 When Nvidia released their Max-Q line of low-power gaming GPUs, notebook manufacturers fighting to make their devices as thin and powerful as possible made headlines with some... let's call them unconventional designs. I'm sorry, you put the trackpad where? Ooh, I don't know if that's any better. Now they were cool to play with, but the usability sacrifices made them veeery hard to recommend. So Asus backtracked on some of their more edgy design choices in this, the second generation Zephyrus. Speaking of choices, today's video is brought to you by a great choice, Private Internet Access. They're the VPN service that encrypts all of your internet traffic and uses a safe, protected IP. PIA has a ton of other useful features as well, so you can check them out at the link below. The Zephyrus GM501 is a sexy machine, and opening it up at the local coffee shop is bound to draw attention. The guy watching Summit 1G on Twitch will notice the keyboard area lifting up, creating a... gap for the internals to breathe, and then everyone else will probably turn their heads when you boot it up. Really, guys? That's the idea you rip off from Acer? And you guys will hear it in just a moment, the start engine noise that comes with this notebook is pretty cool. Anyway, the vent flap itself is a little flimsy feeling when it's lifted, but the feel of the entire machine, including the keyboard, is nothing short of premium. Noticeably better than last gen. And the flap closes when you pack up, making it a total non-concern if you want to throw the Zephyrus into your bag and then get to class. If the first thing you do when you get home is fire up Netflix or a game stream, the speakers are potent enough that you won't need to grab a pair of headphones. But if you want to be the one doing the streaming, you are definitely going to need some accessories in spite of the fairly complete I.O., including Thunderbolt 3. First and foremost, you're going to want a Type-C to DisplayPort adapter for your external display. Then you're going to want a Gigabit Ethernet adapter. And finally, you are definitely going to want a different webcam. Because the one that's included is, well, I think the best way to put it is not very exceptional. Even if you are considerably better looking than me. It's definitely got enough power, though. Not only will its full fat GTX 1070 push a high enough frame rate in modern AAA titles, but its 6-core CPU means that finally we've got a portable device that covers you for both your game and your streaming coding. The experience is shockingly similar to what you'd get from a very decent desktop machine. But the same is not true of acoustics and thermals. With a full-blown synthetic load, there is some overheating at first, despite the spoiler. But the good news is that the frequency on the CPU doesn't drop too much to get the temps reasonable again. So in productivity tasks, the new Zephyrus is faster than every seventh-gen laptop we tested. And the only laptop it loses to in Cinebench is the G702ZC, that one with eight Ryzen cores with an actual desktop chip in it. So, needless to say, this one is about 44% thinner than that one. So this is great news for video editors or other on-the-go content creators. As for gaming, well, you've actually got a couple of tuning options. In Shadow of War in silent mode, we got 77 frames per second, which is respectable. But it clearly wasn't designed to be used like that, so we toggled overboost, cranking up the fans. Now, this is not a quiet experience, but if you play games with sound, especially if you wear headphones, it's definitely worth it. 104 FPS? Dang! Like, that is an insane improvement. So with the fans on bust, the Zephyrus beats out even its much thicker seventh-gen siblings, and that is in spite of a touch of thermal throttling on the CPU. Probably the coolest thing happening in laptops right now, alongside incredible performance, is high refresh rate displays, and this 1080p IPS one is fantastic. Now, the colors aren't quite what I would describe as pro-grade, but they are heaps better than any high refresh rate laptop display from a year or two ago, and at 144Hz with G-Sync, you will finally be getting the most out of your OP mobile graphics card. So, there are no huge surprises so far. A gaming laptop that games. Woo. But it's actually more than just a one-trick pony. The RGB lighting on the keyboard might not be for everyone, but this typing experience probably will be. Most gaming laptops have low actuation force keys that are awesome for quick split-second actions, but fall flat once you try and type. But with a long 1.7mm travel, the Zephyrus offers a surprisingly tactile feel, like I could easily sit and write scripts, or long letters to people who are mad about my recent, you know, insert controversial topic here, video on it. Below the keyboard is a trackpad. It's a little on the small side, but thanks to its somewhat sensible positioning, thank you Asus, it's perfectly suitable for casual on-the-go use. That is, if you want to carry around the 1.8-pound power adapter with you on the go. On the subject of which, we were actually expecting much better battery life than other gaming laptops. Asus has given you the option to turn off G-Sync and then, with a restart, enable Nvidia Optimus, which lets the laptop use the Intel integrated graphics for tasks like web browsing and Microsoft Word. But in practice, we were still only getting around two and a half hours in our work battery test. And opening it up reveals why. The 55-watt-hour battery doesn't stand a chance against a 6-core CPU. Now, I think the solution is ditching the two and a half inch drive bay for more battery capacity here. But the upgraders out there might like it better this way. Maybe let us know in the comments. So, is the Zephyrus for you then? Well, at $2,200 US dollars for the GTX 1070 model with some better battery, it would be a lot easier to recommend. But that doesn't mean we're recommending against it either because the Zephyrus has one of the best mobile gaming experiences available on the market. It's got an awesome keyboard, great screen, and heaps of sex appeal. So, if you can afford the not entirely ludicrous premium, the Zephyrus GM501 asks for the fewest compromises we've seen out of a gaming thin and light so far. Just like our sponsor, Squarespace. Squarespace offers 24-7 support via live chat and email. And Squarespace starts at just $12 a month, and you get a free domain if you buy it for the year. 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Also linked down there is our merch store, which has cool shirts like this one, and our community forum, which you should totally join. The guy watching the Summit 1G stream on Twitch will probably notice the keyboard area lifting up. As you'll see.