Asus FX503V-DDM175T 15.6" FHD Gaming Laptop - i5-7300HQ, 4GB, 1TB, NV GTX1050, W10H, Black

Keeping It Low Key

When it comes to maintaining a certain level of discretion, that is one thing ASUS gaming laptops have done extremely well. At first glance, you won’t be able to tell whether it’s a gaming laptop or a common everyday workstation. The ASUS FX503 utilises a brushed metal look on its body, giving it an air of opulence, if you will. It’s also quite light, given the fact that it is a gaming laptop. Although it’s nothing compared to the ASUS ROG Zephyrus, the FX503 weighs at just 2.5kg and only 2.4cm thin when closed. Now you can store it into your backpack with ease and convenience.

Opting for its traditional black with red accents colourway, even the illumination of the keyboard is discreet. The red barely flushes over the keys but rather, gently surrounds itself why keeping each individual key illuminated. The back panel of the laptop also doesn’t feature much; only four indented lines to make out the shape of an X and the air vents at the bottom.

Strictly A Mid-Ranger

At its core, the FX503V is strictly an entry-level to mid-range gaming laptop. What’s surprising is its use of the 7th Gen. Intel-Core i7-7700HQ processor paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphic processing unit (GPU). As it is an i7 processor, the laptop is great on a day-to-day basis but it’s disappointing that the review unit we got held only 8GB of DDR4 memory. It would’ve been nice to have at least 16GB.

Of course, that is just a slight blimp as the FX503V also comes with a 1TB 7,200RPM SATA HDD with a 128GB SATA3 M.2 SSD. This meant the laptop was quick and snappy, to a certain extent.

The FX503V is a great gaming laptop, that is only if you’re looking to play games that doesn’t have a heavy list of demands. With that said, games like Dota 2, Overwatch, CS:GO and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) are a few games that perform really well on the FX503V. I managed to hit between 90-100 fps on all four games with relative ease, although in Dota 2 and PUBG, the laptop did stutter for a bit during graphic-intensive scenes.

Even through benchmark scores, it clearly shows that the FX503V is a mid-range laptop, only topping out in the 3DMark: Sky Diver test but falling short in Time Spy and Fire Strike.

Great For Movies

Aside from casual gaming, the FX503V is also a great companion when it comes to watching movies. Although nothing beats watching shows through a large TV screen, the FX503V does its job well with its 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display panel. Re-watching shows that have a lot of camera movement and colour like Inception and Grand Budapest Hotel, the laptop performs admirably. There’s great contrast and colour accuracy when watching or playing so you don’t have to worry about them being off-colour.

The FX503V also has a wide-viewing angle of 178° so you can watch your movies or game while getting other things done as well. Of course, why would you be doing anything else when gaming and movies sound so much better?

It Will Suffice

I have always preferred devices that provides an ample amount of ports. That’s mostly because I’m always connecting multiple devices to the laptop. The FX503V comes with two USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port. That’s only enough for a keyboard and mouse combo with one left to spare. There’s also a HDMI port, a combo audio jack and an RJ45 LAN port.

I guess it should suffice, especially since there isn’t much you can do with the FX503V except gaming, binge-watching and working. What’s great is that the laptop is a good driver in all three aspects. I could game in peace but also binge-watch my series in crystal-clear quality while getting some work done.