New G501 (for those who were waiting for the GX500)

[X-ROG]

News here: http://rog.asus.com/399392015/g-series-gaming-laptops/g501-the-coolest-quietest-thin-light-15-inch-g...

[Sargatanas]

Skjoldur wrote:
I haven't seen the 4k version in Germany either. I really need to replace my old MBPr 2012...

Same here - only FHD Versions available in Germany, guess we also won't see the ones with larger Batterie...

[Skjoldur]

Sargatanas wrote:
Same here - only FHD Versions available in Germany, guess we also won't see the ones with larger Batterie...

I would prefer UHD, but I actually could live with FHD if I had to. The 96 Whrs battery on the other hand is a must. I really hope they will sell it in Germany.

[J82]

Sargatanas wrote:
Same here - only FHD Versions available in Germany, guess we also won't see the ones with larger Batterie...

Don't understand why we cant have the FHD version, along with the option of the larger Battery, and the 512 gb SSD (rather than 1 TB 7200 rpm).

4k display has so many scaling issues especially adobe products.

[Skjoldur]

J82 wrote:
Don't understand why we cant have the FHD version, along with the option of the larger Battery, and the 512 gb SSD (rather than 1 TB 7200 rpm).

4k display has so many scaling issues especially adobe products.

The nice thing about UHD is, that it is exactly 4 times FHD, so you will always be able to switch to FHD and it will still look great if you run into any problems. It even displays 1280x720 very well since this is exactly 1/9th of UHD.

I need to work and play on my notebook when I am abroad, so UHD / 4k is perfekt for me, because I need the real estate. The large battery is even more important.

Razer made the dumb move to go for a 3200x1800 and there are virtually no external monitors with that resolution so I would have to readjust all windows after connecting. But then again they did not add a DisplayPort and they decided yet again to not enter the European market, Germany in specific. I would have bought it otherwise even though its runtime is not that great.

This one is my last hope for the moment...

[cajun_azn]

Can someone shed some light on the specifications of the UHD display in ASUS ROG G501JW-DS71?

• Is the UHD matte or glossy? On Newegg's Q&A section, LJ L says the monitor's model number is Samsung LTN156FL02-101, which is glossy. But the product description on Newegg and Asus Store says the display is matte.
  Edit: Marshall said earlier that the screen is matte (Source)
  
• Furthermore, I would like to see lab results of the monitor, and having the correct model number would be very helpful. Laptopmedia.com reviewed the FHD version and said the FHD version is Samsung 156HL01-102. If the ROG G501 UHD monitor has been shipped with other models, then perhaps there already exists lab results to look up.
  

This laptop may be an upgrade to my Sony svz13114gxx. Thanks in advance!

[Uhd]

cajun_azn wrote:
Can someone shed some light on the specifications of the UHD display in ASUS ROG G501JW-DS71?

• Is the UHD matte or glossy? On Newegg's Q&A section, LJ L says the monitor's model number is Samsung LTN156FL02-101, which is glossy. But the product description on Newegg and Asus Store says the display is matte.
  Edit: Marshall said earlier that the screen is matte (Source)
  
• Furthermore, I would like to see lab results of the monitor, and having the correct model number would be very helpful. Laptopmedia.com reviewed the FHD version and said the FHD version is Samsung 156HL01-102. If the ROG G501 UHD monitor has been shipped with other models, then perhaps there already exists lab results to look up.
  

Well, if G501 got this Samsung panel, it is not the true RBG, but a horrible RGBW !!! It is the same cheap panel used in Lenovo Y50, MSI, Inspiron and other budget notebooks. It has lots of issues like yellow color deficiency and ragged font rendering. In addition, it is not a true 4k resolution, because Samsung counts every 4 subpixels (RG, BW) as 2 separate pixels. As a result, with Samsung panels you get much worse picture quality comparing to 4k Sharp IGZO true RGB panels or even to much lower-resolution retina MacBooks.

I am so dissapointed in Asus! So much fanfare, such long product delays and as a result so mediocre quality... at premium prices?

[Skjoldur]

Uhd wrote:
Well, if G501 got this Samsung panel, it is not the true RBG, but a horrible RGBW !!! It is the same cheap panel used in Lenovo Y50, MSI, Inspiron and other budget notebooks. It has lots of issues like yellow color deficiency and ragged font rendering. In addition, it is not a true 4k resolution, because Samsung counts every 4 subpixels (RG, BW) as 2 separate pixels. As a result, with Samsung panels you get much worse picture quality comparing to 4k Sharp IGZO true RGB panels or even to much lower-resolution retina MacBooks.

I am so dissapointed in Asus! So much fanfare, such long product delays and as a result so mediocre quality... at premium prices?

I am waiting for some official information. There are too many rumors and guesses already.

It certainly does not help that there are several contradictory facts on different Asus websites. And on the german Asus site you can't even find it although it is available at certain resellers. -- Alas no version with TB, UHD or the 96Whrs battery..

[cajun_azn]

Skjoldur wrote:
I am waiting for some official information. There are too many rumors and guesses already.

It certainly does not help that there are several contradictory facts on different Asus websites. And on the german Asus site you can't even find it although it is available at certain resellers. -- Alas no version with TB, UHD or the 96Whrs battery..

Agree, I also wait for some official information.

On Newegg, Manual H said his UHD display is matte. It appears LJ L's comment in Newegg Q&A about the model number was incorrect because it contradicts all other sources. Waiting for some official information or, equivalently, lab results.

[cajun_azn]

cajun_azn wrote:
Can someone shed some light on the specifications of the UHD display in ASUS ROG G501JW-DS71?

• Is the UHD matte or glossy? On Newegg's Q&A section, LJ L says the monitor's model number is Samsung LTN156FL02-101, which is glossy. But the product description on Newegg and Asus Store says the display is matte.
  Edit: Marshall said earlier that the screen is matte (Source)
  
• Furthermore, I would like to see lab results of the monitor, and having the correct model number would be very helpful. Laptopmedia.com reviewed the FHD version and said the FHD version is Samsung 156HL01-102. If the ROG G501 UHD monitor has been shipped with other models, then perhaps there already exists lab results to look up.
  

This laptop may be an upgrade to my Sony svz13114gxx. Thanks in advance!

Earlier in this post, I was asking about whether the display is matte and whether there are lab results for the display. There were some responses (#199, #200, #201) to this query but no firm answers. Well, my G501JW-DS71 arrived recently, so I can answer those questions and hopefully people find it helpful.

CPU-Z reports the monitor IS is SDC434B. My Google-fu says that it is the same panel described here: http://www.ultrabookreview.com/7032-asus-zenbook-nx501/. My G501 display is matte, not glossy as mentioned in that review.

Re #215, I actually use 1920 x 1080 resolution on this UHD with 125% scaling, mainly for productivity reasons. I may try 4k movies later but don't know where to find one for free. Maybe when Microsoft fixes the Windows UI scaling issue, I will switch to UHD resolution.

Re #214 about pulse-width modulation. Generally I prefer to dial down my monitor brightness to reduce eye strain. On this laptop the fn-F5/F6 keys change the brightness by 10% increments. While indoors on a cloudy afternoon, I can barely discern the flicker at 0% and 10%, but that is because I was looking for it. Personally, my minimum brightness is 20%, and I use flux and set the color temperature to 6000K during daytime and 5000K during night (according to flux's numbers).

Also, since this was also asked several times ... the ROG logo on the lid is not backlight. It's a simple logo. No, I do not plan on prying it off, so I cannot comment on hiding it.

Additional tidbits:

Guild Wars 2 runs at around 40-45 fps on high everything, native sampling, 1920 x 1080, while running circles around R&D Waypoint.

The hard drive was partitioned into 190 GB + 270 GB.

The sound is pretty good. Much better than Sony Vaio Z. Approximate idea: G501 20% ~ Vaio Z 50% volume. (there is more to quality than volume, but I don't know the audio terms)

The RAM is 798Mhz 11-11-11-28, if that means anything to anyone.

Personally I changed the Control Panel settings to disable action when pressing the power button to prevent an accident. I tried to hard-shutdown the computer by long-pressing it, and it works (the computer did shut down). But wow, why is the END button embedded into the number pad? I would have preferred its own button, or at least dual-locate it by fn-up/down/left/right.

The keyboard light (fn-F3/F4) has 4 levels. Off, low, medium, high.

Does anyone know how to re-program the calculator fn macro (fn-numpad Enter)? I prefer to launch my own like SpeedCrunch. This is my first ROG so I don't know the OEM software well.

Oh, also on CPU-Z's website's download page, they provide 2 options ... the plain vanilla CPU-Z or the ROG branded CPU-Z. Well, the left 1/3 of the GUI of the ROG branded CPU-Z was cut off, so I switched to the plain vanilla version.

Hope this helps!

[J82]

cajun_azn wrote:
Earlier in this post, I was asking about whether the display is matte and whether there are lab results for the display. There were some responses (#199, #200, #201) to this query but no firm answers. Well, my G501JW-DS71 arrived recently, so I can answer those questions and hopefully people find it helpful.

CPU-Z reports the monitor IS is SDC434B. My Google-fu says that it is the same panel described here: http://www.ultrabookreview.com/7032-asus-zenbook-nx501/. My G501 display is matte, not glossy as mentioned in that review.

Re #215, I actually use 1920 x 1080 resolution on this UHD with 125% scaling, mainly for productivity reasons. I may try 4k movies later but don't know where to find one for free. Maybe when Microsoft fixes the Windows UI scaling issue, I will switch to UHD resolution.

Re #214 about pulse-width modulation. Generally I prefer to dial down my monitor brightness to reduce eye strain. On this laptop the fn-F5/F6 keys change the brightness by 10% increments. While indoors on a cloudy afternoon, I can barely discern the flicker at 0% and 10%, but that is because I was looking for it. Personally, my minimum brightness is 20%, and I use flux and set the color temperature to 6000K during daytime and 5000K during night (according to flux's numbers).

Also, since this was also asked several times ... the ROG logo on the lid is not backlight. It's a simple logo. No, I do not plan on prying it off, so I cannot comment on hiding it.

Additional tidbits:

Guild Wars 2 runs at around 40-45 fps on high everything, native sampling, 1920 x 1080, while running circles around R&D Waypoint.

The hard drive was partitioned into 190 GB + 270 GB.

The sound is pretty good. Much better than Sony Vaio Z. Approximate idea: G501 20% ~ Vaio Z 50% volume. (there is more to quality than volume, but I don't know the audio terms)

The RAM is 798Mhz 11-11-11-28, if that means anything to anyone.

Personally I changed the Control Panel settings to disable action when pressing the power button to prevent an accident. I tried to hard-shutdown the computer by long-pressing it, and it works (the computer did shut down). But wow, why is the END button embedded into the number pad? I would have preferred its own button, or at least dual-locate it by fn-up/down/left/right.

The keyboard light (fn-F3/F4) has 4 levels. Off, low, medium, high.

Does anyone know how to re-program the calculator fn macro (fn-numpad Enter)? I prefer to launch my own like SpeedCrunch. This is my first ROG so I don't know the OEM software well.

Oh, also on CPU-Z's website's download page, they provide 2 options ... the plain vanilla CPU-Z or the ROG branded CPU-Z. Well, the left 1/3 of the GUI of the ROG branded CPU-Z was cut off, so I switched to the plain vanilla version.

Hope this helps!

Great help Cajun! I'll be switching laptops from Sony too from my Vaio SVS. Have a question for you.

When you're set at 1080p, are you having issues with scaling when opening PDFs like adobe or other programs (program boxes appear in windowed format with super small font for example). Or web pages appearing out of sorts?