14 DAY TRIAL // NVIDIA has silently launched three new mobile GPUs which are aimed at mid-range notebook devices, in the form of the GeForce GTX 960M, GeForce GTX 950M and GTX 940M.
These cards have already been adopted by some laptop makers, and one of the first to launch a new notebook bundling NVIDIA’s latest is ASUS.
ASUS has a new ROG laptop to show you
The company has rolled out the ROG (Republic of Gamers) G501 model which takes advantage of the new and thin GTX 960M graphics card.
The notebook measures 0.81 inches / 20mm in profile (the new Macbooks are around 0.30 inches / 7mm skinnier) and tips the scale at 4.54 lbs / 2.05 kg.
While NVIDIA hasn't made such a big deal about its new GTX 960M card, ASUS says the GPU will be able to deliver sharp, “vivid visuals, high-quality textures and smooth frame rates even in the most demanding games.”
However, don’t expect the GTX 960M to provide the same level of performance as NVIDIA’s high-end cards, the 980M, 970M or 965M.
Don't expect to see Broadwell on the inside
Apart from the new video card, the laptop will come equipped with a beautiful 15.6-inch 4K IPS display (3,840 x 2,160 pixel resolution) plus a 4th generation quad-core Core i7 4720HQ chip.
Why no Intel 5th generation Broadwell architecture on the inside, you might wonder? Well, because quad-core Broadwell chips are still not available yet, although Intel promises we will live to see the architecture make a debut on the market.
Moving along, we find 4GB of GDDR5 and a 512GB SSD. Like the rest of the ASUS ROG family, the laptop runs Windows 8.1 out of the box.
The laptop also bundles three USB 3.0 ports and Intel Thunderbolt connection. On top of that, the G501 takes advantage of ASUS’ own dual-fan cooling system called Hyper Cool Technology, which should maintain an optimal temperature onboard.
The new model will launch this April for $1,999 / €1,891. ASUS is also taking the opportunity to refresh some of its exiting notebooks with the new GPUs.
For example, you can now purchase the G751JL with a GTX 965M GPU inside for $1,399 / €1,319. The GL551 models have also been updated with GTX 960M and now the base model starts at $1,099 / €1,037.
