New G501 (for those who were waiting for the GX500)

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G501 is now on sale. It was released a week ago in Singapore. I played with it earlier. Can anyone comment on whether it does indeed have PCIx4 as when the ASUS rep opened it up only 2 were visible, are the other 2 located under the keyboard?! retailing for 2698 SGD exVAT in ASUS or 2599 SGD exVAT in some competitor stores in the Funan digital Mall in SG. It got really hot on a Firestrike Extreme test on the top right corner after 15 mins. All vents are at the back under the screen where it folds. no intake, I'm doubtful at just how cool this thing can stay without a cooling pad or the AC on full.

PCIE 4x is the bandwidth of the single M.2 slot.

The vents are beneath the display - they will unavoidably get hot because that's where the hot air comes out. The wrist/keyboard area should remain cool. The air intake mechanism has been carefully crafted after years of ASUS R&D knowledge in Zenbook and Transformer Book designs.

Is it possible to output 4k@60Hz via mDP? Is it 1.1 or 1.2? And what refresh rate is supported for 4k output via Thunderbolt?

DP 1.2 - 4k@60Hz. Both Haswell CPUs and Nvidia Maxwell support DP1.2.

'Thunderbolt display' is simply a DP output.

[Skjoldur]

DP 1.2 - 4k@60Hz. Both Haswell CPUs and Nvidia Maxwell support DP1.2.

'Thunderbolt display' is simply a DP output.

Great, thanks. I read somewhere that is was going to be 1.1, which would have been very disappointing. Will the Thunderbolt be in addition to the mDP or replace it? I am asking because I thought, that Thunderbolt only support DP 1.1a. -- Or can you have both, 1.1a and 1.2 on the same port, depending on wether you use TB or DP?

Edit: You really need to get your information in line. http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/G501JW/ shows Thunderbolt with 10Gbit/s and http://store.asus.com/us/item/201503AM110000043/A23719 shows Thunderbolt 2 with 20 Gbit/s. I assume it is Thunderbolt 2.0, which would support DP 1.2 anyway? Just add the version numbers to the official specs, please.

[jinishans]

PCIE 4x is the bandwidth of the single M.2 slot.

'Thunderbolt display' is simply a DP output.

Can you pls clarify how many M.2 slots available for upgrade and how easy ?

Is there just only one M.2 or more ?

Also, whether HDMI is 1.4 ver. ? Is the battery replaceable ?

Is there any plans for G701 with 1080p with more powerful GC ?

Edit: I just read the review (link from one of the above reply), seems one M.2 slot is there. Can you let us know in this case, the 512GB SSD is 2.5 SSD or M.2 ? Also, what's the transfer speed of this M.2 slot, just 6Gbps ? Whether it's SATA 3/2/PCIe x4 ?

[Skjoldur]

My last reply disappeared after I edited it.

So here the short version: On http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/G501JW/ the Thunderbolt port seems to be a TB 1.0 since the page says 10Gbit/s. However, on http://store.asus.com/us/item/201503AM110000043/A23719 it says Thunderbolt 2.0.

It would be good if at least the Asus page would show the same specification. It would also be helpful if version numbers for Displayport, Thunderbolt and HDMI were shown in the specs. For USB 3.0 they are shown.

So, which one is it? Thunderbolt 1.0 or 2.0?

[Gudmit]

Hi all! I have one question: in this review we can see that in g501jw in slot M.2 PCI Express x4 using SSD Transcend TS256GMTS800 M.2. But SSD TS256GMTS800 has SATA III interface! Is it fake? Or is it possible to use SSD'S M.2 SATA III in slot M.2 PCI Express x4?

[jinishans]

Hi all! I have one question: in this review we can see that in g501jw in slot M.2 PCI Express x4 using SSD Transcend TS256GMTS800 M.2. But SSD TS256GMTS800 has SATA III interface! Is it fake? Or is it possible to use SSD'S M.2 SATA III in slot M.2 PCI Express x4?

The review here in laptopmedia shows clearly it has PCIe x4, but, I'm waiting for an answer from this forum and this reviewer author whether it's Gen 2.0 (6 GB/s speed) or Gen 3.0 (10 GB/s) (If I'm not wrong).

Also, I'm sure you can use any M.2 SATA on PCIe provided they're M-keyed, and the otherway, issue is you won't get x4 Gen 3 speed due to SATA III speed limitation. Someone can correct me if this is incorrect.

[drntropy]

Hi Marshall,

First time poster, long time reader. I was wondering when Newegg's exclusivity agreement will end? I don't see anyone else selling the laptop right now and I do not wish to buy it from them. Thanks.

[Uhd]

Marshall,

What is ETA for Canada for G501? Also, which retailer(s) would get it first?

Thank you!

[Skjoldur]

Hi Marshall,

First time poster, long time reader. I was wondering when Newegg's exclusivity agreement will end? I don't see anyone else selling the laptop right now and I do not wish to buy it from them. Thanks.

I haven't seen the 4k version in Germany either. I really need to replace my old MBPr 2012...

[Sargatanas]

I haven't seen the 4k version in Germany either. I really need to replace my old MBPr 2012...

Same here - only FHD Versions available in Germany, guess we also won't see the ones with larger Batterie...