There is this perception that gaming laptops are usually bulky, flashy, ultra-edgy designed and would cost at best anywhere near the 100,000 peso-mark. What if I told you it doesn’t have to be?
Sometime ago, ASUS Philippines sent us the ASUS fx502vm — a sleek, black brushed-metal finished gaming laptop that’s beautiful on the outside as it is inside. This slightly larger, solid-framed laptop even weighs less than my current workhorse, the X555L.
One of the recent releases from the ASUS line of gaming laptops (not ROG or Strix-branded) is this unassuming machine actually houses a solid NVIDIA 1060 graphic cards! Yup, you read that right. 1060. This means that you should be able to play any and all recent and upcoming games with ease. But before we look under the hood, let’s marvel at this luxurious-looking machine for a moment.
With a frame dimension of 390 x 266 x 23.5 mm (WxDxH), the fx502vm is built for gaming and working portability. It doesn’t have the usual heft and bulk that other gaming laptops have and clocking in under 2.2kg of weight, makes it easy for you to carry this thing around on your backpack or office messenger bag. The sleek design exudes true class. None of the boisterous designs of most gaming laptops, the ASUS fx502vm design aesthetics is subtle and elegant. It knows its worth and it doesn’t need to announce it to everybody who would dare listen – tenants of a true gentleman.
The screen size is just right. At 15.6” with 178 degrees of viewing angle, this LED backlit, Full HD screen allows you to watch your favorite movies, play games and do your work in stunning vivid colors. Despite not being an IPS screen or at the very least a UHD one, the resolution screen size and angle is enough to give gamers solid immersion. Because of its size, the fx502vm is also amazing for presentations or when doing quick video edits. (Side note: the Ungeek Gentleman Gamer videos we did was cut, rendered and processed using the fx502vm without any lag or process slowdown)
The keyboard is equally impressive. Accurate and fast, the ASUS FX502 has a specially-designed chiclet keyboard with red-backlit scissor-switch keys that offer you 1.6mm of travel distance for tactile keystrokes. The WASD is also specially lit and highlighted so you know where your hands need to be during your CS:GO or Overwatch sessions. Wish you could remap the highlight to QWER though for MOBAs but I guess this is fine as well. ?
If the ASUS fx502vm’s outsides look impressive enough, wait till you discover what’s underneath this stealthy monster!
Aside from housing a GPU from NVIDIA’s 10-series line (a discreet GTX 1060), the unit is also fitted with a 6th gen Intel Core i5 processor or i7 processor (Intel Core i5 6300HQ / Intel Core i7 6700HQ) which renders more than enough computing power for a chip that was launched late 2015. Coupled with 16GB of DDR4 Ram (expandable to 24), a 256GB SSD and 1TB 7200RPM SATA, the unit that I’m using can render videos, play Overwatch and multitask with ease! Feel free to play your games at High or Ultra, your system can take it!
Lowest FPS we got was 52. Everything was averaging at 59-70 on Ultra
We did a bench-marking test using 3D Mark and according to stress test results, the unit performed pretty well.
The next unit that was compared on top of it is something that costs 30-40k more and, in our opinion, doesn’t look as portable as the fx502vm.
In fact, one of the main key selling points of the fx502vm is its portability despite having a monster interior. Sure, the laptop could have benefited from a bluray drive (it doesn’t have any physical CD Drive) but in this day and age where everything is either streamed or downloaded, the extra space saved was used to ensure that the unit gets the most out of its internals.
Watch: RECWatch P51-02, Bag: QWISTION Office bag. Both Available at Spectre Manila
Style and Substance without Breaking the Bank
For the almost 2 week’s time we had with the machine, we can quickly attest that this can easily be a replacement for a desktop work horse. It’s the type of laptop that you want to take with you outside for client presentations or if you need to clock in a few hours of extra work in between sips of your afternoon Darjeeling at TWG (or maybe sneak in a quick Overwatch match here and there hehe). The best thing about the fx502vm is the price! Everything is under 100,000 – which is rare as far as gaming laptops are concerned!
The Intel i5 variant (still using a 1060 GPU) is priced at Php 64,995 while the i7 variant (the one I’m using) is conveniently priced at Php 74,995. While you can also get a gaming desktop rig at that price, you lose the portability that the fx502vm offers.
So, if your work demands that you travel a lot or meet a lot of people for business purposes, the fx502vm is an excellent choice. A gaming laptop that successfully merges refined style with powerful substance!
Consider this as part of your everyday arsenal now. Stay ever so classy, ASUS.
PROS
- Best price to performance ratio. Value for money with the fx502vm is amazing!
- Brushed metal luxe design makes the fx502vm looking elegant
- Monster internals and capable of shifting between work and play seamlessly.
CONS
- Battery life could have been made better. I mean don’t get me wrong, 4 hours of battery life for something with interiors such as this is already quite impressive but 4 hours is still just 4 hours. You can probably squeeze in an hour of gaming here and a maybe a few minutes of work and entertainment but that’s about it.
- Monitor could have had G-sync to fully complement the graphic cards
- Monitor could have been an IPS-Screen for ultra vivid colors and imaging
Here’s the full specs for the ASUS fx502vm again:
- Intel Core i5 6300HQ / Intel Core i7 6700HQ
- NVDIA GeForce GTX1060 3GB GDDR5 VRAM
- 8GB DDR4 2133MHz SDRAM Onboard Memory, up to 24GB SDRAM
- 15.6-inch 60Hz Full HD Display (1920 x 1080) 60Hz Anti-Glare Panel with 45% / 72% NTSC
- Full Red-Backlit Chiclet keyboard with WASD keys highlighted for easy marking
- 1TB 5400 RPM / 7200 RPM SATA HDD
- 128 GB / 256 GB / 512 GB SSD
- 1 x Microphone-in/Headphone-out jack
- 3 x USB 3.0 port(s)
- 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert
- 1 x HDMI
- 1 x mini Display Port
- 1X AC adapter plug
- 1x AC adapter, 1x RJ45, 1x HDMI
- Support Windows 10 Cortana with Voice
- ASUS SonicMaster Technology
- Dimensions: 390 x 266 x 23.5 mm
- Weight: 2.2 kg
- 4 cell battery
- Windows 10 Home / Pro
The ASUS fx502vm is currently available in various ASUS, ROG and partner stores for SRP Php 64,995 for the i5 variant and PHP 74,995 for the i7 variant. For more on the ASUS fx502vm, visit their Official Page and check them out on Facebook.
Photos and videos shot on location at SPECTRE MANILA. Bags, wallets, suits, shoes and other lifestyle products c/o of SPECTRE MANILA. Check them out at 916 Luna Mencias St., Addition Hills, Mandaluyong, Philippines and give the gents a LIKE on their FB page.