I got the laptop in question.
I like it indeed.
Have some Windows issues though.
I tried updating the GPU drivers and ended up losing FreeSync. Inside Radeon Settings, it now says that FreeSync is 'not supported' whereas it was with the original driver.
I don't have access to the original driver as Asus never released any product support for this laptop... no drivers, utilities, nothing.
Aside from that, Wattman doesn't exist either (as I wanted to experiment with undervolting the gpu) in Radeon Settings. Didn't see it there with the original or new drivers. This is either an OEM limitation, or the GPU is simply a partly recognized hardware (which would make sense) and AMD needs to release chipset drivers that bring us Wattman and restores FreeSync.
Any Idea on how to bring back FreeSync?
It'd not 'disabled'. its completely greyed out.
Windows gave me some grief installing the Creator fall update. It simply refused (this was after I installed the drivers). I managed to finally install it by using Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant after numerous failed attempts through Windows update.
In order to restore FreeSync, I tried a Factory Reset.. but F9 doesn't work during bootup, so I used an external software to get me to that option.
When I instructed the laptop to do a full Factory Reset (on the C drive), it came to 40% and then reset.
It couldn't proceed.
I tried repeating the process, but then I was told there is no Factory Reset image file.
Sigh.
The only thing I could try is to install previous drivers from AMD's website and see if that makes a difference.
I also restriced FPS on the GPU to 60 FPS and enabled Radeon Chill... but I don't know if they are doing anything.
Apart from that, heat-wise, yes the temperatures are actually reaching about 73-75 degrees C on both CPU and GPU when I was playing Star Trek Online maxed out (which is respectable of course), however, the fans were VERY audible as a result.
They drowned out the sound coming from the laptop to be honest - I used Ryzen Master to undervolt the CPU under load and that seemed to have done the trick in reducing the fan noise somewhat and the temps dropped a bit too.
However, it seems you'd need to use headphones for intensive games, othwerwise, be prepared for fans noise to drown a lot of the things out.
Also, there's a VERY high heat buildup on the front section of the laptop when gaming (above F keys).
I was thinking that temperatures could be reduced reduced (and with them, fan noise too) if we apply our own thermal paste to the GPU and CPU after cleaning out what Asus put there.
OEM's don't seem to have a particularly good track record with thermal paste application, but then again, this is my first all AMD laptop, so I don't know their track record.
Can't help but think AMD and Asus should have done a bit more to make the laptop a bit better in cooling the laptop using better materials and different cooling methods (seeing how having active fans in this day and age seems... archaic... and relatively unpleasant if you're playing intensive games).
Anyway... I apologize if my reply seems a tad 'negative', but I guess these are just some things to get used to and iron out eventually when having such a powerful machine.