Maintenance is simple and easy. Like other gaming notebooks, Asus allows users to access and upgrade the internal components. After removing 10 Phillips head screws and disengaging plastic clips with a pry tool, the bottom cover pops off to reveal the inside of the machine. The wireless card is readily accessible. Our review unit includes a 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD and 1 DIMM of 16 GB DDR4 RAM. There is a blank slot for an additional DIMM of DDR4 RAM and an M.2 SSD. The M.2 slot can accommodate PCIe/NVMe SSDs for lightning quick access times.  

The fans can easily be cleaned. The heat pipe array can also be removed with further disassembly, revealing the soldered GPU and CPU.

Keyboard

While not at the level of other gaming notebooks, the generous 1.6 mm of travel makes typing a breeze. The pressure point is well-defined and articulate, and key response is firm. Feedback isn't as good as other gaming notebooks' (namely the GL553VD) but is overall pleasing. The keys are silent with minimal clatter and are suitable for typing in quiet environments. The matte black finish compliments the red lettering and is resistant to fingerprints and smudges. The lack of RGB lighting may turn some users off, but the three-stage red backlight is bright and easy on the eyes in dark environments. Also, there are no special keys other than a dedicated ROG key that launches the ROG Center software. Macro keys are absent which may be a deal breaker for some. 

The key layout is good. Keys are well-sized and easy to find. The number pad keys on the right side are a bit narrow and require some adjustment. Arrow key placement is also not optimal; the right arrow key tends to blend in with the number pad and can be hard to find by touch. The keyboard deck remains firm under normal typing conditions but can flex when keys are pounded. Overall, the keyboard is good but a bit mundane. Most users will be perfectly happy with the typing experience, but serious typists may want to explore other options.

Touchpad

The touchpad is adequate. It is well-sized at about 105 mm by 75 mm. The smooth finish gives the illusion of a glass surface but definitely feels like plastic. Gliding feels good and tracking is accurate. Gestures are recognized, but our unit seems to have a small delay between the touchpad and screen. This is especially noticeable when scrolling with two fingers. Users will move their fingers, but the touchpad takes a small breath before registering the action. It's not overly distracting but is worth mentioning.

The integrated left- and right-click buttons feel hollow and spongy. Travel is average, but feedback is soft. Overall, the touchpad is disappointing and should be used only for basic navigation. Gamers will definitely want to use a mouse. 

Brightness is good and in line with the competition at about 306 nits. The Gigabyte P57X v7 has a brighter screen but much slower response times. There is some screen bleeding around the panel, but it's minimal and not distracting. The bleed may be due to gaps in the bezel. Black levels are impressive at 0.21 and contrast is very good at 1507:1. As a result, dark scenes in movies and games are well defined with none of the blockiness present in lower contrast displays. 

Colors are excellent. Deltas are lower than all rivals; as such, photos and movie clips are accurate. Objectively, deltas of less than 3 are generally considered acceptable for professional work, so photographers and others who work extensively with colors may want to look elsewhere. That said, the target audience for this notebook is the gaming community, and they will be pleased with the vivid and accurate colors on this display.

The display has an above average color space, covering 86% of sRGB and 56% of AdobeRGB. This should be more than acceptable for gaming.

The Intel Core i7-7700HQ is one of the fastest mobile processors currently available. The quad-core Kaby Lake chip features Hyperthreading, a 6 MB L3 cache, and a 45 W TDP. The 7700HQ has a base clock of 2.8 GHz and can boost up to 3.8 GHz on a single core. In our testing, the processor is able to fully boost whether plugged in or running on battery power. The CPU can handle almost any workload with aplomb, especially applications that take advantage of multiple CPU threads. When the system is stressed, we do notice some throttling. We will expound upon this in the Stress Test section below.

The 7700HQ is becoming fairly commonplace among high-end gaming notebooks. As such, the GL702VS keeps pace with most of the competition. The 7700HQ is routinely about 10-15% faster than the previous generation i7-6700HQ (Skylake) seen in the GL702VM. The Eurocom Tornado F5 takes the gold in our processor comparison; its overclockable i7-7700K is about 20-25% faster than the 7700HQ in all tests, thanks in part to the higher TDP of the unlocked CPU.

You can find more information about the Intel Core i7-7700HQ in our dedicated processor page here.

Despite its stellar CPU and GPU, the GL702VS takes a while to get up to full speed. This is mainly due to the slower mechanical hard drive in our review unit, but retailers like Xotic PC offer SKUs with faster SSDs preinstalled. The hard drive can be easily swapped by users, and there is a slot for an M.2 SSD (either SATA or NVMe). Regardless, overall system performance is good. The GL702VS can handle any work or game thrown its way, but performance is not up to scratch when compared to rivals in PCMark 8. Again, the Eurocom Tornado F5 is king, but keep in mind that it has a faster processor and much faster NVMe SSD at its heart.

It should be noted that our review unit could not complete the Creative Accelerated test in PCMark 8. We cannot determine the cause but suspect there may be some driver issues at play. As such, we will not include this benchmark in our review. 

And now on to the star of the show: the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. The 1070 is based on Nvidia's new Pascal architecture which focuses on high performance and energy efficiency. The result is a graphics card that offers desktop-level performance with laptop-level power consumption. The 1070 is classified as "VR Ready," meaning that it can render graphics at the high resolutions and frame rates demanded by VR headsets. You can read more about the GeForce GTX 1070 at our dedicated GPU page here. Due to the inclusion of G-Sync, the GL702VS doesn't use integrated graphics; the GTX 1070 handles all display output.

In our 3DMark testing, we see an interesting result. While the GL702VS outpaces the GTX 1060 in the GL702VM in most benchmarks, it falls behind its rivals in the Cloud Gate Standard and Ice Storm Extreme benchmarks. The GL702VS has the same CPU and GPU as the MSI GT62VR and GT72VR but can't match their performance. It manages similar scores in Fire Strike at 1080p, which is more in line with expectations. We suspect that the disparity in less demanding tests is due to some thermal throttling, which we will explore in the Stress Test section below.

The GL702VS's Achilles Heel lies in thermal management. In their effort to pack powerful hardware into such a thin chassis, Asus seems to choke the CPU in order to keep heat under control. Loading all threads in Prime95 to brings the CPU to a maximum temperature of 85º C. After straining the 7700HQ for over an hour, temperatures across the die averaged 70º C. Three of the four cores were able to hit the boost speed of 3.8 GHz but couldn't hold there for long, dropping back down to the average speed of 3.3 GHz.

Graphical stress tells a different story. When stressed while running FurMark, the GTX 1070 manages to stay relatively cool at an average of 75º C and peaks at 78º C. This result by itself is very good, but the CPU approaches its limits. The 7700HQ reached a maximum temperature of 97º C and sat at an average of 93º C over the hour long test. While this is hot, it still sits under the 100º C threshold specified by Intel. Running both Prime 95 and FurMark yields similar results; while the GPU keeps its cool at an average of 78º C, the CPU runs at a higher 95º C. The 7700HQ also chokes back to 3.1 GHz, which could explain the performance disparity when compared to other gaming laptops with the same chip. 

While running Unigine Valley, a more realistic test of gaming stress, the GPU averages 70º C. While the CPU reaches 96º C, it averages a much more tolerable 83º C on average and maintains an average clock speed of 3.5 GHz across all four cores. While gaming, the system can get hot internally but will cool back down. Intense loads may choke the components in favor of tolerable temperatures.

Running The Witcher 3 for a full hour sees more stress on the components. The CPU and GPU are both pushing themselves at 3.5 GHz and 1625 MHz, respectively. Framerates start strong, hitting 60 fps with small dips for about 40 minutes. The game then dips into the mid 50s, which is still respectable. To hit this performance, though, CPU temperatures average at 90º C while the GPU sits at 79º C. Gamers should ensure that the notebook is well ventilated during long gaming sessions. We suggest the device be used on a solid, flat surface (like a table) that provides the best airflow and won't block vents; this will allow the notebook to constantly perform at its peak.

Asus did a good job in controlling hot spots on the laptop. Under extreme load, the laptop does get hot (about 50° C), but this heat is dumped out of the back ventilation and away from the user. Hotspots are only around the back vents and directly over the CPU and GPU. The keyboard deck stays very cool to the touch in most places. The WASD keys are never uncomfortable to use, and the palm rest doesn't heat up.

Looking at the cooling solution, the reason behind the thermal throttling rears its head. Whereas most other gaming laptops with this much power under the hood have a robust cooling solution with several heat pipes, the GL702VS has a paltry two shared between both the CPU and GPU. Compare the photos of the cooling systems of our review unit and the MSI GT72VR 6RE below. (The GT72VR 7RE uses the same chassis as the 6RE.) While the GT72VR generates more heat overall, the CPU and GPU stay under 90º C and are not throttled.