Gaming Notebook - Asus ROG Strix G531GT - 9th Gen i7 - Geforce GTX 1650

Gaming Notebook - Asus ROG Strix G531GT - 9th Gen i7 - Geforce GTX 1650

I am not normally a impulse buyer.  I like to do my research before buying something.  And then after research, I like to think and re-think about the item.  Especially when it comes to electronics.  With our blogs and internet activity increasing, we were thinking about buying a couple Chromebooks or tablets to make our tasks a little easier.  We were trying to decide between the Samsung Chromebook, or the Lenovo Yoga with LTE, so we decided to go to our local Best Buy and see what would be better for us.  They are both great devices, however they lacked some of our requirements.  So we started looking at regular laptops and came across this Asus ROG (Republic of Gamers) Strix.  I have never purchased a gaming laptop before, mainly because of pricing and limitations.  

We were just about to leave but we decided to see what the overpriced gaming laptops were like.  The kind worker at Best Buy saw what I was looking at, asked me a few questions, and then showed me the Asus Strix.  Im going down the Spec sheet, and see that it has a 9th Gen i7, 8 GB of DDR4 Ram, Nvidia Geforce 1650 4GB video card, 512 GB M.2 Drive, color changing keyboard, and already I'm thinking OK, this is going to cost at least $1500 if not more.  I see the price tag and it's on sale for $849.99.  WHAT?  $849.99?  So I ask the worker if that is the correct price, and he tells me yes.  Special sale, and they only have 1 left in town.  Not even at the same location.  So we decided to buy it.  Best Buy allowed me to pay for it there, which will hold the item for me.  Then we drove to the other Best Buy, like 8 miles away, and was able to pick it up there without any problems.  

Was it a good buy?  YES!  This notebook is blazing fast.  It actually runs faster than my desktop.  The built in Asus Armoury Crate lets you control your CPU speed, fan speed, current load, and even has preset settings on how you would like your laptop to run.  There is even a Mobile Connect option which lets you use your mobile device to check and control your PC Settings.  Installation is a breeze to with the QR Code.

I like this laptop so much, this actually took over my desktop as my main computer.  Although the Asus Strix comes with a large 512GB M.2 drive, I added a 750GB hard drive in the extra slot, to hold all my media files and backup files.  I was also happy to see that although 8GB of DDR 4 is good enough for me at the moment, there are 3 more ram slots that I can utilize, to make it 32GB of ram.  There is 1 HDMI output, and 3 USB 3.0 Ports.  You even have control over the color changing keyboard.  You can make it pulse, rainbow, static, breathing, etc.  

It weighs a little over 5 lbs, and has a 15.6" LED monitor panel.  The screen size was actually perfect for me when I took it on the road with me.  When at home, I use it without any issues, or when I am on my desk, I connect it to my monitor too.  For the amount of juice this notebook has, it is not loud at all.  I was a little worried about fan noise, but even when gaming with heavy loads, the fan did come on a few times a little louder than normal operation, but was not as loud as I thought it would be.  The built in speakers performed just as expected.  They were not super hi quality audio, but again that wasn't expected.  They were just loud enough and clear enough for portable use.  Of course when at home you can connect your laptop to another audio source or your headphones.  

So would I change anything about this laptop?  It's hard to say, mainly because any hardware changes would mean a higher price tag, so I won't even go into the GPU, CPU, or anything like that.  However, I wish the quality of the  LED Display was a little better.  Not expecting a 4K display, or even a 144hz without a higher price tag, but a slightly higher quality display would be nicer.  Secondly, the touchpad feels slightly flimsy compared to the rest of the build quality.  Other than that, I cannot ask for any more.  If I look at all the components involved in this build, I actually feel like I underpaid for this product, which is rare.  I am not a hardcore gamer, so I cannot speak for all games, however this laptop handled the games I play like Forza and Counter Strike GO without even pushing.  Therefore it can definitely handle my daily tasks with no problem at all!