Asus' G51J: Affordable Core i7 Mobile Gaming?

[Crashman]

Mobility and gaming have been at odds for a long time, but Asus thinks its G51J could be the solution. With Intel Core i7 Mobile CPU technology and Nvidia’s recent GeForce GTX-260M, is this mid-sized, mid-priced notebook too good to be true at ~$1,500?

Asus' G51J: Affordable Core i7 Mobile Gaming? : Read more

 

[vulmer]

Can't wait to see what Asus comes up with next!

 

[liquidsnake718]

Wow, Asus seems to be churrning out good gaming laptops... Not bad for the price of $1500. The other i7 msi gaming laptop seemed like a good price but with mobile nvidia 280m is too costly and the gtx260m isnt all that bad i guess but at$1600plus.... the 4850m Ati gpu is supposed to be closer to its actual full pc part thus making it a sure bet for gpu power on a small laptop.... Interesting stuff we are seeing... Now we can wait 6more months for larrabee to come out for the laptop mobile market....

 

[lashabane]

We almost got there in 2004 with ATI's Radeon 9600 XT-based Mobility Radeon 9700.

Was it only that long ago? It feels like forever.

 

[danwat1234]

"With a single intake vent, G51J users should pay special attention to leg position when using the unit as a laptop."

WRONG!!!
That circular 'vent' does not go through. It is not used for cooling, it is only aesthetic.

The intake vents are those slits around the RAM , the 2 hard drives bays and around the video card. Thus leg position is NOT important. The cooling system is very good.

 

[danwat1234]

Does this laptop not support RAID like it's predecessors?

 

[scook9]

the cooling is NOT good, and these are known for running VERY hot

That said, the Asus G51 series is by far the most common gaming oriented laptop as its performance is stellar for the price

A better cooled system would be the Alienware M15x or the Clevo W860CU (both also 15"). Clevo also offers a comparable 17", the W870CU

Good cooling means that each heat producing thing has its own fan and set of fins/heatpipes (which takes a larger notebook)

 

[El_Capitan]

www.rjtech.com - Clevo D900F = $1759
Microcenter i7 920 = $200
250GB 7200 RPM = $65

Total = $2024

 

[danwat1234]

[citation][nom]scook9[/nom]Good cooling means that each heat producing thing has its own fan and set of fins/heatpipes (which takes a larger notebook)[/citation]

So, then does this notebook have good cooling for it's size? It is having to dissipate quite a bit of power when both the CPU (45 watts TDP) and GPU (75 watts) have their pipelines full. Yes it can run hot internally, but the underside of the case stays out of roasting-balls and/or pubic hair range because the motherboard is screwed into the laptop from the underside of the keyboard instead being attached to the bottom of the case.

I do agree that a second fan would be an awesome improvement, or have the one replaced with one that can move more air.

I would venture that few laptops can dissipate that much heat as well as this one of this size. One that may have better cooling would be the HP envy 15, and some of the exotic laptops.. imo

 

[danwat1234]

Hey everyone! Look at the first picture on page 3. Do you see the battery slider to the right of the battery? When that slider is open (so battery in unlocked from that end), it uncovers red plastic, as shown in that pic.

This slider I suspect is NOT spring loaded but the left slider IS.
I have the G50VT (predecessor), and this is the case with mine and often the battery has been dislodged in my computer case as I walk from class to class, cutting power to the RAM when in sleep mode.. I ended up taping my battery in with scotch tape! Worked like a charm.


http://s909.photobucket.com/albums/ac295/danwat1234/g50vt/
I venture the guess that this issue has not been fixed.

 

[tortnotes]

danwat1234, that's not a design defect, it's a feature. If both switches were spring loaded it'd be a lot harder to remove the battery.
My HP laptop is built the same way, and it hasn't caused any major problems... just be careful how you carry it!

 

[Guest]

@danwat1234 if both latches were spring-loaded, you'd need three hands to remove the battery!

That said, those latches do look pretty weak, so you do have a point.

Scotch-taping the battery down the way you did is also overkill - taping the latches into their locked positions would have sufficed.

 

[Crashman]

OK guys, here's the deal:

1.) The "Fake" intake is the real main intake. If it's blocked, there's enough space between the fan and the hole to draw air from other places such as the slits over the RAM.
2.) The bottom doesn't get hot, but you can almost roast vienna sausages from the side outlet.
3.) In the photo, the battery is unclipped on one side. It is a design feature to make battery removal easier. It did not affect testing.

 

[micky_lund]

hmmmmm
the real thing is desktops are still better for gaming...who agrees with the article and me there?

 

[coolkev99]

Anyone know if this thing is much faster for games than the Asus G51Vx-X3A?? Seems like the X3A is a better deal at $1300.

 

[coolkev99]

oops. Forgot link. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16834220639

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

[citation][nom]danwat1234[/nom]"With a single intake vent, G51J users should pay special attention to leg position when using the unit as a laptop." WRONG!!!That circular 'vent' does not go through. It is not used for cooling, it is only aesthetic. The intake vents are those slits around the RAM , the 2 hard drives bays and around the video card. Thus leg position is NOT important. The cooling system is very good.[/citation]
I will back up this post as well. I have an Asus laptop with the same cooler design. If you actually take it apart, you're realize that the giant circular 'intake' at the bottom doesn't actually go through anything. I'll admit, it's a little misleading when your laptop has a giant circular grill looking thing at the bottom lined with mesh and it ends up pretty much doing nothing.

 

[falchard]

Lets see where the FAIL happens in this laptop:
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M 1.0GB
Six-cell 11.1V 4800mAh
15.6" LED Backlit 1080p (1920x1080)

For $1500, you might as well spend the $100 for the MSI model. However, MSI, ASUS, and Eurocom represent some of the best companies in laptops. Its league all its own.

 

[one-shot]

I can't see any reason to not buy the MSI over the ASUS laptop. My reasons are also the same as the above post. For a little more money, you get a larger screen and more powerful GPU. Sure, then ASUS has a better CPU, but GPU is more important in this case.

 

[Computer_Lots]

Wouldn't it make more sense to test game performance at each laptop's native screen res? That's how the games would look best and how most of us would set them up anyway so it seems it would be a more realistic comparison.
The Asus would be 1920x1080.
The Eurocom would be 1900x1200.
The MSI would be 1680x1050.

 

[eagle07]

so why is the HP envy not on this list... corei7 ati 4830...

 

[masterasia]

The battery life sucks. I wouldn't get it. Things always break when you have too much power in one small device. This thing is gonna generate a lot of heat so the life span is probably gonna suck.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]Computer_Lots[/nom]Wouldn't it make more sense to test game performance at each laptop's native screen res? That's how the games would look best and how most of us would set them up anyway so it seems it would be a more realistic comparison. The Asus would be 1920x1080.The Eurocom would be 1900x1200.The MSI would be 1680x1050.[/citation]

actually the MSI is 1920x1200 and the Eurocom is 1920x1200. Thus, to make it fair you have to test the Asus at 1920x1200. But to make it relevent you also have to test the Asus at 1920x1080. And that's what happened. 1920x1080 isn't in the charts because the other notebooks have already been sent back, but it is in the comments.

Also, since 1920x1080 WAS tested, you can look forward to the results being used in future comparisons.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]eagle07[/nom]so why is the HP envy not on this list... corei7 ati 4830...[/citation]

When HP sends it you can be sure it will be tested

[citation][nom]masterasia[/nom]The battery life sucks. I wouldn't get it. Things always break when you have too much power in one small device. This thing is gonna generate a lot of heat so the life span is probably gonna suck.[/citation]

It's not too much power, it's too small a battery. Asus also offers a 9-cell battery, which Tom's is suggesting should be made available everywhere or perhaps even added to the package. Tom's would rather have a 9-cell battery than a backpack.

 

[El_Capitan]

Anyone who's getting a gaming machine with a 17" screen isn't going to be playing games on battery power.

Heat isn't an issue if you apply Arctic Silver 5 or better thermal compound and do maintenance to make sure the exhausts aren't clogged. If it's the GPU that's heating up, then get a decent notebook cooler.

I've been looking at building a D900F myself a couple months ago, but decided against it. The price isn't $4500, but closer $2100 if you know how to take apart a notebook properly. For $600 more, I'd recommend building your own D900F with an i7 920.