 The Asus Strix GL502 feels like it's part of a dying breed of laptops. It isn't thin, it isn't light, it doesn't feature fancy materials like carbon fiber or magnesium and... Wait, what? No RGB? But was the old formula really that bad, or did it just need to be tweaked a little? With its proudly displayed VR ready sticker, is Asus's latest Strix laptop ready for the 2017 consumer? Let's find out. Cooler Master's 25th anniversary edition, Cosmos 2, features a unique dual curved tempered glass side panel. Check it out now at the link below. At just under an inch, the GL502VS is not exactly a thin and light, but that does seem to be the standard thickness shared by most gaming laptops these days. And at 5.2 pounds, it is a whopping 1.4 pounds less than the Alienware 15, putting it more comfortably into the marginally portable category. The outer finish is a combination of brushed aluminum-like plastic and real brushed aluminum, that ends up looking good, while avoiding feeling cheap, though it does fall a bit short of feeling premium. There is some flex around the keyboard and trackpad, and the screen and hinge are solid, but could be better. So, in summary, although the Strix doesn't have quite the robust build quality of the Alienware 15, for the same specs, it comes in at a whopping $645 less. So I'm sure some folks will find themselves asking, well did I really need that magnesium? I.O. is also strong, with three USB Type A's and a high speed USB Type C, though Thunderbolt 3 would have been really nice here, along with everything that most people will need to keep a dongle off their keychain for at least another year. The specs are highlighted by a quad-core Core i7-7700HQ, a powerful GTX 1070 graphics card, and an NVMe boot drive that, while small, is fast. So we should be getting a pretty awesome gaming experience out of this device, assuming it can keep all of that cool. One pit stain on this otherwise great laptop was that out-of-the-box thermals were awful. It does seem to be an isolated issue with our machine, though, and it was solved by reseating the cooler. So, we aren't sure if it was a problem with Asus' thermal paste application, or perhaps a less-than-gentle shipping company, but at least we know that it doesn't overheat by design, like some devices. With that said, under synthetic loads on both CPU and GPU, we did see a little bit of thermal throttling, but under realistic loads, like gaming, there was no adverse effect on performance whatsoever, which is good, because there is lots of performance in this guy. Its GTX 1070 was able to smash through the 60 FPS threshold in our AAA gaming benchmarks at very high details at the screen's native resolution of 1920x1080. And what's really nice is that when it does go over 60 FPS, you don't have to worry about those frames getting wasted. It runs at up to 120 Hz with G-Sync variable refresh rate technology, and thanks to Asus' choice of an IPS panel, it's not just a delight to game on, but it's good enough for productivity, too. It's nice and bright, and although I wouldn't recommend it for professional color-sensitive work, it trounces the 120 Hz TN display on the Alienware 15, making doing anything from watching YouTube videos, to writing in Word, to video conferencing with relatives, just plain a better experience. And the keyboard is a contributing factor. It's one of my favorite things about the Strix. Its scissor switches have a long travel distance and excellent tactile feedback for a notebook, and, perhaps equally importantly, this feel is consistent across the whole deck. The red backlighting and tactile knobby on the W key are also nice touches, and unlike some gaming-oriented keyboards, this is one that I wouldn't mind using to write up an essay. To top off the usability, Asus has been kind enough to include a numpad, something that can no longer be taken for granted on a 15-inch laptop, so the only minor gripe, then, is that it's a little bit easy to accidentally open up the ROG Gaming Center when you're aiming for the backspace. Now the enthusiasm gets kicked in the head a little bit, because the trackpad, I mean, it's usable, but it's not nearly as amazing. It's a clickpad, but the force required at the top is much higher than at the bottom. The way it's recessed into the chassis makes two-finger operation a little bit less comfortable than necessary, and its high input lag gives it kind of a sluggish feel, so forgetting a mouse on the go is a little unfortunate. Though with that said, not nearly as bad as forgetting your charger. In fairness to Asus, this is about what we expect from a high-powered gaming laptop, though. Noise-wise, the Strix remains at a comfortable volume while gaming, and at no point got close to being obnoxious, and the speakers, while not the loudest that I've heard on a laptop, are surprisingly punchy and remain clear at full volume. So although you wouldn't be using them for your next house party, they're more than enough to throw on some tunes while you're fixing up supper. So then in summary, the Strix is not a perfect laptop, but it gets what it needs to write, and it does so for a great price. The excellent screen and outstanding keyboard make using the Strix a great way to be productive IRL or in games. So the bottom line then is recommended. Are you a small business owner or a freelancer? Would you rather spend your time actually doing work instead of fussing around with complicated accounting software? Well, FreshBooks is built for you. 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