Asus ROG Strix GL502 laptop flaunts GTX 980M, 32GB RAM & NVMe SSD support

Asus has announced its latest addition to the Republic of Gamers’ laptop line — the ROG Strix GL502.

Strix is generally associated with the company’s range of graphics cards, but the branding has been used on keyboards, headphones and other desktop towers in the past. But now, it comes to yet another laptop.

So what’s so special about this one?

Let’s talk I/O. There’s a single HDMI port, a mini DisplayPort 1.2, a new-age USB Type-C 3.1 port, and finally three USB 3.0 slots. There’s none of that USB 2.0 nonsense here. And it’s about as modern inside as it is out too.

For one, the device boasts a 15.6-inch display, with a choice of a 1080p or 4K panel. The laptop, regardless of screen, will pack an Nvidia GTX 980M, which itself include 8GB of GDDR5 VRAM. That card comes with Nvidia’s G-Sync technology too, which aims to reduce screen tearing (especially with that 4K screen).

Looking at the laptop’s other specs, you can either have an Intel Core i7-6700Q or 6820HK, both from Intel’s Skylake generation. Naturally that means DDR4 as well, and this machine packs 32GB running at 2133MHz. Not shabby.

Interestingly, there’s a choice of a spinning drive of up to 2TB, and more importantly for gamers, an NVMe M.2 SSD of up to 256GB.

Styling-wise, it’s still typically a gaming notebook, which means a clumsy aesthetic, a focus on colours rather than neat and tidy lines, and plenty of keyboard backlighting.

Asus also claims that there are two distinct fans for GPU and CPU cooling, utilising some of the company’s Strix graphics card savvy in the process.

And how much will all of this cost? Asus hasn’t exactly uttered those digits just yet, but we imagine it should retail for well over R20 000, should it ever grace South African shores.