Asus ROG Strix G15 (2022) review: The gaming laptop poster-child is back

The Asus ROG Strix series has been a popular choice in the dedicated gaming laptop segment for a while, which is why things get interesting with every new edition. How do you improve upon a product that pretty much ticks all gaming checkboxes? Yes, there are newer specs, but is that it?

I tried out the Asus ROG Strix G15 2022 for over a week and here’s my full review of the laptop.

Asus ROG Strix G15 2022 specs: AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX | Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti 8GB GPU | 1TB SSD + 16gb DDR5 RAM | 15.6-inch QHD 165Hz display | 90Whr battery |

Asus ROG Strix G15 2022: What’s good?

Design

Yes, Asus ROG has been making very edgy gaming designs for a while now, but the ROG Strix G15 still manages to feel like a breath of fresh air. An asymmetric design for the display panel, the per-key RGB lighting, the satisfying hinge and the smaller details across the body all add up to give this machine a unique in-hand feel from the moment you unbox it for the first time.

It’s also built like a tank and every inch of the gaming laptop feels very premium. There are elements like a glowing ROG logo on the lid and under-belly RGB lighting on the user-facing side of the laptop, both of which add up to make sure this is a head-turner if you ever fire up the laptop at the office, in a public space, or among your friends.

The RGB under-belly light on the laptop the laptop iss compatible with AuraSync and looks awesome. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

Despite being loud on the ‘built-for-gaming vibe,’ the ROG Strix G15 2022 manages to still be on the compact and portable side, as far as gaming laptops in this category are concerned. You really get the best of gamer-looks here, without the bulky compromises that usually accompany them.

Display

Our variant of the Asus ROG Strix G15 2022 comes with a 15.6-inch QHD (2K) IPS LCD screen with a 165Hz refresh rate. The display is simply put, fantastic. It’s got great viewing angles, and hits a good sweet spot between resolution and refresh rate. This means you’re going to enjoy gaming on this laptop whether you like enjoying the beautiful landscapes of Mexico in 2K with Forza Horizon 5, or if you want high refresh rate and quick responses in fps titles like Valorant or PUBG: Battlegrounds.

asus rog strix g15, asus rog strix g15 review, gaming laptop, The display panel here is Dolby Vision Atmos certified, making it great not just for games but also movies. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

You also get Dolby Atmos Vision, which clubbed with the 2K resolution means you can enjoy a great movie on this machine too when you’re not gaming. For those who want only more refresh rate and aren’t concerned with gaming above 1080p, the laptop also comes in a 1080p FHD display + 300Hz refresh rate variant. However, I believe the 2K+165Hz variant would be the better, more versatile choice for most gamers out there.

Keyboard

The Asus ROG Strix 2022 also comes with a nice keyboard. It looks great, thanks to per-key RGB, and also has well-spaced keys with a nice amount of travel. The arrow keys, which are sometimes very rectangular and hard to get right for people with larger thumbs and fingers, are big enough here too. The keyboard is comfortable to use for not just gaming but also longer typing tasks like a lengthy essay.

asus rog strix g15, asus rog strix g15 review, gaming laptop, The keyboard is comfortaable to use and has well-spaced keys great for gaming. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

There’s no numpad on the right here, but instead you get dedicated media and other quick control keys on the top and towards the right, which make much more sense for the target audience of this laptop. This includes play, stop, previous and next keys on the right which are really handy when you’re consuming media.

Performance (and thermals)

Coming to performance, the ROG Strix G15 2022 unsurprisingly, doesn’t disappoint. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX and Nvidia’s mobile RTX 3070 Ti combine well to give you a great gaming experience on 1080p or 1440p. The company has also added a new MUX switch that lets users drive display output exclusively from the discrete GPU instead of routing it via the integrated graphics when necessary, providing the best capabilities of the 3070 Ti.

asus rog strix g15, asus rog strix g15 review, gaming laptop, The laptop is powerful enough to get 80-100 fps on modern titles at 2K resolution and around 200 fps on 1080p gaming with titles like FIFA 22. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

I managed to get frame rates of about 80-85 fps in Forza Horizon 5 at 1440p and 80-90fps in God of War, again at 1440p. Trying FIFA 22 at 1080p, I managed to get between 190-210 fps. The laptop did get warm after a while of gaming, but didn’t get uncomfortably hot, and the keyboard remained usable even after long gaming hours.

I/O, connectivity and charging

The laptop offers a good mix of I/O ports as well. You have two USB 3.2 Type-C ports on the back, along with an HDMI and an RJ45 port, next to which is the power port. On the left are two USB 2.0 ports along with a 3.5mm headphone port.

The laptop also supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. Note that there’s no dedicated MicroSD card slot here, so if you’re a creator, you may need to get an adapter. Also, the USB Type-C ports aren’t Thunderbolt ports either.

asus rog strix g15, asus rog strix g15 review, gaming laptop, The Strix G15 also has a good mix of I/O ports that are on the left and behind the laptop. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

The laptop comes with a rather large 280W charging adapter. This charger tops the laptop up in about two hours and while USB-C charging is also supported, it is limited at 100W.

Asus ROG Strix G15 2022: What’s not good?

The Asus ROG Strix doesn’t really get a lot wrong for its price, but one factor here that still can be a con to some people is the lack of a built-in webcam. I assumed Asus still thinks webcams aren’t really necessary on dedicated gaming machines like this, but the addition would have really made this a complete package. On the bright side, the company does bundle an FHD external webcam in the box, but that’s still not as seamless as a built-in solution, and it occupies a USB port.

The battery life is also not the best, which is understandable given the performance-hungry nature of the machine. Users can manage between 5-9 hours of battery life for everyday tasks, while gaming will kill the battery in slightly over an hour. This however, shouldn’t matter too much as you’d be plugged in to get the best gaming performance in Turbo mode.

Verdict: Is the Asus ROG Strix G15 for you?

The ROG Strix series gaming laptops have also been easy recommendations for their sweet balance between performance, ergonomics and aesthetics. The ROG Strix G15 is no different and excels at everything the Strix series is synonymous with, now performing even better with AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 series chip inside. However, if you’re looking to upgrade from a previous Strix-series machine, I’d suggest you to wait it out as while there is a performance boost, the minor issues like the lack of a built-in webcam and the average battery life are still here.


https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-reviews/asus-rog-strix-g15-2022-review-7852080/