Asus Announces 15.6" G51J3D and 17.3" G72GX Notebooks

Well, our G51J fears certainly came true. The likely reason nobody can find G51J's is they are already being replaced. Asus did this to me when they released the G50v by launching a replacement laptop less than a month later; they did it again.

The notebooks have 120hz 3D screens... certainly much better than the G51J's crap screen I'm sure. They will also both be equipped with GTX160M's, which I think are quite a bit faster than the downlocked GTX260m's in the G51J despite the confusing names.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/11/05/asus_3d/

I'm pretty pissed off right now.

 

...announced for the UK. We in the US have already received both, although numbered differently. Also, the 160M GTX = 260MGTX, when in 3DMark06 the 260M GTX is sensed as a 160M GTX - Nvidia mislabeling their laptop cards as usually.

EDIT: I stand a bit corrected - the two you mentioned are going to be reseller versions aka non-Best Buy or not store purchases. The two you mentioned are the FIRST TWO 3D enabled laptops by Asus, sold via Online Resellers. This means the laptops will have a 120hz refresh rate (smooth BABY!) and will allow you to use the propriety 3D glasses that will be included with the purchase of the laptop. UK will receive the laptops first and the US shortly a few months after. Oh, and both laptops will have an i7 processor as well aka not just the G51j3D but also the G72gx3D !

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/06/acer-to-dizzy-eyes-with-g51j3d-and-g72gx-3d-laptops/

 

It's 3DMark's fault.. there is a patch to fix the various CPU/GPU model sensing issues.

 

I bet the 120hz screen will be nice too, unlike this crap one us G51J owners are stuck with.

 

May i ask what makes it "crap"?

 

You can see the owner's lounge to see everyone's impressions. In short it has awful backlight leakage, terrible blacks, washed out colors and is generally just not pleasant to use.

 

oh, its not the uberest bleeding edge stuff you can brag to other graphix/gamer snobs. quite frankly I think my x83 plays games quiet well. and if I had known the speakers really suck in the g51j I wouldve just bought another x83. but atleast it does have the i7 core going for it.

 

The G51VX/J are like the K-Mart brand notebooks of the gaming world. They work fine and look okay like K-Mart clothes but the quality is just mediocre as are the parts. That little sticker they have preventing people from changing the thermal paste is also ridiculously stupid. The G51 was the first and last Asus I will ever buy. I'm glad I've got a Clevo/Sager now.

 

Im confused, none of this was mentioned in the review.

Does the laptop come with different panels from different manufacturers?

 

No, it is just that people like to overexagerate because the panel is just average, nothing special but there are much worse panels out there. It does have good contras and black levels howerver these are only apreciable on well lit rooms, because playing on darker rooms makes the screen too bright and thus the blacks seem more gray-like.

Not the best LCD at all, but not that bad in my opinion. I like it a lot specially because I am usually at VERY bright places, and the screen really looks good there.

 

No, they all come with the AUO panel. AUO quality apparently varies from model to model but the G51 series all share the same 15ED model. This particular model has back light bleed (looks like a bell shape), extremely limited viewing angles, poor contrast ratio and flat colors. The only upside is they are fairly bright panels.

Sager and Dell use AUO 10ED models and based on what I've read, the vast majority are very pleased with them. I'll be receiving my new Sager this coming week so I'll compare both AUO panels and report back.

 

-_-, u got to be kidding me. just cuz it was a lil hot, which A LOT of other machines get (HP), not just asus, it makes it crappy notebook? i see you have become a sager fan, but that doesnt mean asus is bad. asus has its pros, sager has its pros. asus has its cons, sager has its cons.

 

Sager screens are pretty notorious for being somewhat dim and mine was slightly yellow compared to an hp. But colour and contrast was good on it.

 

It's not about being a fan of Sager. Nothing I said is inaccurate. I'll reiterate why:

Design:
--------
-The ugly lid design and shape with the thick plastic borders around the display.
-The cheap speakers and poor design decision to reduce the maximum sound output via a bios limitation (this was confirmed by the Asus Customer Care guy on the forums).
-Trackpad/Keyboard that has major flaws. You can't use Synaptics drivers with it because it ends up having the "missed keystroke" issue with the keyboard. So if you uninstall the trackpad drivers, the palm rest detection isn't there which causes even more issues.
-Poor cooling design. Even if Asus has a nice warranty, they screw their customers by putting lousy cooling in the G51. If the customer gets a unit with a bad thermal paste application and want to replace it with something better, well tough luck because that voids the warranty. Getting 90-100C on an underclocked 260M GTX is inexcusable.
-Proprietary MXM. Asus screws its customers from upgrading the GPU by reversing the MXM on it's G51 series. Why do this? Clevo certainly doesn't.

Display:
-------
Do I really need to say much about this thing? Horrible viewing angles, poor contrast, poor black levels, backlight bleed, flat colors. Would it killed Asus to have used a better display?

Here's my video on the poor viewing angles

Asus cutting corners philosophy:
-------------------------------
Just look at the G51J, just to lower it's price a bit they dropped RAID support. The entire G51 series is built on cutting corners, whether it's a feature or something major like cooling.


There are of course positives to this noteboook. The aforementioned cutting corners helps Asus lower prices and make gaming notebooks available to the masses that otherwise wouldn't be able to afford one. For that I give them props because it helps the PC gaming community. For that reason alone I'd recommend Asus to gamers on a budget.

For enthusiasts like me though, Asus is the wrong fit. I should've gone with a Clevo to begin with but I wasn't aware of the underclocked 260M or other issues with the notebook when I first bought it. It was a new model at the time and there wasn't too much information out there. Who knows, maybe my Sager will turn out to be an even bigger pile..I'll know next week. If it is, you can count on me being just as harsh with it as I have with my feelings about Asus.

 

Im sorry but when you use words like "extremely limited viewing angles" while kevin's description is "Vertical viewing angles were very good, offering a broad sweet spot" either your display is defective or there really are different variations and his display was hand picked by asus.

 

There's no variation, they're all the same model. Whether you want to accept this reality is up to you. I'm just presenting the facts and there are several others that experienced the same thing with the display--go check the G51J owners forum. If that still doesn't satisfy you, see the above linked video.

 

I'm trying to decide for myself if the contrast is really that bad.

for comparison, I'm in an almost completely dark room right now and i see the color surrounding the lizard's eye in your avatar as pure black even with full back light. in a similar condition, do you see it as pure black or a bit gray?

 

First of all, I will start by saying 5150Joker is a bit overboard on his Asus hate.

Unfortunately, he is correct about the screen. It sucks. Like ryzeki said, the screen is Average to Good in *bright* rooms like what he uses his in. For me, I do 80% of my computing in dim to dark rooms--this accentuates the weaknesses in this screen. I'm not pleased with it.

 

What about my post insinuates "hate" towards Asus? Nearly everything I posted was factual;the only subjective part was my dislike of the lid design. If I was hating on Asus, I wouldn't have finished my post by saying I recommend it for gamers on a budget. I don't mean to offend Asus G51 owners and don't take my criticism as directed towards any of you. My issues are with Asus and decisions they have taken in designing their notebook. I'm sure the majority of you will be more than satisfied with the G51--I just happen to be one of those people that is extremely picky.

 

Just watched your video. it is as bad as my studio 15. i really wanted an improved display, at least regarding viewing angles. i guess i'll wait for the new 120hz displays then.

 

Facts are never overboard.

 

The best viewing spot for this screen is 3-4 feet away looking dead center. It does its job but I was quite disappointed being that I need this laptop for graphic design among other things. Still very happy with the laptop overall for the price.

Is Eurocom a Sager or Clevo under a new name? I'm already preparing for my next toy.

 

let them (5150Joker and Soviet Sunrise) speak their peace. they have their rights to dislike whatever they please. I just got my g51j and I am, currently, happy with it, except for the fact that I didn't get my Batman Arkham Asylum game.
remember, the asus is considered a budget gaming laptop, not uber high end. for the value, I would say the g51j is worth it.
As much as I hated the lid when I first saw it on the internet, I have to say that it only looks bad in picture, but looks great in person.
Remember, to get the np8690 to have the same components as the g51j, with the exception of the video card, it would cost an additional $500+. Even though many people compare the two laptops (including myself), they are really at different levels. Obviously, the Sager has a better cooling system and video card. However, the g51j does it's job as a "budget gaming notebook."
Generally, people who are happy with what they have will not need to say much. Those who are unhappy will complain.....just a thought

 

I didn't get Batman either with my G51J. I've been meaning to email Newegg about that.

 

A bit out of topic but since we are discussion displays, which gaming laptop with similar specs has the best in class display? 15-17 screen size is fine. price should be less than 2000.

 

Dell XPS 16 RGBLED is supposed to be one of the best screens out there, but it's very expensive.

 

Yeah but the GPU is not comparable at all. every one seems to recommend the xps 16 or the macbook pro display. im starting to think all other laptop displays are really crap! i miss the IPS days

 

Well it's quite a bit slower but not that bad. It's like 10,000 3DMark vs 7,000. If a good screen is priority #1 for you, then I'd say it's worth the drop in speed.

 

Thanks thatdaveguy. Its funny that the xps 16 is the first laptop i considered! i guess i'll get it after all. the only thing bothering me is the 1080p and weaker video card combination. i dont think i'll be able to play modern game at native resolution.

 

I used to own the Studio XPS 16 with the ATi 4670 and RGB LED display. It's a gorgeous display but it does have a red push so it's not entirely flawless. The contrast isn't very good and the blacks are a lighter shade of gray. Hold off a little while if you can because my Sager is coming and based on early reports and the review I've read, it's brighter than the Dell display and it has better contrast ratio. It is of course made by AUO so I'm reserving judgement and excitement until it arrives but I will give an honest review.

Here's the review of the 8690 display: http://translate.google.com/transla...860cu-nkmo-1039/3&sl=de&tl=en&history_state0=

 

Did u see the CPU temp under load?

 

Yeah the core i7 runs hot, no surprise there. It's tolerance is around 100C or greater so normal usage should never see it reach even the mid 80s. The load they subjected it to were beyond what anyone would normally do. Could also be a poor thermal paste job. One guy had a W870 that was hitting high 80s, he took off his heat sinks and saw hardly any paste was on them. Once he applied his own, his temperatures dropped 15-20C.

 

Wow, no one in this WHOLE thread even really talked about the screens, lol


I heard about the 120hz displays a while back, but theres nothing i've read so far that has indicated th quality of them.

 

Until there's a reseller that has them or a review, all we can do is speculate or have OT discussions.

 

Joker is a Dirty Scrub. Discuss.

 

wow no just no...88C for CPU?

we got a reverse g51 here...the i7 in G51J reach my the normal temps a C2Q gets, idles @ slightly higher i believe tho (50-59C) and loads @ 65-75C.

i say fault in review. i dont think sager would have such atrocious CPU temps, even with i7.

 

It doesn't, like I said, bad thermal paste job or the heatsink wasn't making contact. Here's what chinoobnic is getting: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5496661&postcount=685

 

This is only partially true - but it's not Asus quality (in fact, Asus makes the best Motherboards and some other components in the world) - it's mostly Asus design. Asus prices the computers at 30-50% less than other companies, it is obvious they are forced to use components that are 30-50% inferior/cheaper. Since there are no such as thing cheap HDs, CPUs, chipsets, etc... they cheap out on Memory and display.

Build quality on the Asus is excellent for the price though.

 

Ugly lid design - check

Cheap speakers - there are no good Laptop speakers on sub- 17"ers - it's a Wash. There are USB plugins out there (no power required) that are excellent

Trackpad - haven't encountered this, not sure what this is

MXM - sorry, no one makes upgradeable GPUs as standard. One or two companies may do it for one or two generations - but this is a non-issue on the whole, especially since your whole system will be out of date by the time there are new GPUs out.

Poor cooling - check, probably the worst.


I think you'll find the Sager to be a fine computer. You did spend over $2000 on it after all.

Me? I would have bought an Alienware.

 

120hz screens doesn't mean anything.

Desktop LCDs are excellent in general, and they don't have 120hz capabilities.

 

The 120 hz is a gimmick for LCD because they don't work on the same principle as a CRT's refresh rate. I'm already aware of that, the only thing we can hope out of this is that they use a higher quality panel.

 

HP DV6 has far better sounding speakers as does the Dell Studio XPS 16. There's no excuse for poor sound just because it's 15.6" (even though the chasis is as big as some 17").

That's because you just picked up the Asus. Spend some more time with it or search the forums about missed strokes and get back to me.

Clevo and AW sure do.

New GPU's are due in Q1 2010.

I wouldn't touch AW with a 10 foot pole.

 

I use an external keyboard & mouse for everyday. Mouse is a necessity for games, so the keypad is only ever used when on the go (where I wouldn't play games on it anyway).

AW's are sexy..............


That makes up for a lot in life.

Even if new GPUs come out, it will cost you probably $500 or so to purchase a new one from Sager. It simply isn't cost efficient to upgrade GPUs on a laptop like it is on a desktop.

By then Core i9s will probably be out with lower TDPs, and you'll be selling your Sager for it before ever upgrading the GPU....

 

As I've said before, i feel that the Asus G51J does it's job as budget gaming notebook.
Joker, why don't you transfer all that negative energy towards poverty and world hunger. You know, the NP8690 isn't perfect either. Even if the Sager turned out to be worse than the Asus, we'd know you'd still praise Sager over anything else.
I'm, officially, unsubscribing from this thread.

...you just can't convince the blind to look the other way.

 

Looks like my g51 is being returned to newegg......

 

Core i9? You mean arrandale? lol! As for the GPU upgrade, I can sell the existing one on eBay and recoup some money. I've done it with the Dell M1710 and it worked out great. AW's sexy? Well that's opinion obviously, I think they're one of the ugliest laptops around.

 

Atleast the option is available to those that have fatter wallets and want to hop ship with a new architecture that isn't over two years old. Most users that buy a new GPU sell their old one for a slightly lower price. Most users that bought the GTX 280M can easily sell it for $400 minimum. In the notebook enthusiast world, price takes more of a backseat in light of performance.

Name two things that aren't perfect on the W860CU. And you can't say price, battery life, or screen quality.

 

Room for copper block modification and aesthetics.

 

I've already compared the G51 and the W860CU with other users. The latter has far more space for modding. Aesthetics is subjective.