Da1writers Asus G71GX-RX05 Full Review (Best Buy)

Technical Specs

Dimensions: Width – 16.2", Height – 2.4", Depth – 11.8", Weight – 8.8 lbs.
Processor: P8700 Core 2 Duo @ 2.53ghz, OCable to 2.8+ ghz
Memory: 6GB DDR2 (12GB Max)
HDD: 500GB 5400rpm (optional space for a second hdd)
Cd/DVD: 8x DVD R/RW DL
Screen: 17.1" WXGA+ LCD 1440 x 900 max res.
Graphic Card: GTX 260M 1GB GDDR3 (underclocked but can be overclocked to REAL Stock or higher clocks via nTools)
Keyboard: Standard Laptop Keyboard
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
PORTS: 4x USB, eSATA, HDMI, VGA, Firewire, Ethernet, Card Reader, Audio, Express Card 54 Expansion Slot.
Wifi: Integrated Asus Wireless BGN
Battery: 8 cell
Webcam: 1.3 MP
Price: $1299 (*Shakes Fist @ Best Buy*)


Unboxing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NgceAe8yMI

























Design and Features

First laptop in my life and will have to say I've seen numerous gaming laptops in my years and some have been drastically pushed toward the gaming community with stuff like bright colors (orange, red, etc.), tons of lights (all over the place), and a design no business person would lug to work (alien like). Honestly though, Asus took a more subtle approach in regards to the G71GX-RX05 with a straight glossy black exterior (aka Fingerprint magnet) and besides the blue lighted Republic of Gamers emblem and a few lights in the front and bottom, it looks like a normal laptop to me. I will say you have to see these bottom lights though, it's very Alienware like in appearance and you can change the lights colors too (via the Direct Console). I simply have it off because I like to keep the laptop's appearance simple rather than a "Hey look at me!!!" appearance.

I would like to mention that despite the G71GX-RX05 being labeled as a 17" laptop, it really looks like a 19" laptop... and I love it for some odd reason (and I know a few people do as well!) Despite what a few people say, it is still portable - even though it is not a 15" laptop or smaller doesn't mean it can't be moved around. Yes, it is about 9 pounds and the giant power brick of course doesn't help its case but if you can't carry tens pounds of anything, you need to go workout or something. It is a desktop replacement not a desktop, anything is better than trying to lug around a giant tower where ever you need to go. It is still a great sized laptop and also shows that Asus still knows how to make a computer look great on the outside and in.

Once you open the laptop, you are greeted with a beautiful, rich in color 17.1" WXGA+ screen with a 1.3 MP camera above it and... yes I said beautiful 17.1" screen. First you need to understand that I'm upgrading from a xga monitor (grabbed one when they first started coming out), so anything looks better than what I've been using. I do know of the two things people complain about the screen: the low resolution and the viewing angles. The viewing angles seem fine to me but I also sit in front of my laptop instead of the sides. If I wanted to show something to my friends or family I'll simply set the laptop in front of them or plug the laptop to my HDTV. I also find the low resolution suits me pretty well because I already game at 1024 x 768 so I can max out my settings in games, so 1440 x 900 is more than enough for me (again, if I want a better resolution, I can simply plug into my HDTV). It's still a good screen on the G71GX that's still easy to read and play games on and that's what's important in my book at least.

Below the screen is a full standard keyboard with numberpad (love that!) used by most laptops but with a black glisten finish. Very comfortable, easy to use, no keyboard flex that I can tell, and none of the keys on the keyboard have been shrunk for some odd reason (looking at you MSI). I have been playing with the keyboard for a few days now, posting in forums, writing this review, and haven't received this double typing issue people have been having. As mentioned though in a few threads online, I believe it is user error (gotta get use to the keyboard) or maybe a few of these laptops have a technical issue but not mine (or a few others). Below the keyboard is the trackpad with a comfortable scale like palm rest but I honestly don't use use the trackpad and if you are a shooter fan you would be using a mouse instead like myself (am I alone on this matter?) The trackpad though is alright with a metallic looking finish, although the buttons are a bit stiff but very usable. It is illuminated by a blue light within but can be turned off by touching the No Track Pad button above the keyboard along with the other touch sensitive buttons.

Speaking of which, There are four touch sensitive buttons above the keyboard along with a tactile ON button. I've only been able to figure out three of the four button so far though: Direct Console, the express Linux program, and [the already mentioned] on/off Trackpad button. I'm guessing the mysterious fourth button (electric looking guy) is for switching power modes, not really sure. Now on the left hand side of the touch sensitive buttons use to be a oled display for functions like battery indicator and such but was removed to cut the price of the laptop a bit. Asus instead put a "indicator" strip on the upper right side of the keyboard that either lights up when certain things are being done. To keep things simple, it's five things: Caps lock, number lock, hard drive access (usually flashing constantly), Asus proprietary mail app, and the Disable Trackpad.

Now the only minor nitpick of the design of the G71GX-RX05 is these weird (magnetic) flaps on each side of the laptop. Unlike the rest of the laptop's other ports which are labeled well and open for the public to see, there are magnetic flaps that hide all four of the usb ports, audio ports, and 1394 port. I can understand their reason in trying to keep the laptop looking sleek but labels would have done fine here too Asus. Unlike a few others, I don't have to always open the flaps in order to access my usb ports because my usb ports are always in use but I can see this being a problem for a few people. Overall though, this laptop looks great and I like how it looks like a normal laptop instead of a screaming (red or orange) Gamers laptop when it actually is, props Asus.


Laptop Experience Rating, Performance, and Software

After looking at the outside exterior of the laptop it's time to look at the internals of this laptop (non- hardware related of course). When it comes to the Experience Rating of the laptop, I've taken a pic when it comes to me using stock settings and another overclocking the CPU and GPU, you can easily tell which one is which.




Asus does preinstall alot of their propriety software but two are the most essential items to use: The Direct Console and TurboGear. Direct Console is what messes with your lights of the outside of your laptop. The side lights can be changed to flash in sequence to CPU loading, fanspeed, or be constantly on. The bottom lights can be changed as well to how the volume of base speaker is, have the lights constantly on or have the colors flashing - which you can change the colors of the lights yourself (choice of 16 colors). You can also have both of these light features turned completely off as well if you like but the only thing that bugs me is that you can't turn off the Republic of Gamers emblem or the light strip below it either - no option whatsoever, and is a minor nitpick because I do like how it is lighted up though. All those option though are accessed through the advanced tab of Direct Console, they did make things simple for those who just a one button switch. The main menu of Direct Console consist of Fancy Mode (Flashes lights constantly), Interactive Mode (alternates between flashing, pulsing, and changing colors), Power Saving Mode (Turns off almost all lights), and Advanced Mode - I prefer power saving mode.

The other software I mentioned is TurboGear, it's - how can I put this- Asus overclocking/underclocking program for people who are new to overclocking and underclocking their laptop. It's pretty easy to use and you simply have four buttons that are pretty self explanatory: Standard, Overclock, Power Saving , and Settings. As mentioned, pretty easy to follow - if you want to use stock settings use Standard mode; to conserve battery life use Power Saving mode; To speed up the cpu past it's specs, grab Overclock mode. Now The overclock is a bit tricky because when you click on the Settings button, you have the choice to either go 3, 5, 10, or 15 percent overclock - it gives you the freedom of how fast you want the cpu to overclock. Fastest (safe) overclock through the TurboGear app is 2.8+ GHZ from the standard 2.53 GHZ. Minor note is that the Settings button can only be accessed when in Standard or Power Saving mode. It's a neat feature but I don't overclock the cpu due to the fact I don't see any up in frames in my games, only when I overclock my GPU is when I see some up in frames.


Benchmarks

Speaking of the GPU, The GTX 260M may be a notch below the GTX 280m a bit but it's no slouch. It can pump out some awesome graphics and great frames! I will note that Asus only put a Band-Aid on the downclocking issue the G71GX-RX05 had in the beginning of its life with the bios update 1201 but kinda didn't fix the problem fully. It now only downclocks whenever you wake the computer up from Sleep Mode, but I usually restart my computer often to have more available resources for my games. Besides that quirk, below are a few benchmarks for ya'll to enjoy ! These are maxed out settings and resolutions with no anti-aliasing and the CPU and GPU are being overclocked. I also reserved a post below this review just in case anyone wants me to do more benchmarks of games. No Source games will be done whatsoever, so don't ask - those games run max on just about anything. Anyway, hope ya'll like the benchmarks !

3DMark 06 Underclocked (Asus stock) GTX 260m


3DMark 06 True (Simliar to Sager NP8862) GTX 260m


Crysis DX9 High


Crysis DX10 Very High


Crysis DX9 CUUDATS 2.21 Mod w/ Tod Custom (EVERY CRYSIS OWNER MUST INSTALL! Averages 30+ Frames!)
http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=23117&p=1


Resident Evil 5 DX9


Resident Evil 5 DX10


Street Fighter IV


Devil May Cry 4 DX9


Devil May Cry 4 DX10



Conclusion

Now a few people on this forum knew what I was going through in trying to choose between this laptop and it's 15" sibling (G51VX- RX05) but not only that but the G71GX-RX05 is a highly sought item and was really hard to find, sold out in just about every Best Buy I went to. I literally had to drive 30 minutes from my local Best Buy to another one in another town that had ONLY ONE in order to get my hands on mine. Despite the up in price (yeah, that upset me but I got over it) and difficulty in finding one, would I recommend it? With an Enthusiastic YES! I would have to say that with this being my first laptop (always been with desktops) and first in store computer purchase (always bought online), this has been the best computer I've bought in a while! Love the size of the laptop, like having a gaming rig I can move around the house instead of being chained to a room, specs are great, just an overall awesome laptop purchase anyone can make! If you have the money and can find the laptop, don't hesitate to make the purchase.

Pros:
+ Great design
+ Great specs out of the box
+ Comfortable Full keyboard with numberpad
+ Eats games for breakfast
+ Some will like the size of the 17" of being big (looks like a 19")
+ Large 17.1" screen will satisfy most

Cons:
- Trackpad buttons a bit stiff
- Low Resolution and viewing angles may not please a few
- Side flaps might annoy a few people
- Some may not like the big size of the laptop (15" prefered)
- Downclocks GPU after waking up from Sleep Mode


Side note: The speakers on the computer are good but I'm a fan of EAX (Sort of reverb, I know...), Alchemy (Enabling Direct Sound 3D in some games), and my 5.1 Headphones (don't knock it until you try it). I chose to grab the external X-FI 5.1 Surround to satisfy my wants and It is definitely a big improvement over the on-board sound card. Very good purchase in my opinion (be sure to grab the beta drivers though, stable drivers are crackly) and it doesn't hit your frames as hard as some people say. You lose about maybe 5 frames or less but I overclock the cpu to compensate, still recommend others to give the external sound card a go.

Thanks goes out to bob1182006 and Sunnyc90 for your reviews, I kinda meshed your review's formats together in order to have a sort of outline when writing my review.

 

TEMPS

Idle Temps


Heavy Temps w/ Crysis - 5 loops, DX10, Maxed everything even AA

 

Now here's a real review that isn't all benchmarks or links to other guides. This is a well done review told straight from the user's mouth. Great review, da1writer. 8/10.

 

Thanks , I tried to get this review done as soon as I could, apologies go out to those who were waiting...
Now if only E.B.E notices this review and adds it/updates his review index !

 

thanks for the review, it seems pretty accurate according to my experiences with my g71gx. just wish i could get the clocks on my card up to the sager's clocks..

 

Nice review, im glad you finally gor your G71.

Btw hows your temps, whats the highest you seen while gaming/benchmarking?

 

Wish granted, look above and you should see two tests so far.
I'm not too familiar with furmark and when I tried the stability test (maxing out the AA), the temps started to scare me ! I don't believe ANY game will ever give me those temps furmark was, Crysis seems to be the heaviest I've seen in regards to temps when it comes to the games I have...

Thanks for answering my pm by the way, NZXT is now on order ! I'll do some more Temperature tests after I get it.

 

well yea, furmark will push your gpu beyond what any game might. Hope you try it again once you get your cooler, i also got scared past 10min, but with the cooler seem fine.

BTW, when i had my G71 i bought 2, Targus TXL617 17 XL Notebook Backpack and Kensington 62348 Contour Roller Carrying Case, the Roller case is what i endup using for all day moving, it fits tight on the laptop slot, but still fits fine and very secure. The XL Bagpack is also good, just also needed one to take gaming stuff around n the cryo so i used it for that, but it works fine also for laptop, its cheap and huge, for $45 i don't think there is something better for a 17''.

 

To everyone who checked out the unboxing video, I'm sorry that Youtube killed my Audio, I had Disturbed's Indestructible song in the background :/...

@Abula: The Targus IS what I'm eyeing right now actually , haven't picked it up yet because wife says I've spent enough accessories on the laptop so far (External soundcard, Headphones, and now the cooler). She says maybe next month or so I can get the backpack, lol.

 

Thanks E.B.E for replying to my PM, hope to see my review in your index soon. Oh, and as requested, all pictures have been reduced to about 70% of their original size and have been reuploaded to the review !

 

Wish granted. Added to Info Booth and Reviews Index.

 

Thanks E.B.E!

Update for Abula and a few other wanting to know, I received the NZXT Cryo LX this afternoon and I gotta tell you, this thing rocks!

*Warning, NZXT Cryo LX Mini-review, Warning*

I fell in love with the Aluminum material with black metallic finish and sleek design alone and easily compliments the look of the G71GX-RX05. Not only is it a cooler but also has a complementary foru usb hub so you can plug in more devices (haven't used it yet though). Oh, and It's also very portable with you being able to flip it in half so you can put in your bag. It does have some sharp edges but not enough to rip anything or stab you. Pretty much this laptop was made for 17" and 19" laptops and that's what the G71GX-RX05 looks like... even though it says it's a 17, it looks like a 19". In other words, the G71GX-RX05 practically fits snugly all over the cooler itself. Back of the box is true to it's word.

Now inside the box was the cooler itself, a male to male usb cord, a usb to dc cord, and a dc adapter. Going to put this out there right now and say that the usb to dc cord sucks balls. Sorry to be blunt but the usb to dc cord barely moves the fans in the cooler- I don't know if it was meant to be this way to get the "Quiet Fans" label or what but my advice to NZXT is to just not bother including it in the box to save them a few bucks. Now the DC adapter is a different story and I believe it's 5v adapter and was wondering if it would push enough for the fans to at least a better speed than what I experienced before (w/ usb to dc cord). Sure enough the fans were going pretty fast in my opinion and is more than enough for me to enjoy.

With 3 120mm fans, this thing better be pushing some serious air to the laptop and it does! You can even adjust the fan speeds with a nob on the side in case you want it on full blast or qant it to be more quite. Now the NZXT Cryo LX serves two purposes due to all the air circulation it provides- it not only cools the laptop but my lap as well. Over the time period of owning the laptop, I've only tried the laptop on my lap once and man did I start to get really hot to the point of having to take a few layers of clothing off. Thanks to the cooler, I can comfortably have it on my lap with the laptop and cool my legs, the cooler literally acts like an air conditioner for my legs.

It also cools the laptop pretty well by the way. Below are two pics of Furmark running without the cooler and with the cooler. I will tell everyone up front that I personally did not want to run Furmark running for 10 minutes due to the high temps that were starting to scare me. So I stopped it about half way (about 5 minutes) when I started seeing 102 degrees ! Now the second pic of Furmark is so much sweeter and sat around 90 degrees, so the cooler definitely does it's job.

Before Cooler


After Cooler


I also tried to see what the temps looked like after using the cooler for when the computer is on idle and during a heavy load like another Benchmark test of Crysis. Here are the pic below.

Idle Temps with cooler


Heavy Temps with Cooler on Crysis (maxed out settings)


Overall very pleased I made the purchase of the NZXT Cryo LX and would easily recommend it for everyone. The Cryo's vents are perfectly placed for where the heat is coming from the G71GX-RX05 and it keeps the Laptop running a bit cooler than it was prior which is a good thing. I will say that the fans are a bit loud but not as loud as say the Xbox 360's fans are. The fan noise doesn't bother me much though as I use headphones pretty much all the time anyway. I'll also say that there is no off switch and you literally have to unplug it, would have been convenient if it had an on/off button but I'm quite alright unplugging it. With those negatives out the way, Is the price risk ($69.99) really worth the subtle gain of less heat? Absolutely! I was trying to decide on the NZXT Cryo LX and the Zalman NC2000 and I'm pretty glad I choose the Cryo.

Pros:
+ Sleek design
+ Aluminum material with black metallic finish
+ Three 120mm Fans
+ 4 USB hub
+ Portable - Foldable
+ Fits the G71GX-RX05 perfectly with nothing hanging off the sides
+ Keeps laptop 5-10 degrees cooler
+ Cools your legs as well

Cons:
- Fans are a bit loud
- A bit sharp on the sides
- USB to DC cord is worthless
- No on/off button

P.S. Before I got the Cooler I did a temps test, which is a page back in this thread for those who are wondering.

 

Nice mini review of the Cryo, your results pretty good, i only got about 5C out of it in the Futurmark stress, you got 9C, even if no game will push your gpu that high, the lower temps will ensure your computer will last you much more.

Thanks for the running the stress again, i know its scary, but its a good way to see how the cooler works. Your idle temps seems really good aswell.

 

Nice review. Thanks

 

Hmm......I still can't figure out why the G71's don't have a huge temperature improvement when compared to G51 temps.....

 

You have a lot less vents to pull in from what i remember, but overall you do get better temps, but you still have similar 1 fan cooling setup, just imo better design but not by much. I cant run furmark on my g51 on a cooler with those clocks or i would easily pass 100C on it.

 

Yow, those are crazy temperatures. I have different AA (8x versus your 16x), and probably a cooler ambient (pretty chilly 67.5), but, I'm also using a passive Xpad and a fully-volted X9100.

By the way, I see in the first picture the 102C temperatures has funny GPU-Z info (2D clocks and 58C?) I'm wondering what clocks you're using.

EDIT: Never mind. Let me try my nVidia clocks (550/1375/950) and see what happens.

EDIT2: Ran 550/1375/950 for about twelve minutes. Ambient is a rather ominous 66.6F. Again, fully volted X9100, Xpad, 8x AA, and native resolution. I don't think some added holes and lotsa copper would have an almost 20-degree difference...

 

Well he is runing a little hoter than when i had my G71, but not much. Here mine (i just cant do more tests as i dont have it anymore).



Forge your temps are really impresive, i hope i can get close to yours soon . BTW its nice how fast your computer reaches the stabilization temp, my temps with both computers takes a lot of time to reach it, your maybe in a minute or two already steady thru it. (its all about the cooper)

 

You were running your Furmark while also running a burn test? You are a brave man. I should try Furmark and Orthos together sometime.

Also, your ambient is significantly warmer than mine.

 

Great review man, all the things listed that people want to know about the g71!

 

Thanks, I'm trying to upload some vids as well and hope to pop them in this thread soon.

@Forge: I could try another test though in regards to furmark (still new to it). What settings do you want me to try? Post-processing on, 8x AA, what mode (stability off, on, etc)?

 

Try this:
Stability test
1366 x 768
8x AA
no Post-processing
Xtreme Burn Mode on
GPU clocked at 580/1450/870
And make sure to record your ambient temperature

Unless you feel uncomfortable with the heat, try 20 minutes.

 

As requested, got nice temps too. Sadly, those clocks won't work with 3dmark on my g71gx-rx05. Those clocks are not very stable on my other games either but strangly the Sager NP8662 clocks do (very stable actually).
I also did a regular stability test for good measure, still good temps.

Xtreme Burn Mode


Normal Stability Test


I also did another test with Crysis with your clocks Forge and my clocks @1024 X 768 (THE Resolution I game at personally)

Crysis w/ CUDAATS Mod @1024 x 768, averaging about 40 frames (Forge Clocks)


Crysis w/ CUDAATS Mod @1024 x 768, averaging 40+ frames (Sager NP8662 Clocks)


Good frames I know ! I prefer maxing out the eyecandy than a super sharp resolution, it still looks good but runs even better [than a higher resolution could EVER be], a thumbs up in my book !

 

Wow, excellent temperatures on furmark. What was your ambient? I wonder what was making your temperatures so high in your previous test.

 

Probably because...

Post Processing was ON (off in recent test above)
AA was at 16X (8x in recent test above)
Resolution was 1440 x 900 (1366 x 768 in recent test above)
Air Conditioning was OFF, only used cooler (ON in recent test above @ 70 degree w/ also cooler)
FRAPS was ON (was new to FRAPS, had it on constantly, now only for recordings...)

 

Still, you shouldn't be getting 20-degree temp drops. Try without a cooler with "my" settings.


EDIT: Tried some different settings. 1366x768, Xtreme Burning Mode, 16x AA, Post-Processing, CPU at full 1.350 voltage, GPU at 550/1375/950 (I never push my memory over 900, by the way). Ambient was 72F. On top of Xpad.

As usual, climbed to 86C, fan kicked into medium speed, brought be down a degree. Climbed back up to 94C, and then my fan went full spin and brought be back down to 91C. The last half of the run had 91 and 92 duking it out.

 

I also believe I never did a cold boot on my initial first test (remember... was new to furmark), so I had pretty much did Crysis benchmarks before doing Furmark - I'll redo my initial/first furmark tests above to see if things changed.

anyway, Here are two pics without the cooler with your settings as you asked ! One running Xtreme Burn Mode and the othe just a normal stability test.





Unless it's because of the factors in my last post, my computer is "broken in" now, or maybe I have a good gpu that is getting better temps with each test... I have almost no idea why I'm getting great temps now...

P.S. Your last post may be proof of my post in regards to certain settings. Maybe post processing, having 16x AA, and having NP8662 GTX 260m clocks is what bumps the temps?

 

Better than what I got.

I forgot the ambient for when I ran that test, but I think it was about 74 or 75F. Very good temps. Now, imagine what you would get with a mod similar to mine.

Also, remember to post what your ambient temperatures are. The air in your room can greatly affect the machine's internal temperature.

 

I am totally confused, I'm now getting excellent temp with and without a cooler now @ Sager NP8662 clocks, 8x AA, 1440 x 900 (native resolution) - take a look, I'm getting better temps with each test now ...

Ambient Temperature @ 70 degrees:

No cooler-


Cooler-

 

You shouldn't be getting lower temps each try, given that maybe the thermal paste has settle/broken in, it seems never to end, now your getting 80C temps where in the past test were around 100C.... its great but im not sure why. What i don't get is before you getting 9C compared cooler to now cooler, now its a 1C difference. Only thing that i could think that might create something like this (beside a super huge break in paste), would be that although u might be changing the setting on Furmark it might not be really changing some of the settings. Maybe try to run Crysis benchark with the same settings that you had in your Cooler review, and let see if it reached the 86C it or maybe you will see a dramatic temp difference like you see now on furmark.

Either way im amazed by how your G71 is performing.

 

I have a question for you. You don't have a cooler. Do you think your laptop would last 4 years without one?

 

With electronics, specially computer components its extremely hard to predict lifespan, even at stock. I haven't seen any return or problems related with the heat this asus laptops take, but overall there is greater chance it will last longer if it ran cooler, this doesn't mean always, but generally.

 

Abula, I don't want to violate any rules or whatever, but please take a look at the temps for my laptop with a cooler and without a cooler.

Do you agree that the cooler is impeding air flow?

Link is here. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=401345&page=117

 

Sorry for the late post, had to run some errands ...
Anyway, here are the new temps after the Crysis Benchmark with the settings I used for the Cryo Review. I honestly don't know what to say... still have NO CLUE why I'm getting Fantastic temps now . I guess it's a good thing... what the heck happened to my computer to cause this? The cooler? Oh I don't know, aw well...

Ambient Temperature @ 70 degrees:

 

Well again some dramatic temp drops from 72C max now from 86C a couple of days ago, i guess you have the holy grail of G71s .

 

Lol, I know... Good thing the laptop is overall pretty stable and giving me good temps, looks like Best Buy is deserting the model for something else. The G71GX-RX05 is now ONLY an outlet item at Best Buy but at least the price dropped ! Maybe I should edit my review to reflect the change, what do you think Abula?

 

The god of G71s, ROGius, has touched your machine and blessed the GPU with cool temperatures. May you live long and prosper, believer.

Too bad you can't seem to get stable overclocks, though.

By the way, if you want better temperatures, knock your "Sager" memory clock down a bit. Try 550/1375/825, which is a 1/2.5/1.5 ratio. You'll hardly see a difference, and you'll run much cooler.

 

Well i probably wouldn't, maybe i would add stuff so people that read only the first page might see the difference, a lot don't read full threads, but i would leave how it was at the beginning, maybe someone can locate what really happen or duplicate it with their own, but the odds of this happening are slim with the g71 disappearing from Bestbuy selling list.

Btw i think its enough furmarks tests you done, even though your really have amazing temps, there is no reason anymore to continue to stress your laptop, although i have slight feeling that you vaccinated and became inmune to furmark with so many runs lol jk.

I never remember to ask you if you had the dual typing issue that so many had (including mine).

 

I mention in my review that I don't receive the double typing issue, the few who said they had it are either not use to the keyboard on the G71GX-RX05 (User Error) or maybe some G71GX-RX05 had a faulty keyboard (mine and a few others excluded).

I don't plan on doing anymore temp tests now actually... I'm currently putting my efforts in FRAPS/YouTube uploads and More benchmark tests (will do Far Cry 2 soon along with others). Expect those next week !

 

hi guys,

I have a question. can I upgrade the graphic card later when the 300 series come out... or this laptop gc is soldered with the motherboard?

 

No, the only laptops I know of that allow you to upgrade your graphics card is the Sager/Clevo or Alienware laptops. In general, any laptop that uses MXM slots can have their graphics cards upgraded. The Asus laptops use an inverted mxm graphics card slot, so you might have to grab the part from Asus themselves.

 

thanks for your reply da1writer

 

Great Review!!!

Bump, Bump, Bump!!

 

Anyone having freezing/sound stuttering issues with this laptop? I have them when playing movies, only located on my system drive. The drive (It's not the original Seagate which had bad sectors from the very first days, but a brand new Hitachi) has no bad sectors and is defragmented on a regular basis. When I play movies from my external HDD, I do not get stuttering.

I get freezing for 1-10 seconds along with sound stuttering when playing most games. Worst freezing for more than 10 seconds I get with Grid, Dirt2 and Left 4 Dead 2. My hard drive led just stays constantly on while the freezing lasts. When I open the event log I get this error Event 10 WMI message:

Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.

With other games there is minor freezing repeated at even time periods.

The problem dissapears when I disable the onboard realtek sound card. I have reinstalled Vista several times only to see if the problem will disappear but it remained. Installed Win7 a few days ago and the problem is still there.
Have all the drivers updated to the latest versions.

Can it be some kind of malfunctioning of the sound card or other hardware component?

 

how about the memory, mine is detected as 6 GB DDR 2 667. is it true?,
or it's supposed to be 6 GB DDR2 800... how to change the timing setting?

 

Its DDR2 800, but the G71 has a app called Turbogear, that will allow you OC the CPU, when its enabled in the bios it will lower the timings so when you OC via Turbogear it will reach more or less 799, but if you disable the option on the bios it will boot at 800mhz, but you wont be able to OC with the asus software.

 

I am confused as to what the difference between the G71GX-RX05 and the G72GX RBBX05 is.
I understood that the G72GX comes with a different processor but the specs seem to be very much alike in correspondence to the G71GX.
I merely ask this question because I noticed that the Windows Experience Index's are very different from each other.

The G72GX review can be seen here and if you scroll a little lower you will notice the numbers for the WEI.

I might of missed something but it would be great to know what I'm missing out on since I just purchased a G71GX myself. Thanks :]

 

the G71GX has windows vista, the G72GX has windows 7. Windows Vista's WEI maxes at 5.9, whereas windows 7's WEI maxes at 7.9

 

Thanks for noticing that, haha.

+rep for you.

 

I see that G51 has Power4 Gear Hybrid. So I'd like to ask what Power4 Gear Hybrid is. Can I install it for G71