The ASUS Republic of Gamers G751 Review: G-SYNC Comes To The Notebook Computer
by Brett Howse on July 29, 2015 8:30 AM ESTDesign
Notebook design decisions can make a big impact on the overall user experience. Make a device with high power components too thin, and the cooling system will have to work pretty hard to keep everything cool. Too thick, and it can be uncomfortable to use and difficult to move around.
Meanwhile on the styling side, this is really a matter of personal preference. The Pontiac Aztec crossover, which the Globe and Mail named as the ugliest car of all time, sold over 100,000 units in the USA alone during its short life. That’s not to say that the ASUS G751 is anything like the Aztec (at least in my eyes) but more to say that styling is very personal, and what one person loves another might hate.
The ASUS G751 is all matte black plastic on the interior and exterior, other than a trapezoid of brushed aluminum on the top with the ASUS and ROG logos. The ROG logo lights up in red, which is the accent color for the large rear exhaust vents, and the keyboard backlighting as well. It is nicely executed, and if you are a person who likes a bit more of a statement with your laptop, the G751 certainly delivers some of that. If you prefer an understated look, then you may have to shop elsewhere, although the goal of a device such as this is to be sat on a desk, and the more outlandish design elements such as the red exhaust vents are less noticeable.
The build quality of the G751 feels pretty solid, despite the plastic exterior. The finish does not attract fingerprints either, which is a nice bonus. On the left side is the optical drive along with two USB 3.0 ports and a SD card reader, and on the right side are two additional USB 3.0 ports, video outputs (HDMI, mini DP, and VGA), along with a 3.5mm SPDIF jack, 3.5mm microphone jack, and 3.5mm headphone jack. There is even a 1 Gbps RJ-45 port on the right side, along with the power input. The G751 has pretty much all of the bases covered.
The underside of the notebook has a couple of intake vents in the center, along with a removable cover to gain access to the DRAM and storage in order to allow for future upgrades. There’s also a small subwoofer to compliment the stereo speakers which are actually at the rear of the notebook in the exhaust vents. The four large feet are actually plastic with no rubber coating, but the large mass of the device keep it from sliding around.
Once opened up, the keyboard is front and center. As with most large notebooks, it includes full sized directional keys along with a number pad. There are also dedicated keys for game streaming (with XSplit Gamecaster pre-installed for this purpose), Steam, ROG Gaming Center, and three macro keys. The layout works pretty well, but it would have been nice for ASUS to move the up arrow over a bit in order to make room for a full sized zero key on the number pad. The keys themselves have decent travel and good feel. If anything, I would have liked a bit more key travel considering the thickness of this notebook. The keyboard backlighting looks nice in red, but the red fonts on black keys results in some pretty poor contrast when the backlighting is turned off.
The trackpad is very large, and incredibly smooth. The included software supports up to three finger navigation. There are two nice and large buttons beneath the track pad for left and right click, and you can set the trackpad to automatically be disabled when a mouse is plugged in. In front of the trackpad are five status lights for drive activity, battery charging, power status, and num lock.
The overall design of the ASUS G751 is solid, with good construction, easy access to upgrades, and pretty much every port you could ever need. Stylistically, as I said it is personal preference, but I’m not a huge fan. I feel like there is a disconnect with how the laptop looks when using it, and when you look at it from the rear, where the large red vents try to portray a stealth fighter. I do like the touch of aluminum on the top, and especially with the traditional ASUS brushed look, but it sort of feels out of place with the rear of the laptop. However, the large vents can play an important part in overall system cooling so I will re-evaluate after we take a look at how it performs.
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boeush - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
(The sad and rarely advertised/appreciated aspect of any kind of engineering or architecting, us that 50% or more of the time is spent on writing or reviewing of documentation.)douglord - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
Has anyone seen a windows laptop with a 4 core cpu and Iris Pro with NO igpu?ingwe - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
Isn't Iris Pro an iGPU?BMNify - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
pointless question is pointless, Iris Pro IS igpu.Notmyusualid - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
+1Meaker10 - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
Yes this model with the 4870HQ, also the GT72/GT80 with the 4950HQ and 5950HQ. However they can manually switch to it too.deeps6x - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
I believe the author must have been referring to the Zenbook 303, as the Zenbook 305 is a cpu crippled piece of dung. But an otherwise nice piece of dung. 1080P (not some unusable in windows 3k or 4k BS), matte screen (which is the only way to go on a non-touch laptop), NON-TOUCH (which is also the only way to go imho), nice keyboard, nice case, nice weight, so-so connectivity. But the 303 doesn't gimp the CPU and that makes it a NICE ZENBOOK.As for this overweight (big steaming pile) mini-desktop (as nobody wants almost 9 lbs dropped on their laps, and certainly not 9 lbs of HOT laptop while gaming).... I will say this: I love that GSync is being included in laptops now.
Note to Asus, quit trying to 'check boxes' and start offering real value in some other form in your laptops. Does anyone need 24 or 32 GB of ram in a lower mid level desktop equivalent laptop used for gaming? Um... NOPE. 16 GB is overkill, but 8GB is underkill, so stick to 16. But don't cheap out on the SSD. These days, when you can get a 480-512 GB SSD for like $200, just put that in it and be done with it. Don't try to up sell your customers for $500 for something that should already be included for your bloated list price. BTW, stop overcharging for GPUs in laptops. If you take this 980M out of the laptop, what do you have? A laptop spec wise similar to something you charge $799 for? That is CRAZY! Does adding a GPU that is functionally equivalent to a $250-$300 desktop card mean you should charge $1200 (or whatever) more? Sure seems like you are milking your loyal customers instead of trying to expand your user base by offering a better bang for the buck than your competitors. Which sucks, because I personally think you are second only to Apple in design quality. I'm typing on a Zenbook now. Love ya. Try harder. Do better.
/end rant
WackyWRZ - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
While I agree with most of your statements, I fail to see how they are "cheaping out on the SSD". Its an XP941 which is a PCIe SSD - not SATA and is known to hit 1.0Gbyte/sec+... They also cost about 2x the price of a SATA drive too.deeps6x - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
My mistake. I missed that the first time I glanced at the article. Came back to read it. I do love the PCIe SSDs. I have a small one in my MSI Ghost Pro and it is actually noticeably faster than the regular SSD in my Zenbook. Hopefully everything will start coming with the twice as fast PCIe version, from the lowest Zenbook to this massive gaming box.One other thing I'd add to my rant. Asus, you clearly have enough room on the keyboard, so could you PLEASE return the double wide zero key on the keypad? For people who actually use the keypad for number entry, the double wide zero key makes it so much easier. Especially since we are used to it on every desktop keyboard and calculator out there. Why do you insist on gimping your laptops this way?
PS, I looked at the picture of the back of the laptop, read the Pontiac Aztec comment, and laughed. Yup, both look quirky. Some people will love it, some will hate it.
boeush - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
At least the keyboard spans the width. What really gets my goat, is when laptop vendors stick a 13" keyboard into a 17" form factor...The fact that I feel a need to actually commend Asus on this matter, is a very sorry commentary on the state of the laptop market these days.