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Battery Life:
To test battery life we used the ‘Home' benchmark in PCMark 8. This test isn't hugely demanding when it comes to computational requirements and, although artificial, it is likely to simulate the sort of stress the laptop would undergo while doing a small amount of video editing, web browsing and word processing.
We set the screen brightness to 50%, and the keyboard brightness to 66%.
The PCMark 8 benchmark showed that the ROG STRIX Hero II battery lasted 1hr 42mins while in performance mode. As this is an artificial benchmark we would expect in a real world situation this would equate to about 3hr 20mins of normal use. However, if you're using the laptop for gaming or heavy rendering we think you would be lucky to get 2 hours away from the mains.
Changing the power profile to ‘better battery' will mean that the laptop won't perform as well but it does significantly improve battery life. We got a benchmark score of 3hr12 which will equate to over 6hrs of use. Enough for a long train journey or a day at uni.
Overall the battery life results are pretty much as expected. At 2 hours the ROG Strix Hero II is about average when it comes to battery life for a gaming laptop. However if you're out and about and just want to type out an essay or browse the net, changing the power profile can keep it running for up to 6hrs which we think is pretty good.
Temperatures:
We tested the temperatures while the laptop was set to best performance mode with the charger plugged in. We run AIDA 64 for 10 minutes to stress the CPU & GPU simultaneously and also keep an eye on the temperatures while doing our performance testing.
Under idle conditions the i7-8750H easily reaches its maximum all-core speed of 3.9GHz while sitting at a reasonably cool 45C. However, during stress testing we saw the CPU peak at 97C before overheating was detected and the clock speed was reduced. The core speed dropped to 3.1GHz across all cores and the temperature fell with it as the i7-8750H levelled out at around 78C once the clock speed was reduced.
This may sound like an issue but it's what we typically expect from this particular CPU. In comparison to other laptops we've tested featuring the i7-8750H, the Hero II is about average. It beats out the Razer Blade 15 that could only maintain a speed of 2.5GHz under sustained load, but is outperformed by the Gigabyte Aero 15X that was able to run faster at 3.4GHz. With a speed of 3.1GHz it sits neck and neck with the PC Specialist Recoil II.
Meanwhile, the GPU temperatures are pretty impressive. The GTX 1060 stayed at a cool 45C while the laptop idled, and it only maxed out at 73C under load during our performance testing – so absolutely nothing to be concerned about.
Noise Levels:
We measured fan noise levels using a sound meter while the laptop was idle with no programs open, and then during stress testing to get a reading with the system under load with the fans set to overboost mode.
When idling, the Strix isn't quite silent as the fans are always slowly spinning, producing just under 38dB of noise, but it is very quiet. While under load there is a noticeable increase in noise to 52.2dB. I would describe it as loud but not the worst – the speakers do a good job to drown out the noise, or if you're a headset user its unlikely to be too much of an annoyance.
