Asus G72GX RBBX05 Laptop (Best Buy model)

There have been a few reviews online for the G72GX I am just adding my two cents from my recent purchase at Best Buy.

The G72 is the next model up from the G71 series Asus gaming notebook. Their specs are nearly identical with just a few differences. Note: This is a review of the Best Buy retail version of the G72 and compared to the same Best Buy G71 model. There are G71's you can order through other chains that have completely differenct specs as they are the full package, whereas Best Buy's are for the general market for budget buyers so they do not include things like the Mouse, Backpack and unfortunately and most importantly the 2 years warranty and 1 year accidental dmg warranty, and some of the higher end companents (CPU, WUXGA screen, Blue Ray etc.). Just so we are on the same page. The official specs for the G72 are below.

Product Features:

◦Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor P8700
Features 2 processing cores, 1066MHz system bus, 3MB L2 cache and 2.53GHz processor speed per core.
◦6GB DDR2 memory
◦Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support
◦17.3" LED-backlit LCD high-definition plus widescreen display
With 1600 x 900 resolution.
◦500GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
◦Built-in facial recognition.
◦NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M graphics Features 1GB GDDR3.
*HDMI output for connecting to an HDTV. 2 built-in speakers with DSP and Dolby Home Theater support.
◦Built-in 1.3MP webcam
◦8-in-1 media reader
Supports MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, xD-Picture Card, Smart Media, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and Memory Stick Duo formats.
◦IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interface and 4 high-speed USB 2.0 ports
◦Built-in wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n)
◦Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps fast Ethernet LAN
◦Weighs 8.8 lbs. and measures 2" thin
◦Fair battery life
Of up to 1 hour and 23 minutes (most accurate statement on battery life yet)
◦Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit operating system preinstalled

The Specs even for a budget machine are very nice, and more than enough for almost any task, gaming, publishing, video editing etc.

The differences between the BB G72 and the older G71 are the following:
*G72GX has native 1600X900 Res 17.3" LCD whereas the G71 has native 1440X900 Res 17" LCD stock.

*The G72GX has touch Buttons for the media controls, touchpad on/off, and power etc, the G71 has touch sensitive buttons like what HP, and Gateway often uses on thier FX series laptops.

*The G72GX Does NOT have any active LEDs similar to the XPS series Dells or the G71 which does have active LEDs in the front, and on the sides and middle of the front of the LCD cover, and around the touchpad, the only LEDs the G72GX has are the ROG logo and small blue line below it as seen below.



Other than the above the general look of the two machines is similar in size and general shape but thats pretty much where the two machines end.
As seen in the above photo the LCD cover looks essentially the same as the G71 without the side lights. (sorry no g71 pics but you can google it =) )

The G72 is a fingerprint magnet, they removed the Crysis looking rubberized palmrest for an all glossy matching one, and they no longer use a standard touchpad they are using a similar flush touchpad that has a raised dimple finish for the texture and a single brushed aluminum left/right click bar. It works well but one major flaw is its size. It is just as wide as the Space bar and for gamers may be too far to the left for big hands to hit it. Although I personally use a seperate mouse during other tasks may be annoying.



One shining difference in my book is the illuminated keyboard, if you are anything like me you may play in less than favorable light sometimes, due to my girl being in bed =) and not wanting all the lights on this helps while gaming. Key are chicklet like, very soft, very quiet to type and appear rugged enough for heavy gaming, I personally love this keyboard so easy to type.




Most of the ports and the DVD drive are placed in logical locations as well as the Video out being the in the back instead of the sides which is my preference. The ports on the sides however are annoying to get at, if you have small fingernails as they are behind two access doors one on each side with a small slit to open them. The good thing is they are held close by magnets and are not hard to pop open with a pen, small flathead screwdriver etc.

The right side ports have your pair of USB2.0 ports, Headphone/SPDIF out, Headphone, and Mic port. Also present is the PCIExpress card slot, and wifi switch.




The left side: Has two USB 2.0, and Firewire, memory card reader, and the DVD drive.




The rear as stated before has the video out, 10/100/1000 Rj45, and eSATA port, as well as the cooling vent, security lock, and power jack.




Across the top of the keyboard is a black mesh grill that runs all the way across behind it are speakers, status LEDs and the media buttons. An issue I had with the status LEDs was the legends printed below them are almost unreadable. They are printed in a very dim color instead of bright white so you have to look closely at them. There are also 3 indicators on the front next to the latch (Wifi, batt, and what I suspect is just power, hard to tell as its just a lightbulb icon and the manual doesnt say.) The media buttons include a control for the Splendid application which adjusts the screen color schemes, Turbo Gear eXtreme key which controls power saving and overclocking of the cpu (from 5% to 15% increase on clock speed), the Express Gate key which is a stand alone media player similar to Dells media Direct, or Media Play buttons from HP. Also the touchpad on off, and power button.

Activity LEDS


Media Buttons


The LCD panel is LED Backlit which explains the sharpness and contrast of the panel, the 1600X900 resolution is far better than the 1440X900, but still not quite as nice as a full 1600X1050 or higher panel, but its acceptable. The colors are amazing, the panel on my unit turned out to be an LGPhilips panel which I am happy for as the Samsung panels and some of the other manufacturers tend to have over saturated colors. Colors on this panel are spot on, contrast again very sharp, and like it or not the brightness is overbright due to the LED backlights but you can turn it down enough.
The problem the panel has though which is prevalent to panels that are below WUXGA resolutions is poor viewing angles. You have to sit spot on center on this screen or else it gets washed out. This is my biggest gripe. When you are in the right position its awesome, but at about 119 degrees and it washes out. (I am not going to do the webcam as they are what they are, 1.3mp is suitable to what you would use it for, no more no less).




But if you can live with that which I can, its a minor annoyance.

Fit and finish is very good, the laptop is not as heavy as it looks at all, the all black is very sleek, professional looking, you do get a dust cloth for the LCD which I use for fingerprints instead =).

Speakers however are puzzling. There looks to be two round ports above the keyboard, and I can hear audio, the manual states nothing about speakers there but shows them being in the front facing the user. So I am still out on if this has two or four speakers in it, the sound quality is ok, but not stellar, needs a 1" or higher 3way bass reflex subwoofer like other similar gaming laptops on the market, even the HP DV6 has one. It makes a world of difference in sound. Again its acceptable but a weak spot on this. However again most gamers output their sound to a sound system, or use headphones anyway.

Performance:

This is the most important part for anyone. How does this unit compare to the G71 or other laptops out there for performance. Really similar machines will be in the same ballpark as far as performance is concerned with little variations. The G71 being nearly identical with the exception of the stock 1440x900 LCD will run just a slight hair faster in games only due to the fact the graphics card does not have to render the same amount of pixels, BUT it's so small it's not even worth noting.

The Intel P8700 2.53Ghz has more than enough power with both cores to play most current games without issues, using the Turbo Gear eXtreme OC on the fly helps a bit but even at 2.88Ghz the fps increase was too small to notice. 6GB DDR2 Ram is more than enough to run on, you can max it out to 12GB if you are inclined too.

The 5400RPM HDD is the only weak point in the end as seen in the WE score below. However you can always swap out a 7200RPM drive. You can also add another drive via the second bay underneath (need to purchase the bracket assy.)

Stock CPU Speeds and over clocked speeds did not net an increase in the Windows Experience score and only netted 7FPS better in WOW high settings and Aion only gained 5FPS.

Standard clock:


Overclocked:


Windows Experience:


I still get over 160FPS in WOW and in the crowded cities 35-55FPS which is quite good, and in Aion I get 90-120 FPS overall and in cities I am getting 40-66FPS again quite nice.

3Dmark 06 scores very well with the Geforce GTX 260m although it reports it incorrectly online as a GTX 170m. The GTX 260m Comes down clocked from Asus, I assume they were worried about overheat issues since they share the same cooling mechanism the CPU and other chips are using via heat pipes.
I just used Nvidia's system tools which you can download from their site to create a new stock profile and have it load the standard timings that the card is normally set to.

Stock settings are 500/800/1250, I set them to 550/950/1375. I have not noticed any drastic increase in heat, the fans do run full blast but they do anyway while gaming.






Temps after full run of 3Dmark06 (note your mileage may vary depending on ambient room temps etc, currently room temp during this test was 68 degrees F.)



Overall I am very pleased with the performance. I happened to replace my previous HP HDX Dragon 20.1" which had a X9000, 8GB Ram and an 8800GTS with this unit due to recent surgery I had so I had to drop the weight of my baby HDX20 (15.5lbs Plus accessories) and shed 7lbs going to this unit. The overall performance with Windows7, and the newer GPU and with a similar CPU minus 3MB cache is better than I was expecting including an increase in
3DMark06 performance my nearly 3.6k in the score which is very nice.

Pros:
*Overall performance is very decent in real world apps and games and daily use.
*It's lighter than it looks
*Room to add a second hard drive
*CPU performance is good and 6GB DDR2 RAM
*Windows 7
*Backlit soft touch keyboard
*GTX 260m with 1GB DDR3 is very speedy and nice to see in a budget machine
*Port placement and DVD on left side away from mouse
*Higher res screen stock than previous G71
*Nice overall appearance and feel, it does not feel cheap, and its professional looking
*On the fly over clocking of CPU
*Not a lot of bloatware as I was expecting

Cons:
*Fingerprint magnet
*lack of active LEDs as from the previous model (G71) although even on that model they could not be totally turned off, it does scream gamers. (I personally can do with or without em)
*5400RPM HDD is weak link in performance
*Viewing angles on this panel were only around 119degrees, although I know panels smaller than 1680x1050 tend to get this
*Ports are hidden behind drop down hinged doors, people with small fingernails will not have an easy time opening them
*No second HDD bracket assembly included
*Lack of Bluetooth
*No Blue Ray DVD Combo drive stock (which you can find on the Gateway FX series for the same money)
*Manual is weak sauce, and puzzling speakers, manual states two speakers in front, but there clearly are two up top above keyboard, also I read other site descriptions stating 4 speakers so.??

I am not going to officially list the one year warranty as being a weak spot or a con as this is a budget gaming machine sold at Best Buy hence why it does not have the 360 warranty (2year including cross shipping, 1 year accidental dmg.) Also not listing the lack of mouse, and backpack. That's where the extra $300-$400 in the retail price ends up coming from.

I would give this unit an 8 out of 10.

It's worth every penny of the $1199 cost.

Update regarding speakers: After going through the system, audio properties and doing a bunch of sound tests, it appears the G72GX has 4 speakers, but they are only stereo left/right all four of them. There are no surround or other feature similar that I can tell, the Creative EAXHD 4.0 is just sound environments and not related. But the audio is a little easier (or louder rather) than just a stock pair which is a plus, but still makes me want a sub =)

Udate regarding MB chipset and memory support: I noticed while running CPUID, and Sisoft Sandra that the mainboard chipset is being reported as an Intel P45/44 chipset, and NOT the PM45/44 which is the mobile counterpart. I would really need to pop open this unit to confirm visually if this is the case, as the PM45 does not support DDR3, but the P45 chipset does, as well as 1333 FSB. Anyone else out there confirm this? SEE RELATED SCREENSHOT BELOW ESPECIALLY MEMORY SUPPORT AT THE BOTTOM.



now mind you, the memory support only means what the chipset supports, but thats where this ends, cause if its using DD2 200 pin memory now, DDR3 is 204 pins so it would not fit anyway =) but its interesting if this is indeed a P45 chipset =)

 

Very nice review

Does it use the same chassis as the G71? just with different keyboard?

 

Nice Review.

You are correct that the G71 does not come with Bluetooth, but if you go into the BIOS you can turn it on. I was hoping that it was included after seeing this but it doesn't do anything.

Also with CPU-Z, the core speed section changes from 2.5 to 1.5. Does yours do that when you run it?

 

Bravo my friend, I have to say that I'm impressed with your review, the style and written layout is almost similar to mine and a few others which I like! I especially like the pics, very nice! This review should be the main one for the G72GX, so be sure to contact E.B.E so he can index it properly.
This is how a review should be done on the G72GX and any laptop review in general. So good job again, hopefully you will soon get a stamp of approval from our soviet of the forum as well !

 

How did you get such a high score in 3D Mark?

I can't get above 10,000.

 

Overclocking my friend, plus he's in a Windows 7 environment (it's how I got my score so high, RC though for me)- aka better performance in Windows 7 than in Vista.

 

I changed the clock speeds of the GPU and overclocked.

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate.

 

I don't think my overclocking is working correctly.

Also CPU-Z at standard shows 1.5 and then goes to 2.5 (goes between the two, I think this has to do with when the Core VID changes)

http://service.futuremark.com/home.action;jsessionid=4CCA81615B28AB086791819759F9991F

 

hey ya folks, how diff is this G71gx 05 from the G60Vx 09 version except for the extra 2 gig ram...?

 

1"...........

 

Correct cpuid will show different variables based on Intel's speedstep changing core clocks based on performance needs, you would have to pop open like your web browser or anoother app to get it to kick up clock speeds.

Windows 7 outperforms Vista 64bit on almost all levels, so my 3dmaark scores are based on the on the fly overclocking to 2.88ghz and my timings changed setting the gpu back to standard settings, 550/950/1375.

As far as bluetooth is concerned, there was no option in the bios on the G72 that showed a BT option. But since there is no module installed it would not work had there been one.

I am sad that they did not include the LEDs as it does draw attention to a good rig.

 

I suspect the chassis is the same with the exception of some of the trim, such as the lcd cover on the G71 has two vertical cutouts where the LEDS in the cover go. Since the G72 does not have these the cover is different. The are definately close enough looking to be considered the same chassis, but I feel most likely its just internal.

Specs and performance if they both had Win7 installed would be identical.

 

Could you get me some pics of your rig in your sig for me to post as a comparison of the two chassis? It would be good to add them to my orig post =)

-D

 

Love this review. In depth and most of all a decent shot of the screen!! The colors look really solid.

 

Nice review, +rep. Hope to see more tests, specially stress test to see how temps are on g72, mostly to see if it matches the G71.

 

Since the chassis and cooling setup is essentially the same between the two units, I dont think the tests will be needed as they should be identical. From the picks I have seen it looks like the same setup, all heatpipes, going to a single cooling fan... The fan however is roughly the equiv to what you would see on a modern stand alone video card. Its pretty beefy.

I can however since I will be at work do air flow meter and temp tests exiting the laptop which will give us somewhere to start...

 

Those are some amazing framerates in WoW. So I have a few dumb questions. I am usually getting 60fps in WoW and 17fps is Dalaran. So I would love to know how you managed so much better performance.

I have my settings set on ultra, I was assuming you did too but perhaps I was wrong.

Does the onboard overclocking mode automatically set you to 2.88GHz? Or is there a setting you have to do to make it that way?

I have tried the Nvidia system program you have to play with clock settings. A couple times WoW stops responding and my GPU downclocks itself to 383Mhz. Probably in an act of self preservation. I have read that you are pretty safe as long as you are under 88C. I was at 81C max.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

So I tried disabling all of my addons and I even set all my settings to low while overclocking the GPU to your seting and using the onboard CPU overclock and I still have 60fps on this machiene.

Something just seems fishy here. Am I forgetting something? i know anything above 30fps is gravy, but it seems like I may be looking at problems when i get into a 25 man raids someday.

So far all settings seem to make no difference in performance.

[EDIT] Okay I knew I was missing something. V-sync caps fps at 60. I can see much higher FPS with it disabled.

 

Not a problem, is the pics in my review not good enough or do you want them in a different/special way. I don't mind retaking pictures mind you, just want to know what you need !

 

I've had the exact same problem with Fallout 3. But my temps would only get to 75C max... do you have to reboot to get your card back to regular clocks?

 

Vsync is just to remove or lesson screen tearing when there is lots of panning around. Usually you hardly notice it happening. So when you disable it your gpu no longer only renders at 60Hz (LCD limitation). It will render as fast as possible by the GPU. You will get more tearing not horrible in my book, but your fps should increase in the top end, not the low end, so 17fps in dal will stay roughly the same.

And no my wow is modified, its not low gfx setting by anymeans but its heavily modified for best image and performance. You will find full screen glow effects, death effects etc to be resource hogs on the gpu that are just not all that great to begin with visually. So I turn that stuff off.

Even on my past 8800gts in my HDX20 I was still getting 30+ fps in Dal.

 

nope the pics are ok just didnt want to poach em without consent, but if you could take some picks with the laptop sitting similar to the one in my review with the lights going on it that would be awsome for a side by side shot. Just two or three (front, back, top) view lit up....

=)

You will need a hair lower lighting to get the led effects I think.

If not then I can just save as off your review.

 

I'll try to do some pics tomorrow or sometime this week, just gotta find my camera and the time to do it (got a job interview this week !)

 

Yep I have to reboot to get it back to normal again.

 

Yeah I was just curious how you were getting over 100fps in places, when I realized I had a setting that capped mine at 60fps. After turning that off I saw the big fps and was happty in the regular world. My feeble brain can't see framerates above 30 so 60 is overkill anyway.

I'll play with settings to see what I can live without while in heavy instances and in Dalalag.

However I am still wondering about the onboard overclocking mode. Is it 2.88 GHz out of the box?

Thanks

 

Review, well done.

The only thing I disagree with is the screen res between 1600 x 900 and 1440 x 900. At one point in time before I returned my G72(bby) in favor for the G71(bby)I had both models G71(bby) and G72(bby) side by side. I could barely see a difference.

For the most part I think your review is unbiased and dead on. I find interesting that you knew to include that the performace would be slightly higher at native resolutions. Most reviewers fail to mention that in their G71 to G72 comparisons. Another Pro is that you don't have to bother with Asus/mentormedia for the Free Windows 7 Upgrade. I got sick of waiting and had Besbuy install it

Congrats on a job well done

 

Disregarding the resolution superiority of the G72, is the difference in the quality of the displays in the two models that big as some people say?

 

No. Their just so happy to get their hands on a so called revised version of the G71 that they tend to over exaggerate. Both screens are manufactured by LG. The one thing that I did notice is(correct me if I'm wrong) that the G72's screen may have 1 more level of brightness than the G71. But then again I personally don't use max brightness with my G71.

I personally prefer to buy things that cost more than 1200.00(at the time of purchase my G71 was 1299.99 not including the warranty) at a local retailer. And since the G71 is no longer at a local retailer I would recommend the G72 over it.

 

I think that the screen in G71 (best buy version) is manufactured by AU Optronics, not LG.

 

Mine says LGPhillips. If it means anything my G71 was manufactured in 09/2009.

While reading through the thousands of post trying to decide on the G71 I came across many post where current G71 owners said they had different screens. I also can recall a post here where a member dismantled his G71(bby) screen and proved his was different and had different backlighting.

 

Well, I guess you are lucky then Mine was manufactured in 08/2009 and the display is made by AU Optronics.

 

That's interesting.
I prefer Samsung over LG. I've never heard of Optronics.

 

I hadn't heard of them neither I like the display except for the grayish black.

 

Everything on my screen looks to be in the acceptable range as far as contrast goes. But then again I'm not that picky when it comes to contrast on laptop monitors.

 

I love the screen on the G72. I always have it at full brightness.

 

I love the screen on my G72GX RBBX09 its so much clearer then the G71GX.

 

No 2.53 is out of the box of the CPU however, the 15% overclock from the turbo gear extreme setting brings it to 2.8891ghz or so. It sounds like you have something going on if you are not getting 24-50FPS in dal. My settings in WOW are exactly the following:

Under effects I turned the slider all the way to the max, then on the first page I unchecked all the below boxes. (full screen glow effects, death effects, etc.) Then on effects screen the only change I made was to drop the shadow quality down to one tic above lowest, it produces shadows that are like the shape of the player but does not do advanced shadows of absolutly every object in the game. Shadows especially in DAL are the largest FPS eater.

you in theory only need 24FPS for it to be movie smooth, and yes what you cannot actually physcally see above about 32FPS or so, you can still however FEEL it well above that. Thats why with the exception of 120-240Hz LCD tvs games play so much more smoother on CRTs still at 120-140Hz which in FPS shooters like CS was so important for accurate shots.

=)

-Regards

 

1440X900 and 1600X900 resolutions are very close to the exact same thing overall. No matter what higher resolutions will always result in finer images, but its subjective to the person behind the screen. The one constent is that the G71 should net higher FPS (although very small) only due to the number of pixels per inch the gpu has to render.

1600X900 = 14,400,000 pixels
1440X900 = 12,960,000 pixels
A little under 2 million pixels difference.

I do not like AU panels at all, they tend to be overbright and I do not like the viewing angles at all on them. I prefer LGPhilips and even Samsung panels to them. I had an AU optronics in my gateway FX laptop and it was just garbage.

-D

 

Is that screen the 1080p thought (1920x1080) Wuxga or the 1600x900?

 

1600x900 same screen.

 

Does anyone know of a way I can get it to boot up in overclocking mode (15%)

 

Oh that's exactly what I needed to know! So just push the button for the button and you are overclocked at 2.88, no overclocking software needed. I have been playing maxxed out for the most part, turned off specular lighting because it made everything look like plastic. But otherwise maxxed. I'll try the shadow quality in dalalag though, sounds like that could be all i need to get around town.

Thanks again, and thanks a ton for this article! I looked all over the place for info on these machienes and you seem to be the est resource so far!

 

yeah I have not figured this out just yet, I noticed that after you set the 15% from the app, it seems to default when you reboot, there is possibly something we are missing somewhere, will fool around with it this weekend.

 

I'm rather new here and don't know too much about hardware. But, I have a question.

Which would be better 6gb of DDR2 memory, or 4gb of DDR3 memory?

I'm mainly deciding between these two laptops:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B2+Duo+Processor+-+Black/9556125.p?id=1218124208054&skuId=9556125&st=asus%20laptops&cp=1&lp=5

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Gateway+-+FX+Edition+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Centrino%26%23174%3B+2+Processor+Technology/9605365.p?id=1218130485627&skuId=9605365&st=gateway%20laptops&cp=1&lp=7

the difference in the hard drive space and the 1440x900 versus 1600x900 isn't a huge issue to me.

 

It's entirely up to you actually, just remember that the Gateway will have better cooling than the Asus. Asus laptops run hot always anyway unless you mod the laptop, use a cooler, or have luck on your side. Either or though, both laptops are great for gaming, it's a matter of which brand you trust more, which one is in your price range, and which specs interest you more.

 

I am not entirely sure that gateway is actually a DDR3 System, I would check on Gateway's website to confirm that.

As far as cooling is concerned, NO the gateway rig does not run cooler, I owned the two models before the one on Best Buys site, both of those units use the exact same chassis the on currently sold does, I dont think it will run much cooler, both my FX models needed to be raised for airflow issues, and as far as I can tell so far even upclocked my G72 is not running very hot at all. But the FX series are notorious for running hot and locking up. Also check the forums for gateways.

Thats not to say that this one will, just posting that the FX series is not as cool as stated.

 

From all the research I have done I would say that 6Gb DDR2 is the better way to go. The DDR3 only increases performance marginally.

Basically compare a 2 lane highway (DDR2) with 2 lanes and a carpool lane (DDR3). I would rather have the two extra GB of ram.

 

Does anyone know how easy it is to replace the DVD drive with a blu-ray drive? I starting a topic on the upgrade boards but havent got a reply.

 

most laptops usually just require one screw to be removed from the bottom of the unit to unsecure the Optical drives, then you have to remove the bezel off the tray as its designed for the your particular laptop. All you have to do is ensure the new DVD/Blue Ray drive has a compatible interface (PATA or SATA) I believe the Hitachi drives in the G72GX are Serial ATA so.

Get the new drive, swap the faceplate bezel and insert it in securing the screw(s).

No software is needed usually. (ie drivers)

This drive may be a solution as long as you confirm your system is using a SATA DVD

http://www.xpcgear.com/lg-ct10n-slim-blu-ray.html

 

I found two screws on the back which I removed however the dam thing still dosnt want to come out