Asus ROG G551

Uh Oh, now Amazon says:

Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available.

 

Sometimes that happens when they sell out of allocated pre-orders which is why I wanted to get in on it early. The same thing happened with their UX303 line which I decided not to get.

 

Yep, if they sell all of the pre-order units they are getting it would be bad form to continue taking more until they guaranteed more stock.

 

I can verify my order still says available on 9/18 set to arrive 9/19, so it looks like the existing pre-orders will (hopefully) be met.

 

Mine does not have an estimate yet. Praying on that IPS though.

 

I found the support page here: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download G551JM

I definitely can't find a complete specifications page on their site yet and it's killing me!

 

Seeing as aparently the GX500 isn't going to release for another couple of months at least I'm looking at falling back to this model.

Anyone swing me over and convince me this is the one? Also Amazon said It couldn't ship the GL551 to where I am in the UK, is it just becuase it won't release in the UK for even longer?

Also anyone have any news if a 512GB SSD model is being released? Would definitely be interested in the investment from the 256GB SSD (still not bad) as I'm not so computer tech savy so would prefer it pre-installed rather than doing it myself.

 

Looks like its off the Amazon web site all together. Grandson is not gonna be happy about this. His Apple laptop is failing fast.

 

Well tell us what you're looking for in a laptop so that we can tell you how it compares to the GX500 for you. I will tell you this, despite marketing nonsense 4K resolution is a BAD thing. Lots of Windows applications don't scale correctly and either display wrong or look blurry. Games can't run in that resolution either so they have to be scaled down and don't look as good as they would in their native resolution. I would never (currently) buy a laptop with a higher resolution than 1080p. I probably wouldn't go any lower either (except maybe 900p).

 

Wow you're right, they haven't cancelled my order yet but clicking the linking in my order history leads to a 404 page. This is so weird. Why is every laptop release such a mess? For something coming out in a few weeks that was just advertised at PAX this is idiotic.

 

I need the laptop to be portable but at the same time relatively powerful. Looks are a feature for me. I would use the laptop mainly for gaming (plugged in most the time) but also for going on and off campus and Uni work. Seeing as 4K scales to 1080p perfectly I didn't think there would be an issue with gaming. Battery life isn't too much of a problem, 2 hours is plenty for me and I have it plugged in at my house/the library most the time anyways.

But yeah, mainly for gaming but I want it to be portable and still look good at the same time. I couldn't bear the embarrassment of sitting in the library with a chunky plasticy MSI Dominator. Fast boot up times and ability to run all games at least until this time next year on high/ultra.

 

Also, interestingly enough, the user manual on the Asus page lists that it's applicable for the: N551J, R555J, G551J, and GL551J.
I wonder what the difference between the G551J and GL551J will be. Perhaps one is 4k and the other is 1080p?

 

So I'll try and address each of your needs individually. We have somewhat similar needs overall with yours skewing a bit more to the higher end.

This is, from my perspective, the perfect laptop for this. It's a solid balance between power and portability.

This of course comes down to personal taste. I think it looks like one of the better gaming laptops, but I much prefer the aluminum silver with black keys look the UX303 and MacBook lines have. The N551 is kind of like that but for some reason changed the keys to gray, doesn't have an announced release date, and likely has a glossy screen, but should overall be similar to the GL551 in every other aspect. You can find pictures/video online.

The 4K scaling to 1080p perfect may be correct mathematically but does not work so well in reality. I've read that myth too but it doesn't work. Different video cards and monitors use different scaling algorithms so maybe some achieve that perfect scaling, but I've never seen it. The end result is always blurry and unsatisfactory for me. Pretty much any laptop will meet your battery life needs.

I agree regarding the looks, and this laptop is right on the line. It looks good for a gaming laptop - but it still looks like a gaming laptop. As I said previously I wish I could get the look of the N551 but not a huge deal. I'd say it's an attractive laptop when not being compared to some of the slicker Ultrabooks like the UX303 line or the aforementioned MacBooks. But most laptop manufacturers have terrible designs, and as far as Windows manufacturers go I think ASUS is the best, though they do make some weird looking models.

The SSD model will have fast boot times but I will warn you an 860M is great but to game in 1080p until this time next year on high/ultra you need a clunky/ugly 17" beast. Some of the higher end games already released won't run well in 1080p on ultra with this machine. This will run most games great though, even on high. But if you really want a hardcore gaming system it's 17" models or a desktop. You either want a gaming beast, or a nice balance between both. This definitely games plenty well so I think you'll be OK but I wanted to set your expectations. See this chart here for frame rates with this card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

EDIT: I forgot to mention the GX500. Personally I think it's a fantastic looking laptop but it may have cooling issues, the 4K screen is a deal breaker, and it will likely be quite expensive. Personally, for my needs, going with the GL551 is a no-brainer. If the GX500 had 1080p, no cooling issues, and a reasonable price, I would be all about it. It really looks fantastic for a gaming laptop, though I don't see why every one in existence needs to be black with some crazy highlight color.

If you want portability, you'll sacrifice power, if you want power, you'll sacrifice portability. If you want a mix of the two, in my opinion, the GL551 is your best bet, and if you really want the GX500, it's a good bet too but for a higher price, a longer wait, and some potential scaling issues.

EDIT 2: Looks like another site that was selling it took their listing down for this model as well. Hopefully ASUS just wasn't ready for them to be put up yet or something, not sure why this is happening so close to release. Considering they just started marketing it on their Facebook page I'm sure it's still coming but man do they seem clueless. As frustrating as it was doing all the research to build my PC it wasn't nearly as frustrating as having my hands tied, able to do nothing waiting for more information from manufacturers, or having them release laptops only in configurations I don't care for...

 

100% agree with this. I've had my hands on two 4k laptops to date. Both had scaling issues and were more of a pain than it was worth. Don't get me wrong, normal day to day stuff was great, but the gaming was tedious. Some games required me to manually change the desktop resolution to 1920x1080 in order to open in full screen. Some applications were permanently 4x smaller than normal. For example, Blizzard and Origin were near impossible to read. With the current mobile GPUs, there's absolutely no way to reasonably game at 4k. Many games run super slow and others are just plain buggy. I think we're still a good 2 years away from gaming at 4k.

What I wish Asus would have done is make a 2560x1440 version. It seems like every manufacturer except Gigabyte overlooked this opportunity. It's a nice pixel density with a chance to actually play some older games.

 

Amazon does this all the time. They are sold out of preorders. The listing will be back in a week or two. Don't worry, your order will still ship. Don't count on that delivery date though.

 

Why do they get rid of the page altogether? They have the 'click here to be alerted when this product is available' for some things. You'd think that would help get more sales once the product is available again I'm not sure what taking it down does for them other than confuse people.

 

I'm aware the other one is glossy, and I'm willing to deal with that even though I prefer matte. I'm all about the black, but I just can't get past the red keyboard and edges. The ROG logo isn't too nice either. But thanks for the heads up anyway!

 

You are completely right. I must have seen that video like 10 times and I never noticed that. It is exactly the same laptop, after all. Sadly that doesn't change my dislike one bit

 

TFT stands for Thin Film Transistor technology. Their limitation lies in narrow viewing angles and poor visibility in direct light or sunlight. IPS stands for In-Place Switching. IPS LCDs are superior to normal TFT LCD displays with wider viewing angles and lower power consumption which leads to a much improved battery life. IPS-LCDs are costlier than normal TFT LCD

 

Well copy-pasted, but doesn't change the facts. Perhaps Asus and/or retailers could be far more specific, not only with the display specs, but with any other relevant info.

What is an IPS Monitor? A Practical Guide to Understanding Display Technology

 

Ugh, I need a laptop before school starts and this was worrying me a little.

Does anybody else find it weird that there's no official Asus info, specs, or anything on the laptop and the release date is "supposedly" in less than three weeks?

 

Appreciate the detailed response. I think I'll go for the SSD G551 model when released (hopefully a 512GB), saves on cost and I feel I'll still be getting value for money on design and performance.

Thanks again, swayed my opinion completely ^^

 

As well, though I have a feeling that pre-installed SSD ones will be extremely overpriced & most likely end up to do it myself.

 

I've heard it's simple but I'd have no idea what I'm doing and kinda don't want to break my new toy Would rather pay $100 more or whatever and have no hassle or worries that I might break something by accident haha.

 

Hey I've a silly but confusing question ( well it's got me confused ! )

I've pre-ordered the g551jm from Amazon.
My question is, are there two different series namely the G551 and GL551 series ?
I've seen on many forums that there are 2 separate series like mentioned above, yet I don't see anything related to the G551 series on the Asus website or any other retailer informing about coming soon Asus products. There's also a speculation that the GL551 series comes without an IPS.
I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake, because I really love the IPS display. On many websites, it's mentioned that the GL551 comes with an IPS full hd screen. I don't know what to trust anymore !

 

Nobody truly knows, but as far as we can tell right now, there is no difference between the G551 and the GL551. Just a prototype model number and the finalized number.

EDIT: Does anyone know if this laptop is compatible with the ASUS docking stations? Would like to connect it to a larger monitor, keyboard, and mouse at home.

 

you can still do that, it has 3x usb 3.0, HDMI and DP

 

Amazon just sent a delivery update for 9/22. They usually don't do that unless they have solid info, so that's good.

 

What did your delivery date say previously? I didn't receive an email but mine has stayed firm at 9/19 delivery (would have been 9/22 but I paid for next-day).

 

I bought it right away so it didn't have a delivery date at all.

 

Sounds like it may get to me on Friday before I fly out Sunday morning...that would really be a dream! This trip was going to be a nightmare without it (I don't have a laptop at all right now).

ASUS had their specs page up for the UX303 months before it came out (hell, it still isn't out in some places). Not sure why the full spec sheet for this model aren't available yet, irritating.

 

Why nobody think about to contact a official agent from asus and ask him for the display. Now the laptop is on preorder. They must to answer to that question.

 

Where is this on pre-order?

 

It was on pre-order from Amazon briefly, but looks like they sold out of their initial quantity.

And I DID ask ASUS live chat - they said it was an IPS display (good news) but they're notoriously unreliable so until we see solid data we're skeptical.

 

Advice: never believe the reps. Most of the time they read off the same websites you do

 

This is the truth...I asked their Facebook account if the display was IPS or not and they said:

"Hi Cody,
No, it does not. The notebook has a 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) display, Matte as mentioned on the site."

So basically they don't even know what IPS is. If it says IPS on their site, they say it is, if it doesn't, they say it isn't, but in this case they don't list a screen type at all so we don't know and their representatives certainly don't. We'll only get a definitive answer when they roll out the full official specifications page for the GL551 line. I assume we're in a small minority of people that care about these details so they don't bother hiring anyone other than people that make minimum wage to read information off their own website.

 

Have any of you guys got an idea of when it will be released in Europe? I live in portugal and i really want this laptop but dont want to wait too much time... thanks

 

According to Notebook check, it should comes with IPS 4K matte.
Quote:

Source:
Asus updates ROG lineup with the GX500 and G551 - NotebookCheck.net News

 

What was the price when they were available?

 

The GL551 currently only comes in 1080p right now, the 4K model isn't available yet. The GX500 only comes in 4K.

As for the prices it was $1,100 for a model with a 1TB 7200 RPM HDD and $1,200 for the 256 GB SSD model.

 

i just got some info that g551 will get to slovakia on 25.9.2014, those asus s moved the date again ... i don't get them at all, this kind of behaviour won't get them any new customers but rather much lose the old ones instead ... i mean i'm fine with the date, i'll just have to use an old notebook for 2 weeks in college but why would they build up the hope of buying it sooner several times? does asus even respect their customers? do they realize they still have some?

 

They are behind of their shipping schedule but their sales/coordination team in Taipei are working hard to push things forward (they sometimes work 14 hours a day).
Issues like this can be expected for them because of factory issues.

 

what factory issues? i haven't heard of any

 

Sorry, logistics issues.

 

This model is very similar to the G550JK which took ages to come out, long after the N550JK multimedia model. Not sure what happened but they basically released a few hundred and discontinued it for the GL551 series. I expected us to be waiting forever but it was actually hot on the heels of the G550JK line so they definitely had issues with those, but I'm hoping the GL551 line works out a bit better with less fulfillment issues. The UX303 line was supposed to be a lot better than the UX301 line due to a change in materials but they've been having delivery date issues with those too so who knows. All laptop companies seem to be a mess frankly.

 

I now the exact specs not certain, but do you know the g551 plastic or some kind of medal?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'm not certain, but I believe it has a plastic bottom but metal where the keyboard is. Regarding the lid I've heard it both ways.

 

i contacted asus here in eastern europe,and very bad news gtx860m will be dd3 what a shame...

 

The 860M is not even made with DDR3 according to everything I read. ASUS are just idiots that only know how to read their incorrect specifications sheet. It should be DDR5. When I contacted ASUS they didn't even know what an IPS screen was.

 

As addressed by other posts in this thread...
1. All 860m cards are GDDR5
2. Asus website lists the specs as "NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 860M 2GB GDDR5 with Optimus Technology"
ASUS G-Series ROG Gaming Laptops - GL551 Series