Asus G1 Review

Thanks on UberOptions

 

I'll be buying G1 in Feb. it looks sick and I love it. Question though, how do you guys feel about the screws all around the screen? Do I have to patch with a chewing gum and paint it black or is there an option to plug it up with some stuff (or maybe it isn't that bad in the first place?)

 

Personally I like the way the screws are left showing. It's all a matter of preference. I wouldn't cover the screws myself.

 

I find that they match the logo and hinge ends nicely. It adds to the overall presentation rather than taking away from it.

 

6times7, you said, under G1 vs G2, that the G2 has "rival chip maker AMD's GPU"; AMD dosnt make GPUs, they make processors, the g2 has an ATI (nvidia's rival) card, the x1700

@ the top picture of the G1 is the european modle, keybords in europe have slight design differences

 

AMD owns ATI.

 

but it's ATI's card

it jsut makes it sound like the g1 runs AMD, i thought u might wnt to change it

 

Let's not argue about semantics. It is staying as is.

 

Bravo2!

but take a look at this for your consideration...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=93035
"3dmark 2005
8204: 3300 (stock build), 4358 (fresh format)
8210: 4646 (stock build)"

I would say, Acer 8210 is still leading in SM2 games.
But yeah, G1 is better in terms of price-performance.

I would wait for DX10 GPU.
But if you can't wait that long, at least wait for the X1700 model.
I think AMD's ATI's X1700 will take the lead..

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834220105
here's Asus's X1700 + Core2Duo Combo...

 

I asked it somewhere else but...

Does G1 have TPM,ASUS's spec-sheet has nothing about TPM in it.Aome retailer said there is one...

 

From my undertanding it does have TPM, despite the ASUS site doesn't state it. Here's a link i found that directly shows TPM. Here.

 

The chipset diagram for the Mobile 945PM on Intel's site shows that the Low Pin Count bus connects to TPM 1.2 (probably a chip). I am not sure if it is installed or enabled as I see no options in the BIOS or an entry in the device manager.

I would look into it further if someone has a way of detecting for TPM.

 

hm 88 i wouldnt stand too strongly by those synthetics. my the x1600 faired considerably better then the 7600 in some synthetic benchmarks. and the x1600 in the travelmate seems to have some interesting tricks done to it, prob driver wise to make it score highly on 3dmark. however i have not heard of it being any faster than other fully clock x1600s (ie not macbooks). it is slightly overclocked, but still not a huge performance gain. now even though the x1600s tested better on synthetics, their real world, in game performance really was no better then a full clocked 7600 and only 2-3 fps better then the underclocked 7600s in compals.

now to look at the 7700 as opposed to the x1700. the 7700 goes from the 8 pipe 7600 to 12 pipes, a 50% increase and something that is worth mentioning.

the x1700 seems to be nothing more then a process shrink of the x1600, which allows for higher clock speeds. this will marginally increase performance. however I would be shocked if it comes close to what the 7700 provides in real world tests. i wouldnt be surprised if some of the fast x1600s like the w3j and the acer travelmate outperform some of the lowerclocked ddr2 x1700s.

and before u call me a fanboy, i currently have an s96j and my desktop before that had an x800gto, im actually a bit sad to see ati lagging in the 700 series of this generation, but that seems to be what the truth is.

on the other hand, all this comparison seems a bit picky. im sure in real world testing the difference will still be a few fps. theyll be capable of playing the same games, on comparable settings, one might have 53 rather then 47 fps or something silly like that. nothing that will actually be important when it comes down to it. oh well rant over.

 

Just got my G1 today from Pro Portable, it rocks!

Screen is extremely sharp and clear with great viewing angles. Also the build quality of the machine is excellent. Its very solid with little to no flex.

Also the size is very manageable. I can comfortably type with it in my lap (as I am now) and not feel its weight. Its surprisingly thin as well.

This is my first Asus laptop and needless to say I'm very impressed with it.

 

I had the motherboard out of the unit we'll demo and I thought I saw a tpm module, but thought nothing of it......... both the fact that Asus doesn't list it for the G1, nor the fact that I didn't realize when I saw it it that it wouldn't, since at this time it's almost common place on a lot of the systems we've gotten in over the last two months..

I could check it again tomorrow.

 

the g1 is in stock at newegg.com

 

Yep, I just ordered one yesterday. They said they had 7 in stock when I ordered mine.

 

To G1 owners:
I was looking at the dimensions of the G1 versus other 15.4" laptops and noticed that its pretty wide ~11.2" . How comfortable is it to use while on your lap, or have any of you noticed the width to be a problem? I realize its mostly gonna sit on my desk, but I'd still like to use it on the couch once and a while. Thanks.

rmsnj

 

I just got my G1 last night and I've had no problems of discomfort with having it on my lap. It is a little heavier than a 14.1 but its still comfortable. Having the big beautiful screen makes it well worth it.

 

This is so tempting...I think I'll have to justify the $1800 cost when it's sitting in front of me

 

I was thinking about getting a laptop for CAD, work, play, movies, and some decent games here and there. I have wanted a new computer for the last two years now and i was wondering if this would be a good choice for me. I have a desktop that is about 5 years old and my school(NMU) gave us R series thinkpads to use. Now I'm out of school with no laptop and no desktop. Would it be better for me to buy a cheap laptop and better desktop or to maybe just get a G1. I usually don't like laptops because they are so ugly and cheap looking but the G1 is one of the best I've seen for the money. Another concern of mine is that it is already maxed out on ram so this computer doesn't have much room for upgrades. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

It has a dual-core processor and 2GB RAM, which is a lot more than you can ask for in a laptop at this price point. The 7700 is also a fairly powerful GPU, so all in all I think it should be more than enough for your needs.

 

Thanks very much for posting this. Managed to get an order in before they sold out.

 

thanks for the help hkarthik

 

How did you get it to run 2142 on high. I can only run it on low with about 80fps. if i put it on med. i get about 40-50fps.

BTW Asus support is great they got my screen replaced and back to me in about 5 days.

Can anyone direct me to a "HOW TO" on overclocking the GPU?

 

I WANT ONE!!!!!! g dammit where the f can i buy one!>!

 

You can add yourself to wait lists like the rest of us...

 

OH SHNAPS! a DVI port! I'm going to check one out in Taiwan when I go there in a few days.

 

Yeah the G1 was in stock with Newegg for less than 24hrs. I was lucky to grab one - I would have gotten a better deal from resellers here but I wasn't in any of the wait lists and didn't have the cash on me at the moment. (still waiting on Dell to refund money). But anyhow, I can't wait till it gets delivered. Est. delivery date is the 21st!

 

Got a G2 today! beat that!
Any chance someone can teach me to Oc?

 

Awesome, where did you get it from?

 

I got it from France, that's the only inconvenient I had to reinstall a copy of xp pro to the preinstalled media center.

The other big inconvenient is that it's a azerty keyboard.

And the third biggest inconvenient is that I am given no warranty whatsoever. I was lucky though, no dead pixels and only a small amount of leakage on the top of the screen.

It's not an official release I guess... but I am more than pleased with it. It cost me only 1700 euros. Scored 4543 in 3dmark 05. (with hotfix installed, stock drivers). x1700 @512, merom core 2 duo 2,00Ghz, 2 gb ram, 160 hdd @7200 rpm, TV tuner included, BT etc.

It is more than ok with me.

PS: i'm not an american I live in Europe, Romania.

 

Well, I disabled a bunch of processes running in the background first of all. Went from around 65+ to now about 40 processes. BF2142 and BF2 are types of games that use up a crap load of memory and you need to have atleast 2GRAM of memory to be able to run them smooth at high settings, so with all the processes running in the background it eats away at performance pretty badly. Also I used tune-up utilities which might have helped a teenie-weenie bit...

Also I didn't run the game at everyting maxed. There is a few options that I left medium and I think I have shadows on low. The game runs around 30 - 50FPS for me which is what I consider to be smooth.

 

you are the first person to benchmark the x1700 in the g2

your first test 3dmark 05, seems to suggest it is just like the 256 mb x1700

 

I wonder if all those stores are actually receiving enough G1s by the end of December...

 

I didnt realize that the G2 was even out... where'd you get it from?

 

mi3x, does the store has a webpage? Amazing price for that config - you sure the drive is 7200rpm?

You should have a warranty, if you have a receipt - Asus warranty is global, 2 years.

Congrats, enjoy! Post some pics if you want, more impressions, 3dmark 2006 scores

 

I didn't even realize the G1 had been released until I saw the review on here yesterday. I've been looking for a heavy duty 15" laptop for a few months to do graphic/web design and gaming. I've loved ASUS notebooks ever since I first saw them 2 years ago in Taiwan so naturally I was a bit disappointed when I saw the G1 was sold out all over the place yesterday. Lucky for me I left the product page for the G1 on Newegg open yesterday, cause when I refreshed it today it showed in stock!! Most expensive impulse buy ever, but I know I made the right choice thanks to you guys. Thanks for all the info!

 

ok so you ordered a notebook you know is out of stock hoping this means that they have to buy it for you from somewhere else?

I mean Im sure they will get them eventually but theres something missing in your logic.

I hope the best for you and everyone but I have a feeling youre going to be lurking here waiting a little longer than the average person does.

 

Hey, stamar - he said he refreshed the 'out of stock' page only to realise that it's now in stock, to which he purchased one immediately.

 

Well, congratz on your buy. I am still waiting for mine.

 

Hello again,
Sorry it took a bit long to get back to you, but my internet provider has to make some changes with my MAC every time I come with another system to connect it to the internet.

Back to my G2. I am a bit dissapointed but only with the marks I got 5 mins ago. I just run a 3d 2006 and the score is 2314 eek: lower than g1's 2,389 3D Marks - how can this be?)
I chose super performance now, and when I ran 05 I chose Game. Could this be a difference? Anyhow Im a bit dissapointed. I will take some pics and upload them later. Also, I tried to find the printscreen button (usually used with a FN, but didn't find it .. it's in french).

@stamar - is there any chance it might be underclocked? How can I check that? I'm a newbie... so pls bear with me

@m477hew - I didn't get it from a store, I have this from a guy here in Romania, he had around 35 pieces, were sold in 48 hours - so he says.

@Venturello - well, I am not so sure about the HDD being 7200, but all the configs I find on the net show 7200 by default on this rig. How can I check it?
Secondly, it has an 1 year ASUS warranty, but it's not filled in by the vendor. It's blank. Can it still be applicable? Will post some pics later

Overall impresion - GREAT. The only thing is that I like to sit on my couch with it on my lap.. ****.. it kinda get hot Anyways it looks and feel like a giant dressed in Versace. I only played GTA SA for almost 9 hours.. it's hot but did not burn my lap tho!
I formatted it cause it was fed up with all kinds of stupid software, it took 2 mins to load initially. lol. Now with a fresh install of XP pro (cause it had media center yuk!) it takes 12 secs to boot!

LE: still trying to figure how to use the Print Screen. Found on google all the details, it just I cant find it on my lap . I pressed all the buttons there after f12 and nothing happened. No paste option . after f12 I have Pause/Attn then, Impecr/Syst, Inser/Num LK (this with blue for fn) and last Suppr/Scr LK (also blue). None of them works. Any suggestions?

 

a few pics with my phone:

 

Mi3x - from what I have read from several members on the forums, the ATI card in the G2 is a smidge slower than the Nvidia card in the G1. That might explain your lower score.

 

Ya ^

and to tell u the truth, i didnt believe u lol...but thanks to thoes high res smuggled photos...lol congrats, that's pritty sick, 2 bad it's slower than the g1 but still sick... u gotta tell me tho, i heard the air intakes are on the side of the keybord, is this true?

@ jeffy i did exactly what you did, new egg , i hit the refresh button and ther it was..in stoc, ordered as fast as i could put my cc number in lol, new egg had them for about an hour

 

Hey, G1 owners - is the build/quality really as bad as PROPortable's Justin makes it out to be? If you guys can also compare it to other laptops you've used that'd be great info as well.

 

I don't know if this bothers anybody else- but the biggest problem that I have with the G1 is the marks on the WASD keys. Personally I would have preferred an ESDF layout

 

You may want to read this from Justin.

 

I don't think Justin meant to say the build quality of the G1 isbad in anyway. I think he was just a little bit angry that it was presumely trying to fake CB, and he was comparing it to a much, much higher standard of the W/V series.

By all means, he even stated that the build quality of the G1 is above "average," just not the best. It is a fine machine.