Question Asus Gaming Laptops: user experience and durability ?

[Nighthawk117]

Hi guys,

Does anyone have any long term experience with Asus gaming laptops such as the Asus G14, G15, G16, M16, Flow X13 and Flow X16 ect.. If so are you happy with them and would you buy them again and is there any issue with the durability of the coatings they use as I see a number of posts about paint peeling.

Thanks

 

[Darkbreeze]

Honestly, unless the price on whatever I was looking for (motherboard, graphics card, laptop, monitor, whatever) was so outstandingly great that there was no way I could pass it up because no other comparable products could be purchased for anywhere near that price, I wouldn't even LOOK at anything sold by ASUS simply due to the extremely poor level of customer service they offer these days. There is no doubt that for the most part ASUS offers good quality products, often at very reasonable or competitive prices, but if something should happen to go wrong, and it does, all too often, then getting acceptable warranty support through ASUS has become a ginormous PITA and is often these days well below the expectation from other competitors.

I know this firsthand, from several instances where I had to deal with their RMA department, and I know of MANY others here and elsewhere that have had similar bad experiences over the last 8 years or so. They used to have very good product support and customer service, but it has gone downhill since about 2015-16.

 

[GranpaJim]

Honestly, unless the price on whatever I was looking for (motherboard, graphics card, laptop, monitor, whatever) was so outstandingly great that there was no way I could pass it up because no other comparable products could be purchased for anywhere near that price, I wouldn't even LOOK at anything sold by ASUS simply due to the extremely poor level of customer service they offer these days. There is no doubt that for the most part ASUS offers good quality products, often at very reasonable or competitive prices, but if something should happen to go wrong, and it does, all too often, then getting acceptable warranty support through ASUS has become a ginormous PITA and is often these days well below the expectation from other competitors.

I know this firsthand, from several instances where I had to deal with their RMA department, and I know of MANY others here and elsewhere that have had similar bad experiences over the last 8 years or so. They used to have very good product support and customer service, but it has gone downhill since about 2015-16.

My ASUS Zepherus M16, is now a heaping pile of Parts. The fans were making noise, I contacted ASUS support, they said they do not sell parts to anyone, and I could send it back to them, round trip 15 days. Tried to replace fans myself, found replacements on Amazon. Screwed up the replacement, broke off a header, took it to Geek squad, no longer boots. I am currently building a desktop system. Currently using my wife's ASUS, ROG Strix. seems to be functioning OK. I would avoid ASUS like the plague.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, I do a lot of laptop repairs but they are definitely not for the faint of heart OR the inexperienced. The average person can generally do just about anything needed fairly easily on a desktop. On a laptop, not so much.

 

[faalin]

I have a Asus Zephyrus G15, bought it first part of 2021. I use it for IT at work and travel about 4 ties a year with it and use it to game on when traveling.

It has a metal lid that somehow got a dent in it, more then likely from the PSU when i tossed my bag down somewhere. Only thing i did to it was add a second 2TB NVMe drive to it. The only issue i had with it was the speakers, with it sitting normal it sounded like something was loose or vibrating against is. Holding the laptop by the hinge if you put it on its side or flipped it over the sound went away, opened it up unscrewed and reinstalled the speakers and the noise went away.

It the 20 years or so since ive been building and working on computes ive only had to use EVGA once for a video card, and dell at work for a dead CPU on warranty. I would not at this point have an issue with buying another Asus Laptop, since 2009 i have had 11 motherboards 10 which are still running and the first part of January ill be building a new computer with a z790 board. I've always liked their products and will keep using them till the do me dirty. Every manufacture has skeletons in their closet at one point in time.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Every manufacture has skeletons in their closet at one point in time.

Right, but when the skeletons are CURRENTLY dancing on the rooftops, I tend to avoid them until they go back in the closet.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Honestly, unless the price on whatever I was looking for (motherboard, graphics card, laptop, monitor, whatever) was so outstandingly great that there was no way I could pass it up because no other comparable products could be purchased for anywhere near that price, I wouldn't even LOOK at anything sold by ASUS simply due to the extremely poor level of customer service they offer these days. There is no doubt that for the most part ASUS offers good quality products, often at very reasonable or competitive prices, but if something should happen to go wrong, and it does, all too often, then getting acceptable warranty support through ASUS has become a ginormous PITA and is often these days well below the expectation from other competitors.

I know this firsthand, from several instances where I had to deal with their RMA department, and I know of MANY others here and elsewhere that have had similar bad experiences over the last 8 years or so. They used to have very good product support and customer service, but it has gone downhill since about 2015-16.

That's interesting what you say about Asus. The one thing I've seen mentioned a number of times on reddit and here was the painted coatings wearing prematurely or peeling off. I've been using a Lenovo laptop for the last several years which has an anodized finish, that seems to wear extremely well which is what prompted me to ask the question about Asus. I'm not sure I have much confidence in any of them when it comes to RMA, is there any particular company that you think is the best?

 

[Nighthawk117]

My ASUS Zepherus M16, is now a heaping pile of Parts. The fans were making noise, I contacted ASUS support, they said they do not sell parts to anyone, and I could send it back to them, round trip 15 days. Tried to replace fans myself, found replacements on Amazon. Screwed up the replacement, broke off a header, took it to Geek squad, no longer boots. I am currently building a desktop system. Currently using my wife's ASUS, ROG Strix. seems to be functioning OK. I would avoid ASUS like the plague.

I can understand why you attempted it yourself, from my experience when you send something off for repair they don't take good care with it. I've also heard a number of reports about fan issues too, particularly with the G14.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That's interesting what you say about Asus. The one thing I've seen mentioned a number of times on reddit and here was the painted coatings wearing prematurely or peeling off. I've been using a Lenovo laptop for the last several years which has an anodized finish, that seems to wear extremely well which is what prompted me to ask the question about Asus. I'm not sure I have much confidence in any of them when it comes to RMA, is there any particular company that you think is the best?

That depends on the use case but in general, without going into some of the niche or boutique laptop manufacturers like Clevo and Eluktronics that cost significantly more, I like Lenovo, Dell and HP. Primarily because they all have pretty good customer service while under warranty, with Dell probably traditionally being the best of that group in that category, but all three have a decent amount of customizable options, realistic pricing, decent warranties, good warranty support and an overall quality product. Plus, I believe all three offer significant extended warranty plans as well.

But a lot depends on what you are looking for because Dell and HP, aside of course from Dell's Alienware line, don't offer that much in the way of "gaming" products. So really depends on whether you're looking for a unit for productivity, ruggedized use outdoors, gaming or just general use.

 

[Nighthawk117]

That depends on the use case but in general, without going into some of the niche or boutique laptop manufacturers like Clevo and Eluktronics that cost significantly more, I like Lenovo, Dell and HP. Primarily because they all have pretty good customer service while under warranty, with Dell probably traditionally being the best of that group in that category, but all three have a decent amount of customizable options, realistic pricing, decent warranties, good warranty support and an overall quality product. Plus, I believe all three offer significant extended warranty plans as well.

But a lot depends on what you are looking for because Dell and HP, aside of course from Dell's Alienware line, don't offer that much in the way of "gaming" products. So really depends on whether you're looking for a unit for productivity, ruggedized use outdoors, gaming or just general use.

I've heard good things about Dell in the past actually in terms of their customer service. I like the XPS line but the XPS 15 seems to have some flaws that affect it's performance. I'm looking at something for gaming, light productivity and general use, either a 14" or compact 15".

 

[logainofhades]

My big problems with Asus are their poor customer service, and whenever I have looked for a gaming laptop, I could find one with similar specs for less. Hence why my current laptop is a Lenovo Legion Y540.

 

[Darkbreeze]

My big problems with Asus are their poor customer service, and whenever I have looked for a gaming laptop, I could find one with similar specs for less. Hence why my current laptop is a Lenovo Legion Y540.

Agreed. And that's why my current laptop (And previous two) is a Lenovo Thinkpad.

Honestly though, for me at least, I wouldn't even think of using a laptop for gaming unless it was VERY light in nature because even the best of gaming laptops do not seem to be capable of holding up to the thermal fatigue it puts them through and I don't care what the specs are. If it gets used for anything even remotely demanding, they cook. But, that's just my opinion.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Agreed. And that's why my current laptop (And previous two) is a Lenovo Thinkpad.

Honestly though, for me at least, I wouldn't even think of using a laptop for gaming unless it was VERY light in nature because even the best of gaming laptops do not seem to be capable of holding up to the thermal fatigue it puts them through and I don't care what the specs are. If it gets used for anything even remotely demanding, they cook. But, that's just my opinion.

I know what you mean, most laptops do seem to run like the surface of the sun. They aren't all like that though, some are very conservative with their clock speeds under sustained loads so will run in the 60's and 70's rather than 90's. In the case of Asus you can control the power limits of the CPU and GPU so you can opt for a cooler quieter system if you want. I'm not a fan though of running the CPU and GPU at over 90C, I can't imagine that's good for longevity. Good choice on the Thinkpad.