The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE (GX551) is one of the most exciting and ambitious gaming laptops to arrive in years.
Inside, it’s home to the laptop version of the factory-fresh Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, which is one of the most powerful graphics cores ever been built, and it’s paired with a sensational 8-core AMD processor.
Outside, the 4K 120Hz display is joined by an eye-catching secondary touchscreen that supports gameplay and creative work with dedicated apps and extra screen space. On paper, then, the bold design is joined by components that could make the GX551 one of the most powerful gaming laptops ever built.
Price and availability
The GX551 looks incredible and features sensational components, but the UK and US prices of £3499 and $3699 mean that this is one of the most expensive gaming laptops around.
In the UK you can find it at retailers such as Overclockers; it will be making its way to retail in the US any day now. It’s undoubtedly a huge price, and it is possible to source RTX 3080 laptops for up to £1000/$1000 cheaper – although you’ll have to give up CPU power and that second screen to save that kind of cash.
In the UK, there is one alternative configuration of the GX551 on offer. It costs £2499 and includes a RTX 3070 graphics core, less storage space and a 1080p display with a higher 300Hz refresh rate. This version is also available in the US for $2899. North American buyers also get a choice of a $2199 machine, which pairs that 300Hz display with a weaker AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, 16GB of memory and an RTX 3060 graphics card.
Design and keyboard – Innovative and robust, but with some issues
- The second screen makes the keyboard and trackpad too cramped
- The Asus is large, but benefits from robust build quality
- Connectivity is decent, but it could have been better
The GX551’s secondary display takes up half of the laptop’s base, with Asus having deployed smart design to incorporate the ScreenPad. When I open up the laptop, the ScreenPad tilts upwards at a 13-degree angle, improving viewing angles and airflow.
Thankfully, the hinges move smoothly, and the entire machine feels robust. It looks fantastic, too, with a body made from subtly brushed aluminium.
The Asus weighs 2.5kg and is 21mm thick. Considering the components and the second screen, however, the GX551 isn’t overwhelmingly large, and it’s slimmer and lighter than the rival Gigabyte Aorus 17G.
On paper, the Asus offers reasonable connectivity. There’s dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 and Gigabit Ethernet, plus three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a Type-C connector that supports DisplayPort and power delivery, an HDMI output and a microSD card slot. One USB port sits at the rear, alongside the Ethernet and HDMI sockets, which makes cable-tidying easier.
The GX551 compromises here, though. The power jack plugs in half-way down the left-hand side, and the three remaining USB ports sit half-way down the right-hand side – which could intrude on your hand, if you’re using an external mouse. The Duo also lacks a webcam, and a full-size SD card reader would have been preferable.
The inclusion of the second screen has also seen the keyboard pushed to the front of the machine, which means there’s no room around the keyboard, no wrist-rest, no number pad and just tiny arrow keys. Asus does supply the GX551 with a rubberised wrist-rest in the box, but it isn’t big enough and nor can it be secured to the laptop. The layout is just uncomfortable.
Button travel is a middling 1.4mm. Although fast, they’re soft and lack the crisp action preferred by gamers. The Aorus is far better in this regard thanks to its mechanical keys, and the conventional layout of most high-end gaming laptops is also superior for that purpose. On a positive note, the keyboard offers individual RGB LEDs, plenty of good shortcut options and a large space bar.
The trackpad isn’t anything to shout about, either: it’s too narrow, and its buttons are soft. The pad can be used as a number pad. But for gaming or work, a dedicated gaming mouse is the better option.
Screens – Versatility and quality in spades
- ScreenPad is a useful option for gamers, streamers and creatives
- The main display offers tremendous quality for all scenarios
- The audio kit is punchy and detailed
The ScreenPad is a 14-inch touch display with a 3840 x 1100 resolution. It has a dedicated management tool that snaps apps around the panel and features a customisable shortcut dock.
You can use any app on the ScreenPad, so it is useful: I used it for Discord during games, and for Spotify and Skype when working. Overwolf extensions work on the ScreenPad and they’re available for lots of popular eSports titles, such as League of Legends and Fortnite, while XSplit Gamecaster is optimised for the second screen.
The ScreenPad is ideal for those who often use creative apps – timelines and controls can be placed on the second screen – and it’s a boon for streamers, too. It’s more versatile than the equivalent display on the preceding GX550.
The ScreenPad’s contrast sits at around 1000:1. Colour accuracy isn’t the best, but that’s less important on the secondary display.
A 4K IPS panel with 120Hz AMD FreeSync and a 3ms response time, the main screen is great for fast-paced gaming. The contrast ratio of 1144:1 is solid – punchy and vibrant enough for work and gaming – and the panel renders a stonking 100% of the sRGB and Adobe RGB colour gamuts. It’s a fantastic screen for work and play.
In terms of audio, the GX551 comes with two 4W speakers and two 2W tweeters. They’re loud, clear and well-balanced, with powerful bass that’s never overwhelming.
Performance – Incredible, but not infallible
- The RTX 3080 is the fastest laptop GPU available right now
- The CPU is brilliant, with huge multi-tasking and creative power
- The Asus suffers minor thermal headaches
The RTX 3080 is a monster, Ampere-powered GPU, with 6144 CUDA cores – and here Asus includes the beefier version with 16GB of memory. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor serves up the stunning Zen 3 architecture in 8 cores, and the GX551 has 32GB of memory and a 2TB RAID 0 SSD array.
Nvidia’s GPU can play top games such as Horizon Zero Dawn, Borderlands 3, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Far Cry New Dawn at 4K and Ultra settings with frame rates ranging between 36fps and 50fps – so most of today’s top games will be playable at this high resolution. The RTX 3080 remained playable with ray tracing and DLSS activated in applicable titles, too.
The RTX 3080 compares well to the RTX 3070. In my Borderlands and Horizon 1080p benchmark tests, the Asus averaged 92fps and 95fps; these scores were eight and 13 frames beyond the Aorus. It compares well to the RTX 2080 Super, too: that older flagship scored around 9000 points in 3DMark Time Spy, while the RTX 3080 scored 10,356.
Nvidia’s new GPU offers huge 1080p power. With every setting ramped up across a range of games, it usually ran beyond 60fps and often zoomed past 100fps. In less-demanding titles such as Dirt Rally, averaging 146fps which is far beyond the display’s 120fps requirement for that 120Hz refresh rate. As such, there’s huge scope for playing eSports titles smoothly.
There is a better option for eSports fans, however – the £2499 version of the GX551 features an RTX 3070, a 1TB SSD and a 1080p screen, but it also has a 300Hz refresh rate.
In addition, the laptop version of the RTX 3080 also has 4K caveats. In the most demanding games, it couldn’t quite handle 4K and Ultra settings – its average dipped below 30fps in CyberPunk 2077 and Metro Exodus. Those problems were resolved by dialling back the graphics settings, but they do prove that the laptop RTX 3080 isn’t infallible, and that it won’t get to 120fps in most top-end games at 4K.
| Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE (GX551) | Gigabyte AORUS 17G | Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo | |
| GPU | Nvidia RTX 3080 | Nvidia RTX 3070 | Nvidia RTX 2080 Super |
| 3DMark TimeSpy | 10,356 | 9279 | 9034 |
| CPU | Ryzen 9 5900HX | Intel Core i7-10870H |
Intel Core i9-10980HK |
| Geekbench 5 single-core | 1461 | 1227 | 1267 |
| Geekbench 5 multi-core | 8629 | 7532 | 8081 |
| PCMark 10 | 6755 | 6255 | 5153 |
The AMD processor is a beast. In PCMark 10 and Geekbench, it outpaced the high-end Intel CPU used in the Aorus – and virtually everything else in laptops. When it comes to handling content creation and high-end multi-tasking tasks, the GX551 is a top-tier laptop. The two Samsung SSDs help, too: read and write speeds of 6961MB/s and 5499MB/s are phenomenal, and should speed through loading screens at pace.
Internal temperatures are fine, and the GX551 doesn’t make much noise when I was using it for less-demanding games and work tasks. Even when I pushed the components, it’s no louder than high-end gaming laptops with older GPUs – fan noise is noticeable, but I could drown it out via speakers or a headset, making it pretty easy to live with. The Aorus is quieter, however, and I expect that plenty of other Ampere-powered notebooks will be less noisy, too.
The machine does have to balance CPU and GPU power consumption: the CPU never quite attained its full turbo speed, and when the GPU is active the processor is restricted to 50W, which cuts speed a little more.
I found that the underside of the GX551 regularly became too hot to touch, but this won’t be an issue if you’re using this Asus laptop at a desk. Note that air is vented from both sides, which could irritate the hand with which you may use an external mouse.
Battery – Unsurprising and unremarkable
- The Asus lasts only an hour when gaming on battery
- Gaming performance is weaker via battery power
- It won’t see you through a work day, either
The GX551 comes with a 90Wh battery, but it isn’t a unit that can deliver great longevity. The best-case scenario when working is to turn the screen down to 150 nits and disable the ScreenPad, which saw the GX551 last 4hrs 38mins in our battery benchmark simulation.
With the ScreenPad activated and both displays at full brightness, the Asus lasted 3hrs 18mins.
During gaming, the GX551 lasted just over an hour with performance taking a hit. Such performance is disappointing, if not unsurprising – and these results are poorer than the Aorus.
You should buy the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE (GX551) if…
- You want the ultimate in laptop gaming power
The laptop RTX 3080 may not handle every game at 4K, but it will play the majority of titles with every detail setting ramped up. It’s faster than any other laptop graphics card right now and it can deploy ray-tracing and DLSS, too.
- You’re planning to use this laptop for work as well as play
The AMD processor will be overkill for most users, but it’s the best option if you want a laptop that can handle high-end creative work such as 4K video editing, or if you want to stream your gameplay.
- You will make use of that second screen
The ScreenPad offers an improvement over last year’s model, with plenty of features that will help gamers and creatives – if they’re using the right software, that is. If you don’t plan to use it, look elsewhere.
You shouldn’t buy the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE (GX551) if…
- Keyboard and trackpad quality are important to you
The inclusion of the ScreenPad results in a cramped-feeling keyboard and trackpad. If you want a crisp, well-spaced and satisfying ergonomic experience, the GX551 is unlikely to deliver.
- You’re only going to play eSports titles
The RTX 3080 and Ryzen 9 5900HX are too powerful for eSports fans, and the 120Hz screen can be bettered elsewhere. You can pick up a great eSports laptop for less.
- You want a gaming laptop that’s truly portable
The Asus weighs 2.5kg, with a battery that lasts only a few hours when working and one hour when gaming. As such, it isn’t a great option for those looking for a laptop for the road.
The post Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE (GX551) Review appeared first on Trusted Reviews.
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