Quick Review: ASUS ROG G751JY

So I picked up a practically brand-new G751JY. Guy was selling it for a steep discount (he'd taken out 8GB of RAM and the SSD, so I put in a 128GB ADATA SSD). Still, in Canada these things retail for $2500 CAD after tax, so the $1500 CAD I paid seemed pretty reasonable.


Specs
Core i7-4710HQ
GTX 980M 4GB
16GB DDR3
128GB SSD
1920x1080 17.3" LG IPS display


Build quality/styling/chassis

This thing looks pretty slick. While looks are definitely a matter of personal preference, I like the aggressive lines, red exhaust grilles, brushed aluminum screen hinge. While the chassis doesn’t feel quite as solid as the Alienware 17 R1, it is much better than most other laptops I’ve ever tried. It is sturdy, with very little flex. There’s almost no flex on the keyboard, and the display hinge and cover are both solid. Pushing down on almost any part of the machine produces almost no give. So thumbs up for a solid build quality. While there is a lot of plastic, it is very sturdy.


Screen/display

The display is a LG LP173WF4-SPD1. And it is a very nice IPS display. In fact, it is probably the only 17.3” non-TN display panel currently available. Very bright, good viewing angles. And get this - it runs by default at 75Hz. I found this out purely by accident - while playing Diablo 3, I had VSync enabled and saw my FPS locked at 75.

It isn’t without its flaws. It probably could use some calibration out-of-the-box, and it has some noticeable light bleed on dark screens. But overall, I’m quite satisfied. Viewing it side-by-side with the AUO B173Hw01 v5 on my Alienware 17 R1, I can’t really say one is much better than the other (besides viewing angles, of course). Maybe I’m just easy to please.

After calibration, I got the following results (using a SpyderExpress4):
sRGB: 92%
NTSC: 69%
AdobeRGB: 72%

So, not the best I've ever tried, but certainly up there.

Keyboard

This is one area where the G751JY loses points. While it features good key travel, good spacing and provides an overall decent typing experience, it is stuck with several irritating flaws and design decisions.

The numlock key has been moved. It is now a shared Function key with the “home” button. The numlock key is now occupied by a ROG Gaming Centre launch key. Which is pretty useless. There are a few macro keys above the F2-F4 keys, which is fine. There is a Steam button which launches Steam right above the F1 key - but it launches Big Picture Mode. And most annoying of all, there is a Shadow Play key on the top left corner, where the “escape” key usually is. The escape key is just below this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to hit escape and wound up hitting Shadow Play.

In addition, the keyboard features red lettering and a three-level red backlight. Even at maximum brightness, the keys are hard to read. And they are almost impossible to read with the backlight off.

That being said, the track pad is nice and big and smooth. The mouse buttons have a satisfying level of travel and a nice click to them.

In the end, the keyboard isn’t bad per se, but certain choices really bring it down. Hard to read, and those stupidly placed Gaming Centre and Shadow Play keys will result in many swear words being uttered.


Heat/noise

This is one area where the G751 just nails it. It remains cool and quiet, even under a Furmark + XTU stress test. The CPU/GPU temps will of course rise, but the chassis/keyboard remain very comfortable. At its hottest, during the Furmark+XTU stress test, the CPU hit 93C and the GPU hit 76C. The hottest recorded point on the keyboard? 34C. The top of the rear heat vents hit a peak of 48C. And the noise was a low hum from the fans - barely noticeable. Say what you will about ASUS, but the cooling system on this machine is top-notch.

Idle
CPU:44
GPU:41

3DMark
CPU: 80
GPU: 72

Diablo 3
CPU: 66
GPU:58

Here's the surface temps of the keyboard (measured at an ambient temperature of 21C. Green = idle, red = load).



Performance

Optimus? What’s Optimus? Ain’t no Optimus here, move along. Not much to say here. A Core i7 with a GTX 980M. Rock solid. And the fact ASUS removed Optimus? Very nice.

3DMark11
P11376

3DMark
Firestrike: 8460

Unigine Valley

The 230W PSU ensures there’s adequate power supplied for the 980M, and thermal throttling is nowhere to be seen (expected, given the very good cooling system).


Conclusion

Overall I’m rather impressed with this machine. Yes, it is using BGA components, and all you can really upgrade are the RAM and HDDs. And yes, it uses a service hatch to access those components, so if you want to access the heatsinks or re-paste the CPU/GPU, you have to do a pretty significant tear-down. In other words, this machine clearly isn’t targeted at enthusiasts or tinkerers. It isn’t a Clevo or an old school Alienware. It is meant to be used as-is.

That being said, as-is turns out to be very good. The screen is very nice (and runs by default at 75Hz, never a bad thing), the build quality very good and sturdy, cooling and noise are outstanding. The performance is right where you’d expect it. Oh yeah, it includes a Blu-Ray drive too.

Compared to other brands, it runs cooler, quieter and provides slightly better performance than the new Alienware 17 R2. It runs cooler and quieter than the Clevo P650SG with the same specs. It also ships with a 230W PSU, unlike the Alienware or Clevo machines, which both ship with a 180W PSU.

Its major downfalls (besides the restrictions on tinkering and upgrading) are two-fold. First, the keyboard. Several useless keys take the place of actual useful keys, and cause you to accidentally open up Shadow Play or the Gaming Centre. And the keyboard lighting/colour make it hard to read. Seriously, either use a brighter red, or go back to white. Alienware laptop keyboards are easier to use/read when using a red backlight.

Second major drawback is ASUS itself. While the laptop comes with a standard one-year warranty and accidental damage protection, actually getting anything fixed is typically a nightmare. Long delays, sending your laptop in for repairs, poor communication...Heck, even Lenovo is now offering on-site warranty service, similar to Dell/Alienware. And to boot, Lenovo’s extended warranty is CHEAP. You can get an extended one-year on-site warranty with accidental damage protection for less than $100. Upgrading the Lenovo standard one-year warranty to on-site service costs less than $20. So cheap. This laptop is also notorious for poor quality control, meaning you may have to buy/return several machines before getting one without defects.

Speaking of defects... I was lucky, and didn’t notice any issues. But the G751 is known to have the following (rather rampant) defects:

1. Light bleed
2. Wifi connectivity issues
3. Sound issues (apparently fixed with a new Realtek driver) that caused all sounds to come from the subwoofer, with the speakers being practically mute
4. Like all past ROG laptops, the two left USB ports are apparently tied to a sister board, and not directly to the motherboard. They are known to drop the USB connection randomly, which is irritating when you are transferring large files.

So, I would recommend you buy this laptop from a local store and get an extended/premium warranty directly with the store. Do yourself a favour and don’t ever deal with ASUS support.

In the end, if you can get a model without any issues (and an extended warranty from a local store), this is a very good laptop for the price. The performance/specs is better than almost any other laptop at this price, and the build quality is second only to Alienware. But I can’t say I’d recommend buying this online with just the default ASUS warranty - ASUS quality control is just awful, as is their support.

 

Updated the display section.

 

I had this laptop for 2 days and returned it right away!

My super summarized verdict:

Good:

- Best laptop screen I ever looked at, simply impressive! Vibrant colors, good viewing angles
- Great cooling, even compared to my Alienware 18, it idles at 45C and max load @ 75C in my air conditioned room
- Nice design (the chassis I mean)

Bad:

- Screen bleeding

- If you open the back panel to upgrade the HDD/SSD, the left one where the M2 SSD is fitted is a SATA 3 port but the right one is a SATA 2 port, who on earth at this day and age thought it's ok to put a SATA 2 port??? no excuse for this stupid decision, limits your upgradeability as any SSD you'd put there would run at much lower performance. You can however connect the 2nd SSD also to the left port and place it under the M2 SSD but still. no excuse for putting a SATA 2 port in a flagship gaming laptop that costs a lot

- Worst audio quality I have ever heard on a gaming laptop even with the new driver and a clean install of Windows. ASUS was known for awesome sound back in the old days of the G73Sw where they used creative sound card / speakers they had proper bass, now it's just a joke

- Left port USB problem in all recent gaming laptops from ASUS (G75VW, G750JX, G751JY), just try connecting an external USB 3.0 HDD to the left ports then do a lot of large file transfers and watch your PC do a hard freeze (no error message or anything, just freezes). This issue is all over their forums:

- G751JT USB Problems | change to Alienware?

- G751JY USB external Harddrive problem

- G751 - Problem with USB3.0 ports (left side) and external HD... anyone else?