***EDITED 1/04/2015**
I've had this laptop for a month now so I think I can give a better review of it.
---------------The PROS-----------------
The big important: Gaming and Photoshop/art/3d programs:
I've played multiple games with the highest possible settings and it rarely dips below 50 to 60 FPS. Crysis 2 has more than 50 FPS on max settings with a lot of other stuff running at the same time. It also runs on 30 FPS (more than playable) when I have TERA online (MMORPG) playing. TERA plays at 80 FPS consistently. Unless you want to play 3-5 games at once, this will handle anything you throw at it. Crysis 3 plays above 40 FPS even in beginning (where it's raining like crazy). Photoshop can handle very large files with no problem and Painttool SAI has no lag even with large brushes. Running both is smooth. DAZ3D and Zbrush are also very smooth.
The laptop is beautiful, and the keyboard lighting is something to be proud of. It's effective and more importantly it lights up pretty damn well, not too bright to be annoying like other laptops. It also nicely turns off on its own after three or four minutes of idle time which is pretty great.
Its extremely quiet and even after running 3D modeling programs, it was still very quiet. It has never gotten hot, only slightly lukewarm. Even with two high-demand games on at once.
The touchpad is absolutely amazing and has a very good click. Not sure why, it just feels very comfortable. Truly bizarre.
The laptop is extremely fast and powerful. I have not gamed with this yet but I will update the review once I do.
The IPS screen is breathtaking. I didn't even know how amazing it would be until I saw it. Truly amazing. No glare whatsoever and is as clear as Apple's ever so famous Retina display (which has glare).
The keyboard is extremely ergonomic. It feels easy to use and it IS easy to use.
This laptop is almost always at it's tip top shape, and I can even play mid-tier games (like Assassin's Creed II/Brotherhood/Revelations) at max settings on BATTERY mode. Goat Simulator works perfectly on battery mode with the highest possible settings. Skyrim plays at 30 FPS on max settings on Battery mode.
There is another review stating that a very heavy yellow tint is present. I compared this laptop's color with the color of a Macbook Pro (known for it's crystal clear lighting and Retina display). The color is nearly identical, and if it is not identical, ASUS Splendid Display can help you adjust the laptop's color to absolutely whatever you want it to be. It can be warmer or cooler, more vivid, or darker. The clarity also rivals that of the Macbook Pro, again, known for it's "unbeatable" display clarity.
I see a lot of negative reviews regarding ASUS's tech support and I thought I'd put something down. I had an ASUS ROG G73 (the 2011 model) and after a year or so my laptop's charger port became loose, and I couldn't charge my laptop at all. I sent them an email and within 2 days, they sent me a box with free shipping to store the laptop. I sent the laptop to their given site and within 3 days after that, I received the laptop. Not only was the charger port fixed, but they had cleaned my entire computer (it was dirty), made the charger port tight (so that it wouldn't even slip out accidentally, it was actually a great upgrade), and replaced the stickers that were falling off. It was a pretty great gesture, especially cleaning the fans. So in my experience, I give the ASUS Customer Service an A+.
The video recording software is actually really great. Launch a game and then it will record if you press the button. FPS counter is from NVidia and it is really really helpful. Supports lots of games.
Startup is incredibly fast even without an SSD. Probably 30 seconds to start up. Considering I only restart the computer once every several days, it doesn't matter at all.
----------------The CONS----------------
**NOTE** Everyone knows that this laptop is really good, so I will list EVERY SINGLE CON that I can find, regardless of whether it's useless or not. Many of these cons might just be my own laptop, or they might be consistent throughout many laptops. But, all in all, NONE of these cons are bad enough to deter me from this laptop in any way.
This one may be my fault because I deleted some programs that I thought were bloatware. They are definitely bloatware and not necessary for the laptop to function properly, but deleting them may have made the special keys unusable. There are five special keys on the top left of the keyboard. Video capture, Steam, and three macro keys.
-The video capture key opens Shadowplay, a game recording device. Unfortunately for me, it does not save anything, so it is useless for me. I have NOT had a situation where I wanted to press Esc and pressed the record button instead.
-The steam key opens up steam in full screen mode. No one likes that, so I never use it.
-The macro keys... #2 and 3 don't work for me. Not sure why, maybe I deleted something. #1 works perfectly and I use that to open my own recording software.
Finally, there's a ROG game center key. I don't use ROG Game center simply because it's not very useful. So now I deleted the program and the key is unusable.
This laptop is LARGER in thickness than the G751JY models, which are at least $800 more expensive. There are two small seemingly unnecessary blocks on the bottom that makes the laptop better to use when seated on a table, but worse to use when seated on a couch or a bed, since the stands kinda dig into your leg a bit. Not a real problem but it's an unnecessary setback.
I upgraded from the ASUS G73. There was a small indent going into the keyboard, while this laptop's keyboard has no indent. The indent actually allowed me to use a mouse on the laptop very well which was very useful for using the laptop on couches or beds. It doesn't work as well now. But the only reason I needed a mouse was because my touchpad was broken on the G73 so it doesn't really matter.
Obviously the laptop is heavy but you won't find a light gaming laptop that's efficient.
I sometimes seem to miss a key every now and then. This happens once every five hundred words I type. It's not a big deal at all because I type very fast and make a number of mistakes when I type too fast, but it's noticeable that I sometimes miss a key. I could have sworn that I typed it. I do not know if this is a hardware problem or a human error problem. It is most likely human error because it never occurs when I try to catch it occurring. Minimal problem, but I want to note every possible problem that I find. **NOTE** I don't know why, maybe I got used to the laptop but I no longer miss any keys. Guess it was my problem after all.
The bottom of the laptop comes directly out while the G73 had a small slant. The corner of the laptop digs into your hands a bit unless your arms are higher than the laptop (which mine aren't).
I frequently accidentally open the disk tray. It's not a big deal but it happens often because of where it's positioned and the sensitivity of the button. Other people run into this problem too so it's not just me.
None of these cons matter to me at all. I knew what I was getting into with the weight, and the bloatware can be deleted and never dealt with again so that doesn't matter either. As such, I will still give this laptop 9 / 10. It would have been 10 if the laptop was a bit thinner, and if the custom keys were truly customizable. It would be great if I could edit the recording software key and make it launch my own software, and make the steam key launch the desktop version of steam. The ROG key could be used to change performance levels or to simply be another macro key.
| Standing screen display size | 14 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1366 x 768 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1366x768 Pixels |
| Processor | 3 GHz core_i3_1115g4 |
| RAM | 8 DDR4 |
| Hard Drive | 128 GB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Intel UHD Graphics 770 |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Wireless Type | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
