I was leaning towards buying the best ASUS Zenbook in this price range when the new ROG G501VW went on sale. The latest ROG laptops are usually well above $1,000. Older models may dip below that but they have older 4th or 5th generation Intel processors, are thicker/heavier and give you 3-5 hours battery life on idle. This ROG G501VW is thin like a Zenbook, lasts about 6 hours idle thanks to the 6th generation Intel, runs very cool and quiet until you start playing a game with the GeForce GPU selected through an Nvidia application. The screen can be bright and you can make out what is on it from any angle. The keyboard is back-lit with adjustable brightness. Get used to having your finger oil showing all over it: fighting it is losing battle. It is disappointing that this configuration doesn't have an SSD. I feel that white painted letters on the keyboard would have been just as effective without consuming power, There is NO Thunderbolt connector, the picture in the store is of a different configuration. However, there are a 3 regular USB ports and 1 of those new USB 3.1 connectors. I found all of this perfectly acceptable and would recommend this laptop to anyone.