Asus G75VX After a week of use my review.

[bignazpwns]

Lets kick this off by finding out what the G75VX is. We know its a laptop but what is it? Well its a Gaming laptop and Asus would like you to think that this is a high end gaming laptop. Well only 1/2 of that is right. It is a gaming laptop but very far from high end. These systems can be broke down into the fallowing.

Entry Gaming systems. Single GPU', Limited upgrades and the GPU will always fall into the lower to mid end of GPU's out.

Mid End. These will have more upgrades open and will come with a single high end GPU.

High End. These systems feature the most advanced upgrades and will let you put more and do more in/to them then the rest. These will have 2 of the top flag ship cards in SLI or Crossfire.

So the G75VX is a entry gaming laptop and there is nothing wrong with that. But Asus would like you to think that it can divide by 0 and is the best of the best.


Overall the G75's look nice.....But thats about it. They are very plain when you compare them to other systems. Want to run a subwoofer? To bad no optical port or subwoofer out like on every other gaming laptop. Macro keys? Nope, Extra MSATA ports? Nope unless you ditch the wifi. Only 2 slots for a harddrive or ssd unless you lose the Optical drive and even then that drive does not support SATAIII or Raid. My MX18 can not only take a MSATA SSD but i can stack upto 3 SSD's in it and put another on in the optical bay and raid the 3 together. However the G75VX does get a thunderbolt port what is very nice as it opens up the ability to use EGPU's giving the system a little more life by using a desktop GPU.

Display.

Matt. displays are nice however the picture quality looks like crap. Gaming systems should have glossy displays everything looks much better on a glossy unless you start looking unto the very highend IPS displays and even then they dont seem to pop as much as a glossy. Glare has never been a issue for me and i feel gaming laptops should have displays that offer the best picture quality. No sence in cranking up the settings to see the fine detail when it just looks like crap because of the display. Also people have complained about white lines in the display but this unit does not have them. Viewing angles are pretty good and what you would expect from a non IPS display nothing here to go crazy over.

Cooling.

Ok the G series myth is that the cooling is the best around. Its not. Every high end gaming laptop i have used has had far better cooling. Bigger heat pipes, more heat pipes or copper fins for the heatsink. The G75's cooling is good and above par but far from the best. I would of liked to see larger heat pipes used and at least 3 on the GPU. But the Temps on the i7 3630QM and GTX 670mx were all very good but if you put a 55w cpu and a high end GPU with that cooling it will show you how good the cooling system on other laptops that use these components really is.


Battery.

It works but you wont be gaming on it but then again very few systems can do this. Really wish they would of went with a 12c pack but oh well you gotta bring the cost down some how.

Wifi

My unit has a braudcom that works pretty good. I would of prefered a real 2X2 card or somthing full speed because the 65mbs N kinda sucks i dont know why they could not give a gaming system a gaming card with a 150 or 300mbs card. But it gets the job done but if you are running a 300mbs network and fios like my self then you will want to swap that out asap.

Keybord.

Asus really failed on this. No macro keys and the back light is a joke. Very dim low control over lighting and its only white. My Series 7 is easily 3 times brighter. I mean its so dim its kinda almost useless and out of every system i ever used this is the bottom in terms of back light.

Touch pad.

I really like the buttons. The touch pad size is great and tracking is good. Pinch zoom and all that works great. Useless since gamers will be using a mouse but if your not using the mouse they did a good job on the touch pad.

Sound

Crap. Really it sounds like crap. You would expect much more from this and a $599 HP system i have here with a subwoofer not only has more base but it is better overall sound and gets louder. If you adjust the settings you can get it to sound ok but its still crap. If you like deacent sound you better get a nice set of cans but just a heads up the headphone port wont push a really good set how they should. But again why would they put that kind of audophile port on a gaming system? But its a fail across the sound range but a nice set of cans to me is a requirement for this laptop.

GPU.

The GTX 670MX is very nice. Runs cool clocks high if you know what you are doing packs 3gigs of vram and when overclocked it can easily catch upto a GTX 680m. Stock i tested this card in a 25m raid in wow with everything on Ultra MSAA at 8 and at stock clocks the card did tend to dip into the lower 20's in some fights. Slight oc and it gets the card to keep the fps int he mid 30's so this is a very capable card and with wow maxed out at 1920X1080 i was only using a hair over 2gb of vram. Really Asus its about time you diteched the sad GTX660m and GTX 670m and get a real card in the system. I would of loved to see the GTX 675MX in it but i;ll take the 670MX.

CPU.

Its a i7, Its a 3630QM not much more i can say. Lock the multi to turbo and let it go.

PSU.

They made it thinner and its still the same specs as the old one and the one i been using does not get to hot during use. Anyone who has used a gaming laptop psu knows that come can get very hot.


Overall the price tag on this system was $1250. And that buys you

i7 3630QM
GTX 670MX
8 gigs of samsung DDR3 1600 ram
DVD multi drive
1tb 5,300 rpm drive

Honestly if you look you can still find better systems for the same price. But if you like the looks of the G75's then this is not all that bad of a price. It is much easyer to give this system a look for $1250 then the VW. The thunderbolt port and the upgraded GPU and CPU make it worth to atleast look at and just not pass it up for another brand.

Would i advise anyone to buy this system? No. Its still missing some key points for me to give this system the thumbs up. If they did some minor improvements then i could very easily give this system the thumbs up and earn a spot as the $1300 system i advise people to buy. The 17inch gaming laptop market is not small. This system is very unimpressive when you look at the competition. But if you are buying a system locally from a Best Buy and you will only buy one in person not order one online and you do not have a place like Frys around you then the G75VX will be the best system you can get for $1300 new. Also i will point out that another reason i can not give this the $1300 spot if because the lack of support from Asus and the large number of issues the G75's have had as well as the large number of systems sent in for repair only to return with the same issues. I tell people not to expect a warranty from Asus and they are buying it as is. I also tell them o take any warranty the store offers as that will be the easiest and fastest way to fix it.


Links to temp logs running 3DMArk 2013. Please note the overclock was 800 on the core the program was reading the freq. wrong. Also the temp reading were accurate this was confirmed via a temp probe installed on the gpu. The bottom panel was reinstalled with the probe installed and ran on sitting on a table. CPU was also locked at 3.3ghz.

Stock

http://www.2shared.com/document/A8NmjM0H/GPUZ3DMSTOCK.html

Overclocked 800/2500

http://www.2shared.com/document/T9hBjo4H/GPUZ3DMARKOC.html


My final thoughts are this. The G75 is the 6cyl Camaro or Mustang of the computer world. Yeah it can beat the focus's and Cobalts but it is just a 6cyl and it will get spanked by a real car. Looks are not always everything. They do play a key role in the system but to what point really? I mean right now the way i see Asus's G series is the Apple Macbook pro's of the gaming laptop world. They look good but lack the power, ports and options and the fact is if Asus really baleaved that their cooling system was the best they would have the bios unlocked and be putting their money where their mouth is. I mean the ROG mobo's have a ton of options. What i baleave is they know they over hyped the living crap out of the system and limit the option to keep it looking good in reviews and on paper. The ROG logo on the laptop is a joke it should just be replaced with a Apple logo because this system is locked down.

Overall i give it a 7/10 in the $1000 to $1300 category

[scarletvw]

I would have to say that the review was honest, and his opinion. I think he was way off on saying its a low end gaming PC, about the matte display, about the hard drives (honestly, who needs more then 2 hard drive bays?), the wifi (yours can do 150mbps, all depends on signal the laptop is getting, 2x2 is 300mbps), the cooling capacity is much better then a lot of laptops out there (asus just failed in how they installed the TIM), please don't try putting a mSATA SSD into a mPCIe slot (just because the wifi port looks the same it does not mean it is), macro keys? seriously? I'm so very glad that I don't have a bunch of junk keys on my laptop, and about his analogy of the V6 and macbook (he obviously hasn't seen the 300hp V6 mustang, its not always about how many cylinders you're running (says the guy with the V8 Mustang))

And lastly, with USB3.0 out, who cares about eSATA?

[KiwiG75]

Well, to be honest, cylinders do matter. If you get an 8 cylinder running 300 hp and compare it to a 4 cylinder running 300 hp, you will find that the 8 cylinder will last a lot longer, produce less heat and will most definitely be able to be pushed to a higher output.

EDIT: But yes, my stock standard G75VW runs quieter than my external hard disk.

[Dreamonic]

The car analogy isn't even close.

What does matter is that some people buy those V6 Camaro's and Mustang's for practicality. They are better on fuel, they generally don't need as much maintenance like a higher displacement engine needs, usually because people aren't driving them like they stole it; Plus it serves the purpose as being 'enough' for the person to weigh-out cost and performance while still keeping the cool factor. Where do you want to spend your hard earned money on, performance and make or cost of running and maintaining?

People love the sleeper looks which is usually bang for buck performance, so they put in a turbo or TT setup or supercharger, so their built 4-Cyl can beat a V8 and match a V10's output or their built V6's can destroy V12's, it all depends just on how deep their pockets go and how good the tuning and supporting mods are. As the saying goes, "you pay to play."

To put my 05 RC RAM SRT-10 in the high 9's it will cost me almost 100k, but buy a Supra you could get there in 60k or a DSM and pay 37k, yet I didn't buy my truck solely for 1/4 mile times or track use, I bought it because of the fact it has the 8.3L 505ci V10 in it and the fun factor it gives all while the purchase price didn't cost and arm and a leg, maintaining it however, it does, haha. I've spent over 20k on upgrades alone for my truck so far, but I plan to keep it as long as my needs are met with it; I do all the work myself which makes owning it much more rewarding.

It's all about preference and what (builds) you want. Do you want Naturally Aspirated or Forced Induction? Generally speaking again, you get more bang for your buck with certain makes. The parts can be much cheaper and your money goes a lot further with them. One thing people tend to forget is EGO based purchases. There are a lot of ignorant people out there who have the money but are so opinionated, they aren't willing to reason on any level. If you are about performance, price and modding, go DSM (a desktop build.) Period.

Similarly to Viper tax goes is like it is to Alienware. You pay more for the name which generally is all about performance, so parts or builds cost more than their competitive counterparts. The new Mustang's are a beast in the 1/4 mile and I really like the look of them but that doesn't mean I want one just because it's faster. There will always be something faster than my truck, so? I got what I wanted, that's all that matters. You can't compare apples to oranges anyway (N/A to F/I - Macs to PCs) Using cars in this analogy can be done if you are speaking in terms of what a person is shopping for, but we don't all want the same things.

This also applies with the G75's and your needs and budget. Not everyone wants to pay a higher premium for make and performance, some rather get bang for buck while still getting something cool out of it, then you have others somewhere in the middle of all that. There is a market for everything here because everything changes so quickly, whether it be technology or ourselves.

You just have to remember if you were happy with your purchase, then it doesn't matter what the cost of it was. It's silly to point the finger at prices later, because at some point you justified the price tag then to owning it. You support your own interests and tastes. It's that simple.

[dparish2]

KiwiG75 wrote:
Well, to be honest, cylinders do matter. If you get an 8 cylinder running 300 hp and compare it to a 4 cylinder running 300 hp, you will find that the 8 cylinder will last a lot longer, produce less heat and will most definitely be able to be pushed to a higher output.

EDIT: But yes, my stock standard G75VW runs quieter than my external hard disk.

Lets not forget 4cyl vs 8cyl @ 300 hp compression and power to weight ratio though 🙂

Good review, I considered getting the VX but I got the VW 660m 3630QM for free so I cant complain. I have been pretty happy with the cooling, I have two alienware m15x and a vaio running the i7, the G75 runs amazingly cooler than all three of them.

I agree with audio too, CRAP!

I got used to the mat screen, I hated it at first but now I love it.

Thanks for the review!

[colpolite]

Again, find me a better spec laptop for under $1,300 that has a kepler 670mx or better cpu and a 3610-3630qm cpu for the price range and not the MSI with AMD trinity cpu and 7970m for $1,200+ and Clevo custom specs where you have to get discount to match it.

Again name one laptop that has a 670mx kepler or better and a intel quad ivy bridge cpu for under $1,300.

[noneone]

Ok I'll weigh in ..... on the alineware, /puke they have bad QC, have a couple times released new versions of the M17x line, found out they're broke, and released updated bios versions the cut or cripple certain features to make the install base run more stable, e.g. underclocking / volting a GPU so the machines don't draw too much power ......

On the asus .. THEY ARE NOT CHEAPER, really, than comparable clevo and MSI. yes, there is an entry level price point where the G75 is cheaper, as its hard to find an MSI or CLEVO that are as crippled as the G75VX, e.g. 5400 rpm hard drive and no bluray. You can find MSI and CLEVO systems in the $1400 range, just $150 more, with bluray, faster HD, and more memory. And extra ports, etc...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ns=p_PRICE_2%7c1&ci=18818&N=4110474292+4291351730&srtclk=sort

Add in that most (at least here) folks add an aftermarket SSD for a real gaming rig to the G75VX, while the others can be purchased with one for cheaper than the the G75VX + extra SSD.

The G75vx is only cheaper if you plan to use the bare bones worst specs such as slow HD, no SSD, low ram, no blu ray, etc..

That said, it can be a good one to purchase (a) close by so you can return it if you don't like it (b) to start cheap and add components later as funds allow.

The 670mx is the lowest of the "good cards", so IMO, Big's characterization of it as low end gaming is probably right on.

Yes, folks DO buy really expensive gaming notebooks, with SLI. I've got one, (sli 280m, time for upgrades 🙂 ) I live in hotels most of the time. BTW, Alienwares are hella noisy with poor sourced / spec fans ..... 🙂

"slick case" and so on are a wash, depends too much on preference, lots of folks go OOO AHHH OOO over the alienware lights and case design, while some folks appreciate the quietly refined Asus stealth bomber.

Other ROG products may be for high end gamers, the G75VX is not, its low end gaming with no nice frills and priced that way. There clearly is a market for it, but, its not a "high end" gaming machine with any bells and whistles.

I like the quiet, and, I like the cheap, moving around as much as I do I'd rather drop a cheap gaming notebook down the stairs than an expensive one 🙂

Having dropped TONS of cash on a cutting edge at the time alienware, I now think TWO notebooks at $1500 a piece 18 months apart (total $3k) is a better gaming strat than ONE $3k notebook kept for 3 years.

YMMV .....

[bignazpwns]

noneone wrote:
Ok I'll weigh in ..... on the alineware, /puke they have bad QC, have a couple times released new versions of the M17x line, found out they're broke, and released updated bios versions the cut or cripple certain features to make the install base run more stable, e.g. underclocking / volting a GPU so the machines don't draw too much power ......

On the asus .. THEY ARE NOT CHEAPER, really, than comparable clevo and MSI. yes, there is an entry level price point where the G75 is cheaper, as its hard to find an MSI or CLEVO that are as crippled as the G75VX, e.g. 5400 rpm hard drive and no bluray. You can find MSI and CLEVO systems in the $1400 range, just $150 more, with bluray, faster HD, and more memory. And extra ports, etc...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ns=p_PRICE_2%7c1&ci=18818&N=4110474292+4291351730&srtclk=sort

Add in that most (at least here) folks add an aftermarket SSD for a real gaming rig to the G75VX, while the others can be purchased with one for cheaper than the the G75VX + extra SSD.

The G75vx is only cheaper if you plan to use the bare bones worst specs such as slow HD, no SSD, low ram, no blu ray, etc..

That said, it can be a good one to purchase (a) close by so you can return it if you don't like it (b) to start cheap and add components later as funds allow.

The 670mx is the lowest of the "good cards", so IMO, Big's characterization of it as low end gaming is probably right on.

Yes, folks DO buy really expensive gaming notebooks, with SLI. I've got one, (sli 280m, time for upgrades 🙂 ) I live in hotels most of the time. BTW, Alienwares are hella noisy with poor sourced / spec fans ..... 🙂

"slick case" and so on are a wash, depends too much on preference, lots of folks go OOO AHHH OOO over the alienware lights and case design, while some folks appreciate the quietly refined Asus stealth bomber.

Other ROG products may be for high end gamers, the G75VX is not, its low end gaming with no nice frills and priced that way. There clearly is a market for it, but, its not a "high end" gaming machine with any bells and whistles.

I like the quiet, and, I like the cheap, moving around as much as I do I'd rather drop a cheap gaming notebook down the stairs than an expensive one 🙂

Having dropped TONS of cash on a cutting edge at the time alienware, I now think TWO notebooks at $1500 a piece 18 months apart (total $3k) is a better gaming strat than ONE $3k notebook kept for 3 years.

YMMV .....

Your going to hurt some fanboys feelings with that lol. However im against the buying the VW then the VX. Thats a total of $2500 when you can get a $2500 Sager with a i7-3840QM, GTX 680m and 32gigs of ram that will last much longer then the VW and VX and then if you add in the price of the next G series your looking along the lines of a GTX 680m SLI system that will still be able to play games maxed out 3 years down the road better then the next G series and one after that. Cheaper but it wont save you any money you get more life out of the Sagers and if yopu want you have the option to buy a new GPU instead of the disposable one time use G series. I Still think buy the best system you budget will allow. You got $3k then buy a high end system dont buy a $1,500 system and expect to get the same life out of it where the GPU is whats going to hold the systems back. Always when gaming buy the best gpu you can.


But as for Alienware i never had a problem with Quality. But then again i have the MX18 not the cheap junk MX14 or the others. Seems like the MX18 is what they put there heart and soul in and even then the warranty is top notch. When i dropped my MX18 and cracked my LCD and damaged the lid i called them at 10pm the next day they were in my house at 1pm and my system was fixed by 2pm. I'll take some issues with service like that however with Asus's service you cant chance it as you will be without a system for weeks to months as people reported here and some times they get sent back with the same issues or perhaps more then when they were sent out.


Its funny how only the people who used a real gaming system see the G series for what they are. The peope who never used one think this is a super high end gaming machine that rivals the $4,500 monsters but if that helps them sleep at night thats cool. But the fact is you have the equivalent of the gaming notebook world of a 6cyl Camaro or Mustang. You take you system to the drag races aka benchmarks the real systems will make you feel bad about your system. But then again you are comparing a lowend system to high end systems. IMO unless the system has the option for a 300w psu then it is not a highend system at all. 220w then it is a midend anything lower is lowend. PSU's are a dead giveaway to what kind of system you have because you need to power that system.

[JwPwns]

bignazpwns wrote:
Your going to hurt some fanboys feelings with that lol. However im against the buying the VW then the VX. Thats a total of $2500 when you can get a $2500 Sager with a i7-3840QM, GTX 680m and 32gigs of ram that will last much longer then the VW and VX and then if you add in the price of the next G series your looking along the lines of a GTX 680m SLI system that will still be able to play games maxed out 3 years down the road better then the next G series and one after that. Cheaper but it wont save you any money you get more life out of the Sagers and if yopu want you have the option to buy a new GPU instead of the disposable one time use G series. I Still think buy the best system you budget will allow. You got $3k then buy a high end system dont buy a $1,500 system and expect to get the same life out of it where the GPU is whats going to hold the systems back. Always when gaming buy the best gpu you can.


But as for Alienware i never had a problem with Quality. But then again i have the MX18 not the cheap junk MX14 or the others. Seems like the MX18 is what they put there heart and soul in and even then the warranty is top notch. When i dropped my MX18 and cracked my LCD and damaged the lid i called them at 10pm the next day they were in my house at 1pm and my system was fixed by 2pm. I'll take some issues with service like that however with Asus's service you cant chance it as you will be without a system for weeks to months as people reported here and some times they get sent back with the same issues or perhaps more then when they were sent out.


Its funny how only the people who used a real gaming system see the G series for what they are. The peope who never used one think this is a super high end gaming machine that rivals the $4,500 monsters but if that helps them sleep at night thats cool. But the fact is you have the equivalent of the gaming notebook world of a 6cyl Camaro or Mustang. You take you system to the drag races aka benchmarks the real systems will make you feel bad about your system. But then again you are comparing a lowend system to high end systems. IMO unless the system has the option for a 300w psu then it is not a highend system at all. 220w then it is a midend anything lower is lowend. PSU's are a dead giveaway to what kind of system you have because you need to power that system.

he's just a troll, saying i7 3820qm will burn hole in G series while 3630 will be fine. Fyi they are the the same temps. anyways that was the other post. I used a I7 3770k with HD 6870 crossfire, it's not the best of its class but it's enough to handle everything. The thing is i can not bring that 50lb monster around with a 27inch monitor to class. So.. there you go. thats the only reason these people even bother with desktop replacement. you are out of your mind. Everyone knows this is mid-range laptops but it's one of the better ones due to it's design and cooling and you here just trolling around fourms without providing any facts at all, of course there are other laptops with better specs for the price but they don't offer the same cooling or 3d display or whatever reason for someone to buy the G75. there are pros and cons but you're saying it's like a trash, then why you even own one? if you don't own one then why are you even talking

[noneone]

bignazpwns wrote:
Your going to hurt some fanboys feelings with that lol. However im against the buying the VW then the VX. Thats a total of $2500 when you can get a $2500 Sager with a i7-3840QM, GTX 680m and 32gigs of ram that will last much longer then the VW and VX and then if you add in the price of the next G series your looking along the lines of a GTX 680m SLI system that will still be able to play games maxed out 3 years down the road better then the next G series and one after that. Cheaper but it wont save you any money you get more life out of the Sagers and if yopu want you have the option to buy a new GPU instead of the disposable one time use G series. I Still think buy the best system you budget will allow. You got $3k then buy a high end system dont buy a $1,500 system and expect to get the same life out of it where the GPU is whats going to hold the systems back. Always when gaming buy the best gpu you can.

OK, I'll respectively disagree. 🙂

$1500 now gets me a 670mx. $3k now gets me a 680M. $3k 3 years ago got me an SLI 280M. They suck now.

So the question is, 2 years from now, can I get a GPU for $1500 that will be better than the 680M is now? I think so.

so its not a VW + VX question, its a $1500 VX now + something much better than the 680M 2 years from now.

Say in a FOUR YEAR window, you only have $3k to spend. no matter what you buy now, that $3k machine won't be much good 3 years from now, but, a new $1500 machine will be much better 3 years from now.

Just my thoughts.

The upgradeable GPU might change those economics, IF, the GPUs 3 years from now can be put in today's machines. Current notebook GPU's can't be put in my alienware M17x as formats and power requirements and such have changed.

[pathfindercod]

It was a nice objective review. The reviewer is entitled to his opinions. Screens are a matter of taste, I personally like matte finish screens. Cooling seems to be great for me, my gpu has yet to go over 60celcius and that's even overclocking crap out of it. My MSI gt70 with 690m consistently stayed at 71-75 Celsius playing BF3, big difference.

A month ago I had a Sager Np9370 with sli 680's and it came fresh from Sager with a hand full of issues I didn't have time to deal with especially being a brand new machine so I sent it back. The build quality on the gt70 was ok but not great. I feel te asus is built better than the MSI.

The sound is weak on the asus no doubt, HD is slow..

My biggest scare with Asus is their ability to repair machines when they get sent in to depot. That alone is making me lean more towards returning it.