ASUS 15.6* ROG Strix GL502
- Thread starter Tobias7
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I have seen and touch it. It's available at ASUS showrooms.
There's no TB3 port and no touchscreen You should look at the size and weight of that AC adapter and factor in the total weight ah
I have seen and touch it. It's available at ASUS showrooms.
There's no TB3 port and no touchscreen You should look at the size and weight of that AC adapter and factor in the total weight ah
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dreamer_toons
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I was deciding between the Aftershock and GL502. The main draw is the 6GB VRAM and 16GB memory for the GL502. On the other hand, I read many positive feedback on the after sales for Aftershock and don't mind settling for the 3GB VRAM and upgrade the memory with a lower system price.
On the day of purchase, I visited the Asus store and received a standard kind of service level expected from sales; the sales highlighted the main points of the GL502 and the prices with gifts and so on. Next stop to the Aftershock where the sales didn't even make eye contact with me when I stepped in. Walked to the S15 and tried it out and the sale guy sat rooted to his chair. There was only 2 of us in the store. And that firmed up my decision on the GL502.
Some may said that it is overpriced due to the ROG branding; the specs are nothing much of spectacular and there are cheaper or more valued alternatives out there.
When I plan to purchase something like this, I look at the entire purchase experience, priority being the specs to the store experience. Personally, I find the price reasonable for the kind of specs and the expected service. Most importantly, the pre-configured extra VRAM and memory fit my needs.
On the day of purchase, I visited the Asus store and received a standard kind of service level expected from sales; the sales highlighted the main points of the GL502 and the prices with gifts and so on. Next stop to the Aftershock where the sales didn't even make eye contact with me when I stepped in. Walked to the S15 and tried it out and the sale guy sat rooted to his chair. There was only 2 of us in the store. And that firmed up my decision on the GL502.
Some may said that it is overpriced due to the ROG branding; the specs are nothing much of spectacular and there are cheaper or more valued alternatives out there.
When I plan to purchase something like this, I look at the entire purchase experience, priority being the specs to the store experience. Personally, I find the price reasonable for the kind of specs and the expected service. Most importantly, the pre-configured extra VRAM and memory fit my needs.
@dreamer_toons
Absolutely agree with you on adequate customer service.
I had went to aftershock shop at Funan a few weeks ago on an afternoon with zero customer in their shop. The sales guy is just superglued to the chair looking at the notebook in front of him.
People keep raving about aftershock's customer service, but I guess they had become a victim of their own success.
Absolutely agree with you on adequate customer service.
I had went to aftershock shop at Funan a few weeks ago on an afternoon with zero customer in their shop. The sales guy is just superglued to the chair looking at the notebook in front of him.
People keep raving about aftershock's customer service, but I guess they had become a victim of their own success.
imo Aftershock is more suited for "informed customers" who already know what they want and dont need a salesperson to 'educate' them. It is more suited for the guy who needs 32GB RAM because he knows he needs to run a VM, and not for the guy who sees 32GB RAM as a nice number because it is higher than a competitor offering "only 8GB RAM"
if you're a casual customer, and factors like how nicely the salesguy speaks to you etc are a higher priority, its fine but remember the salesguy isnt going to be the same guy at Tai Sing when your GL502 is having issues and needs servicing.
Actually i already feel that aftershock may already become a victim of their own success if they, being a small company, blow up their customer base to such a huge size that it taxes their support capability in the long run if they cant raise their manpower
I can sort of already feel this happening because my initial service support cases at Aftershock back when they were at Serangoon were much faster (could be done within same day). Fast forward to later 2014 and they took a entire week to investigate a subsequent support case.
And of course you can see how they struggle to meet demand surges during IT fairs because the way they do laptops is to build according to requests one by one, not just give an off-the-shelf product. Its the simple effect of demand/supply mismatch (as in supply of manpower/resources)
It sounds strange saying this but maybe having such a "sales experience" at their funan showroom actually helps to filter out the more 'serious' customers who really need a build-to-order machine, from the more 'casual' buyers who are happy with any off-the shelf product. And at the expense of sounding a bit selfish, I'd rather Aftershock stick to being niche and not be too mainstream-catered because mainstream customers are less brand-loyal and will jump on any new shiny item on the market.
Believe it or not, having too many customers can be a bad thing. I work in an insurance firm now and listen to underwriters being frustrated at agents being too good at selling, to the point where the company takes in customers too eagerly, without properly assessing if the company can bear the client's risk level.
I have in the past on 2 occasions advised my sister's boyfriend and my ex schoolmate from buying aftershock simply because they didnt have the kind of highly-specific needs that necessitates a build-to-order laptop from a niche brand.
On to the topic of the Strix GL502, aesthetic wise not a fan of the orange slanted lines on the lid and bright orange WASD (pet peeve of mine is that the legacy of the G73 stealthy understated look has now since gone full alienware-gaudy. the previous slim gaming series like G501 looked fine, almost a red Razer Blade, but now the newer slim ones also starting to become gaudy). Also they should bring in the supposed 980M variant (G502) because other brands like MSI only max out at 970M slim laptop and Asus could get an edge over them.
if you're a casual customer, and factors like how nicely the salesguy speaks to you etc are a higher priority, its fine but remember the salesguy isnt going to be the same guy at Tai Sing when your GL502 is having issues and needs servicing.
Actually i already feel that aftershock may already become a victim of their own success if they, being a small company, blow up their customer base to such a huge size that it taxes their support capability in the long run if they cant raise their manpower
I can sort of already feel this happening because my initial service support cases at Aftershock back when they were at Serangoon were much faster (could be done within same day). Fast forward to later 2014 and they took a entire week to investigate a subsequent support case.
And of course you can see how they struggle to meet demand surges during IT fairs because the way they do laptops is to build according to requests one by one, not just give an off-the-shelf product. Its the simple effect of demand/supply mismatch (as in supply of manpower/resources)
It sounds strange saying this but maybe having such a "sales experience" at their funan showroom actually helps to filter out the more 'serious' customers who really need a build-to-order machine, from the more 'casual' buyers who are happy with any off-the shelf product. And at the expense of sounding a bit selfish, I'd rather Aftershock stick to being niche and not be too mainstream-catered because mainstream customers are less brand-loyal and will jump on any new shiny item on the market.
Believe it or not, having too many customers can be a bad thing. I work in an insurance firm now and listen to underwriters being frustrated at agents being too good at selling, to the point where the company takes in customers too eagerly, without properly assessing if the company can bear the client's risk level.
I have in the past on 2 occasions advised my sister's boyfriend and my ex schoolmate from buying aftershock simply because they didnt have the kind of highly-specific needs that necessitates a build-to-order laptop from a niche brand.
On to the topic of the Strix GL502, aesthetic wise not a fan of the orange slanted lines on the lid and bright orange WASD (pet peeve of mine is that the legacy of the G73 stealthy understated look has now since gone full alienware-gaudy. the previous slim gaming series like G501 looked fine, almost a red Razer Blade, but now the newer slim ones also starting to become gaudy). Also they should bring in the supposed 980M variant (G502) because other brands like MSI only max out at 970M slim laptop and Asus could get an edge over them.
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dreamer_toons
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Went to their stores couples of times on different days and met 2 different guys when I was considering between Asus and Aftershock.
2 different guys but same attitude; glued to their laptop and seat
. An eye contact with me would have made a difference.Back to this GL502. Swapped out the original 128GB M2 SSD (Lite-on brand) with a Samsung Pro 950 and the improvement is evident.
The upgrading was a breeze; removes the screws and lid off the bottom cover and the 1TB, M2 and memory are accessible. Nothing to complain about the GL502; except I find that the ROG brand; strap on the top lid and the WASD keys are too flashy and striking in the luminous orange/red. The keyboard is in that similar hue as well and can't be changed.
Some photos....
The top lid. The orange/red ROG and the straps are more flashy that they appear in this photo.
Similar, the color looks dull here. The small strap is the speaker and the color is more accurate than the rest.
The WASD. They look distracting at times..
The standards.
dreamer_toons
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I go with your lines about Aftershock is about knowing exactly what I know and make an order, collect and enjoy.
At least the sales would have smiled and conversed if I need some 'education' or otherwise; rather than rooted to the screen and chair. Personally, I feel it was like a 'see/feel the machine at your will, bye if not interested' attitude.
My personal thoughts
I guess im the type who doesnt trust a salesman. The friendlier and more talkative they are, to me means that they are more desperate to clinch a deal and they use their sales persuasion training to influence you. Remember, a salesman would never ask you to buy another brand, either because they arent knowledgable enough, or they arent allowed to.
Man, at least you kids these days have a nice showroom to look properly at Aftershock laptops on proper displays.
Back in my day we had to travel halfway down serangoon road and hunt for an inconspicuous little outlet and the inside looks more like a LAN gaming shop than a real store
(for me personally though, the new bendemeer place is actually less accessble than serangoon, but i understand why they moved there from a logistics standpoint)
Customer service whether we are buying a niche product, branded product or mass-market product is a must.
Basic customer service when a customer walks into a shop is to acknowledge their presence. If a customer requires help, then the customer can approach the sales person. Otherwise, I am ok if the sales person does not follow me or I know what I need im the shop.
Anyway, if Aftershock cannot improve their customer service then it will be a shame.
Basic customer service when a customer walks into a shop is to acknowledge their presence. If a customer requires help, then the customer can approach the sales person. Otherwise, I am ok if the sales person does not follow me or I know what I need im the shop.
Anyway, if Aftershock cannot improve their customer service then it will be a shame.
I said a similar thing about Asus back when I owned a G73
This was the quality of Asus's thermal paste job:
(photo taken May 2011, I bought the laptop Sep 2010)
and the service centre guy insisted they used good thermal paste so when I sent for servicing due to overheat all they did was clean the vents, which I found out about later on hence the above photo when I did a full dis-assembly to get to the root of the issue.
Disclaimer: while the thermal paste issue was recognised widely in the G73 in online communities, this is a product from 5 years ago and it is entirely possible Asus may have improved since then.
I mean at the end of the day, it is unfortunate that the aftershock funan sales service isnt up to par with other bigger brands (and it could risk turning off their own potential niche market too if those people visit funan and not bendemeer)
But I still wouldn't be so quick to praise other brands just because they know how to give you a good first impression. What you saw was merely their sales and marketing department. Wait for your laptop to spoil, then come face to face with their service support department and experience what the other front-facing side of the company feels like. Or pray that your device is so robust that you'll never have to find out.
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Aftershock PC
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Hey sendtolee,
We're really sorry to hear that you experienced something like this. To be fully honest, we already knew about this as we did experience one or two issues with our part timers at funan whom we recently stationed there since the mall is closing for good soon. The people that rave about our customer service mostly had visited our HQ for service and support or have been served at funan by our full time team that was there till recently. Till this date, we still put customer service as a Top prioirty. and we're working to make changes on the funan side to ensure that this changes as we're aware of this.
We had recently changed our part time staff that mans the funan store, and had a few complaints since we made the change. As such, we are looking into making some changes there, but hope for your understanding in this matter to judge us as a whole since usually our full timers prefer to be stationed at our HQ rather than the very quiet funan IT mall. feedback however, is greatly appreciated as it allows us to pinpoint these issues and eliminate them.
From day one our priority has been customer service, and when users come to us for aftersales support, we have a very systematic way of handling service and support which is what leaves most users impressed. We started this company with customer service as our main focal point, and this has not changed. Of course , as we've grown so much, one of our major challenges is ensuring the quality of the new people that join our team regularly, and we're working hard at that.
If you look at the hundreds of reviews we have, the shining ones mostly pertain to how we handle issues when users do face a hardware issue. Thats where we truly shine and we've never compromised on that.
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dreamer_toons
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Thanks to chiaRH for providing your alternate perspective.
It's not my intention to spark off a debates between the 2 brands. After all everyone has the expectations of what service is all about, and whichever brands, there are certainly pros and cons on the machine and service.
Back to the GL502 discussion then.
It's not my intention to spark off a debates between the 2 brands. After all everyone has the expectations of what service is all about, and whichever brands, there are certainly pros and cons on the machine and service.
Back to the GL502 discussion then.
For design I prefer 501 but for spec 502 is better...
Should I buy?
haha depend how important the 'aesthetic' is to you. im also looking forward to asus's design mindset to switch away from putting LED strips and slanting lines all over their gaming machines, from the looks of past design lifetimes, could be a 2-4 year wait
the MSI GS60 is another 970M slim laptop (if you can afford it) that has a more tasteful design unless you rainbow the keyboard LEDs. Or the Aorus ones but Im not sure if those still even exist here...
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kediraksith
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allow me to give me 2 cents...
In no way im saying either products is good or bad, its up to individual to decide what he or she wants out of a system. But being a stingy customer with limited budget, value for money per price performance ranks top for me.
I have yet to find a laptop in SG that beats Aftershock in terms of that. Yes i own a few Aftershock lappies, but you be damn sure should a company/brand comes out something that beats Aftershock in terms of price performance you be pretty sure where i will put my money
That said, i might be wrong but i have yet to come across a laptop company that products good aftersale service, namely help you test/troubleshoot/repaste thermal paste/clean internals with no questions asked. Maybe now have but Aftershock should be pioneer in this area.
Now as for your bad experience at Funan with that partimer (according to Aftershocks reply in this thread). To be honest, part timer or not, there is no excuse for treating customers the way you've experienced. But since Aftershock themselves have clarified that they have taken action against their staff and apologized to you (You know how si ginnas are like these days). If possible, just put it behind you and dont rob yourself a chance to try out their machines. I prefer going to their HQ at bendemeer coz all the hardcore staffs are there + boss... so should be pretty on the ball one.
So summary, to buy this Asus or Aftershock, should be solely based on aesthetics... Price wise Aftershock wins... Asus aesthetics wins
In no way im saying either products is good or bad, its up to individual to decide what he or she wants out of a system. But being a stingy customer with limited budget, value for money per price performance ranks top for me.
I have yet to find a laptop in SG that beats Aftershock in terms of that. Yes i own a few Aftershock lappies, but you be damn sure should a company/brand comes out something that beats Aftershock in terms of price performance you be pretty sure where i will put my money
That said, i might be wrong but i have yet to come across a laptop company that products good aftersale service, namely help you test/troubleshoot/repaste thermal paste/clean internals with no questions asked. Maybe now have but Aftershock should be pioneer in this area.
Now as for your bad experience at Funan with that partimer (according to Aftershocks reply in this thread). To be honest, part timer or not, there is no excuse for treating customers the way you've experienced. But since Aftershock themselves have clarified that they have taken action against their staff and apologized to you (You know how si ginnas are like these days). If possible, just put it behind you and dont rob yourself a chance to try out their machines. I prefer going to their HQ at bendemeer coz all the hardcore staffs are there + boss... so should be pretty on the ball one.
So summary, to buy this Asus or Aftershock, should be solely based on aesthetics... Price wise Aftershock wins... Asus aesthetics wins
Or the Aorus ones but Im not sure if those still even exist here...
Aorus is available and is sold by Gameprosg.
oh yea it is. Think they only have the 17 inch model but with the price tag all the way in the $4k region (SLI 970M and all) its a completely different ballpark from the Asus models
Re
What is the total weight of the GL502 and its AC adapter? Any idea?
Went to their stores couples of times on different days and met 2 different guys when I was considering between Asus and Aftershock.
2 different guys but same attitude; glued to their laptop and seat
Back to this GL502. Swapped out the original 128GB M2 SSD (Lite-on brand) with a Samsung Pro 950 and the improvement is evident.
Nothing to complain about the GL502; except I find that the ROG brand; strap on the top lid and the WASD keys are too flashy and striking in the luminous orange/red. The keyboard is in that similar hue as well and can't be changed.
Some photos....
The top lid. The orange/red ROG and the straps are more flashy that they appear in this photo.
Similar, the color looks dull here. The small strap is the speaker and the color is more accurate than the rest.
The WASD. They look distracting at times..
The standards.
What is the total weight of the GL502 and its AC adapter? Any idea?
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