What’s new in the ASUS ROG GL502VS (GTX 1070) compared to the ASUS ROG GL502VT (GTX 970M) and what to expect in our upcoming review

If you remember the original ASUS ROG GL502 with GTX 970M and 980M on board, you’d be interested to see what the refreshed version with the brand new Pascal GTX 1070 has to offer. What’s interesting, the laptop holds more changes than it meets the eye so we will try to clarify things ahead of the full review.

You can find all of the available configurations, including the ones with GTX 980M, here: http://amzn.to/2hot3y1

In terms of design, the laptop hasn’t gone under any major changes except a few digits regarding portability. Now the GL502VS weighs a little bit more than its predecessor (2.6 kg vs 2.4 kg) and adds 5 mm to its thickness. Still, the ASUS ROG GL502VS is can be considered as one of the most compact and light offerings with GTX 1070 on board. Plus, if these changes are sufficient enough to utilize the full potential of the CPU and GPU, they are more than welcome. Who would buy a throttling gaming laptop, right?

On the other hand, some changes would have been appreciated like better touchpad, keyboard or a more appropriate material for the interior considering the price point of the product. We will further discuss these issues in the full review but our general opinion on the build is positive, nonetheless.

It’s obvious that ASUS has aimed at a more affordable GTX 1070 solution, otherwise, you’re better off spending a little bit more to get the more premium ASUS ROG G752VS. So some of the sacrifices are apparent but not in the hardware department. You still get top of the line hardware – Intel Core i7-6700HQ, up to 32GB of DDR4-2133 RAM using two slots, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5) GPU and a Full HD IPS panel with G-Sync enabled.

The change in the GPU ensures a whopping 40 to 50% increase in performance but what about cooling? Our early tests show that there’s nothing to worry about in this regard, but we do have to note that the system keeps high temperatures in and outside of the laptop. The benefit from this is that there’s no thermal throttling so you can enjoy your game using the notebook’s full performance. However, there’s also a big change in the screen department but it’s nothing that the user will probably notice. The GL502VT (GTX 970M) featured a Samsung panel while the new GTX 1070-powered variant sports an LG Philips display, which is better in some cases like PWM, color temperature and contrast but falls short when it comes to sRGB coverage. In other words, it’s a revised IPS panel from the ASUS ROG GL552VW and ASUS N552VX. We will make more comments on this in the full review with all the tests to back up our claims.

Here’s a quick specs comparison between both versions of the laptop:

ASUS ROG GL502VT (GTX 970M)
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CPUIntel Core i7-6700HQ (4-core, 2.6 – 3.5 GHz)
RAMup to 32GB RAM – DDR4, 2133 MHz
GPUNVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M (3GB GDDR5)
HDD/SSD256GB M.2 PCIe SSD NVMe
Display15.6-inch – 1920×1080 (Full HD) IPS, matte (G-Sync) – Samsung 156HL01-104
Features
  • 3x USB 3.0
  • 1x USB 3.1 Type-C (Gen 2)
  • 1x HDMI
  • 1x mini DisplayPort
  • 1x Ethernet LAN port
  • 1x SD/MMC card reader
  • 1x Combo audio jack
  • 1x Kensington Lock security port
  • Built-in microphones with ambient noise reduction
  • ICEpower loudspeakers
Battery64 Wh (4240 mAh)
Thickness24.03-25.00 mm (0.95-0.98″)
Weight2.4 kg (5.23 lbs)
ASUS ROG GL502VS (GTX 1070)
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CPUIntel Core i7-6700HQ (4-core, 2.6 – 3.5 GHz)
RAMup to 32GB RAM – DDR4, 2133 MHz
GPUNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5)
HDD/SSD256GB M.2 PCIe SSD NVMe
Display15.6-inch – 1920×1080 (Full HD) IPS, matte (G-Sync) – LG Philips LP156WF6-SPB6
Features
  • 3x USB 3.0
  • 1x USB 3.1 Type-C (Gen 2)
  • 1x HDMI
  • 1x mini DisplayPort
  • 1x Ethernet LAN port
  • 1x SD/MMC card reader
  • 1x Combo audio jack
  • 1x Kensington Lock security port
  • Built-in microphones with ambient noise reduction
  • ICEpower loudspeakers
Battery64 Wh (4240 mAh)
Thickness30 mm (1.18″)
Weight2.6 kg (5.73 lbs)
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Karel
Karel
7 years ago

Hello friend, if you can help me since I have a problem and I think you understand a lot more than I do about this topic. I would like to buy an Asus brand laptop and I am shuffling the options between a Zenbook and a gaming. Basically I want it to play but also to edit 4K videos mostly, nothing extremely professional but user level with a little quality. The Asus zenbook model I have seen is as follows: Asus ZenBook Pro UX501VW-FJ044T i7-6700HQ / 16GB / 512GB SSD / GTX960M / 15.6 “Touch Screen ( This model has… Read more »