Nowadays all stores that sell laptop computers offer Asus machines. The Taiwanese multinational manufacturer last week released two different and new laptops, the Zephyrus S and the 17-inch Strix 2, and the Zephyrus S is their thinnest gaming laptop. It really is remarkably thin at 15.7 millimeters thick. You may have remembered last year’s Zephyri (Zephyruses?) were about 18-19 millimeters thick, but this year they’ve gotten it even slimmer, and at 15.7mm it’s noticeable.
The design is similar in the sense that it’s got the same kind of design language as the other Zephyrus models and it’s really well made. It measures in at 14.2-inches by 5.89-inches by 0.62-inches and 4.63-pounds. These are impressive, to say the least.
Asus changed a few things. it has an aluminum bottom panel. As you remember, the original had a plastic bottom panel. Although it looks and feels more premium, it does actually have more flex than the plastic panel had. For whatever reason they went to metal is anyone’s guess, but it does give us access to the internal parts.
When you open the lid up you’ll see the biggest change you’ll probably notice is this year’s display. The original Zephyrus had some pretty thick bezels and this year it doesn’t. Not to mention that the panel itself has been improved. It has a 144 Hertz, 3-millisecond screen. It’s fast. it’s smooth. It’s a really nice looking screen. The webcam is still on the top and there’s a chin on the bottom. If there is going to be some thickness to the bezel I certainly prefer it on the bottom.
The keyboard this year has been shifted downward. The original Zephyrus was set up this way as well with a lower keyboard and the trackpad on the right. Having the trackpad on the right is something that you’ll just have to get used to, especially if you’re left-handed. If tracking with your right hand is a problem, then I guess you’d have to hook up an external mouse if you still wanted to pick this laptop up for gaming.
The keyboard being shifted downward again is much like having a desktop keyboard where the keys are right up to the edge of the keyboard, so in that sense, it’s not too hard to get used to. Why are is the keyboard down so low? Well, that’s an easy answer. it’s in order to provide more cooling for the important internal components. When it’s shifted down like this you can position your thermal solutions directly on top of the hottest things like your CPU and GPU and cool them more aggressively.
The thermal they are using this year has slightly thinner blades and more blades which is supposed to help with cooling it down. When you open the lid up, it causes for the rear end of the laptop to lift up off of its substrate in order for better passages of air.
The biggest disadvantage of this laptop is the battery size. It’s a 50 watt-hour that more than likely will be consistent with a 4-5 hour battery. So, if you need it for a full day, you better plan on lugging your charger with you. But for a gaming laptop, it sure is super thin and they were able to put it together without compromising anything that you like on your laptops. That’s the awesome part. If Asus has figured out how to engineer something like this, it shouldn’t be too long before other companies do the same, and that’s the great part for us consumers. We get more options and prices fall.
