G50vt-X5 For $899

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9173262&type=product&id=1218044029168

I'm looking for a laptop to go to college with, how do you guys feel about this one.
Seems cheap yet powerful...

 

It's very powerful, and the 9 cell battery helps to offset the powerful specs. I have been scoping out this laptop for months for school, and to me the only con is that it is larger and heavier than most 15" laptops, but I can live with that for the sheer performance at this price.

 

One of the best buys out there for gaming laptops -- except it's ugly as hell.

 

I just picked it up last night to replace my Dell 1705. I was thinking it was going to be smaller (I didnt bother to measure), but it wasnt. It is however lighter and comes with a number pad!

I couldnt pass on the price, the only thing I dont like is the fact that it doesnt have bluetooth. I can always add that later though.

So far no problems with it, did a clean install, loaded all the drivers and my normal software. Im getting ready to install CS4 and some other things tonight.

 

Not counting the outlet version (X1), You have to spend about $400 more to get a significant upgrade from the specs of the X5, so the price/performance of it is definitely best in this price range for a gaming machine.

 

Any other cons?
Whats its 3Dmark 06 score?

My desktop right now has a X1950pro 250mb and I was wondering how the 9800M GS fares against it.

 

I believe most users are getting 8-8.5k out of the box. Some have been able to flash the GPU to a 9800m GTS. The highest scores I've seen for this card are around 10k.

The cons on the x5 as I see it are:

1. The case (this includes 16:9 if you aren't a fan of that and the lightning bolts
2. The lower-end CPU, which is overclockable and fine for most games
3. The resolution - similar to 1280x800 if you are used to that. Many NBR folks prefer 1680x1050 or better
4. The weight/size - about a pound heavier than a standard 15" and too wide for some 15" cases
5. The Best Buy 1-year warranty compared to the usual Asus 2-year with accident protection for a year

Some pros this laptop has over even more expensive systems...

1. Battery life
2. Keyboard layout - best 15" with a number pad I've seen. 16:9 really shines there.
3. Extra hard drive bay - other g50vt's have it, but not comparable MSI or Gateway systems
4. Brick and Mortar store means that a DOA should be an instant replacement instead of waiting weeks.

 

It should score around 8500 3dmarks (With CPU in turbo) on 1280x1024 resolution, which is quite nice for the prices.

It should be a nice upgrade from your old X1950 card, which as far as I remember, gets around 5k 3dmark06 I think, so you will have a decent increase in performance

 

i cannot decide which one to buy this Asus or some refurbished Gateway. on one hand its brand new asus on other 17" screen, a bit better graphic card. Another problem is that both have heat problem(asus less).

 

neilnat thank you for the nice list.
I heard ASUS is coming out with some more 15" in a month or two so the price might go down, but even now its a great deal.

I am torn as what to do.

 

Oops, I forgot to mention that the resolution is merely mediocre. Many people prefer a 1440 x 900 display on a 15 incher.

 

Great performance for your $$$ but like others have said screen resolution is low for a laptop this size, but it does help in gaming giving you more FPS for smoother action in games.
The screen also looks a little washed out and viewing angles are not so good but overall a very good budget gaming laptop that's great as a first gaming rig.
If you can get over the over the top lightning bolts on the lid (personally I think it's extremely stupid looking and a deal breaker for me + the X-1 originally offered was a little less homely looking and had a better CPU) but otherwise a strong performer.

 

I dunno the lightning bolts make it look different....and with the low res you get higher FPS like you said...
I think ill wait and see if it goes down anymore in price, then pounce.

 

It just dropped in price like a month ago i doubt its going anywhere right now. But im planning on getting it in 3 weeks.

 

anyone else who owns this notebook have anything to say about it?
also, if I were to get this laptop how easy would it be to flash the gfx card?

 

The lightening bolts on the LCD cover makes the unit look hideous IMO. It's way too flashy for my taste, but others may think otherwise. As for the resolution, you're correct about the achieving higher FPS in games, but for other productivity tasks such as photoshopping, word processing or spreadsheet users, it may be a drawback. Other than these two factors, The X5 is a great gaming system and priced very competitively.

My only suggestion for making a smart purchase on the X5 is to purchase a gift card from ebay and placing an order on the X5 online from Best Buy. Most gift cards sold on ebay are less than face value, and with the live.com cashback promotion, you may be able to get an even nicer discount for your new notebook.

 

I plan to skin myne after the 30 day instore return is up (or whatever it is these days). But yeah if not hideous its atleast just overly flashy. Id settle for plain black or the Blue design the x1 (i think) had. But im currently working in photoshop on my skin... trimming the shield and led's is gonna be fun fun.

I just plan to wait until bestbuy starts telling me to call asus for repair before i start spending money on changes.

 

any other comments on this bad boy?

 

Other than the hideous lightning bolt, it's a bargain-- I had this for 6 days. The only thing I really didn't like about it is that it's only .75 inch smaller than a 17" notebook. What's the point of the small screen (one inch screen borders) if you'll end up lugging an equivalent of a larger notebook? It's thick and bulky.

That said, it's built like a tank and seems durable.

 

I've been researching laptops in the almost $1000 category for almost a year now (It's kind of a hobby to me), and the G50vt-x5 seems to be the best for budget gaming.

The only cons for me are the relatively low screen resolution and the weight of the unit.

As long as nothing earth shattering appears, I'll be picking one of these guys up in July.

 

I would say go for it. I have this laptop and it is the best laptop I have owned. True that it is not the most attractive laptop ever (the strobes are a bit much), but the cheesy paint job is negligible in comparison to the hardware.

I get 9500 in 3dmark06, ~30 FPS in Crysis Warhead running in Gamer (high dx9) mode. The laptop runs cool and doesn't burn my lap like past laptops I have owned. My advice is, if you are intelligent and buy this computer, get a 17 inch case. The screen may be 15 inches, but the bezel makes this laptop closer to 16 inches, and it will not fit in a 17 inch case.

You won't find a similarly spec'd computer for anything near this price so it is more than worth it.

**Edit, it is also very easy to flash the graphics card BIOS. Mine is running at 615 mhz now stably. The built in cpu turbo overlock tool is invaluable as well and works flawlessly.**

 

Does anyone know if the G50vt-x5 comes with a TV tuner? There is a port on the side of it and the manual refrences the antenna but I didnt see it in the box.. Do I need to go back and pitch a fit?

 

I had this same question i just went and looked at one. I believe it does not have a tuner you would see it in device manager if there was. I think the design of this laptop made it cheaper to include the port rather then blank it.

When i do my internalized usb tuner i hope I can use the port.

 

Clutch I just sent you a PM..
Thanks for the reply.

 

This laptop DOES NOT come with a TV tuner.

 

It comes with the antenna jack, but there is no tuner inside. I think other regions got a tuner inside their G50's.

 

I'm looking at this laptop as well, and have been reseearching it for a long time..I also need one for college.

 

oh this might help.
some guy took a bunch of pics of the clock and sides.

http://www.overclock.net/laptops-notebook-computers/498482-asus-g50vt-x5-review-plus-pics.html

 

Yea this baby is really nice looking at the price, just go look at any Sager, MSI, HP, Dell, Gateway, etc for $899 and compare spec`s.

As for the paint job it doesn`t seem to bother me, infact I kind of like it, in person it looks much better than in a photo, if you really can´t take the paint job you can always just spray over it with black or any other color you like, it`s not that much work and krylon paint is really cheap,(if you want an extra nice finish,buy some Montana or just head down to any local hiphop store and ask for graffiti paint if its a special brand used for graffiti the paint is probably thicker than the normal rusto or krylon can.)

 

I debated for a long long time about which laptop to buy, and ultimately decided on this bad boy. As others have said, it really is quite large, so I would suggest looking at it in store first and compare with other 15" laptops. I wish I had bought a 14" asus instead, since I'll be traveling a lot, but I've come to love my g50vt. Also, be warned about buying from best buy: If you DO decide you want to return it, they charge a 15% restocking fee, so make SURE you're comfortable with your purchase, or else you'll be paying $135 to take back a brand new laptop.

As for tv tuner, best buy had a promotion on their website for a free hauppage usb tuner if you buy the laptop online. You can choose instore pickup and still qualify, so that's pretty neat. The tuner is decent for being free, and integrates nicely with Windows Media Center.

I flashed mine and am using dox 185.....58 I think, and I went from 8500 stock 3dmark06 scores, to ~9600 with turbo extreme enabled. The performance is really great so far, and will net you around 30fps in ultra for most games(except crysis and stalker maybe). Battery life is also pretty good, imo. I can get 3-4 hours of web browsing and chatting using the power-saving setting in direct console. Playing a game at full settings you can expect maybe an hour, however.

In the end, I am fully satisfied with my purchase. There is simply no other option that can match this baby in bang for your buck.

 

I bought mine last Friday and I love it.

I bought it solely for playing WoW and surfing it does that with ease.

I don't have the bought version of 3Dmarks 06 but on the trial in turbo mode it always does around 8950s I've done it at startup at startup with all startup programs disabled and after 10 hours of gaming and it is always within 20 or so 3d marks. I think a processor upgrade would really make it fly.

There are only 2 real cons. I have been spoiled lately by notebooks with good speakers and mine sorry to say has nice quality but not near enough quantity. I can bairly hear anything unless I have it turned all the way up. I am still messing with the volume settings. The other con is the on board mic is about useless. I am use to them being bad but this one is completely useless at least over the net. Over my network the mic is just fine in Vent but once I start talking to people outside my network they can't understand a word I am saying and I have never had this problem with any other MIC Ive had.

I miss some of the flasy stuff my old HP had (remote easy touch volume/mute and usable mic, and bluetooth from what I hear) but this machine is far superior in almost every other way.

 

You need to go into the bios and turn up the onboard speaker volume. I did that as soon as I bought mine because I saw the same comment over and over, and as soon as I fixed it, it worked beautifully.

Ditto on the mic comment. I have a 6 year old $10 stand mic that waaay outperforms the built in one.

Also, does anyone hear a buzzing sound when you plug a normal set of headphones in? It's pretty annoying, not to mention the sound volume is like jacked up when I use my ear buds.

ALSO! Someone should really write up a faq for g50 buyers since there are so many of us. Heck, I might do that myself when I get a chance. Would be nice to know what bloatware is actually useful and what isn't.