Asus G2S-A1 Review

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by Donovan Christoffer

The Asus G2S-A1 is classified as a &quot;desktop replacement&quot; laptop due to the size of the screen, which measures 17.1 inches, and its weight which comes in at 9.6 pounds. I opted to add one gigabyte of RAM, for a total of three, as my only configuration change from stock. The following specs are taken from the GenTech Computers website, which is where I purchased this machine:

• 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7500 (Santa Rosa platform)
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Intel 965 PM Express chipset
• 2GB SDRAM DDR2 667MHz (2 X 1GB) with up to 4GB supported (3GB as reviewed)
• 17.1 WUXGA (1920x1200) glossy display
• nVidia GeForce 8600M GT w/256MB VRAM support
• 160GB (5400rpm) S-ATA HDD
• 8x Super-Multi DVDRW dual layer LightScribe optical drive
• Card Reader (MMC, SD, MS, MS-Pro)
• One 8-cell Li-Ion battery
• Weight: 9.6 lbs
• Dimensions: 16&quot; x 12&quot; x 0.18&quot;
• 10/100/1000 Base T, integrated 802.11a/b/g/n, and built-in Bluetooth V2.0+EDR (optional)
• 1.3 megapixel web camera
• Optical Gaming Mouse
• Gaming Backpack

Reasons for Buying

This is my first laptop. I decided to purchase the G2S-A1 because I don't think I will be moving it around all that much. Once I narrowed my choices down to one brand, I had to choose between the 15.4 inch G1S-A1 or the 17.1 inch G2S-A1. I do tend to travel about once a month, but plan to leave the laptop in place once I reach my destination. While at home I move about from place to place in the house thanks to the wireless networking, but tend to set up camp in one area for a few hours to most of the day. I also like to play games both at home and away, so I opted for the larger screen and higher resolution of the G2S-A1.

Since receiving the laptop, I have made one trip with it. The trip lasted about a week, and I took the laptop with me to several different locations. While the whole package of laptop, charger along with a bunch of stuff I brought along such as blank CD's, a few DVD's, cell phone charger, headphones, etc, was a bit on the heavy side, the included backpack was able to handle it all along with room for plenty more. The backpack was surprisingly well made. I expected a cheap, flimsy piece of junk, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a very heavy-duty and functional carrier for the G2S-A1.

During my research of different brands and models of laptops I also considered the Dell XPS 1710 and the HP DV9000. The Dell ended up being more than $1,000 more expensive than the Asus after I confugured it to my liking, and the HP was several hundred dollars more after configuration. The Asus G2S-A1 represented the best bang for the buck in my opinion, and it came highly recommended by several people in the &quot;What Laptop Should I Buy?&quot; forum on this website.

While the size of the G2S-A1 is similar to the HP DV9000, the HP tends to weigh a little less than the Asus. While you might think of this as an advantage for the HP, the DV9000 did not feel as solidly built as the Asus. I would pick the G2S any day over the DV9000 based on this alone. I wouldn't say that the HP felt flimsy, but its definitely not as solid as the G2S.

I also opted for the newer model G2S as opposed to the G2P in order to get the newly released Santa Rosa chipset.

Where and How Purchased

I purchased the Asus G2S-A1 from GenTech Computers. The price after configuration came to $2,260.50, UPS Ground shipping included. I configured the G2S with an extra GB of RAM for 3GB total and I also added a third year of warranty for $129, which seems to be the standard price across most Asus resellers. The base price of the laptop is $1,995, which is also within $50 plus/minus several other websites. I chose GenTech because I read many favorable reviews about them, and I was not to be disappointed.

I placed my order and was called back within a couple of hours to confirm the order and shipping information. I had requested that Ken Lee process my order as I heard good things about the service he provides and his knowledge of GenTech's products. Once again, I was not disappointed. Ken answered all of my questions and explained the different features of the laptop in great detail. I think he would have stayed on the phone for an hour answering my questions if that is what it took to satisfy my curiosity. Ken was calm and did not seem one bit rushed to end the phone call.

The G2S-A1 box (including evil eye) and gaming backpack. (view large image)

 

Another view of the included backpack. (view large image)

The included gaming mouse and accessories. (view large image)

Build and Design

The laptop seems to be put together very well. Being a larger screen model it is a little on the heavy side, but it feels solid, not just like dead weight. Pressing on the outside of the lid does not have an effect on the screen. Giving the screen a slight twist will distort the screen a little, but again, the screen feels solid and well constructed. It will bounce back and forth a small amount while sitting on your lap in a vehicle, but the hinges hold it tight in position. When you apply enough pressure to the hinges, the screen will fold down in a smooth motion. There isn't any sticking to be found, just glass-smooth motion.

(view large image)

The LCD picture quality is amazing, absolutely gorgeous, and I did not notice any dead or stuck pixels at first power-up or while using it. You should see the HP DV9000 owners drool over the picture on this machine. I have had three of them compliment me on the picture quality alone.

(view large image)

The screen measures 17.1 inches on the diagonal. The resolution is WUXGA (1920x1200). The Asus G2S-A1 comes with a glossy screen, there is no option for a matte screen. I have an LCD monitor for my desktop at home with an acrylic screen protector, so I am used to the glossy look. It takes a bit of practice to look through the occasional reflections, but once you master the skill, you don't even notice them any longer. The screen is very bright with excellent color reproduction. The brightness alone all but eliminates the glare and reflection issue.

I am a serious digital photography enthusiast and I am looking forward to viewing and processing photos on this screen. There was a very small amount of light leakage at the bottom of the screen and this has been reported by other people. The only place I could see the leak was on a totally black screen during start up. This isn't like a crack with bright, shiny light coming through, its just a lighter area of the black screen along the bottom edge. It is not visible during normal use and is no cause to not choose this laptop in my opinion.

(view large image)

I will put on my wish list that a brushed aluminum cover be included. The outside cover is made up to look like brushed aluminum, and the palm-rest is actual aluminum (very nice, by the way). Asus, are you listening (hint, hint)? Just a nice to have, not a necessity.

Speakers

The speakers on this machine left something to be desired. The sound quality was average, but the volume just wasn't up to par with the beauty and performance of the rest of the G2S-A1. The speakers are adequate, I just expected something a bit more brilliant when looking at the whole package. It is not an issue that would have stopped me from buying the laptop. The sound volume is pretty acceptable during normal usage. The area I felt that the speakers were too quiet in was watching movies via Media Center. This may be an issue with the way I have Media Center set up, I haven't had time to go through the settings. The problem was that it just seemed like you couldn't turn the volume up high enough.

Processor and Performance

This machine is a big leap forward for me. I have been babying an old desktop along for several years now. Add a little RAM here or there and it performs pretty well. This laptop compared to my old desktop is like comparing a Mustang to a Geo Metro. The laptop runs circles around my desktop when opening a program such as Microsoft Word. I am very satisfied with the performance and speed of the laptop. The G2S-A1 comes with the 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500. The performance is fast with no hang-ups or other problems so far. Performance is smooth and stable. One area that I noticed a definite improvement from my desktop was in opening, switching between, and closing applications. All these operations were lightning fast and did not make the screen jump and flinch like they did on my old desktop as it searched for RAM and swapped page-file space, etc. Rock-solid performance on the laptop!

3DMark06 Results and Comparison:

Notebook	3D Mark 06 Results
Asus G2S-A1 (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500, nVidia GeForce 8600M GT 256MB)	3,814
Sager NP9260 (2.66GHz Core 2 Duo E6700, 2x Nvidia GeForce Go 7950GTX video cards with 512MB DDR3)	9,097
Alienware m5790 (1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI X1800 256MB)	2,625
WidowPC Sting D517D (Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz, Nvidia 7900GTX 512MB)	4,833
Apple MacBook Pro (2.00GHz Core Duo, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 128MB)	1,528
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB)	2,183
ASUS A8Ja (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 512MB)	1,973
Dell XPS M1710 (2.16GHz Core Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GTX 512MB)	4,744
Toshiba Satellite P100-222 (2.16GHz Core Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS 512MB)	3,534

Heat and Noise

I have not owned any other laptops, but I have used others in the past. Most of these were several years ago, so my experience with them really doesn't present a fair comparison to this newer laptop. The older machines were large and heavy and very noisey and HOT! The G2S is a very nice machine compared to these relics. The G2S is nearly silent. The only time you know it is on is when you are running a CD/DVD. The heat generated by the laptop does not seem to be excessive, in fact it generates less heat than I expected. It does generate some heat, but it doesn't make me uncomfortable or want to put the laptop down.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard seems to be nicely laid out and the pressure required to press the keys seems about right. I did not notice any flex in my keyboard. The press of the keys really resembles that of a full size keyboard. Not quite as much travel, but the pressure required is very similar. The mouse keys are also quite sturdy. I like the feel of the touchpad. It is neither glass-smooth, nor is it really rough. It's a nice compromise between the two, and your finger glides across it very nicely.

Input and Output Ports
There are plenty on input/output ports on the G2S-A1. I will echo other reviews in that all of the USB ports except one are located on the rear of the laptop. While this is a minor inconvenience, it is not something that would stop me from buying the laptop. However, one must remember to be careful if you attach a USB thumbdrive or some other device to one of these ports on the back of the laptop. It would be easy to forget such a device was plugged into the back, out of sight, and snap it off. The complete list of ports includes:

• 1X HDMI
• 1X eSATA Port
• 1 x Express card
• 1 x Microphone-in jack
• 1 x Headphone-out jack (S/PDIF)
• 1 x VGA port
• 5 x USB 2.0 ports
• 1 x IEEE 1394 port
• 1 x RJ11 Modem jack for phone line
• 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert
• 1 x Wireless ON/OFF switch (Wireless Console to control Wireless/BT)
• 1 x SIR
• 1 x CIR
• 1 x TV-out(S-Video)

The back view of the G2S-A1 with lock slot, S-video out, VGA out, HDMI, and four USB 2.0 ports. (view large image)

The left side view of the notebook with modem and Ethernet ports, USB port, microphone and headphone ports, SPDIF output jack,firewire, ExpressCard, multi-card reader, and wireless on/off. (view large image)

The front side view with media control buttons and eSATA port. (view large image)

The right side with Lightscribe DVD drive and power jack. (view large image)

The bottom view with vents, memory expansion access, and battery. (view large image)

Battery

Battery life on the G2S-A1 has been reported to be anywhere from around 90 minutes to 2 hours. In my own experience, after letting the laptop fully charge, I was able to achieve 90 to 100 minutes depending on my configuration (wireless, bluetooth, etc). When the wireless and bluetooth are turned off and the screen brightness is turned down, I can squeaze about 150 minutes out of the battery. I do feel that the screen could be turned down even more than the software will allow you to. There are certain situations, such as total darkness where even the minimum brightness is more than adequate, so turning it down even further would only conserve more battery power. A higher capacity battery would be nice given this machine wasn't designed to be ultra-portable.

Operating System and Software

This is my first experience with Windows Vista. I am a bit apprehensive about this operating system because I have heard some bad experiences with it. To be fair, I have also heard some good reviews, time will tell. I am very familiar with Windows XP. I was also leary of upgrading to XP when it first came out, but I have grown quite fond of it over the years. I hope Vista can live up to my experiences with XP.

My main annoyance in this area is a general one with any pre-built machine. The G2S, just like any other pre-loaded machine comes with only a restore disk as opposed to an OEM, OS-only disk. The software load on the G2S is decent, and there aren't a ton of bloatware applications like some well-known mass production machines. It is just a personal preference of mine to start from a clean OS install and load device drivers and applications myself. Call me a control freak if you must, I just feel safer knowing exactly what is loaded on my system.

The Asus G2S-A1 comes with a few pieces of quite useful software. Included are an antivirus program, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and Nero Express. The anti-virus was a trial version and was quickly uninstalled and replaced with a fully licensed version. Acrobat and Nero are must-haves and will remain installed.

Conclusion

I am extremely happy with my purchase of the Asus G2S-A1. I feel that this laptop will provide me with many years of service and enjoyment. GenTech Computers was more than helpful in the purchase process and I would highly recommend them to anyone. Be sure to ask for Ken Lee when you call them or place your order online. All in all this is an awesome laptop with great performance and a solid build. There isn't much I would change about the machine, other than moving a couple more USB ports to the side of the laptop. otherwise, I feel that I have definitely gotten my money's worth with this purchase.

Pros

• Absolutely beautiful screen, no dead or stuck pixels
• Solid build quality
• Works right out of the box with no problems
• Fast, smooth performance

Cons

• Lots of glassy-smooth areas to collect fingerprints
• The glowing &quot;eyeball&quot; under the touchpad will take some getting used to
• Speakers were a little quiet while watching movies
• All but one of the USB ports are located on the back of the machine

 

 

great review. that high resolution seems perfect if you do a lot of photo editing. Asus makes some fantastic and high quality notebooks, and their designs are definitely not run of the mill.

 

Excellent review! Very comprehensive. I wish Asus would include the 8800 with this machine.

 

Nice review!

 

THANK YOU!! When I get back home to Montreal I will read this review with a fine tooth comb...aka a toothbrush lol

Finally a review!! (well there were opinions) but this is an extensive review

 

niceeeee

I can't say I like those red lights, though. I love the signature Asus touchpad and buttons.

As someone said above, hopefully they make some Asus models with either the 8700M GT or 8800 GTX (if that comes out)

 

hmmmm i went to the homepage and clicked on the asus review comments/discussion link and it sent me to a completely different topic about a vista install in the Asus section......

anyways what resolution was that 3dmark06 score taken? 3800 is alot! im guessing it was 1024x768 and not the default

 

nice review
I'm buying one for sure.

 

ITs' great man.. i feel good for you.

I was about to buy the G2 version but the screen is low resolution and the GFX card is not that good so I settle with Z84J for lower price. If i can save up the cash til now I'll get the G2S for sure.

 

Wonderful review makes me even more anxious to receive mine now!

Cheers, Rava

 

Oh how I'm so grateful for that little cloth cleaner than came with my G2S-A1. Saves the looks of the thing a lot.

 

Yeah, it's things like that which add polish to an Asus notebook buy.

 

Very nice review.

I'm going to buy either ASUS G2S or DELL 1720 with similar configuration.
ASUS have HDMI and much more. It feels much better on paper.

My worst fear is to buy one and then realize that it produce to much noise.

I'm not a gamer but I want that screen

Does Asus G2S produce much noice? Can I hear some noise working with it?
I'm a programmer and webdesigner. My PC is connected to my Stereo with Slimedevices Squeezbox and I don't want any noise in the background when listening to music.

Best ergards, Boris

 

My feelings exactly.

A dell with coupon $350 off will come up to about this price ($2000). And asus is supposed to have better quality.

Please report on the noise

 

Please, can anybody measure the noise?

I'd like to buy one of these.

 

Anyone know where is the second ram slot on the G2s, I need to know fast !
thx

 

I thought the second RAM slot is under the keyboard, so that has to be removed or something like that. Annoying, I know.

 

I like it! Brill review mate! Must have taken you hours!

I didn't have a big look at all the stats - I just read what was on the Notebook Reviews bit and I especially liek the default mouse it comes with and I'm very surprised by the 2.2GHz processor - it makes me want to get my own! Nice one.

 

Great review on a great laptop, I own one myself. You did have one error in your specs list, the esata port is NOT on the front it is on the back . it is the usb port that is outlined in silver ( I know this as I have a 500 gig esata drive hooked up to mine when it is on the desk)

 

Hello, sorry, I didn't know there was a discussion section to the reviews until I stumbled across it this morning.

I have had the G2S for 2 or 3 weeks now and I am still very impressed with it. Thank you for all the positive comments on the review!!!

Sorry about the E-Sata port location error. I think the moderator actually put the captions on the pictures. I sent them the review and the pictures and let them arrange everything in their standard review format.

One thing I wanted to clarify from above, the red light under the mousepad doesn't stay on all the time. It's on during startup, but during normal useage its off. I re-read the review, then looked down, and the light was off, so I wanted to let you know that it isn't on all the time, cuz that is how the review sounded.

Also, the red lights on the side of the screen are configurable. I have them turned off. I think if you tun them "on", they only flash when you are using some sort of Direct-X application like a game or something.

As far as the 3DMark06 score, I did not change the configuration of the machine to get a higher score. That score was at the 1920x1200 screen resolution, which is the default that it ships with.

As far as heat and noise, this machine produces a little of both. I am very impressed with the levels of each though. Most of the heat is felt on the bottom of the laptop. Very little heat seeps up through the keyboard like on a lot of laptops. The noise is very acceptable. When you really start working it hard, the fan will crank up a couple notches and you can hear it, but with a little noise in the room, such as a TV or some music playing, its tough to hear it. At normal fan levels, you can hear it in a quiet room, its just a pleasant "whoosh" for the most part and if there is an noise in the room at all, you can't hear the fan a bit at the lower RPM's.

I hope this helps to supplement the review a bit. Again, thank you for the positive coments on the review!!!

 

Oh, and the mouse is pretty nice as well. It has three sensitivity settings: 400, 800, and 1600 dpi.

I also wanted to comment one more time on the build quality of this machine. Compared to oter brans, this thing feels to be built VERY well. It FEELS like a quality built machine. I think that is very important. It's solid, where with a lot of laptops you pick up, they feel hollow, or like they are just dead weight. This one is a little on the heavy side, but there is substace behind the weight.

Oh, and the screen is simply sexy. Absolutely gorgeous. The pictures in the review were taken in a dark room with a Canon 10D digital SLR camera that I hand-held. The screen is that bright and clear that I did not have to use a tripod to get that good of a picture. The picture is at the 1920x1200 resolution... LOTS of real estate on the desktop, and so smooth and clear!!!!!

 

I'm having a really hard time deciding which gaming laptop to get for college. I want it to be better than my desktop that I have now. I have an X2 4800+ Dual Core CPU, 2Gigs of Corsair XMS, Geforce 7800GTX 256MB running on Vista Ultimate 32bit. I found this review very helpful, but I'm now really comparing the graphics and battery life and price. Its come down between Dell 1720, Dell XPS 1710, and the Asus G2-A1. I just don't want some new high tech laptop to come out in a week after I purchase mine.

 

I have the same machine purchased at the same place but added igb robson memory, as for the vlume when mine came I went into bios and discovered volumn was set at one half no matter where it is set in programs, change it in bios and not bad.

 

I have this same machine (only difference is that I am using standard 2gb memory) and I having terrible performance results. I don't know very much about vista, so I don't know if it is a software issue or a hardware issue or what.

I just ran a 3dmark06 at 1600x1080 resolution (less than the test posted in this review) and otherwise same settings. My score was 1496, significantly less than half.

Games are unplayable, software installs slow...

Anyone with an idea on how to diagnose this?

Good review by the way. Other than this performance issue it's a great laptop, great cosmetics, sturdy construction!

 

When I went to submit the results to futuremark they let me know that my drivers weren't authorized by them. So following their link to supported drivers on the nvidia site I started to install them and got this warning...
http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/1305/nonsensegl9.th.jpg
Can't computers be the silliest of things?

 

Dude. Seriously. Return the laptop and get another G2S. I'm sure it won't be a problem.

 

does it have keyboard backlight?

what the best screen resolution and other things to get all the power of G2S-A1?

thanks

 

Dear G2S-A1 owners,

I was owner of A7JC-R034 T5600 AtiX1600 laptop. I had a serious problem with my laptop. My laptop use to reboot without any warning and especially while playing game. I send it back 4 time and finally on the fifth time Asus decided to refund 80% of my money. Now I am considering buying a new laptop. I think the problem was with overheating, but Asus couldn't find out.

By the way I was playing "Company of heros" and "Ghost Recon Advanced warfighter 2". A little heavy games I guess.

I am now interested in the G2S but really hesitant as the cooling and the layout of the component is just the same as the A7 series. I am afraid to have the same problem again. I want to ask you guys as you have used the laptop first hand.
1. How long can you guys continuously game on the laptop without any problem using no additional cooling??
2. Did anyone have any problem with overheating??
3. How do you guys compare this laptop cooling with other gaming laptops out there like i.e. XPS M1710?? The external design is one of the best I have ever seen

I would appreciate any sort of feed back. I have to make a decision quickly. Thank you all in advance. Keep enjoying using ur G2S

 

I'm strongly considering one of these models. I wont be getting it for a few months, so i'm hoping some new options will arise. Perhaps a more powerful GPU, i dont know. At any rate, it looks like a good laptop and a very good value. A similarly configured Sony runs 2500, as pretty as it is, i don't see anything justifying the cost.

On a side note, this laptop is ass ugly. Ill just have to put a paper sack over it or something i suppose.

 

Just bought mine..... still playing with it. One word... AWESOME!
I seriously can't begrudge the value and quality.
I still have and use my HP zd8015ca... which I was happy with but my new ASUS G2S is blowing that out of the water.

Just a note... I was one of the Vista naysayers..... I'm slowly coming around and the "Dual Boot" option isn't really so important anymore. It's going to take a while and I will post again with further views... but so far... I lIKE IT... I Like It a LOT!

Thanks for the review on this laptop... well done.

 

now $2600au with 300gb hard drive! sweeet. getting one in a week. used it before. it plays halo 2 on full settings without any lag. also plays ut3 on full settings without lag.

 

You can get G2S-B2 for 1699 AR with 200gb and 4gb memory.

 

Hey Great Review,
I bought one of these computers last september and I have loved it, I have encountered a few problems i think are very important to anyone wanting to purchase this computer. Certain antiviruses such as Bit defender will not work on this computer and will completely freeze the computer, the only way to fix this is to do a complete system restore. Norton seems to work but it is not a preffered program i recomend AVG or any Mcaffy they are eliable and work well with this machine, Also the lights and display are not bothersome as all and can actually be turned off in the direct console. The battery is great I have gotten a full two hours out of mine while watching a movie on power saver mode, the speakers are quiet i aggree and to solve this i bought a set of USB powered Logitech speakers and they go as loud as required. My main complaint was with the size od the Hard drive, The one that comes with the laptop itself it a 150 GB drive and that is quickly filled up with games and documents, to solve this I bought a 500 GB usb powered comstar external hard drive, this drive is 2.5" in size so it is very portable and because it is powered by USB it will never need an AC adaptor which i find extremely useful

 

well I think asus doesnt make this model anymore, because its replaced by the G50/G71 series, so the notebook it kinda out-dated you could say.

But hey: I love the G1/G2 series, best you could get in the range as a gamer a year ago!