🔬 [REVIEW] ASUS ROG Zephyrus GU603 – great end result thanks to some tricks
Channel: LaptopMedia
Date: 18/10/2021

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ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603 review

Following the success of the Zephyrus G15 GA503, ASUS was quick to release the 16-inch M16 which aims to be the best overall gaming package with a 16-inch QHD display, and up to RTX 3070 with 100 Watt of TGP.
Inside the box, you will find the mandatory paperwork, and not one, but two chargers. One of them is a 100 Watt USB Type-C unit, which can be used as a travel adapter, if you have other accessories, using the Type-C connection. As for the other, it is a 240 Watt unit, which should be your main power adapter.
It is genuinely impressive how ASUS has managed to make a laptop of this size that weighs 1.90 kilos and has a profile of 19.9 mm. The lid opens easily with a single hand, and besides the ErgoLift mechanism, you can open the display as much as 180°.

The key travel and the feedback seem good for both gaming and typing. Interestingly, this is one of these gaming laptops that come with a fingerprint reader. It is embedded into the power button. As you can see, there are 4 dedicated buttons – three of them are for sound and mic control, while the last one opens the Armoury Crate tool. The trackpad is enormous and has a glass surface that feels super smooth and offers very accurate tracking.
Overall, the design of M16 GU603 is quite interesting and can be appealing not just to gamers but also to business users or content creators.

On the left side, you will find the charging plug, an HDMI 2.0b connector, an RJ-45 connector, USB Type-A 3.2 Generation 2 port, Thunderbolt 4 connector, USB Type-C 3.2 Generation 2 port, and an audio jack. Then, on the right, there is a Kensington lock slot, MicroSD card reader, and USB Type-A 3.2 Generation 1 port.

In addition to the 16GB soldered to the motherboard, you get one SODIMM slot for memory expansion. The maximum supported capacity is 48GB. This is not ideal but on the bright side, there are two M.2 slots. One of them supports both PCIe and SATA drives, while the other can fit PCIe x4 Gen 4 drives.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603 in the configuration we tested has a 165Hz WQXGA IPS panel with a resolution of 2560 х 1600 pixels. The screen-to-body ratio is 94% which makes the borders almost invisible.
Viewing angles are excellent. We measured a very high maximum brightness of 510 nits, and a contrast ratio of 1200:1. The display is able to replicate the entire sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts which is superb.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603’s display doesn’t use PWM to adjust its brightness at any point. This means it is comfortable for long gaming sessions without harming your eyes in this aspect.

Surrounding the keyboard are the two 2-watts tweeters while the bottom panel houses the 2-watts woofers. Instead of two, however, there are four woofers, placed in opposite directions to minimize vibrations. Overall, the six-speaker setup produces a dynamic sound with very good quality. Furthermore, its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603 has a huge 90Wh battery pack, that lasts for 13 hours and 3 minutes of Web browsing, or 8 hours of video playback.

The cooling solution comprises three heat pipes common between the CPU and the GPU. Additionally, you get one more for each of the chips, and a final 6th one for the VRMs and the graphics memory. Here’s something interesting – in addition to the tons of heat pipes, there’s liquid metal beneath them, and the CPU die.
We tested the computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Evidently, the liquid metal thermal compound does its job.
After a long gaming session, the warmest point on the keyboard reached above 50°C but the good news is that the WASD area remains cool.

Nevertheless, we are all here for the performance. This device can be purchased with the Core i7-11800H or the Core i9-11900H. We tested a configuration with the former and guess what – This is the best result from a Core i7-11800H - equipped laptop thus far!
As for the graphics, you get a 75Watts GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, 95Watts RTX 3060, or 100Watts RTX 3070. We’ve got the RTX 3070 which is powerful enough to fluently run almost any game on High settings and the native 2560 x 1600 resolution, or on Ultra at 1080p. See for yourself.
At the end of the day, there is one thing that you must know. The prime work scenario of this machine should be content creation. You just can’t let that processor go. It is extremely quick, beats most of the mobile Ryzens of the world, and you get an astonishing display to work on.