Asus ROG Strix G Review – G531GT

Asus retails a wide range of ROG gaming laptops for every need and the Strix series that’s designed for FPS gamers has a number of variants covering a wide price spectrum. The ROG Strix G G531 Indian variant that we will be talking about here is the base model that offers Intel 9th Generation H-series Core i7 for sub-1 lakh price and employs NVIDIA GeForce GTX1650 (4GB VRAM) graphics, which lies just above the threshold you’d need for a decent gaming experience in 2019. (Asus ROG Strix G Review हिंदी में पढ़िए)

The configuration is solid for content creators and gamers who need not necessarily fancy playing triple-A titles at maximum graphics settings. Let’s talk more about our experience with the gaming machine in our ROG Strix G G531 review. 

Asus ROG Strix G – G531GT Price in India and Specs

Asus ROG Strix G Review: Design and Build

The G531GT-AL150T lies one rung below the Strix Scar series, but it retains the most of fine Strix Scar III design minus a few elements like the security Keystone. The Scar-signature RGB bar at the bottom that now folds and runs though side edges, has made the cut. The lighting feels a bit over the top initially, but it rarely gets in the way and the underflow effect makes the Strix G431GT an instant head-turner. 

The ROG Strix G531GT has a polycarbonate body, but it doesn’t feel outright cheap and is, in fact, quite sturdy (flex is minimal). Asus has used a two-tone brushed metal finish on the lid and a “carbon fiber print” on the inside, and what we have is way ahead of what Strix Scar II offered. The ROG logo on the lid isn’t RGB on this base Strix variant. 

The bezels around the display are quite narrow at the top and on sides. Narrow enough for Asus to ditch the Webcam altogether. The bezel at the bottom is huge, but the air gap at the bottom along with the asymmetrical cut (which also helps with ventilation) prevents this beefy bottom bezel from being an eye-sore. Thankfully, the distracting sliver ROG logo on the bottom bezel is gone too.  

Asus has also laid special emphasis on proper ventilation and has laid, what it calls, a heavy ventilated 3D Flow Zone. Exhausts open on the rear and there are raised ridges above keyboard base for air circulation. There aren’t any heat vents on the sides, thus resulting in convenient extended gaming sessions. 

Overall the ROG Strix G531GT shows a neat and smart design, and unless you have an aversion to RGB lighting (they can be turned off), you are going to love the way it all adds up. 

Also Read: Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502GU Review

Asus ROG Strix G Review: Keyboard, Trackpad, and IO

The chicklet keyboard on ROG Strix G531 is missing NumPad and has narrower arrow keys. Other than that, it’s a great keyboard for gaming and also for office work. The feedback isn’t firm but it’s only moderately mushy. Substantiating the FPS gaming claims, the WASD keys are highlighted by being transparent. 

Keys have the right spacing, travel is sufficient and the soft-touch finish is grippy. There’s sufficient space for proper handrest and we could easily type on the Keyboard through our workday (which is a lot of typing) without any discomfort. 

You will also find dedicated keys for necessary functions like Home, Page Up, Volume control, and Armoury Crate app that among other things can also be used for controlling RGB lighting across the keyboard. The RGB lighting on the keyboard is zonal and not per-key RGB lighting as on high-end ROG models. 

We quite like the precision trackpad below the display. It’s smooth and efficient and works as it should.  

As for input-output ports, the ROG Strix G531 has three USB 3.1 first gen Type-A port (all placed together) and an audio jack on the left edge. There is no port on the right edge. On the rear, there’s HDMI 2.0b port, RJ45 Lan port, and charging port. 

With a couple of USB Type-C headphones lying around my desk, I did miss the USB Type-C port a lot. Other notable omissions are Thunderbolt and card reader. 

Also Read: 13-Inch HP Spectre x360 (2019) Review: Nothing short of Premium

Asus ROG Strix G Review: Display

The 15.6-inch IPS LCD panel (16:9) on our ROG Strix G531GT unit has 1080p full HD resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. The display is moderately bright and is good enough for indoor gaming. 

Once again unlike the high-end ROG models the display on the Strix G531 isn’t Calman or Pantone Validated and Asus doesn’t make any particular claims regarding color accuracy. The default color temperature seems a bit on the cooler side, contrast is high, and colors don’t feel washed out or punchy. 

Asus is cutting corners with the display but for anyone who isn’t fastidious about display colors (as content creators are), the screen shouldn’t be a problem. 

Asus ROG Strix G Review: Performance and Gaming

The biggest attraction of the ROG Strix G-series is that it offers the latest 9th generation intel processor for competitive prices. Our unit is the top model in the Strix G lineup that’s powered by six-core Core i7-9750H clocked at 2.6GHz. 

The CPU is further assisted by 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and 1TB Intel 660p QLC SSD. The display has a 120Hz refresh rate with the power chord plugged in (60Hz otherwise). 

Needless to say, the laptop can handle regular day-to-day usage and aggressive multitasking without breaking a sweat.

To better gauge its performance, we ran a few synthetic benchmarks on the laptop. The ROG Strix G scored 1172 in Cinebench R20 multithread test and 177 ain single thread test. 

Crystal DiskMark 6 returned sequential read and write speed of 1586.2 and 1649.5 respectively. On 3D Mark Time Spy 2K the laptop scores 8735 and on 3D Mark Fire Strike, the Strix G531 scored 8560. 

These are respectable scores and pretty much on the lines of what was expected.  

As for gaming, Rise of Tomb Raider ran at 37fps at maximum settings and we could achieve maximum frame rates of around 70fps on one less than maximum settings. Far Cry 5 ran at around 50fps and Shadow of the tomb raider managed to deliver around 48fps at one less than maximum settings. 

So, unless you need to play at the highest possible settings, high-end games are very playable. 

Asus ROG Strix G Review: Battery and Audio

Battery backup on gaming laptops is almost never outright impressive and the new Strix doesn’t break any stereotypes.

The 48Whr battery on the Asus ROG Strix G531GT can last for more than 4 hours of basic usage that includes web browsing and media consumption. With gaming, the battery lasted for around 1 hour and 15 minutes, which is pretty decent. The bundled 150W charger takes around 1.5 hours to fully charge the battery. 

The two 1.5W speakers on the laptop proved to be a tad underwhelming. The audio is loud and clear enough for watching movies when you are sitting right in front of the laptop but for gaming and pretty much all other purposes you’d need to use headphones.  

Asus ROG Strix G Review: Verdict

The Asus ROG Strix G531GT is a good option for people looking for an affordable yet latest generation gaming machine. The performance hardware it offers is very tempting for the price which is why It’s a good option for people who are looking for a laptop powerful enough to run professional software and is also powerful enough to run most of the latest titles. 

The Strix G531 offers 9th generation Intel Core i7 chipset, an efficient and elegant design, 120Hz refresh rate screen, and a good keyboard for a very reasonable price. On the downside, IO ports, display quality, and audio via speakers leave a lot to be desired.