Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 Review

The Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 is an affordable gaming laptop that comes with a decent set of specs. Some of you may look at the price tag and ask the question of affordability. But when it comes to gaming laptops, this is an affordable price range. Also, the ROG Strix series a new one which means you’ll get more for less.

In this Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 review, we are discussing this new gaming laptop and see how good it is during peak performance. It is important that we figure how good of a gaming machine this actually is. Can this laptop play all your favorite games? Is it worth your hard-earned money? Let’s find the answers in the full review below.

Design

The Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 comes with a refreshing new design. It has moved from the old ROG series design and now sports a much more modern look that still belongs to the gaming scene. The build quality of the laptop is pretty solid and gives you a premium feel right away. The brush metal finish on the lid is a nice look and contributes to the laptop’s sporty look.

Every little aspect of this laptop is well designed. There is a small lip in the lid that makes lifting the laptop open much easier. The smooth hinges also contribute to that as well. While the laptop looks slim, it still weighs around 5.28 pounds making it one of the heavier gaming laptops out there. This, however, is not the heaviest laptop by any means.

The cooling system in this laptop is comprehensive. The Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 model comes with a couple of fans that has 83 blades on them each. Each of the blades is now 33% thinner and as a result, the airflow is better by 17%. This improves the cooling performance of the fans. There is also an anti-dust tunnel to keep the fans and the blades clean. You can also switch between three different fan modes ranging from silent to turbo.

We have an ASUS Aura Sync keyboard which is a nice addition. The keys are tactile and come with enough key travel for a good typing experience. The RGB backlighting is neat and doesn’t bleed out. The WASD zone is colored and stands out. The keyboard also comes with N key rollover for multiple key inputs. With durability testing for up to 20 million hits, the keyboard can last your gaming marathons with ease. 

The touchpad is also quite responsive and works as advertised. It also doubles up as a number pad which is nice if you work with numbers a lot.

Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 Specs

The Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 comes with a 15.6″ screen that has a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. ASUS calls this an IPS-level display which clearly tells us that this isn’t an IPS display. This is a TN panel that is configured to work like an IPS display. The colors are very native to a TN panel but are something gamers can live with.

The display looks excellent, thanks to the thin bezels. At their thinnest point, they are only 6.29mm. These bezels give a screen-to-body ratio of 80% which is very high for a laptop in this price range.

The display is excellent for media consumption. Thanks to the full HD resolution and the aspect ratio, watching movies and TV series on this laptop screen is a real pleasure. The viewing angles could definitely be better but id good enough for media consumption.

The audio output of the laptop is quite decent. If you’re not that big on sound, then there shouldn’t be a problem. For media consumption and other entertainment purposes, this audio is adequate. On the other hand, if you’re an audiophile, then you better get yourself a good pair of headphones for the best experience.

Raw Performance

The processor that powers this Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 model is an Intel Core i7 processor from the 9th gen. This i7 9750H is a hexa-core processor that comes with a base clocking frequency of 2.6GHz. With the help of turbo boost, the processor can boost up to 4.0GHz which is more power than you’ll ever need.

This Intel chip comes with a smart cache memory of 12MB which can be quite handy. The processor scores well in benchmarks. It gets a score of around 13665 in CPUMark benchmark tests which puts this one in the high-end processor’s category.

The Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 shines well when it comes to everyday performance. It blows through your daily apps and other stuff without any issues. Even if you’re a heavy user, this laptop can handle your apps and games without any problem. If you’re a crypto guy or gal, you can use this processing power to mine some processor-only mineable coins as well.

With 16 gigs of DDR4 RAM in the memory department, the laptop does exceedingly well when it comes to multitasking. You can run multiple applications side by side without having to worry about performance or lags. You can upgrade the memory in the future to a maximum of 32GB which is nice.

For storage, we have a 1TB solid-state drive. This is a PCIe NVMe SSD that comes with good reading and writing speeds. The laptop boots up in a few seconds, and the applications and games open more swiftly than ever before. If you’re coming for a traditional mechanical drive, you’ll enjoy the speed bump.

Gaming on the Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76

The gaming experience on this Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 model is powered by an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card with a dedicated video memory of 4 GB GDDR5. This GPU is also based on the Turing generation but doesn’t integrate ray tracing or tensor cores. Having said that, this is a very capable graphics card.

You can have a good time playing some very popular games with this laptop. Thanks to the GPU, you can enjoy high or ultra settings with most games and that’s impressive at this price point. The following are some games and their respective frame rates when played in high settings.

• F1 2019 – 83 FPS
• Rage 2 – 61 FPS
• Anno 1800 – 42 FPS
• The Division 2 – 53 FPS
• Dirt Rally 2.0 – 73 FPS
• Far Cry New Dawn – 55 FPS
• Apex Legends – 69 FPS
• Fortnite – 75 FPS

Battery Life and Connectivity

The battery life in the Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 model is better than what you’ll find in most other gaming laptops. With light usage, you can get around 5 to 7 hours which is pretty impressive for a gaming laptop. However, when you start gaming or put the laptop through a heavy load, the battery life takes a hit. You’d be lucky to have 3 to 3.5 hours of battery life in those circumstances.

The laptop comes with adequate connectivity options for most users. You get three USB 3.0 ports which are great for data transfer and connectivity. There are no USB type C ports which are a bit disappointing considering this is a modern machine. You can find an HDMI port and an Ethernet port at the back of the laptop. Though the positioning is unusual, it is nice to keep the wires off your eyesight. The laptop also comes with support for WiFi and Bluetooth as well.

Bottomline

The Asus ROG Strix G GL531GT-EB76 is an affordable gaming laptop that gives you wholesome gaming experience. The specs on this laptop are well worth the price and make up for a good everyday experience. The GTX 1650 is a reliable GPU that gives you excellent gaming experience. If you’re looking for a solid gaming experience in an affordable price range, then this laptop will help you get that.