ASUS ROG Strix GL502VT-GS74 Gaming Laptop Review
ROG Strix GL502VT-DS74 Software
All of the ROG Strix laptops ship with Windows 10 Home 64-bit, included the GL502VT-DS74 reviewed here. There's no option to select a different version of Windows during purchase, though for gamers, Windows 10 Home 64-bit is the appropriate choice.
ASUS doesn't clutter its gaming laptops with a bunch of third-party trialware so unless you don't want the company's own utilities hanging around, you won't have to spend any time uninstalling software. Upon first boot, we were greeted to a clean desktop with custom wallpaper and icons that have been blown up to 125 percent (you can change this to your liking by going to Settings > System > Display in Windows 10).
ASUS Live Update is an understated utility that diligently works to ensure your laptop is up to date. While you might be tempted to disable and/or uninstall this application, we recommend leaving it alone. If there's a new BIOS available or updated drivers specific to your configuration, ASUS Live Update will find and fetch them for you.
The Gaming Center application is a handy front end to the various utilities that ASUS ships with its laptop. It also provides a a look at the system's vitals, including frequencies for the CPU and graphics cards, along with temperatures.
ASUS had just updated its Game First utility to a new version after we received the laptop. The above screenshot shows the latest release, GameFirst IV, a network management tool that aims to optimize your Internet connection for gaming and streaming video.
There are a range of complaints on the Internet related to GameFirst, so your mileage may vary. If you experience wonky behavior, such as ping spikes and lag after using GameFirst, you may want to disable and/or uninstall the utility to see if the problem goes away.
There are a range of complaints on the Internet related to GameFirst, so your mileage may vary. If you experience wonky behavior, such as ping spikes and lag after using GameFirst, you may want to disable and/or uninstall the utility to see if the problem goes away.
