Asus solves poor webcam positioning of the XPS 15... by including a free USB webcam in the box

Attractive narrow bezels can sometimes come at the cost of webcam positioning. Laptops like the LG Gram 15, Dell XPS 15, Huawei MateBook X Pro, Asus ROG GL704, or Lenovo Legion Y530 may look small and light in their respective categories, but the angles of their webcams are downright awful.

At CES 2019, Asus unveiled its 17.3-inch Zephyrus GX701 gaming laptop with narrow bezels on all three sides of the display. Instead of integrating the webcam at a less-than-optimal location like on the Asus GL704, however, the new Zephyrus omits the camera altogether. Asus likely decided during development that if it couldn't be done right, then it may as well not be done at all.

To make up for the lack of a camera, the GX701 will include a free USB webcam inside each retail box to allow for more freedom of movement and positioning. While we don't know the details of it yet, we're hoping that it will offer superior video quality than the typical laptop webcam and have a clip of some sort for attaching to the GX701.

It's common for higher-end gaming laptops to ship with free accessories already in the box. Mouse pads, mice, keyboards, stickers, and even backpacks may be thrown in to boost the user experience. Including a free webcam in the mix looks to be a simple way to alleviate the problem perhaps until a new webcam is developed specifically for the narrow bezel form factor.

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