU Tweak II app at +200 MHz Core and + 1000 MHz memory, with the fans still on Auto.

Here’s what we got in this case:

3DMark 11: 18150 (Graphics – 21080, Physics – 13155);
3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 13840 (Graphics – 15452, Physics – 16733);
3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 6063 (Graphics – 5954, CPU – 6769);
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 3211;
PCMark 10: 5495 (Essentials – 9129, Productivity – 7423, Digital Content Creation – 6646);
PassMark: Rating: 6117, CPU mark: 15037, 3D Graphics Mark: 10082;
GeekBench 4 64-bit: Single-Core: 5222 Multi-core: 23999;
CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 1278 cb, CPU Single Core 177 cb;
CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 3035 cb;
x264 HD Benchmark 4.0 32-bit: Pass 1 – 218.12 fps, Pass 2 – 79.42 fps.

The OC profile leads to very little gains in CPU performance, since the performance is already hyped-up on the standard Turbo profile. The GPU scores do increase by 3-6%, due to the +200 MHz frequency boost, which applies to both Base and Turbo clock speeds, but it’s important to note that the GPU does not entirely benefit of this boost in tests and real-life gaming, most likely due to Power/Thermal Limit Throttling kicking in at the GPU level. We haven’t looked into this matter, but further tweaking should be possible with a slight GPU undervolt, possible with apps like MSI Afterburner.

It’s also important to add that the OC profile doesn’t have a significant impact in CPU/GPU temperatures in demanding loads, with only a small down-variation for the CPU and a small up variation for the GPU, as you can see in the following 3DMark logs, as well as down below, in the gaming performance section.

With that out of the way, let’s look at some gaming results. We ran a couple of games representative for DX11 and DX12 architectures, both on the Standard Turbo profile, as well as on the OC Turbo, Balanced and Silent profiles, in order to see what you can expect in terms of fps and temperatures if you decide to sacrifice on performance and thermals for lower noise levels, on the Balanced and especially the Silent profiles.

Here’s what we got on this sample:

	FHD Turbo	FHD Balanced OC	FHD Silent OC	FHD Turbo OC
Battlefield V (DX 12, Ultra Preset, Ray-Tracing OFF)	74–88 fps	74-90 fps	70-84* fps	76-92 fps
Far Cry 5 (DX 11, Ultra Preset, SMAA)	82 fps	82 fps	76* fps	83 fps
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (DX 11, Ultra Preset)	141 fps	140 fps	132* fps	141 fps
Rise of Tomb Raider (DX 12, Very High Preset, FXAA)	75 fps	75 fps	68* fps	75 fps
Shadow of Tomb Raider (DX 12, Highest Preset, TAA)	67 fps	67 fps	61* fps	68 fps
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (DX 11, Ultra Preset, Hairworks On 4)	64–92 fps	58–84 fps	52-78* fps	68-96 fps

Battlefield V, The Witcher 3 – recorded with Fraps/in-game FPS counter in campaign mode;
Far Cry 5, Middle Earth, Tomb Raider games – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities.

We also ran the same titles on an external 4K monitor, hooked up to the laptop via the HDMI 2.0 port. This is a new section of our reviews and is sponsored by Acer, who supplied us with their Nitro XV273K 4K 144 Hz gaming monitor (follow this link for more details).

	4K Turbo OC
Battlefield V (DX 12, Ultra Preset, Ray-Tracing OFF)	24-32 fps
Battlefield V (DX 12, Medium Preset, Ray-Tracing OFF)	36-46 fps
Far Cry 5 (DX 11, Ultra Preset, SMAA)	31 fps
Far Cry 5 (DX 11, Normal Preset, SMAA)	36 fps
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (DX 11, Ultra Preset)	51 fps
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (DX 11, Ultra Preset)	60 fps
Rise of Tomb Raider (DX 12, Very High Preset, FXAA)	35 fps
Rise of Tomb Raider (DX 12, Medium Preset, FXAA)	44 fps
Shadow of Tomb Raider (DX 12, Highest Preset, TAA)	23 fps
Shadow of Tomb Raider (DX 12, Medium Preset, SMAA)	32 fps
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (DX 11, Ultra Preset, Hairworks High – 4)	34-42 fps
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (DX 11, Medium Preset, Hairworks Low – 0)	50-62 fps

The HWinfo logs below show the CPU and GPU speeds and temperatures in Farcry 5, Battlefield V and Witcher 3 on the default Turbo FHD profile, with the fans on Auto, which keeps them running at 6400+ rpm and about 52-53 dB at head level according to our reader, or 52 dB according to the reading in Armoury Crate.

Here’s what happens when switching to the OC Turbo profile. The fans’ behavior remains the same, at 6400+ rpm and 52-53 dB at head-level.

If that’s too loud, you can switch to the Balanced OC profile, in which case the fans drop to 46-47 dB. That comes with a ~10% decrease in performance and a 5-10% increase in temperatures, especially at the GPU level, which needs to clock down as a result.

If that’s still too loud, you can opt to run games on the Silent mode, which lowers the noise levels to only about 38-40 dB, but with a significant drop in performance and an increase in both internal and outer case thermals.

In fact, Gaming on Silent is most likely not an option on this laptop, because the experience varies between intervals or playable fps counts and intervals when the fps drop to 20-30. That happens as soon as the GPU hits 80 degrees C, and the performance kicks back up for a few minutes once it cools below 70 C, as shown in the logs.

Gaming on battery is also not an option, as both the CPU and GPU throttle to low frequencies in this case.

Lastly, I should add that gaming while plugged into an external monitor does translate in a slight drop in CPU/GPU temperatures, but pretty much the same performance.

Also, limiting the CPU’s Turbo Clock has an impact over temperatures, noise and performance, and it might just be the smartest way to game on this laptop if you’re not using headphones. Here’s what happens with the CPU limited at 2.6 GHz, on Balanced and on the Turbo OC profiles. Don’t forget that you might be able to squeeze even better performance if you undervolt the GPU.

Anyway, if you don’t want to dig through the logs, this is what we got in Witcher 3:

Default, Turbo (Turbo Mode, fans on Auto – 6400+ rpm, 52-53 dB): CPU: ~4.0 GHz, 85 C; GPU: ~1.67 GHz, 75 C;
OC profile, Turbo (-50 mV undervolted CPU, GPU +200 MHz Clock/ +1000 MHz Memory, fans on Auto – 6400+ rpm, 52-53 dB): CPU: ~4.0 GHz, 82 C; GPU: ~1.74 GHz, 72 C.
OC profile, Balanced (-50 mV undervolted CPU, GPU +200 MHz Clock/ +1000 MHz Memory, fans on Auto – 5300+ rpm, 46-47 dB): CPU: ~3.96 GHz, 83 C; GPU: ~1.6 GHz, 78 C.
OC profile, Balanced with limited CPU (-50 mV undervolted CPU, GPU +200 MHz Clock/ +1000 MHz Memory, fans on Auto – 5300+ rpm, 46-47 dB): CPU: ~2.6 GHz, 72 C; GPU: ~1.76 GHz, 73 C.
OC profile, Turbo with limited CPU (-50 mV undervolted CPU, GPU +200 MHz Clock/ +1000 MHz Memory, fans on Auto – 6400+ rpm, 52-53 dB): CPU: ~2.6 GHz, 68 C; GPU: ~1.64 GHz, 69 C.
OC profile, Silent (-50 mV undervolted CPU, GPU +200 MHz Clock/ +1000 MHz Memory, fans on Auto – 4000+ rpm, 38-40 dB): CPU: ~3.45 GHz, 81 C; GPU: ~1.43 GHz, 75 C.

For some weird reason, the Balanced OC profile with the limited CPU returned the best performance on this sample, combined with the best balance of thermals and acoustics, and that’s what I’d recommend opting for on this laptop, unless running CPU intensive games that could benefit from a higher clocked processor.

My reference for 1660 Ti gaming performance inside a 15-inch chassis is still the MSI GL63, with its beefy cooling solution. Compared to that one, the Zephyrus M GU502 runs hotter, but only within 5-8 degrees C at CPU/GPU level, as well as within 5-10% of its maximum performance, which is definitely impressing for an ultraportable chassis. It’s also worth noting that the thermal implementation leaves some extra room for improved performance on the 90W RTX 2060 configurations, although outer case temperatures rise to uncomfortable levels with gaming on this implementation, and will most likely rise even higher with the 2060.

Emissions (noise, heat), Connectivity and speakers

The Zephryus M GU502 gets a complex thermal module, with two high-capacity fans and an array of heatpipes and thermal plates.

This does a good job at keeping the CPU and GPU at bay, despite the laptop’s small form-factor and thin profile. The fans do get loud when the notebook runs on Turbo, at up to 52-53 dB at head-level, so you’ll need headphones to cover them up. On this profile, the laptop’s exterior also reaches fairly high temperatures, especially on the underside. On the inside, the upper part reaches temperatures in the high 40s, the WASD keys hit a maximum of 41-42 degrees Celsius, and the arrow keys 35-37 degrees, so overall this GU502 actually runs a little warmer than the RTX 2070 bundled GX502 we’ve reviewed earlier.

And that’s because it doesn’t get the exact same thermal module, but one with some thinner heatpipes on the GPU side, which actually seem to make a difference in the end, despite the wattage difference. Down below there’s the cooling on the GX502, for comparison.

You can limit the noise by opting for the Balanced mode (to 46-47 dB), and although and the fans run at only 38-40 dB on the Silent profile, the gaming experience is inconsistent and most titles won’t run properly on this mode.

The fans are also active with daily use, even on the Silent mode, so this laptop is never completely silent, but at 34-38 dB (or 25-30 dB according to Armoury Crate), you’ll only hear them in quiet environments.

I do have to mention that better fan control would be appreciated on ROG laptops, mostly the ability to create a versatile fan-curve based on temperature brackets. That’s not available as of right now, but I’ve been told it will be available with a future software update of Armoury Crate.

*Daily Use – streaming Netflix on Edge for 30 minutes, fans on Auto (34-38 dB)
*Load default Turbo – playing Far Cry 5 for 30 minutes, Default Turbo profile, fans on Auto (52-53 dB)
*Load OC Balanced limited CPU – playing Far Cry 5 for 30 minutes, Balanced Profile with OC GPU and CPU limited at 2.6 GHz, fans on Auto (46-47 dB)
*Load OC Turbo – playing Far Cry 5 for 30 minutes, OC Turbo profile, fans on Auto (52-53 dB)

For connectivity, there’s an Intel 9560 2×2 Wireless AC implementation inside this laptop, with Bluetooth 5.0, as well as Gigabit Lan through a Realtek module. We’ve mostly used our sample on wireless, and it performed well both near the router and at 30+ feet away, with obstacles in between. However, for some reason, this sample did not reach the same speeds as the GX502, which is one more fault I attribute to the pre-production status of our unit, as the two share the same Wi-Fi chip and 2×2 internal design.

As far as the speakers go, there’s a set of them firing through cuts on the lateral sides of the underbelly, and they’re about average. We measured maximum volumes of on only around 73-74 dB, without any distortions, with middling sound quality and fairly lacking lows, noticeable from around 100 Hz. Just like on the GX502, we couldn’t get the Audio Wizard app installed on our review unit, and that might increase volumes and perhaps even quality by a fair bit on the final products. It’s also worth mentioning that it’s easy to cover and obstruct these speakers when using the computer on the lap, due to their positioning on the underbelly.

Update: We were able to run Audio Wizard on the Zephyrus G GA502 which sports the exact same speakers, and they turned out much louder at 86-88 dB, but without a change in quality.

There’s no internal webcam on the Zephyrus M GU502, instead, Asus bundles an external FHD webcam instead, which offers better image quality. You do get a pair of microphones just beneath the screen.

Battery life

The Zephyrus M gets the same 76 Wh from the updated Zephyrus S. It’s still smaller than you’ll get with pretty much all the premium ultraportables, but it’s within 10% of most alternatives, so it can deliver decent battery life, especially with Optimus and that trick that switches the screen to 60 Hz while on battery.

Here’s what we got on our sample, with the screen set at 30%, roughly 120-nits of brightness.

16.4 W (~4 h 30 min of use) – text editing in Google Drive in Firefox, Silent Power Profile, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON;
16 W (~4 h 30 min of use) – 1080p Youtube fullscreen in Edge, Silent Power Profile, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON;
14.6 W (~5 h of use) – 1080p Netflix fullscreen video in Edge, Silent Power Profile, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON;
23 W (~3 h 30 min of use) – browsing in Edge, Balanced Power Profile, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON;
50 W (~1 h 20 min of use) – Gaming – Shadow of Mordor, Balanced Power Profile, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON.

Asus pairs this configuration with a 230 Wh power brick. It’s averagely sized and weighs around 1.76 lbs (.8 kg) for the European version, including cables. A full battery charge takes about 2 hours.

This laptop also charges via USB-C though, at up to 65 W, and I’ve been told Asus will bundle a secondary USB-C charger in the retail packages, in some regions. As far as I can tell, though, the retail units available in the US and Europe at the time of this post don’t get this extra charger, please correct me if I’m wrong. Don’t expect to play games on USB-C, but that will allow you to run daily activities just fine, or fill up the laptop while traveling, without having to carry that 1.76 lbs main charger with you.

Price and availability

The Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502 is already available in stores in some areas, but mostly in the GU502GU variant reviewed here, with the Intel Core i7-9750H processor, Nvidia GTX 1660Ti 80 W GPU, 16 GB of RAM, a 512 GB SSD and the 144Hz screen, with an MSRP of $1799 in the US and as low as 1600 EUR in Europe. The European pricing is competitive, but the laptop is only listed by very few shops, and that might prove incorrect.

A higher end Zephyrus M GU502GV version with RTX 2060 graphics might also be offered down the line, but I’d expect its availability to be limited, as it would compete with the higher-tier GX502GV.

As a heads-up, Asus bundles this with some peripherals on most markets (mouse, mouse-pad, etc), but at the same time most likely includes a slow SSD that you might want to upgrade. On top of that, given that the 16 GB of RAM is soldered on the motherboard, you’ll have to buy another 16 GB DIMM in order to get dual-channel memory, which makes a big difference in most games.

Follow this link for updated prices and configurations at the time you’re reading the article.

Vs the Competition

While that’s a topic we’ll mostly cover in another article, let’s quickly touch on the competition here as well.

This is not one of those bang-for-the-buck laptops. You’ll find many similarly specced devices for a lot less, from the Acer Nitro 7 and Predator Helios 300 to the Lenovo Legion Y740 and the Dell Gaming G7, without even considering the Clevo-based options out there, and you’ll find better-specced options for the same kind of money, with RTX 2060 and even 2070 graphics, like the ROG Strix Scar II , the ROG Scar III or the HP Gaming 15.

With the Zephyrus M GU502, you’re paying a premium for the ultraportable form-factor and the excellent magnesium chassis. In fact, you’re actually paying a higher premium than with the GX502, as the 2060 variant of the Zephyrus S GX502 sells for $1899 and includes GSync and the AAS cooling. That aside, I’m not sure whether the 2060 variant gets the same thermal module we’ve seen on the RTX 2070 version, but if it does, that’s one more reason to get the GX502 instead.

In fact, I expect the Zephyrus M GU502GU to drop in price quickly, as it’s just expensive for a 1660Ti configuration.

That’s why the GU502 faces challenge mostly from RTX 2060 based devices, like the more affordable Acer Predator Triton 500, or the slightly more expensive MSI GS65 Stealth Thin and Razer Blade 15, each with their pros and cons, as you’ll find from our reviews.

This is also a worthy and capable alternative for the all-rounder kings of the 15-inch segment, the Dell XPS 15 and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme, which it matches in terms of build, outmatches in terms of performance, but unfortunately trails behind them in the IO, battery life and screen quality departments. The 300-nits AUO panel is just not as versatile as the higher brightness, higher resolution and even the OLED panel options available on the XPS and ThinkPad.

Final thoughts

On that note, the Zephyrus M GU502 is an excellent multi-purpose laptop, and while expensive right now, it should increase in value in the months to come as it gets discounted.

Update: Our review of the updated 2020 ROG Zephyrus M15 is also available here.

Asus put together excellently crafted and mostly practical notebook, a good typer and a solid performer once tweaked, capable of running quietly and cooly with everyday use, or fast with demanding loads and games. I’m only rating it at 4.25 though, as I still believe there’s better value for a gamer in the RTX 2060 variant of the Zephyrus S GX502, as well as quite a few quirks that might steer those interested in a competent all-rounder towards something else.

Among those, there’s the fact that the screen is not bright enough for outdoor use, which you might need in an all-rounder, and also doesn’t lean back past 120-130 degrees, the battery life and speakers are not spectacular by any means, and the IO lacks Thunderbolt 3 or a card reader.

Quality control is another concerning aspect that has plagued Asus laptops in the past, that’s why I would advise you to only get this from reputable stores that properly handle returns and potential RMAs, and don’t be disappointed if you do end up with quirky product that you’ll have to send back, just be aware that it can happen.

We’ll wrap up our review of the Zephyrus M GU502GU here, but the comments section down below awaits your feedback, questions, and impressions, and I’d love to hear what you think about this laptop and its overall value.

Disclaimer: Our content is reader-supported. If you buy through some of the links on our site, we may earn a commission. Terms.

Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com. I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.

102 Comments

Igor

June 14, 2019 at 8:03 pm

Hello! Thank you for review! What will you choose gu502 1660ti vs msi gs65 stealth 1660ti?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  June 18, 2019 at 10:59 am
  
  Both have their pros and cons, but the GU502 is stronger built, so that's the one I'd get IF Thunderbolt 3 would not be a must.
  
  Reply
  - Igor
    
    June 18, 2019 at 9:47 pm
    
    Thanks for the answer! Why is everyone talking about Thunderbolt 3? What cases do you want to use it in? Connecting an external video card is pointless, where else?
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    June 19, 2019 at 9:15 am
    
    pretty much connecting a dGPU, everything else (video, charging, transfer) is possible via the available USB-C port
- Dani Rumak
  
  January 5, 2020 at 6:08 pm
  
  Hey I want a new laptop but don't know if choosing this Zephyrus, MSI P75 Creator 9SD-649ES Intel Core i7-9750H/32GB/1TB SSD/GTX 1660Ti/17.3" or MSI GS75 Stealth 9SD-1039XES Intel Core i7-9750H/16GB/1TB SSD/GTX 1660Ti/17.3". PLEASE HELP ME TO CHOOSE.
  
  Reply
Stefan Simov

June 15, 2019 at 4:14 am

Was really surprised to read that there is only a $100 difference to the RTX 2060 S model. Although I also highly prefer not to have the AAS, as it overcomplicates things (LED inside the AAS, and the possibility of dust getting inside there), if it offers better cooling with more heatpipes, it's not an easy choice to make. A further $100~$200 cut to the price would be great.

Looking forward to the Glacier Blue versions as well! They seem to have struck gold with the color choice there.

Reply
Sandy

June 15, 2019 at 10:18 am

Great review as always. Yes, I agree that it's expensive, and in my country with that price you can get an RTX-powered laptop.

Please review the new budget Asus ROG Strix G G531. It looks good on paper, and comes with attractive price (at least in Malaysia and Thailand). I'm curious about your view on it. Thank you.

Reply
Jauquin Thomas

July 7, 2019 at 10:45 pm

How easy is it to tear down and repaste the laptop? Anything I know before attempting to repaste?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  July 8, 2019 at 9:47 am
  
  Not complicated as long as you know what you're doing, the screws are visible once you remove the thermal tape pieces. there's a warranty sticker on one of the screws, so I'm sure you know that repasting voids warranty.
  
  Reply
Jasper

July 15, 2019 at 8:23 pm

My TimeSpy score is weirdly low on my GU502, it's only getting around 5800 and mines even a 2060 model. I only have it undervolted to -50mv. Do you know what may be the problem? Thanks!

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  July 15, 2019 at 8:27 pm
  
  what are the CPU and Graphics subscores?
  
  Reply
  - Jasper
    
    July 15, 2019 at 8:31 pm
    
    The GPU scored 6116 and the CPU scored 4455.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    July 15, 2019 at 8:36 pm
    
    Looks like the CPU is the issue.
    Are you running the laptop on Turbo?
    Try to run the Cinebench loop test explained in this article and see if you get the same speeds in the Hwinfo log. You can also look at the 3Dmark monitoring numbers and compare the findings to ours, perhaps your CPU heats up very fast and clocks down more aggressively than the one on our unit.
  - Jasper
    
    July 15, 2019 at 8:39 pm
    
    I'll try to run the Cinebench test and see. As for the temperature, it only slightly get past 80C and the max clockspeed is 3,990 MHz.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    July 15, 2019 at 9:41 pm
    
    It should score higher than that. Can you confirm you have the latest drivers from the Asus website and you're running on Turbo from Armoury Crate?
    The CPU clocks down for some reason, again, you can check our its behavior with HWinfo >> Sensors and then click on the Core ) frequency >> Show graph and compare to ours in the review.
  - Jasper
    
    July 15, 2019 at 8:50 pm
    
    I've run Cinebench for about five times, and the average score was about 1125, which is lower than the score you tested.
  - Carlos
    
    July 31, 2019 at 4:51 pm
    
    Are you running in dual or single channel mode? In my case, I got lower scores in Time Spy as happened to you, but I was running on single channel. I ordered a Samsung 16GB RAM module and once I have it, I will rerun the benchmark. I can tell you the new results then, if you are interested.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    July 31, 2019 at 5:05 pm
    
    Dual, that's explained in the article. You should get better with dual, gaming is especially influenced by having dual-channel memory, but also some of the GPU results
  - Carlos
    
    July 31, 2019 at 5:28 pm
    
    Sorry Andrei, that answer was meant for Jasper. I tried to edit the comment but I couldn’t. I guess then that Jasper is running on single channel mode.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    July 31, 2019 at 5:57 pm
    
    Oh, OK, sry there's no editing option right now.
  - Jasper
    
    August 3, 2019 at 7:06 pm
    
    Hi Carlos, my laptop did indeed run in single-channel mode, and I forgot the laptop in this review is running in dual-channel mode. But now I've purchased a 16GB ram for my laptop and now the performance is closer with the laptop in this review.
hai

July 25, 2019 at 12:55 pm

Can I use 2 SSD PCIe x4 for this laptop? I mean that I will remove existed SSD and place 2 others PCIe x4 SSD

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  July 25, 2019 at 1:55 pm
  
  that's a good question, I'm not sure the two slots are both x4 capable at the same time.
  
  Reply
  - hai
    
    July 25, 2019 at 6:10 pm
    
    It will be a stupid thing that this laptop support raid 0 for 2 SSD PCIe x2
    I wonder why asus give this laptop a SSD with PCIe x2
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    July 25, 2019 at 6:34 pm
    
    They tend to put slower x2 SSDs on most of their laptops, perhaps in order to end up with a lower price point. A single PCIe x4 drive is surely supported, what I'm not convinced off is if the two slots share a PCI x4 connection like on the Zephyrus G, or each has their dedicated x4 line. I'm inclined on the latter, but I haven't tested it.
  - hai
    
    July 26, 2019 at 7:59 am
    
    Can we check if the two slots is shared a PCIe x4 or a PCIe x4 for each of them?
    By infomation in bios or by software or by disassembly this laptop?
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    July 26, 2019 at 10:28 am
    
    I no longer have the laptop around, so I can't, but maybe some of the other readers can pitch along
  - hai
    
    July 26, 2019 at 1:05 pm
    
    https://static.digit.in/default/141380ba878e1b041cecbdc7cf26a156e50941d1.jpeg
    This picture make me think that is shared PCIe x4 shared for both
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    July 26, 2019 at 2:08 pm
    
    How did you get to that conclusion? I'm only seeing PCIe, without any mention of the speed.
    
    This is the GU502: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/internals-3.jpg
    This is the GA502, for comparison, which gets the shared PCIe connection: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/internals-2.jpg
Carlos

July 31, 2019 at 5:24 pm

Hi Andrei! Really good review, it helped me to choose this model over others. Thanks for this!

I’ve got a little concern: let’s suppose that this laptop had Thunderbolt 3. Imagine that in 5 years some of the newest games don’t run well on the internal 1660ti, and I want to buy one of the newest graphic cards and connect it through TB3 to my laptop. My thought is that if we are running the GPU outside the laptop, then we wouldn’t have any CPU thermal or power throttling, so that could help to the CPU to stay at 4GHz or more indefinitely; thus, I would have maximum performance at CPU and GPU levels. Does this make sense? Would I have any kind of throttling in this scenario? This is just curiosity, because I’ve already bought the laptop, knowing in advance that it lacks on TB3. Cheers!

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  July 31, 2019 at 6:04 pm
  
  It makes sense, yes, the only thing to consider is the potential bottleneck limitations of using a TB3 external enclosure. Even now a dGPU won't perform as well in such a TB3 enclosure as let's say on a desktop, and down the line, the difference might increase with this newer chips. What I mean is that an RTX 3080/4080 or whatever they'll call it might be eventually bottlenecked by a nowadays TB3 connection.
  
  That being said, though, if this would have TB3 support, you'd still have the ability to hook up an RTX 2070 sometime in the future and get better performance than the internal 1660 can provide, for most-likely a pretty competitive price point at that time.
  
  USB 4 is supposed to come out in the next year or so, which is basically a faster TB3, and it Intel actually decides to support it on-chip, than future laptops might have better support for dGPUs.
  
  Reply
Beni

August 3, 2019 at 7:52 pm

Hi andrei, i love your review for the zephyrus m and g and actually i bought the zephyrus m after i read your review, overall from design and performance it is really satisfying but the bad sides of this laptop are
1. The noise of the fan when i run it turbo , it even make me difficult to hear voice chat from discord , any trick to make it a little bit quiter?
2. The heat , although i run it turbo , still reach 80°c or hotter even when i only use it for watching youtube it gets to 45°c~53°c. Is there a way to increase the cooling system performance?

Sorry for my english, english isn't my main language

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  August 4, 2019 at 8:53 pm
  
  Hi Beni. Then fans are very noisy on Turbo and there's nothing you can do about that.
  
  As for the CPU temperatures, first, you should undervolt the CPU, perhaps your unit is stable at more than -50 mV. Then, you can also try something else: limit the CPU's Turbo with Throttlestop. Let's say you limit it to 3.0 GHz, that should still be good enough not to affect performance, and help with temperatures. It might also allow the GPU to run at higher clocks, so the experience might be even better this way.
  
  About that noise, though, the only tweaks I can think of would be to run the laptop on Balanced and try these tricks mentioned above.
  
  Reply
  - Beni
    
    August 5, 2019 at 3:58 am
    
    Thank you very much for the advise
    
    But is it safe for the CPU to run at 75°~80°C ?
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    August 5, 2019 at 9:07 am
    
    Yes, those are very good temps for an i7 inside such a thin profile.
Glenn B

August 6, 2019 at 2:17 pm

MSI P65 GTX 1660Ti or ROG Zephyrus M GU502GU??

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  August 6, 2019 at 2:42 pm
  
  The P65 is pretty much a GS65 with a different design (and possibly different screen, based on configuration). Personally, I'd go with a Zephyrus for the better build and more affordable price for the same config, but the GS65 comes close.
  
  Reply
Rick

August 10, 2019 at 1:30 pm

question sir. I just had my zephyrus m, and just a newbie in gaming laptop, i want to upgrade my ssd and ram. What specs and brand do you recommend? I play my games in high settings.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  August 12, 2019 at 9:48 am
  
  See the Hwinfo pics in the article, it shows the RAM and SSD used on our test unit.
  
  Reply
Robin

August 12, 2019 at 9:25 am

Hello Andrei, first and foremost thank you for this great review it really helps to get to know more in depth the capabilities of the laptop. I'm about to buy a gaming laptop for both heavy tasks but mainly gaming and I have to admit that I'm still wondering which laptop will suits my needs best between the Zephyrus M GU502GU and the higher spected Zephyrus S GX502GW. For me ray tracing isn't something I'm going to use however the g-sync option is something that I would love to see however is it such a big difference between a non g-sync panel such as the M GU502GU? That's my only concern and I hope you might be able to help me up with this? Basically is there any tearing that could potentially happen on the M GU502GU?
FYI the games I'll mostly be playing would be WoW, LoL, Overwatch and probably more demanding fps.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  August 12, 2019 at 9:52 am
  
  What's the price difference between the two? If it's very small, I'd get the GX502, for the GSync support and better thermals thanks to the AAS system.
  
  As for GSync, it makes the gaming experience smoother, but the truth is it's smooth on a normal 144 Hz screen as well. Perhaps you can find more videos on Youtube, or somehow got to a store and experience a 144 Hz monitor with GSync on and GSync off.
  
  Reply
  - Robin
    
    August 12, 2019 at 2:02 pm
    
    So far only the GU502 is available at €1699 for the 8Go Ram and at €1995 for 16Go Ram. The GX502 is expected to be at €2600 with the RTX 2070. Pricing of these machine's is a bit odd here in France at the moment.
    Is there any major difference between the two regarding fan noise?
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    August 13, 2019 at 10:53 am
    
    Not really, but the 2070 variant gets a more complex thermal module
Haikal

September 9, 2019 at 6:42 am

Hi Andrei, thanks for the complete review, I want to buy this laptop for motion graphic, 3d work and light gaming like Dota, how good this laptop in rendering? or can you suggest other laptops have similar form factors and prices?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 9, 2019 at 9:47 am
  
  This should do. Other options are the Acer Predator Triton, MSI GS65 Stealth and Razer Blade 15.
  
  Reply
José fonte

September 11, 2019 at 11:03 pm

HI Andrei, great review and I hope you help with a situation.
I'm about to get in mech. eng. in college and I need a laptop both for portability and for performance; my head is battling around two models, the acer predator triton 500 (rtx2060 |1699$) and this one(1799$). I believe this 2 are the best options for me, but there's things that I really value and both models have their pros and cons.
Can you help me chose the best because this is a big investment for me and I don't want to regret my purchase in the future. what's the best all-arounder? does the price difference matter? Which's the best for work/portability and performance?
Thanks in advance :)

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 12, 2019 at 9:24 am
  
  Does the GU502 come with 16 GB of RAM or more? If only 16, you'll most likely have to buy another 16 GB of DIMM to get dual-channel memory. so that's something to consider.
  
  That being said, I think the Zephyrus is a better-balanced product: better made, better thermals, better keyboard. It also looks better imo. The Triton, on the other hand, is more affordable and offers better specs. It still performs very well based on our review unit, so could be a good option as well
  
  I don't think I can make the call for you. As I said, I prefer the Zephyrus, but it's in the end up to what matters for you. You'll find in-depth reviews for both products here on the site, those will greatly help.
  
  Reply
Eric

September 12, 2019 at 10:30 pm

I recently purchased the Zephyrus M GU502 on sale for $1,549 and I just noticed that the Zephyrus S GX502 is on sale for $2,149. I'm still within the window to return my laptop, but do you think it's worth the $600 difference to upgrade to the GX502? Graphic horsepower isn't my highest priority, but I like the idea of the AAS cooling, G-Sync and Optimus.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 13, 2019 at 10:58 am
  
  That's a big difference, I don't think it's worth it unless you'll actually need that 2070 over the 1660. Those other aspects should come as secondary perks, imo, but that's within your budget and they matter to you, then go ahead and swap for the GX502.
  
  Reply
  - Eric
    
    September 16, 2019 at 7:21 pm
    
    Just to clarify, this is the RTX 2060 model that I picked up for $1,549. Considering the price is almost 40% higher, I'm guessing the performance is no where near 40% better.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    September 17, 2019 at 11:26 am
    
    It's definitely not. WE have other RTX 2070 laptops here that you can use as a reference.
Bern

September 17, 2019 at 11:31 am

I want to upgrade storage on this laptop, but how many ssd slot available in this laptop? Can i add 512GB adata nvme sx8200? Thanks 4 the answer

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 17, 2019 at 11:54 am
  
  There are two slots, that's already mentioned in the article: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/27749-asus-zephyrus-m-gu502gu-review/#a
  
  Reply
- Supriyadi
  
  September 29, 2019 at 11:15 am
  
  don't buy sx8200, it won't work, i'm already tested it, buy intel ssd or samsung 970 evo instead, sorry for my bad english
  
  Reply
  - Bern
    
    September 30, 2019 at 11:36 am
    
    Why it can't work for sx8200?
Jason

September 18, 2019 at 1:49 pm

HI there,

I have gotten a GU502, and it seem to that there is some overheating issue with the laptop, however the local asus service center insisted it's normal.

Running on 2060 on daily usage the idling temperature sit arounds 60-70 degree be it on turbo/balance.Sometime it can also hit 80+ degree with just chrome at the background.
when i am playing dota 2 (Not running on Ultra with 60FPS) the temperature is consistently sitting at >85 degree and hitting 90+.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 18, 2019 at 2:48 pm
  
  You can check our temperatures in the review, for comparison. With normal use, the 2060 shouldn't even be active.
  
  Reply
jim

December 19, 2019 at 12:21 am

tested gsync via compatible gsync monitor and it does indeed work

Reply
Allan

January 3, 2020 at 7:53 pm

Hi Andrei,

Would you recommend this laptop over Acer Helios 300? I need to choose between the RTX2060 version of this and 2060 RTX version of the Acer Helios 300.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  January 3, 2020 at 7:56 pm
  
  For sure, nicer built, better keyboard, longer battery life. But the Helios should be much cheaper, not the same class. The Predator Triton 500 is Acer's alternative for the Zephyrus M.
  
  Reply
  - Allan
    
    January 3, 2020 at 8:15 pm
    
    Thank you very much!
Raf

February 14, 2020 at 3:23 pm

"The GPU scores do increase by 3-6%, due to the +200 MHz frequency boost, which applies to both Base and Turbo clock speeds, but it’s important to note that the GPU does not entirely benefit of this boost in tests and real-life gaming, most likely due to Power/Thermal Limit Throttling kicking in at the GPU level. We haven’t looked into this matter, but further tweaking should be possible with a slight GPU undervolt, possible with apps like MSI Afterburner."

I was hoping to use MSI Afterburner myself as you mentioned, however I noticed that most of the options are locked out even with Voltage Control unlocked. Is ASUS GPU tweaker the only method of editing those settings?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  February 16, 2020 at 11:18 am
  
  I would have expected Afterburner to offer even more options, but if it doesn't, then you could try Asus GPU instead. There's no undervolting option with it, though
  
  Reply
Philip

March 1, 2020 at 6:59 am

Hello Andrei!

First of all, tank you so much for the review, it has helped me a lot.

There's a Razer Blade 15 with almost the same main components as this Zephyrus (i7-9750H,GTX1660Ti, etc.), but with a SSD+HDD combo, a 65Wh battery and 16Gb (8+8) dual channel RAM.

In terms of performance, how has been your experience with Razer vs Asus? Which of the 2 would you recommend as an all rounder/gaming laptop and why?

Thanks in advance!

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  March 2, 2020 at 3:15 pm
  
  Performance and thermal wise both should be solid. The ROG has an edge when it comes to software and power profiles. The Blade wins at features (TB3, finger sensor, IR camera, better speakers) and looks much cleaner.
  
  Reply
  - Philip
    
    March 2, 2020 at 8:43 pm
    
    Awesome, thanks for the answer!
    Do you know if there's any noticeable difference in terms of battery duration? (I'm wondering if those superior power profiles really make a difference). I've found conflicting numbers online and I don't know who to believe.
    
    The reason for all these questions is that I need a computer for studying during the day (probably carrying it around, not always near a power outlet –> main issue: battery duration), and gaming during the evenings and weekends (at home, plugged –> main issue: performance).
    I currently have a custom built PC for the gaming part, and these all rounders seem like a good option to cover both scenarios and not have such a drastic difference in performance vs my current desktop.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    March 2, 2020 at 10:55 pm
    
    Given the hardware is similar, the differences are small, but favor the Asus in this case, which gets a 76 Wh battery. Realistically, expect about 1 hour of daily multitasking per 20 W on battery, and 1 hour of video/light use per 14-16 W, with the screen at around 120 nits. I don't think you're going to get a full day's work with any of these.
  - Philip
    
    March 3, 2020 at 12:31 am
    
    Asus sounds better for me then. Thank you very much for all the help!
    
    Especially now that the Glacier Blue is $300 cheaper than the Razer for some reason.
Oliver

April 8, 2020 at 3:48 pm

Thanks for the great review!

I am abit late to the party but I am facing a choice between this one (but one with 2x8gb) and a
– MSI GP65 Leopard. i7, RTX 2060, 144mhz, s16gb.

They are priced exaclty the same where I live.. Can you advice?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  April 8, 2020 at 3:54 pm
  
  Definitely this one. It's smaller, nicer built, gets a better keyboard and larger battery.
  
  The GP65 will do slightly better in games with the RTX 2060, while this gets the 1660Ti in our configuration, but the difference should be within more or less 10%. Or are you looking at 2060 models of both?
  
  Reply
  - Oliver
    
    April 8, 2020 at 4:08 pm
    
    Hi thanks for the quick reply!
    No this one comes with a 1660ti. There are 2060 version but they are way more expensive here. :)
    The Asus model here is also with a 240hz screen. I dont care too much if it is that or 144hz but more the rest of the screen performance (color, brightness, refreshrate)
    The asus model here also come "glacier blue" which looks pretty nice.. :)
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    April 8, 2020 at 4:12 pm
    
    The 144 and 240 Hz panels are mostly the same, minorly increased contrast and colors on the 240 Hz, but not the kind you can easily tale. I'd go with the Asus, that MSI is not the same class and should normally go significantly cheaper than this ROG.
Adailton

April 15, 2020 at 12:09 pm

Excellent article. I bought this notebook and considered it to be a great choice, however I live in a very hot country and the CPU temperatures are above 90-95 degrees after playing time. I couldn't find any program for me to downgrade the CPU clock. I tried the ASUS software and the MSI afterburner. Do you know any program that I can do this limitation? Thank you.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  April 15, 2020 at 12:20 pm
  
  Throttlestop and XTU can be used to undervolt and limit the CPU clocks. There's a detailed Throttlestop guide on the site, use the search in the top corner
  
  Reply
BOB

April 23, 2020 at 4:47 pm

hello, what do you recommend between the model you reviewed and OMEN 15-dh0036nl Notebook with NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 1660Ti and 144Hz screen? I would use it for 3D cad rendering and light games

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  April 23, 2020 at 4:50 pm
  
  Sry, I haven't reviewed the Omen, but I've heard good things about it. It's a bulkier and heavier laptop though, and not as nicely made as this one, so if they're the same price for similar configurations, I'd lean towards the Zephyrus M.
  
  Reply
  - BOB
    
    April 23, 2020 at 4:58 pm
    
    thanks a lot, the only doubt I have left is on the cooling, being a thinner laptop I would not have limited performance compared to the omen
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    April 23, 2020 at 5:06 pm
    
    Yeah, I can't comment on the Omen's performance and thermals without reviewing it, but you have all the details on this Zephyrus in the article. Try to look into a few good reviews of the Omen, perhaps on notebookcheck or on Youtube (Bob of all trades, Own or disown), figure out how much better the thermals are with the Omen.
carl

May 12, 2020 at 1:14 pm

Thanks for another great review….I'm still not sure :S

I want to spend around £1500 for a 100% RGB IPS 240hz laptop but it seems all the Asus reviews advise of high temperature and poor thermal designs.

The options I have here (UK) are:

ASUS ROG Zephyrus M FHD 240Hz i7 GTX 1660Ti Glacier Blue Performance Laptop – £1399
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-rog-zephyrus-m-gu502gu-fhd-240hz-i7-9750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-nvme-ssd-6gb-gtx-1660ti-usb-32-type-a

ASUS ROG Strix G15 15" i7 RTX 2060 Gaming Laptop – £1599
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-asus-rog-strix-g15-g512lv-az059t-glacier-blue-240hz-fhd-i7-10750h-rtx-2060-16gb-ddr4-1tb-ssd-win

Sadly I cant find the M15 in the uk, which you say may have better thermal but if it was here with the 2070 then it would cost around £2000 I think.

I'm trying to spend time learning to code, gaming isn't a major thing as I use Nvidia shield/GeForce now on a 55 inch LGC9 which is great but I suffer bad eye strain and find higher refresh, IPS (no pwm) and hopefully, full RGB (less differing) should help which is why I considered the 240hz as generally, they seem higher quality.

I loved the TUF 14 too, but the panel isn't good enough possibly although if this was the best option thermally then that's more important.

I guess I'd love to hear from you what you think is the best laptop screen wise for me to work on without overheating and requiring fixing? I also contacted Asus before here but they are clueless it seems.

I've spent 3 days trying to research this, even ordered from Lenovo and cancelled that one as everyone on forums were saying the chips are poor but ironically it might have been a good option (Lenovo Y740) although your tests from the Asus models blow it out the water

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  May 12, 2020 at 2:09 pm
  
  The m15 is new and not yet available, but should be soon. Currently working on a review, but it's not a lot different than the 2019 Zephyrus M and more expensive.
  
  The thing is, if you're going with a slim form-factor, the chassis and components are going to get hot with games. No way around that. But you're not running games, so I don't think thermals should be an issue on any of these picks.
  
  That Zephyrus M option is a fine choice imo. I'd make sure to upgrade the RAM, I think it only comes with soldered memory in single-channel, so adding another 16 GB stick is recommended. The Strix G15 is a lower-tier laptop, bulkier and uglier imo, but should run cooler.
  
  The Legion Y740 is another good option, as well as the Acer Predator Helios 300.
  
  Reply
  - carl
    
    May 12, 2020 at 2:46 pm
    
    It was just that in some of the threads here, people are saying the Asus laptops, even the M is running hot just by running chrome…..the Y740 and Helios 300 scores are abit lower and dont have 240hz screens. Whats your view on the screen quality of the others? Maybe at 144hz they could still be quality if the RGB is near 100% etc
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    May 12, 2020 at 3:08 pm
    
    I don't think you should care that much about exact scores or numbers. Also, 144 or 240 Hz refresh makes no difference with daily use, brightness, contrast and color coverage matter more, and that's what you should look into.
  - carl
    
    May 12, 2020 at 3:32 pm
    
    Okay then forget the scores! I give you £1500 to buy either the M 15, Y740, Helios 300, where does your money go? Your like laptop lord and happy to hear, I would guess the M 15 2019 :p. The refresh thing, well it seemed most the 240hz panels had 100% RGB or more than 120hz, not sure if thats a thing or not
    
    Guessing intel chips only also or is AMD worth a look?
    
    Originally I had been aiming at AMD chips until seeing the scary heat tests wonder if intel chips help fix the issue…..I wish there was a table with a filter so we could just pick min brightness, rgb, hz etc, heat, would really make life easier I think, so much amazing data but no way to easily configure for requirements, id even pay for such a list as making the wrong purchase is very costly…..look at some of the guys in thread for example.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    May 12, 2020 at 3:39 pm
    
    Well, it's not my decision to make, but yes, I'd most likely go with the M 15 out of these three. Since you're in the UK, I'd reckon you have the option to give a try and see how it works for you, and then just return if it's not ok. Right? Or perhaps you can check the options in store, once the COVID situation is over?
    
    2020 AMD chips are a good buy, especially on the Zephyrus G14. But is that within the budget over there?
carl

May 12, 2020 at 4:35 pm

So if this is the contender:

ASUS ROG Zephyrus M FHD 240Hz i7 GTX 1660Ti Glacier Blue Performance Laptop –
GU502GU-AZ080T – £1399
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-rog-zephyrus-m-gu502gu-fhd-240hz-i7-9750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-nvme-ssd-6gb-gtx-1660ti-usb-32-type-a

the next best AMD rival would be:
GA401IU-HE001T – £1399 (G14) ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 14" AMD Ryzen 7 GTX 1660Ti Gaming Laptop
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/14-asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-ga401iu-he001t-eclipse-gray-120hz-fhd-ryzen-7-gtx-1660ti-16gb-ddr4-5

Same price but the AMD scores are a lot better, but from what I read it comes at the cost of increased heat on the laptops and your advice was to go for less performance and seek out the M model I think.

As for your query about affordability in the UK here are some other examples for just a little more money:

The next jump up to the 2060 card would be:

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 15" AMD Ryzen 7 RTX 2060 Gaming Laptop
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-asus-rog-zephyrus-g15-ga502iv-az001t-brushed-black-240hz-fhd-ryzen-7-rtx-2060-16gb-ddr4-1tb-ssd – £1499

ASUS ROG Strix G15 15" i7 RTX 2060 Gaming Laptop – £1399 (interesting to see 10th gen chips)
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-asus-rog-strix-g15-g512lv-hn033t-black-144hz-fhd-i7-10750h-rtx-2060-16gb-ddr4-512gb-ssd-win10-ho

and then lets check the £1599:
ASUS ROG Strix G15 15" i7 RTX 2060 Gaming Laptop
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-asus-rog-strix-g15-g512lv-az059t-glacier-blue-240hz-fhd-i7-10750h-rtx-2060-16gb-ddr4-1tb-ssd-win

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 14" AMD Ryzen 7 RTX 2060 Gaming Laptop GA401IV-HA026T – £1599 (adaptive refresh??)
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/14-asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-ga401iv-ha026t-eclipse-gray-60hz-qhd-ryzen-7-rtx-2060-16gb-ddr4-1tb (maybe better thermals also?)

I cant seem able to find the 2060 M version with maybe 10th gen chips, thinking maybe the 10th gen improve the thermals?? Maybe theres a better option in these ones but thought id post some for you to see, so many options its actually giving me square eyes!

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  May 12, 2020 at 8:33 pm
  
  No, 10th gen don't improve thermals. They're not yet available in stores, should be in a month or so.
  
  I'd still go with either G14/M 15 at 1399 out of all these options.
  
  Reply
  - carl
    
    May 13, 2020 at 12:03 am
    
    Thanks I'll place my order tomorrow I think! :).
    
    I read one of your other excellent reviews on the Msi gs66 and was amazed at the frame rates you were getting for the games…100+ for shadow of tomb raider even, after this I noticed they sell the model down the i7 for like £1698 and it got me wondering a little :D. I'm not planning big gaming, but nice to be able to if ever I wanted it, I can pay some more for the right laptop.
    
    https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-msi-gs66-stealth-10se-040uk-fhd-240hz-i7-10750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-nvme-6gb-rtx-2060-win10-home
    
    But bang for buck, the M is winning I think, maybe if it gets too hot I could upgrade the thermals or something
    
    On a sidenote, Asus website has 15% off laptops if anyone has a student beans account, might only be uk I'm not sure but ill scan that site, they only offer these though https://gyazo.com/faf07a1cfe3443869de7ee943981bd3b and no M's…..that means 144hz laptops or 300hz
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    May 13, 2020 at 9:51 am
    
    I haven't reviewed the MSI GS66 yet
Carl

May 13, 2020 at 1:29 pm

Good morning (depending where you are? :)

https://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI-GS66-Stealth-10SFS-Laptop-Review-Visually-subdued-acoustically-conspicuous.463461.0.html

Here’s this sites review, performance seems very solid but has even worse thermals than the M…..But a little tempting

I just feel a 1660ti shouldn’t belong to any gaming laptop atm as if you choose to play it’s going to be abit average although possible but I also understand that more power = more heat especially with AMD chips. If this M had 10th hen chips I’d be all over it but then would be £700 more!

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  May 13, 2020 at 2:36 pm
  
  I can't comment without reviewing it myself.
  
  Reply
  - Carl
    
    May 13, 2020 at 5:21 pm
    
    Ok I think if I find a Ryzen 9 2060 g14 I’ll be happy
Carl

May 13, 2020 at 8:10 pm

I might just go all out and try for a gync super that are due out in 1-2 weeks…….like a GX for example, just spoke to overclockers who seem great

Reply
Evangelos Aktoudianakis

June 13, 2020 at 5:12 pm

Thank you for the wonderful reviews.

This has dropped to 1199 : https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-rog-zephyrus-m-gu502gu-az067t-black-fhd-240hz-i7-9750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-nvme-ssd-6gb-gtx-1660ti

No thunderbolt 3 though….

Main use would be writing (enthusiast writer), hopefully surviving without a charger for 3-4 hours…
Photo editing on Photoshop/Lightroom

Gaming wise, world of warcraft and hearthstone…

I am thinking of going for the 1399 new G14 with 1660ti Ryzen 4800H, I am just not sure it's worth the price jump based on my usage…

Any opinion is much appreciated.

Again thank you so much.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  June 13, 2020 at 6:43 pm
  
  The main reason to go with the G14 is its improved efficiency. That will last 4-5 hours on a charge, while with the M15 you're not going to get more than 3-4 hours of daily use.
  
  That aside, though, both will handle your needs well. The GU502 gets a faster and nicer quality screen, and is the better gamer here, while the G14 offers better audio, smaller form-factor, etc. I can see how this is a tough call. If not in a hurry, might be worth waiting for the G14 to drop in price as well, I'd reckon there will be sales in the next months.
  
  Reply
  - Evangelos Aktoudianakis
    
    June 13, 2020 at 6:56 pm
    
    Thanks SO much for the reply !
    So what they are saying on the 15 about up to 8 hours of battery life is, basically, s**t ? :D
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    June 13, 2020 at 7:13 pm
    
    Those are ideal situations, and just not realistic in actual use. What we mention is the Battery life section of our reviews is closer to what to expect, although runtimes can vary based of everyone's settings and use.
Evangelos Aktoudianakis

June 13, 2020 at 8:31 pm

Thanks for the replies. While we are on the topic, I considered the G14 1650Ti configuration which goes as low as 1099… But I felt like it might not cover my needs for WoW and HotS. Couldn't really find any reviews on that. Again, I can't express how much I appreciate the help.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  June 14, 2020 at 10:37 am
  
  we've reviewed that on an Asus TUF A17. I think it should be fine for those games, but the 1600Ti is significantly faster and definitely worth $100 extra
  
  Reply
Evangelos Aktoudianakis

June 14, 2020 at 8:42 pm

Thanks for all your help. I ended up buying this.

Could you suggest a second 16 gig module to install from amazon UK? (Using your link so you benefit from it too :)

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  June 15, 2020 at 11:01 am
  
  Wait, that most likely already has a second ram stick, with 8 GB soldered and 8 GB on that stick.
  
  Reply
  - Evangelos Aktoudianakis
    
    June 23, 2020 at 8:04 pm
    
    Even so, I'd like to get it upwards; I am thinking of maining this as a PC, and selling my desktop. Really happy with it so far :)
    Any suggestions to take it to 24, or even 40? (if that's possible) with a link so I can help the site?
Evangelos Aktoudianakis

June 26, 2020 at 10:47 pm

I have a strange situation –
While I am gaming on this machine, in random times, the laptop window screens goes to : locking, and then it shuts down.
Restart is very fast…
I am having the lid closed when I am doing this, though I can report what happens with a lid on? I am steaming both to an HDMI output, and a Displayport output.
I don't think it's overheating, as I am watching temps at real time, and though it spikes at 95, it mostly settles in the mid 80s.
Only happens when I game so far.

No idea why.

Reply

Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502 review (GU502GU model – i7-9750H, GTX 1660Ti)

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