Asus ROG Zephyrus M GM501 (i7-8750H, GTX 1070, Full-HD) Laptop Review

Although the basic concept is similar, the GM501 has quite a few differences compared to its 15-inch sibling, the GX501. Asus seems to have paid particular heed to criticism of the input device and has placed the mouse and keyboard in their usual place, so that users can use a wrist rest, which improves the ergonomics significantly (although the keyboard could still be a little higher for our taste).

One of the most unique aspects of the GX501, the lifting up of the bottom of the base unit when the device is opened (supposed to improve cooling) has been kept on in the GM501. This "trick" enables Asus to put a very powerful GPU into a surprisingly slim case. With a height of just 2.0 cm (~0.78 in), the 15-inch device is one of the slimmest gaming notebooks currently available. Its weight of just 2.5 kg (~5.5 lb) is also very low for a high-end device, although the other devices of our comparison field weigh even less (the MSI GS63VR weighs just 1.9 kg/~4.2 lb).

We have hardly anything to criticize in terms of quality. Apart from the touchpad, all edges are smooth. The workmanship of the GX501 was not perfect. We are particularly impressed by the high-quality materials. Although the bottom of the GM501 is made of plastic, the top and the display cover are metal (the lid has a brushed finish). Unfortunately, the metal surfaces get dirty quickly and you can soon see a plethora of fingerprints on the case.

The stability of the case is decent or even good. When open, the base unit only warps under pressure in the center towards the back. Like in most notebooks, the display cover is not very warp-resistant. Fans of backlighting will be happy with the GM501. Not only the keyboard, but also the Asus logo on the cover and the air vents on the side have backlighting. The manufacturer could improve the hinges a little. They give a good impression and keep the display in position, but are quite audible due to their cogwheels.

Wireless communication is taken care of by the brand-new Intel Chip Wireless-AC 9560, which according to our measurements (at 1m/~3 ft distance to the reference router) offers a much better performance than the predecessor, Wireless-AC 8265. Even the River Networks competitor Killer 1535, which is made specifically for gaming notebooks, cannot quite keep up with the Wireless-AC 9560.

At first glance, the maintenance options of the GM501 appear to be rather limited. Once you have removed the four screws of the maintenance hatch and lifted it off with the display cover opened slightly, you will only see the cooling fans. In order to reach the other components of the device, you have to remove the entire bottom cover, which is held in place by ten Torx screws and four Phillips screws.

After doing this (even amateurs should manage), the hardware is easily accessible: From the two RAM slots via the wireless module and battery to the storage devices (1x M.2 & 1x 2.5-inch). The cooling system consists of two fans that are surrounded by four heat pipes each. Because CPU and GPU are soldered onto the motherboard, you cannot update these core components. This is the same for almost every notebook.

Our press version was only equipped with a 230-watt power supply that was 16.5 x 7.5 x 3 cm (~6.5 x 3.0 x 1.2 in) large and weighed 630 g (~22.2 oz). The retail version probably includes various gimmicks or at least a few leaflets and flyers.

The device comes with a 24-month warranty. Please see our Guarantees, Return Policies and Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.

Touchpad

While the GX501 was still equipped with a touchpad that had dedicated mouse keys, Asus has decided to give the GM501 a modern ClickPad, which comes with the usual advantages and disadvantages. It makes a noticeable rattling noise, which makes the quality appear less good. Precision and reliability also tend to be not as good as on "normal" touchpads. Do you need an example? The mouse replacement of the Zephyrus M can be a bit stubborn with gestures (zooming, scrolling).

In addition, the size of the touchpad is not very lavish for a 15-inch notebook. While a width of 10.5 cm (~4.1 in) is decent, Asus could have added a few millimeters to its height. Annoying: The ClickPad is not set into the device nicely in the bottom left corner, which means it stands out into the wrist rest.

One of the greatest highlights of the GM501 is its lightning-fast 144-Hz display. The significantly larger 17-inch sibling, G703, already boasted 144-Hz technology and was quite impressive. Combined with the strong GPU and Nvidia's G-Sync function, gaming feels very smooth (e.g. camera motions).

Despite these weak points, the display offers a great overall performance. Viewing angles, brightness distribution and outdoor use were unremarkable, which means that they were good. The screen has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, which is (still) the standard resolution for 15-inch devices. In theory, the GTX 1070 would have enough power to support 2560x1440 pixels.

Like in the past, gaming laptops will probably run mostly on processors of the i7 series. Apart from the i7-8850H with clock rates between 2.6 and 4.3 GHz, Intel also offers the i7-8750H with 2.2-4.1 GHz, which the Asus GM501 is equipped with. Both CPUs have a 9-MB L3 cache and a TDP of 45 watts. In the benchmark round, the Core i7-8750H makes its Kaby Lake counterparts look old. The Core i7-7700HQ only reaches about 60% of our new chip's performance in the multi-core test of the Cinebench R15 or Cinebench R11.5.

We have tested whether our device can keep up the high maximum clock rate (4.1 GHz single-core load, 3.9 GHz multi-core load) over a long period by running our Cinebench loop. The results: The turbo of the Core i7-78750H drops significantly in the second round and results are about 10% lower than in the first round. The average 3.3 GHz is still good, though, particularly considering that most of the Coffee Lake notebooks tested so far dropped to a lower CPU clock rate, and some of them did so even earlier (~3.1 GHz in MSI GE63, ~2.9 GHz in MSI GS65). The Zephyrus M did not have to deal with real throttling (when the clock rate falls to below the base rate). Even during our one-hour stress test with FurMark and Prime95, the CPU managed to keep up a minimum clock rate of 2.3 GHz. The GeForce GTX 1070 also runs in boost mode all the time.

The system performance of the GM501 is very good. The 15-inch gamer could stand up to its competitors both in the PCMark 8 and the PCMark 10. Thanks to its SSD, Windows boots incredibly quickly and reacts as fast as you would expect from a brand-new notebook.

In order to avoid storage space issues, Asus has also included an SSHD from Seagate with a capacity of 1000 GB. The FireCuda can easily beat normal HDDs, although of course it cannot reach SSD levels.

The graphics department is taken care of by a high-end chip from Nvidia's Pascal series. After the GTX 1080 and the GTX 1080 Max-Q, the GeForce GTX 1070 is the third-strongest notebook GPU, although it is not the latest chip. Nonetheless, it still has a lot to offer for gamers.

The six-core CPU does not demand a lot of attention during our graphics tests. In the 3DMark 11 and 3DMark 13, the general and GPU scores of the GM501 lie on the same level as its competition equipped with the GTX 1070. Only a close look at the CPU scores shows larger differences. Everyday gaming performance follows a similar pattern. As long as a title is not too demanding on the CPU (such as “Assassin's Creed Origins”, for example), gaming performance still depends mainly on the power and clock rate of the GPU. Currently, you can only benefit from more than four cores or eight threads with low resolutions and settings. This could change quickly in the future, which is why passionate gamers who are looking for a new device should definitely go for six-core notebooks. 

As with Intel's Core i models, the Nvidia GPUs also offer a dynamic turbo. According to the GPU-Z render test, the GeForce GTX 1070 reaches up to 1860 MHz (base rate: 1443 MHz). In practice, you should expect a little less. The GeForce GTX 1070 ran at about 1600 MHz in both the Unigine Heaven benchmark and the “Witcher 3” test, which our test unit passed without any issues (60 minutes at Full HD/Ultra).

Basically, you can play every modern game in native resolution and maximum details. Because the system, or rather the GTX 1070, often reaches over 60 FPS, the 144-Hz display really comes into its own.

When you compare our device's results with those of the Asus GX501 and the Acer Triton 700, you can see very well that the GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q only reaches slightly better frame rates, which, from the view of cost-effectiveness, does not make it an attractive high-end GPU (we would recommend the GTX 1080 to serious gamers). The performance of the GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q is significantly closer to its "original". Accordingly, the Gigabyte Aero 15X and the MSI GS63VR are also a good option for gamers.

The GM501 loses several points due to its system noise under load, which is louder than average. Demanding programs cause the cooling fans to turn up to 50 dB(A). This is quite audible and we would suggest using headphones in this scenario. The GX501 remained a lot quieter despite its more potent GPU - thanks to its Max-Q design. Therefore, the author would have preferred a GTX 1070 Max-Q in the GM501.

The components are not that much affected by temperatures, either. After the 60-minute stress test, the GeForce GTX 1070 settled at high, but acceptable 80 °C (~176 °F). The Core i7-8750H reached a maximum of 88 °C (~190.4 °F). (Temperatures become critical at 100 °C/121 °F.)

The manufacturer has managed to get the most out of the 2-cm (~0.78 in) gaming laptop here. Even without a subwoofer the GM501 offers more bass than most competitors. Mids and highs sound decent (for a notebook), and you do not necessarily need to use a headset or external speakers.

Great: Thanks to the abundant maximum volume of 86 dB(A), the 15-inch device can fill more than just small rooms with sound - although the sound quality does drop slightly at higher volume. Tuning fans should be pleased with the audio tools Asus has to offer. Sonic Studio III also includes several profiles (music, film, gaming, communication), which offer nice adjustments in just one click.

We still have some question marks around the device's power consumption. Considering that the device includes graphics switching, the GM501 consumes a surprising amount of power while idling. The Aero 15X and the MSI GX63VR both consume several watts less. The idle results are similar to those of the GX501, whose GeForce was always active. Here, both hardware and software seem to be in need of optimization. Under load, the consumption increases to up to 223 watts, which is similar to the Acer Predator Triton 700. 

Despite graphics switching, the GM501 has not turned out to be a long-distance runner. Once again, the reason behind this is high power consumption, which needs improving. Another issue is the battery capacity. While a 55-Wh battery is not the smallest solution in our comparison field, we believe that a gaming device with such a focus on portability (compact size, relatively low weight), should be equipped with at least 70 Wh.

The Aero 15X shows that considerably better runtimes are possible. It has sacrificed a 2.5-inch slot for a gigantic 94-Wh battery. In our test, the GM501 can only manage a maximum runtime of 4 hours (the Aero 15X runs for up to 13 hours), which does not allow for particularly long excursions. The more practical tests (surfing, HD videos) only last about 2.5-3 hours before the device turns off. If you set the luminosity to maximum and give the GM501 a demanding 3D application to deal with, it cries for help (or its power supply) after only about one hour. Gaming without a power supply is not a good idea. In our test with “The Witcher 3”, the frame rate dropped by 65-80% on battery.