Asus G751JT-T7171H
There’s been a turnabout in gaming laptops lately, and hulking great gaming stations are no longer de rigeur. If you need a notebook with games talent, you can now find near-ultraportable class machines weighing around 2kg and measuring 20mm thick that will game with smooth graphics. The Asus G751J is not that laptop, instead being an old-school desktop replacement. Only it sports more panache than any traditional gaming wedge.
The G751J serves as a platform for the nVidia GeForce GTX 970M, still one of the most powerful laptop GPUs on the market. This is backed by a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, starting at 2.3GHz with Turbo to stretch to 3.5GHz. The Asus has 24GB of memory, and storage comprises one of the fastest SSDs available – a 256GB Samsung SM951 with PCIe attachment. For bulk games storage there’s a 7200rpm 1TB hard disk.
The raw physical stats suggest a portable PC of some stature – nearly 4.2kg in weight, and a thickness of 82mm better listed as ‘height’. Yet the sculpted chassis mixes soft lines and stealthy angles to create a beautifully fashioned machine of utility and style.
Lifting the huge 17.3in lid continues a black-with-red-highlight theme, and reveals the high-quality expansive screen. This IPS panel provides a superb window through which to experience modern games. A contrast ratio of 680:1 and good colour accuracy (Delta E average 1.4) are complemented by textbook wide viewability, and a decent, if not stellar, gamut of 91 percent sRGB. Its full-HD resolution is arguably ideal for gaming, ignoring the Ultra HD trend that is not ideal here.
The red-backlit keyboard is high-quality but a little clackety. Three macro buttons are included, along with Steam and screen-capture video buttons. The large trackpad moves the cursor smoothly but with overshoot that gives a drunken effect. Huge leftand right mechanical buttons have a deep action and add to the clunk effect. However, you’re unlikely to ever play a game using a touchpad, so it’s not a major problem.
This version of the G751 includes a Blu-ray reader and DVD writer, and besides the standard fare of HDMI, VGA, four USB 3.0 and SD card slot Asus has added a versatile high-end port: Thunderbolt. This also allows a third monitor to be connected.
By default nVidia’s G-Sync is enabled, which smooths action and removes tearing effects, although it also limited maximum framerate to a silky 75fps. We disengaged to see what the 970M could achieve, and quickly saw its potential – 103fps in Cinebench 15 is a sterling result.
Gaming is the aim though, and Batman zipped through at 117fps at the screen’s native resolution and High detail. Maxing out to Extreme still allowed 95fps. Similarly, Tomb Raider averaged 115fps at High detail, and with all effects on and Ultimate mode, it still ran at 60fps.
The challenge of Metro: Last Light was met with 90fps at High detail, and a nearly playable 28fps (Very High with all effects), although we did see some unexplained regular pauses through this benchmark.
You may not expect long runtime off the mains, but the sealed 90Wh battery allowed three hours nine minutes in the streaming video test.
Verdict
The G751 is a battleship in mobile gaming, in build quality, looks and firepower. It’s a bargain in relative terms, a solid desktop replacement and a bruiser of a games station.