Ryzeki's Asus G51J-A1 review

I can second Ryzeki's position of never having a problem with my G51J...I've had for two weeks now and have been playing Batman AA, Wow, Guild Wars, CS:Source, Medieval 2 Total War, and the Crysis Demo without a single BSOD. Wow and Guild Wars have both been on upwards of 5 hrs at full settings, and the highest my gpu has gotten so far is 83C, which was while playing Batman for about an hour and a half. I bought mine from Xotic, and have not had an issue....could it be the first shipment may have been just a bad batch?

 

Source games (CS:S, TFT2) and GW run stable on my affected machine as well mine's in for a broken THRM sensor, and since i don't know how else they'll fix it other than a new motherboard, i'll copy over my image of win7 after i get it back (hopefully some time soon, was told 24hr turn-around given available parts). didn't write down the serial number for it (crossed my mind too late), but ill have a look-see if there's a manufacturing date.

my first guess was BIOS, but as of now it really is looking like a bad first batch.

 

I dont know. I just ordered from GentechPC now. Or, waiting for my friend to place the order, but I've confirmed that I want the G51J-A1. So I hope I'm lucky to get a good one =)

Also, Ken Lee over at GentechPC offered to check my laptop before shipping it out, so thats great. Not that I know what happens if a BSoD shows up, but at least I'll know that it works. =)

 

Great! Hope you enjoy your machine! Don't worry, GentechPC will take good care of your investment.

Whatever problem you have, we will also help you here at the forums!

Well, I also have been playing a lot of Borderlands and even the first Modern Warfare works so maybe it was indeed a bad batch.

Hope you can get back your machine soon and that your BSOD issue is worked soon enough!

Thanks mate! It's good to also hear from the great experiences. I don't think it was the first shipment, because mine and my friend's are the very first shipment and both work well. Perhaps it was a group of laptops among the first or second shipment.


On another note: Man I am loving Borderlands. I thought I wouldn't like it much because I didn't particularly liked Fallout 3 and I had heard they were a bit similar, but boy was Borderlands a pleasant surprise.

 

Ryzeki, I recall you talking about how to optimize the display/contrast by playing around with the nvidia panel, but I can't find your post. Would you mind reposting what you use?

 

UPS truck just came by and I had to decide quick whether to refuse delivery or accept it. Since I did not have a comfortable feeling with it at this point in time, I just refused it. You don't know how hard that was to do. It took will power to fight the urge to get this laptop in my hands to check it out... but alas, I did not give in. Asus should verify with owners on the forum directly that they have been able to replicate the problem and are working on a fix or replacement solution. Without that iron clad guarantee at this point in time I did not want to waste my $1517.xx and be half happy or not happy at all. So I will wait it out and see how this issue progresses.

Enjoy your super laptops everyone! I feel bad now, but hopefully will one day get another super powerful laptop without bugs in the near futurel... maybe at a little more cost if I go with some other brand. FYI, I already own a nice ASUS M50SV-A1 laptop and it has held up well. It has developed a very small hair line crack at the bottom of its LCD glass somehow but it does not affect anything (yet!). So I will live with this laptop until I decide which powerhouse laptop next to get. Good Luck all. If ASUS fixes it soon, I will re-order the G51J-A1 maybe even go for the 3D model! wow!

 

I can imagine how hard it is, but it was still a good choice. Don't worry I am sure the whole G51J issues will be fixed and you can always go for another brand too.

You can also order from one of the resellers such as Gentech PC so that they can test the machine prior to send it to guarantee it is BSOD free. I can vouch for them and their excellent service.

And I also had an Asus M50sv ! I had the B1 though, and it worked so great for me for the past years. It was actually my first Asus laptop, then I went for the G50vt, then G51vx-RX05, then G51vx-A1 and now the G51J-A1.

Yeah, on the desktop, right click and select nvidia control panel. Select advanced settings in case you haven't configured it yet. Then go to the left drop down menu and click on "Adjust desktop color settings"

Select "use Nvidia settings" and put brightness on 45%, contrast on 58%, gamma on 0.95 and digital vibrance on 26%.

Those are the settings I use and I think they look extremely well. Try them out!

 

Ah yes. thank you very much

Just curious, i know nothing about colour balance or anything like that, but how come we don't want contrast at 100%?

 

Contrast at 100% would render some gray colors complete black, and making all colors particularly strong. Different shades of black or any other color would all become the same, giving certain images look like complete shadows or weird look. The opposite goes for 0% where colors become so faded they become white-grayish.

You can adjust as you wish though. Move the bars until the image pleases you. I suggest you to put the nvidia panel on a small window and then open a picture you like, and adjust until the picture looks good.

 

Would be nice if someone could get a spyder and do a proper calibration profile
This monitor is the worse on my desk and impossible to get to same colors as the other ones.
Led backlight my as

 

couldn't wait, HAD to buy one. I ordered from GentechPC, and Ken Lee was kind enough to help me through all the processes including ebay bing cashback
idk, i gotta see the ACTUAL laptop, but so far so good. I'll see if it has BSoD or not (hope not.... )
Hey ryzeki, i heard you bought the laptop with ic diamond. does it really help?

 

Well, it is not a high end monitor by any means lol, it is just your averge screen with high res. Led backlit in this case is just backlight, not RGBLed with amazing colors or anything. The screen is not superb or high quality but it is functional and looks decent enough. I don't have any problems with color reproduction. Though yeah, it can't match any of the higher end screens whatsoever.

Great to hear! I hope you enjoy this beast as much as I am! GentechPC is your best bet, and I am sure you will be fine.

I did ordered the IC diamond, and it does help, but the machine still runs on the hot side. IC is not a necessity but it does improve a bit the temps. Don't worry, you will be fine.

 

Thx, looks like I'll actually give Dell a try since G51j is currently backordered at xoticpc which seems to be the only one to ship internationally...
But since throttling issue is not resolved yet, I may return it in case that I'll suffer from this problem. Then Asus will be the 1st one on my list.

Anyway thank you for very informative post, I'm quite surprised about high quality of asus laptops, since here in czech republic it's generaly considered as a low-level to mainstream laptop with mediocre quality (but it's clearly influenced by the fact that asus doesn't offer much of their high-end laptops here).

 

all right! what GPU driver would you recommend? did you just use the driver CD that came with the laptop?

 

You are welcome.

So the Dell it is huh? Good! I hope you enjoy your new laptop! It is always exciting to get a new machine haha.

Regarding build quality and Asus; the problem is that, as with all brands, Asus has a wide variety of latops from budget low end to higher end machines. It is usually the budget lines that get to the masses for mostly obvious reasons and those tend to have average quality in all areas.

There are some series of laptops with amazing quality and so far I have owned over 4 Asus laptops, all on the mid high end budget and all with great build quality, specially this G51J feels quite sturdy.

I am currently using the 186.82 WQHL drivers from nvidia site for laptops, and quite frankly they are working perfectly. They perfom faster than the stock ones, and I haven't had issues with any games yet. The stock ones worked well but I felt I could get a little extra performance, and I did hehe.

 

i finally get my g51j next week on tue after ordering it 11/20 on xoticpc this has been the hardest wait in my life TT.TT but glad it's paying off looks like i'll be able to enjoy a month of it since college is out XD

 

I've been using the new 195.62 WHQL drivers. I used the 186.82 driver for a bit, but the GPU was running hot. The new drivers seem to have dropped my GPU temp max by several degrees, and when the fan kicks on the temp goes down pretty quickly, while the fan would only hold it at whatever temp it reached with the previous version.

 

Are they stable with all games? I might consider them if they give me a boost in performance.

Thanks for the notice, I think I will try them out later.

 

Congrats man, and yeah, waiting is so hard. I preordered mine and I was waiting so impatiently, looking everyday at the tracking number haha.

But you will be able to enjoy it since you will have free time! When I got mine I was on mid terms or something haha.

 

I will have to stay one day extra here in South-Korea just to get mine! ^^
Got a friend from usa bringing it over. Looking forward to it! =D

 

Alright! That is good news. Hope you enjoy it and that it is problem free for you!

 

I wish the G51j had the G51x-rx05's white lid design because I personally don't like it's blue non symmetrical design. If it did, I probably would have pushed my budget and gotten the G51j. It doesn't look slick..but rather messy like a random skin..it's the kind of design that some people will like while other's won't. Plus it hides half the 'Asus' logo with the white. Whereas the white design, I think more people would like it. As picky as I may be, just like a car, you want it to look good when you spend a lot of money. That's my opinion anyway..

 

Yeah I know what you mean, but as an owner of all the G51 with different back panels, I have to say the black alien one, and this one look much better in person than on pictures. On the contrary too, the white lid looks much better on picture than the actual thing because the design looks too cartoony instead of the more mechanical look it has when you look at it.

Overall I like all of them, but the white lid does have a better look with the overall look of the machine. This blue/purple one is much more sublte in real life so it actually doesn't look that bad.

Additionally I like the white sidelights on both the white lid and this G51J lid. I didn't like the blue sidelights haha.

 

I've read some people who say this thing is closer to 10 lbs than 7?

Also, I haven't seen any pics of the power brick, but have read that it's just that...a brick?

 

You're not going to get a 120watt power supply in a thin and light package, thats for sure. This power supply is indeed brick size, but in width and length only: height is about a third. As for weight: I'd say its slightly heavy but not overly, maybe a fifth of an actual brick.

This notebook needs some power so you should expect its power supply to be bulky and well made. It is. Don't have time to take a pic right now, but you can find one on newegg.com as its sold there. There was a thread yesterday about it in the main asus section of these forums.

The notebook, with battery installed, is just over 7 lbs.

 

Thanks; that's reassuring. I expect a big power supply; just wondering how big it really is (I'll check out Newegg).

 

It was just as you said ryzeki the creative drivers were the culprit to my problems now the system's running fine..
although dust gets trapped in the speaker area really easily from my observations

 

Glad I could help! Yeah I noticed that too. When I first got the machine I liked how it looked, but seeing now that dust is easily trapped, I think I would have preffered another type of speaker cover haha.

Well, at least I got lots of compressed air.

 

hey Ryzeki, I ordered from GentechPC also, you think I'll get Batman with it?

 

I don't know for how long the Batman AA deal was for, but I will check for you

It will have to wait until monday though

Awesome game btw.

 

Alright...brand new to the forum here, and prepping to ask a classic noob question. I am also wearing my flame resistant gear so bring it...but anywho?

FIRST OFF: Great Review!

I am looking to consolidate a ~3 year old budget gaming desktop and a ~3 year old business laptop into one machine. One that can do it all. I currently play ZERO games on the computer, but I would be interested in jumping back on the horse and giving my PS3 a rest. I'll be honest I most likely would only play RPGs on the computer and while I really like graphics, I am more intersted in gameplay. If I buy this up I will probably get Dragon Age Origins and then opt for Guild Wars 2 when it ever launches.

My real question is...is this the laptop for me? Should I opt for something more/less powerful? Is there something on the horizon that will blow the doors off this for a similar price? I was considering the HP dv6/7 series laptops, however the 230m GPU was the question mark there?

 

if you plan on playing DA:O you'll want the power of the 260m.

 

Thanks for reading and welcome to the board! This machine is the current best value for money, considering the specs it packs and the extras such as the warranty and accesories.

Dragon Age is demanding, and you will be gaming alright with the 260M in this Asus G51J. The 230M is a good card, but it is about half the power or less, than the 260M which would mean that maybe Guild Wars 2 won't even play decently.

I think that this laptop is for you. Or any of the G51 variants really. Any other more powerful laptop will cost extra $$ and won't deliver that much performance increase, unless it is a SLI/Crossfire monster (That costs quite more money..).

Dragon Age plays rather well on max settings at 1920x1080 on this rig.

Yep, you are quite correct!

 

There are only a few things that have turned me off about this rig.

1.) LCD screen has received bad reviews
2.) Limited battery life limits mobility (not a dealbreaker, but more of a nice to have)
3.) No integrated blu-ray in the base model. Not for watching blu-rays (for backing up blu-rays)
4.) Heating issues with the laptop.
5.) No Raid
EDIT: 6.) downclocked 260m GTX

Any opinions on the above mentions?

Loving everything else.

 

1.: Yep bad lcd but can live with it .. Got 3 more pc and 22" displays.

2.: Gaming/desktop replacement class, can't expect more. Got netbook for on the go for the street/coffee place. And If I really want can get 120/240 anywhere just have to carry the charger.

3.: Most integrated ones are readers only, and watching blueray .. meh
for that need 42"+ lcd screen and then can afford a blueray player under it with the 7.1 soundsystem.
If you mean using 25/50Gb blueray to backup by burner, it's way too expensive way.

25pack 25Gb br = 100$ , about = 625Gb
1.5Tb wd hdd = 100$
Just buy hdd-s and keep 1 on shelf.

4.: My room is cold got 3 pc running for heat not much hoter then my lv r700 was but a lot faster, and even my msi wind netbook runs hot ^^

5.: Win7 is software raid capable.

 

1)Well, you have awesome specs for the price. The screen is functional, it is not horrible. It has your average notebook (best buy models) screen viewing angles and WLED instead of RGBLED so you get stupidly bright screen making blacks look gray on partially iluminated rooms. Looks good on well lit rooms.

2) Well, this is not mobile laptop, this is a desktop replacement. The best you can do with these machines is get like 3 hours with the big batteries, regardless of brand. get a 9 cell and enjoy 30 more mins

3)Blu-ray player only costs around 100dlrs from the base model. If you are going to spend 1400dlrs on a machine, 100dlrs more is not that much (I know, I got bluray ).

4)It is not a heating "issue" as it doesn't cause problems. It gets hot, but not to the point that it stops working, shutdowns etc etc. Now that it is winter, my top temp is about 82 C after playing 4 League of Legends games and Torchlight for a while.

5)This is a con indeed. I wanted to try RAID but to be honest, a single SSD drive is much much better than a RAID setup of two conventional 7200rpm notebook drives. If you are going for SSD RAID, then what the hell are you buying a G51J for? RAID SSD costs quite alot already

I would say that the only real negatives of this machine would be the viewing angles of the screen, and the current BSOD on 2 games. Other than that it is perfectly balanced and an awesome machine!

 

man i just got this rite now in the mail and have to say lcd doesn't look bad at all and the laptop is light to me compared to my sis 17" laptop

 

Congrats on your new laptop!

Yeah the LCD is alright. Sure there are much better LCDs out there but this one is good enough! I don't mind it one bit.

 

you lucky bum! I see you got yours a day early. I still get mine tomorrow, but I can't complain since the original estimate before I bought it was the 24th.

 

lol for some reason every time i get something by ups it arrives a day early and with no damage ever to the box

 

Getting mine today

 

nice have fun

 

I have 2 questions:
1. Do they include Win7 installation CD? In case I got those BSoD problems that forcing me I have to go back XP.

2. About the price; I unfortunately haven't been able to get any decent price in Indonesian online store (checked a couple, they have similar price). While you guys in US can get this for US$1400~1500. Most online store in Indonesia list the price around US$1850, which is, almost no difference than G51VX price.
Now I'm wondering from which store should I buy this from? (the one that can handle shipping to Jakarta, Indonesia). US$300 is quite a big difference, even if you can get taxed there.

 

1) Yes comes with the ASUS Win 7 CD
2) No idea about this one.

 

Got mine! Absolutely love it! I'm comparing it to my xps m1330 which cost me almost $1000 more two years ago, but I was immediately impressed by the build quality. Sure, it's all plastic, but everything fits together so perfectly. No nasty seams. No sharp edges. No messy paintwork. No dents. No scratches. Just beautiful.

The screen...worlds better than the xps. It does wash out when viewed from an angle, but i cant stand looking at a screen off-center anyway, so thats not an issue for me. Ditto for the keyboard; anyone who complains about the keyboard must be used to some HIGH quality keyboards 'cause this one feels great. There's a tiny bit of flex around the middle keys, but not nearly enough for me to notice.

I think I can sum up my initial impression with this praise: my wife, who doesn't give a hoot about my sweet tooth for gadgets LOVES it as well. She said "oh yeah, I could use this!" Sorry babe

Now, I need some help. I'm in the process of cleaning out the gunk and repartitioning the drives before I start loading my stuff on (I don't want to go through a clean install yet if I don't have to). So...

1. What is in the unlettered 14.x gb partition on the main HDD? Is that the Expressgate partition?

2. I don't like to see desktop icons. Of course, I can just delete them all, but for now, I'd rather just hide them. However, when I right-click on the desktop and choose to hide the icons, they always reAppear when I restart the system. Clearly, something is overriding my Windows settings.

That's it for now, but I'm sure I'll have more questions as I delve deeper into this machine. Speaking of which, would it be better to post questions in the g51 owners' lounge? It seems like that one caters to all g51 models, whereas this thread is clearly g51j specific.

 

1. I believe it's the Recovery Partition which includes Expressgate.

2. You're UNchecking the "Show Desktop Icons"? The only thing I'd suggest is go to Personalize and click Change desktop icons; unchecking them there one by one is persistent through reboots.

 

For the guys that have a problem with the heat output the fan is esentially hooked up to 2 heatsinks that go to the gpu and the cpu so of course its going to get hot just dont obstruct the heat vent and you'll be fine and keep your thigh away from the left end..

 

So it's a complete recovery partition? On my xps, Dell included a 3gb partition for its quick-boot software; I was wondering why Asus made theirs 14gb! I'd rather just delete it and keep a recovery image elsewhere.

And yes, I was unchecking "show desktop icons." I'll try the other technique you reccomend. I hadn't checked the settings there, but maybe something is checked that's causing them to keep popping up.

 

So, what are the paritions on the Asus set up like?

 

My G51vx-rx05 has poor viewing angles. Do you G51j owners with the 1080p screen have the same?

Here's an example