Asus G51 vs G71 (bb models)

I am going to college and I am looking for a gaming laptop. I have been looking at these two models a while now and I am really torn between the two.
I really like the G51 and everything about it except the CPU and the overheating issues. I wouldn't be doing any gaming except in my dorm so I wouldn't mind getting a nice cooling pad for it. After 2-3 years would I be able to upgrade it's CPU without causing major problems to it? I also just really like the way the G51 is built.(backlit keyboard, smaller more portable with screen size, and it's pretty )
Is the G71 worth the extra $200? I could get the money for it but I just want the most bang for my buck.
Thanks to all in advance

 

I assume you wont have a nice tv to take. If so, you'll end up glad you have the 17" when watching shows and movies with friends. And with a backpack both aren't going to feel heavy when going places.

 

i disagree. the 71 has a horrible viewing angle. i can't see CRAP unless i'm looking directly at it.

 

^ its not too bad in a dark room, but the 51 is bad too. if he really wants a good screen the best thing to do is wait and see if gateway brings back the fx after the current one is completely sold out.

 

i wish i looked into the viewing angle thing before i bought a laptop :/

it wouldn't have changed my decision though.... it was either that or an MSI with almost the exact same specs

 

Okay, well that is nice to know about the screens. My room mate has a 27" HD LCD but I think I'm going to be mainly using my laptop for movies and anime What about gaming? Is one going to work better for newer games like Aion or Guild Wars 2 over the other or will it barely be noticable?

 

it will look beautifully for any game on the market.

it takes forever to load GW though. i don't know why though. maybe its the 5400RPM drive

 

Either will easily run any games coming out for at least the next two years.

In a nut shell,

The G51 is smaller, lighter, and thus more portable. It also has a backlit and chiclet keyboard. It runs a bit hot, but yet again, it does not overheat since apparently the laptop was designed with those temperatures in mind.

The G71 is slightly more expensive, but it has a better processor and better cooling, which should allow for slightly more performance (really negligible IMO).

Long story short, I would choose between the two based on whether you care about portability that much and on whichever laptop you liked, aesthetically that is, better.

CPU wise, you should be able to upgrade without a problem. Just do it after the 1 year warranty runs out since it will most likely void it.

 

My girlfriend and I comfortably watched the entire Rocky saga laying on a couch with my G51 on a table about a foot and a half away.

Didn't bother us any.

 

If its mainly for visual entertainment, I'd consider waiting a week or so to see if ta new FX emerges. Heres a link i just made a comparison of that to the 71. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=400343

Otherwise both do what you want. Again, a 17" screen is a BIG difference though for the things you seem to want to do, and 1 extra pound on your back cant kill you. But I also understand that looks are important so if you REALLY like the looks of the 51 its still a valid choice.

 

Personally, I'd rather hook it up to a bigger TV or monitor if I'm going to be using it for media. I'm personally choosing the G51 for the easy portability and the keyboard, and if I ever need a bigger screen I got a VGA cable going straight off my TV and a Logitech 5.1 speaker system for sound, and I'm going to get a wireless keyboard and mouse for it. That way I can dock it for when I'm hanging out in my room, and it's easier to carry around when I'm on the go.

 

Oh wow I never thought of that... So I could always get a tv or in my case use my room mate's amazing tv? I really haven't looked into anything like that. So I could just hook a VGA or HDMI cable between the laptop and the TV/bigger monitor?
Does having a laptop run so hot effect it in the long run? Like, would the G71 running cooler have less "wear and tear" on the laptop? I know the G51 was "built for higher temperatures" but it still concerns me.
Thanks all who have answered my questions so far

 

Out of the box, I think the extra cost of the G71 is worth it. I like the vent placement and cooling better, the CPU is very good especially using the overclock software, and I like the extra screen real estate. Played Aion on max settings last night, simply beautiful

 

it is definitely a beautiful computer.

 

to be honest though im not sure i would want to take either of them to class. they seem to bulky and big for school. Dont get me wrong i love gaming as much as the next guy but youre going to college for a reason. One of those thinkpads seem good enough for casual gaming or maybe the dell studio 15 or 16.

 

Ok my opinion and I own both BB models (G51 and G71).

The G71 is all around a better choice as a gaming laptop. While they have the same GPU's the similarity ends there.

You are going to get a lot more headroom out of the G71's CPU either stock or OC'd than the G51. If you don't want to rip open your new laptop or play around with external applications to OC then for sure your best bet is the G71 with TurboGear. The CPU also runs a lot cooler in the G71.

I know for me I get better performance in the games I play with 6GB of RAM (G71) over 4GB (G51). Also for future proofing you have three RAM slots (max 12GB) with the G71 over only two (max 8GB) with the G51.

I didn't originally think that resolutions were that big of a difference between the two. I was wrong. Playing the same HD source material on each laptop side by side the G71 won hands down for sharpness and clarity. The G51 LED backlighted LCD seems brighter in comparison but that doesn't mean the G71 is not bright. Watching good quality source material on the G51 seemed fuzzy where it was sharp on the G71. I'm a big Home Theater nut with all the toys and the G51 screen was a real let down for me. Regarding viewing angles, they are equally bad between models and not an advantage won by either model. However since this is a laptop there shouldn't be many situations where you cannot set it up for optimal viewing unless you are hosting a lot of parties where people plan on watching you play games or a movie night on your 17" screen or 15.4".

Keyboards. Where do I start. Yes the G51 keyboard is neat at least it was for a little while, then the novelty wore off. My daughters also said wow when I turned it on. Other than that it really doesn't do much. That's not true, it can reflect light on your screen during dark scenes in games if you have it turned up bright (not a plus). The G51 keys are more noisy (clicky) than the "normalized" G71 keys when typing. The G51 keyboard is definitely more bouncy. If you use a pencil or a single finger to type and need to constantly look at your keyboard since you are unsure where the keys are located then maybe you might need the lights when you turn off the lights in your room. However for a good majority of people who use a computer we rarely if ever actually look at the keyboard when typing, so why on earth would you care if the keys were lit up? Not to mention we are talking about a keyboard that is less than 2 inches away from a rather large light source, the damn LCD panel. There is more than enough ambient light coming off either screen to allow even a bad typist to see the keys. We are not talking about a keyboard on a desktop that you might decide to sit a good clip away from the screen to type, its a laptop and you have no choice on how close or far the keys are.

Sound, again the G71 here, much louder. I will say that I am struck by some people's comments about how quiet they believe the G71 4 speakers sound as they are plenty loud. The G51 on the other hand is not as loud and might draw a quiet comment.

I did like the HDD in the G51 (7200) over the G71 (5400); however if there is one user upgrade that I think anyone that doesn't glue their fingers together can do with relative ease is an HDD swap or add. No paste to scrape or add, No warranty to void etc.

The weight...Ok again here is where I must admit I am more than a little baffled. We are talking about roughly less than 2lbs and most people tend to transport their laptops in bags with handles and/or shoulder straps, maybe even a backpack. So unless you plan on lugging it around hours a day the size and weight shouldn't be that noticeable. The bag I have for the G51 (a big 15") and for the G71 (a bigger 17") are not that much different in overall size. If you are just transporting it from home to school and maybe a friends apartment or dorm room on occasion the bigger 17" shouldn't be a problem at all and you will more than likely appreciate its larger size once you get down to playing games, watching movies, or parish the thought doing some school work.

Granted the G71 is more money (albeit small) but for what you get its value is 10 fold and worth every penny.

 

Wow, long post. i could not have said it better myself.

 

Thanks, I know I can be pretty long winded at times as confirmed by the wife and kids.

A few more things that are not make it or break it but might matter.

Design and Ergonomics -

I will have to say while I like the overall look of an all black laptop (G71) I have OCD when it comes to fingerprints and the G71 shows every itty bitty one. So I actually prefer the G51's white exterior as it better hides those pesky fingerprints.

The palm rest on the G51 is imo better as again it is not flanked like the G71 in shiney black plastic that collects fingerprints.

I like that the G51's lid is gravity held as opposed to the G71's locking lid. I am not sure what point a lock plays here. Even my monster 18.4" 12lb Asus W90Vp-X1 didn't need/have a lock. I find the unlocking mechinism to be awkward at best and usually results in possible lid stress as you attempt to open it as you unlock it.

I am not a huge fan of the "hidden" port solution of the G71 and much perfer the open ports on the G51. So if you plan on using a lot of USB stuff like an external mouse (for me a must as I hate laptop pads) then you better not bite your fingernails or your gunna be pissy when it comes time to drop that little door as it takes a good amount of tug due to the earth magnets that hold it. I suspect I will end up over time breaking these as a result of my need to use them often.

As a Home Theater type I do apprecaite that the G71 put the HDMI output on the back of the laptop as opposed to the front side like the G51. It helps keeping my connects when using external monitors cleaner.

O yeah and the size of the AC adapters is pretty close with the G71 being slightly bigger maybe 15% overall so there is not much of a savings in bag space with one over the other. Both are considerably smaller than the W90's behemoth power brick in size and weight. Remember neither are going to perform well without AC power.

Now considering, at the time I am posting this message, the G71 (on sale this week) is now only a mere $100 more than the G51; I would have to say as an owner of both it would be crazy for someone (given the prices) to forgo the superior specs of the G71 for the novelty (backlighted keyboard) and misguided thought of better portability offered by the G51.

 

i completely disagree. It takes no effort at all to open the slots. as far as the fingernails go, i do agree. don't chew them.

 

Gotta agree on the hidden USB ports. No idea why they felt the need to door them off unless it's for asthetics. I am likely to just pop off the covers one of these days for good.

 

When I have more time Im gunna have to look closer to see if there is a way to remove one safely and then just store it somewhere. I figure if they can build it I can disassemble it (or break it trying )

 

Even if you dont have fingernails, mentioning such a trivial issue is ridiculous.
There are not many decent gaming laptops out there probably about 10-20 some of which have much worse problems than this could EVER have. Anyway, I rather have the closed slots makes the laptop look much cleaner in travel. However since it will be on my desk they will be open 24/7 so its like there not even there to begin with.

 

Warhammer40k, thanks for the thorough responses regarding the differences between the two BB laptops.

I am definitely leaning toward the G71; however, I'm waiting for Bestbuy to have another 12 or 18-month no interest deal. It would be difficult for me to pay it off with the current 6-month deal.

 

I had a change to play with both models in the store. Considering the hardware and the assumption that more is better (more power, memory, etc), I would chose the G71 any day. I know people like the size of the other, but I don't care.

All I'm waiting for is word on a screen upgrade. I want to see that G71 with a 1920x1200 screen. If I can't have that (not the online reseller model), I'll probably end up with a Sager.

 

Thank you everyone for the posts especially Warhammer40k. With it only being $100 more it is definitely a better choice for me. Now I only have to convince my parents that I'm not only going to be sitting in my room gaming all the time This is important because they are paying a good chunk of the price as a graduation/birthdayish present haha.

 

How much do they know about computers/researching computers?

You could tell them a GTX 260m is just right for running some killer PowerPoints.

 

Sigged!!!!

I am choosing the Asus G71 as my next machine becuase its a really good deal. I was really attracted to it because of the price and upgrade possibilities. Eventually my Asus will have an SSD (or two!), 12 GB of RAM and some iteration of an Intel Core 2 Extreme Proc. I can't wait!!!

 

Repped for your info writeups.

 

Thanks,

Also regarding the power bricks, not only is the G71 brick bigger it also provides more Amps which in turn = more total voltage. Again I apologize for posting while at work and not having it written down. I would like to say that the Amp rating was in the 6s (6.93A maybe lower) for the G51 brick while the G71 was around 7.7A.

Now I am not sure what the total load is of either laptop but I would say that since they have the same GPU (big power hog) and their CPUs are both 25W it comes down to the screens. If the LCD screens are not that much different in draw then the G71 is once again going to come out ahead by offering more juice. That’s more juice to power peripherals, a second HDD and most importantly a more power hungry CPU like any Quad or Tseries (T9900) Duo requires.

If any more knowledgeable power person cares to respond and provide more info or refute my assumptions it would be appreciated.