Fresh off the news that Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 960M and 950M yesterday, Asus followed the path of other companies like Alienware, Razer, Acer, and MSI and revealed the latest gaming laptop in its Republic of Gamers series, which comes with the new GTX 960M.
We've noticed that today's gaming laptops continue to get thinner and thinner, and Asus' new G501 is what the company calls the thinnest gaming laptop in its class coming in at 0.81 inches.
The G501 at its lightest weighs 4.54 pounds, although a touchscreen version of the model will be heavier. It's powered by an Intel Core i7-4720HQ (2.6 GHz, 3.6 GHz Turbo) that sits on a mobile Intel HM87 chipset. It comes with 16 GB of DDR3 memory and uses a 512 GB PCIe x4 SSD for storage. For graphics, it houses the brand new Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M, which comes with 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM.
Asus employs what it calls Hyper Cool technology to keep those components chilled. Essentially, it uses the laptop's dual fans and copper heatpipes to independently cool the GPU and CPU inside while keeping the noise level down to a minimum.
The display measures 15.6 inches with a resolution of 3840 x 2160, giving gamers the UHD resolution they crave for today's titles. There's a 1.2 MP HD camera on the front, and the laptop supports Bluetooth 4.0 and has the usual 802.11ac wireless connection. For I/O, the G501 contains three USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port, an SD/SDXC card reader, a headphone out and mic in jack, and a Thunderbolt port.
Asus also updated two other models in its G Series. The G751 now has an Nvdia GeForce GTX 965M and 2 GB of DDR5 VRAM. The GL551 laptop, though, uses the new 960M; it also comes with 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM. The two laptops feature 17.3-inch and 15.6-inch displays, respectively.
In the end, any one of these three laptops is going to cost you a hefty price. The new G501 costs $1,999 and is expected to ship around April. The G751 will cost even more at $1,399, mainly because of the larger display. Depending on whether or not you choose to include the 128 SSD, the GL551 will cost $1,099 without the SSD or $1,299 with the additional storage.
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