Asus G501JW Notebook Review

Communication

WLAN is provided by an Intel dual-band Wireless-AC 7260 half-mini PCIe module with integrated Bluetooth 4.0. We experienced no latency of dropout issues when connected to a standard home network, which is especially essential for a gaming notebook with no dedicated RJ-45 port. At this price range, however, a WLAN PCIe option capable of Gigabit speeds (such as an Atheros Killer module) would have been appreciated.

Accessories

The aforementioned USB-RJ-45 and mDP-VGA adapters are included and need not be purchased separately. Note, however, that the RJ-45 adapter is not a Gigabit adapter and is only rated for 10/100 MBit speeds.

Additional promotional items include a full-size 100 mm Cerberus headset with audio/mic splitter and a wired MOBKUL right-handed mouse. Both are ROG-branded accessories and are of better quality than the generic mouse or earphone brands. The mouse, while comfortable to hold, is a little too light on the right click button, which can make for some easy accidental actions when gaming. Regardless, both items are excellent starting products for the gamer, but may be a bit underwhelming for those who already own dedicated setups.

Maintenance

The brushed aluminum panel underneath is held in place by very small Torx screws that typically discourage end-user tinkering. Even after removing all ten screws, the plate is still very difficult to detach from the rear of the notebook without accidentally damaging the chassis. The fact that the edges of the plate can be quite sharp makes the procedure more user-unfriendly. 

Warranty

Asus provides the standard worldwide one-year limited warranty at the very minimum that varies between regions. The integrated battery itself is protected for one year as well.

Keyboard

The full-size (34.5 x 10.5 cm) keyboard is essentially identical to that of the GL551. The Arrow keys have not been halved in size (unlike on the HP Omen) and the WASD keys are stylized as is commonplace on most gaming notebooks. Asus claims that the scissor-switch keys provide a travel of 1.6 mm and we found the keys to provide adequate tactile feedback during use. It could have been a bit more firm and less spongy as the keyboard here just doesn't quite match the typing experience of many costly Clevo barebones.

Note that the G501 provides no dedicated auxiliary keys or Macro keys. The larger MSI GT series and Aorus models are common examples with such functionality while the 15.6-inch HP Omen foregoes the NumPad entirely in order to have a column of Macro keys.

Touchpad

The touchpad is again identical in size to that of the GL551 (10.5 x 7.3 cm), though the one on the G501 includes red markings on the bottom and around the perimeter. The surface is completely smooth in contrast to the slightly rough texture of the surrounding palm rests and provides reliable feedback when used with no irregular cursor movements. Clicking on the touchpad results in a shallow travel, but with satisfying tactile and auditory feedback. Asus Smart Gesture allows the usual customization options for up to three-finger gestures.

Color coverage is standard for an IPS display at a measured 47 percent and 67 percent of the AdobeRGB and sRGB spectra, respectively. This is a large step up from budget TN panels and is very similar to the color coverage on the MSI GS60. The panels found on the Alienware 15 and Acer Aspire V15 Nitro do offer wider gamuts for deeper and more accurate colors.

Further color analyses reveal a relatively balanced grayscale with no overly cool temperatures. Colors here generally become less accurate as saturation levels increase as they appear slightly darker than they ought to be. In comparison, the MSI GS60 and Asus G751 offer more balanced colors across all tested saturation levels. A quick calibration reveals no major improvements on the G501. For gaming purposes, however, extremely precise colors are normally not of utmost importance.

Outdoor visibility is below average due to the large display and insufficient backlight power. Visibility could have been much better as the backlight will artificially drop in maximum brightness when running on batteries to just 270 nits from its average of 310 nits. The maximum brightness setting is recommended when outdoors even if working under shade. The screen simply becomes too washed out for comfortable use under direct sunlight.

Viewing angles are very wide as expected from an IPS panel. Colors do not significantly degrade if viewing off-angle, which makes it easy to share the display with others nearby.

Processor

Generally speaking, the Core i7-4720HQ is similar to the older Core i7-3840QM in terms of raw performance. On the G501 in particular, however, its multi-core performance appears to be the the slowest when compared to other notebooks with the same i7-4720HQ CPU. Its CineBench R15 Multi and wPrime 1024m scores of 491 points and 260 seconds, for example, are the slowest in our database of Core i7-4720HQ systems. Meanwhile, single-core performance according to CineBench R15 Single and Super Pi is more in line with what we were expecting. This suggests that the G501 has trouble maintaining multi-core Turbo Boost for extended periods under benchmark loads compared to competing notebooks.

For more technical information and benchmarks on the Core i7-4720HQ, see our dedicated page here.

System Performance

PCMark 7 places the G501 alongside gaming powerhouses like the Aorus X7 Pro and iBuyPower MSI GT72 despite these examples having more raw graphics power. The high PCMark scores are largely due to the high-speed SSD in the G501 that greatly influences final tallies.

Subjectively, the OS and software respond instantaneously. The powerful hardware and lack of any mechanical drives mean that the G501 excels in both applications and games.

GPU Performance

The GTX 960M offers the same 128-bit memory interface, 4 GB GDDR5 VRAM, and 640 CUDA cores as the Maxwell GTX 860M, so the performance difference between the two is incremental. We recommend checking out our dedicated review on the GTX 960M for more details on gaming performance.

Here on the G501, GPU performance according to synthetic benchmarks is on the low-end for a system with a GTX 960M. 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics, for example, is 3906 points compared to the average of 4261 points for this particular GPU.

We use synthetic benchmarks to stress the G501 to identify for any throttling or stability issues. First, with only Prime95 active to stress the CPU, all four cores can be observed running at the 3.2 to 3.4 GHz range before falling immediately to a constant 2.7 to 2.8 GHz range. Core temperature appears to plateau at about 85 C. Similarly with FurMark active to stress the dGPU, the Nvidia core can be observed running at 1097 MHz before quickly falling to the 574 to 875 MHz range according to GPU-Z. GPU temperature reaches a maximum of 75 C.

Running both Prime95 and FurMark simultaneously will throttle the CPU and GPU even further to 2.2 GHz and 405 MHz, respectively. Maximum CPU temperature appears to be capped at OEM to never go beyond 85 C by throttling Turbo Boost as necessary.

Next, we run Unigine Heaven as a more realistic representation of gaming stress. The G501 fares much better under these conditions with occasional Turbo Boost benefits up to its rated 3.4 GHz maximum and even GPU Boost up to 1188 MHz. This high of a boost to the GPU is short-lived, however, as the core will occasionally drop below its base 1097 MHz to just 901 MHz, which would explain why the G501 is slightly behind in both benchmarks and games. Both the CPU and GPU operate at a steady temperature of about 75 C.

To see if performance degrades overtime while gaming, we run the Metro: Last Light benchmark ten consecutive times to compare final frame rate results between each run. The first run starts out strong at 50 FPS, but this stabilizes to 46 FPS from the third run on. This minimal drop is expected as GPU Boost is most effective at the beginning of stress tests before finally leveling off.

Running on batteries will greatly impact both CPU and GPU performance. A quick 3DMark 11 run on batteries returns final scores of 1541 points and 2634 points for the GPU and CPU, respectively, compared to 4860 points and 7123 points on mains. The CPU and GPU can be observed running only at 800 MHz and 297 MHz maximum, respectively, while on the High Performance profile and on battery power.

System Noise

Asus markets the G501 as the "coolest and quietest ultraportable gaming notebook on the market", so this naturally inspires us to put the claim under the microscope.

Perhaps to our surprise, the symmetrical dual fans and dual heat pipes do provide very good cooling for a gaming notebook with no unbearably loud fan noises. The G501 is almost silent (31.3 dB(A)) when on the Power Saver profile, though idling on the High Performance profile will bump fan noise noticeably to the 33 to 36 dB(A) range. The good news is that fan noise will rise only incrementally from this starting point to 39 dB(A) when gaming. While still loud, it is far and away better than on the MSI GS60 and Gigabyte P37X where fan noise will be in the high 40 dB(A) range under similar conditions.

If under extreme CPU and GPU stress from synthetic benchmarks, the G501 is capable of fan noise of up to 46 dB(A). However, this is unrepresentative of gaming and everyday use.