This 15.6-inch gaming laptop features an AMD Ryzen 6000 series CPU, 1440p display, and quirky design.
Gaming laptop brands have been pumping out new and refreshed models quite aggressively for the past few months. It's a busy time for the industry since Intel, AMD and Nvidia have all recently released brand new high-end hardware, starting at the CES trade show in January this year. Laptops based on all these new CPUs and GPUs are now making their way to retail and we've been lucky enough to get our hands on a few of them. Today, we're going to talk about our first experience with AMD's latest high-performance laptop CPUs, the Ryzen 6000 series. The company sent me an Asus demo unit based on the top-end Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU, and we're going to see how it compares to Intel's high-end 12th Gen offerings.
The Asus ROG Strix G15 series is aimed at esports enthusiasts and gamers who want top-level performance but don't need a super-slim or light device. It shares a lot of design and hardware elements with the rest of the ROG Strix (2022) family, which you might or might not like. If you're a student or home user looking for a laptop that will be able to handle top-end games for a few years and also serve for everyday productivity, read on.
Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) price in India
Asus offers multiple models and variants with slightly different specifications. The unit I have for review today is sold as the Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW). It will soon go on sale in India priced at approximately Rs. 1,90,000. While this unit has a 1440p 165Hz display, certain configurations will have an option for a 300Hz panel. The rest of the hardware is all top-of-the-line – an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD.
The ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) will be sold via Asus' authorised stores and partners including Flipkart. A similar model, the G15RC, with a Ryzen 7 6800H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 is currently listed at Rs. 1,12,990 while the G15RM with a GeForce RTX 3060 costs Rs. 1,53,990.
Asus ROG Strix G15 (G513RW) design
Asus has not gone for a subtle aesthetic for its 2022 ROG Strix models. We recently had a first look at the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE, and so the ROG Strix G15 looks quite familiar. This model has a simpler pattern on the lid but the same RGB LED light strip across the lower front and sides, the same raised hinge design with an angular half-cutout below the screen, and the same narrow screen borders leaving no room for a webcam. The ROG logo on the lid has white border lighting rather than RGB, but this also looks great.
The ROG Strix G15 is relatively compact considering its 15.6-inch screen. It's only 27.2mm thick at its thickest point and weighs 2.3kg. Asus describes its aesthetic as “sporty” but there's really a lot going on, from a grid of triangles and squares on half the lid and keyboard deck to a random paint-speckle pattern and rubbery texture on part of the raised lip behind the hinge, to a bright neon rubber patch on the bottom.
The finish of the unit I have is called Eclipse Grey, and there are also Volt Green and Electro Punk options, which have bright neon green or pink accents, respectively. The latter also has pink lighting around the ROG logo on the lid and random text on the lid that's supposed to appeal to gamers, and will come with a matching mouse and mousepad.
The lid opens smoothly with just one finger. Asus decided to drop the webcam entirely in favour of narrow borders. My unit came with a USB webcam in the box. This isn't very convenient but it's better than being stuck with one below the screen that captures awkward angles. The webcam has a neat foldaway clamp and should be able to sit on top of any laptop, but sadly it blocks a bit of the screen.
You get per-key RGB backlighting with three brightness levels, and the effects are synced with the RGB light bar that wraps around the front of this laptop's base. Asus has gone with island-style keys and a consistent layout. There's no room for a number pad but oddly Asus has gone with a vertical column of dedicated media keys down the right side – these aren't paging keys, as you might have expected. As a writer, this felt like wasted potential and it annoyed me, but maybe the target audience will appreciate it. The arrow keys are separated but still small. The trackpad is fairly generously sized and doesn't have physical buttons.
There are two USB 3.2 Gen1 (5GBps) Type-A ports and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left, and the right is surprisingly blank. You'll have to reach around to the back to get to the two USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) Type-C ports –one of which supports DisplayPort video output and 100W charging. AMD's platforms don't work natively with Thunderbolt but it's surprising that USB4, which largely subsumes that standard, hasn't been implemented. You'll also find an HDMI 2.0b output, 2.5Gb Ethernet jack, and DC power inlet at the back.
Speaking of power, the ROG Strix G15 ships with an enormous 280W power adapter, and if you're thinking of portability you'll have to factor in this weight. My review unit came with a power cord with a 16A plug which seems unnecessary and might prove to be inconvenient for many users.
