Asus ROG GX500 Release Date, News, Price and Specs

TAIPEI, Taiwan — If there was that one thing that always put me off from getting a gaming notebook, it was that they were all so enormous.

That’s begun to change though — Razer came up with the Blade , a metal-clad gaming notebook that was eminently portable. It’s started a trend, with more manufacturers, especially those from Taiwan, coming up with their own versions now they know it is possible.

I thought the MSI GS60 2PE Ghost Pro , with its Ultra HD screen and magnesium-lithium alloy chassis, was already pretty thin at 20mm. Then Asus went and announced one even thinner — at 19mm. Not only that, but its elegant machine finish took my breath away.

The ROG GX500 is very similar in design to the Blade and the GS60, and these designs share a passing resemblance to Apple’s MacBook line of laptops. Like the MacBook, the GX500 sports rounded corners and a large trackpad.

There are some touches that stand out, however — the speaker grills are located at the sides of the keyboard, meaning it should sound loud and clear. While most gaming laptops slather on the red paint, the GX500 keeps it relatively restrained, with red accents on the keyboard lights and trackpad.

I tried typing on the keyboard, and like the the MSI GS60, the laptop lies completely flat, so you may need to raise it the rear a little higher at an angle for a more comfortable typing and gaming experience. The only drawback I could see was that fingerprints and palm smudges are highly likely to mar the beautiful surface.

The GX500 is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, an Nvidia GTX860M and a 15.6-inch Ultra HD display with a resolution of 3,840×2,160 pixels. It weighs just 2.2kg.

Going on sale in the third quarter of this year for an as yet unknown price (I really don’t expect it to be cheap), the GX500 is a powerhouse of a gaming notebook with more than a touch of class.

I really like what I saw of the Asus ROG GX500, and this gaming machine, along with the Asus Chi and Transformer Book V , are the stand-out products from the Taiwanese company here at Computex.