ASUS G50Vt-X1 Review

by Kevin O'Brien

The ASUS G50Vt-X1 is an "affordable" gaming notebook available through BestBuy for a low price of $1,249. Priced and configured to compete against other popular notebooks such as the Gateway FX series of notebooks, ASUS is taking aim at this new market segment. Once reserved for notebooks cost well over $2,000, we are seeing more and more companies try to get as low as possible in this slow economy. In this review we see how well the ASUS G50V does in the latest games such as Left 4 Dead and find out if it deserves a place at your next LAN party.

ASUS G50Vt-X1 Specifications:

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 cache)
• NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS with 512MB of GDDR3 discrete video memory
• 15.6” WXGA Glossy LCD (1366x768)
• Genuine Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit) SP1
• 4GB (4096MB) DDR2 Memory (2 x 2048MB modules)
• 320GB 7200RPM Seagate HD
• 8x Multi-Format Dual Layer DVDRW with LightScribeTechnology
• Integrated 1.3 Megapixel Web Cam
• 6-Cell 11.1v 4800mAh battery, 120w power supply
• Size: 15.4" x 10.5 x 1.4-1.7"
• Weight: 7lbs 1oz
• Warranty: 1 Year

Build and Design

The ASUS G50Vt-X1 is designed with gamers in mind, having a extravagant lid graphics and LED accents. The LEDs can be setup through software to blind in various patterns or even give an indication of system activity. The exterior shell has a glossy black finish with blue graphic overlays, while the brighter silver finish. Touch sensitive media buttons are outlined by blue LED’s underneath the LCD paired up with a cool OLED mini-display. Blue LED’s are also used to outline the touchpad, almost reaching the critical level of too many blue lights around the notebook.

Build quality is above average, with generous use of thick plastic. The body and screen lid feel tough and resist flexing when carrying the notebook around. Pressing firmly on the back of the display doesn’t produce any ripples, keeping the screen safe even when being tossed around in transit. The painted surfaces don’t seem as scratch resistant as the HP Imprint or Toshiba Fusion finishes, but it did hold up well during our review.

For gamers interested in upgrading components inside the notebook, they will be glad to know that all serviceable part are easily accessed through a single panel on the bottom. This exposes the processor, video card, RAM, wireless card, and hard drive. While a "warranty void if removed" sticker is on display, it is only for the processor and video card heatsink assembly.

Display

The 15.6-inch display borders on average to below average for a gaming rig, with poor contrast and very limited viewing angles. Playing Left 4 Dead in dark scenes left me cranking the brightness inside the menu to see anything going on. The viewing angle sweet spot was so narrow that even at the perfect screen tilt, either the top was starting to wash out or the bottom started to invert. With the screen being the most important part of any gaming rig, so you can work with teammates or kill opponents before they kill you, this is a big downside.

Contrast and black levels were also lacking, with black showing up as a washed out grey. Colors were decent when you were in the viewing angle sweet spot, but quickly inverted if you tilted the screen forward or back. Horizontal viewing angles were better, staying true to steeper angles.

Mini Display

The ASUS G50Vt also offers a mini display to show memory or processor usage, as well as showing email or instant messages as they come in. This helps you keep on top of things at work, even if you are in an empty conference room gaming away. The display color is a blue-green with a fixed brightness. It was easy to read, but it could have been slightly larger.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The full-size keyboard on the ASUS G50Vt was comfortable to type on and also gave you a full numpad off to the side. With the extended width of the 16:9 display, many manufacturers are taking use of the added space to cramp very large keyboards. Key spacing was excellent and it took very little time to adapt to the layout coming from my ThinkPad. The typing surface is a glossy textured surface, giving the keys a nice smooth feel with just a bit of traction to keep your fingertips in the right spot. Individual key action is smooth with a soft click when fully pressed. It wasn’t the quietest keyboard we have ever reviewed, but as long as you don’t hammer on the keys in a classroom you should be unnoticed in a quiet area.

The Synaptics-based touchpad is fairly large, and centered under the letter portion of the keyboard. It has a matte finish which is easy to slide around on and worked well for mild gaming on the notebook (usually I fight by external mouse). The sensitivity was great, making precise moves in games easy. The touchpad buttons are large, but don’t give that much tactile feedback. Each button has a shallow throw and gives an audible click when pressed.

Performance

Gaming was a breeze with 4GB of system memory, an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor, and above all else an NVIDIA 9800M GS graphics card. Games like Left 4 Dead or Half-Life 2: Episode 2 played at very high framerates. Left 4 Dead on the highest settings stayed between 70-80FPS during most scenes, only dipping to the mid 30’s under a heavy flood of zombies. HL2:EP2 was even better, staying above 100FPS under most sections, dipping to the low 70’s in active areas. Under normal activity such as typing a document or browsing the web, the ASUS G50Vt had no problem keeping up. Little lag was seen outside of game loading with the 7200RPM hard drive, which also helped with fast boot and shutdown times.

Synthetic benchmark scores were very good, although not as high as the Gateway P-7811FX. This was the case even when overclocking the G50Vt, which only marginally improved scores and performance.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, this processor benchmark program is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, it measures the amount of time to run a set amount of calculations.

wPrime comparison results (lower scores means better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
ASUS G50Vt-X1 (Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz)	34.008s
ASUS G50Vt-X1 (Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.50GHz)	31.434s
Gateway P-7811 FX (Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz)	33.366s
HP Pavilion HDX18 (Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz)	27.416s
Acer Aspire 6920 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.0GHz)	44.457s
HP Pavilion HDX (2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9500, Windows Vista 64)	28.978s
Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz)	34.628s
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)	39.745s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	40.759s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
ASUS G50Vt-X1 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS 512MB)	5,924 PCMarks
ASUS G50Vt-X1 (2.50GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS 512MB)	6,172 PCMarks
Gateway P-7811 FX (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9800M GTS 512MB)	6,815 PCMarks
HP Pavilion HDX18 (2.8GHz Intel T9600, Nvidia 9600M GT 512MB)	6,587 PCMarks
Acer Aspire 6920 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	4,179 PCMarks
HP Pavilion HDX (2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9500, Nvidia Go 8800M GTS 512MB)	6,921 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB)	5,173 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	3,994 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results:

3DMark06 represents the overall graphics performance of a notebook. (Higher numbers indicate better performance.)

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
ASUS G50Vt-X1 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS 512MB)	8,395 3DMarks
ASUS G50Vt-X1 (2.50GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS 512MB)	8,823 3DMarks
Gateway P-7811 FX (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9800M GTS 512MB)	9,355 3DMarks
HP Pavilion HDX18 (2.8GHz Intel T9600, Nvidia 9600M GT 512MB)	4,127 3DMarks
HP Pavilion HDX (2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9500, Nvidia Go 8800M GTS 512MB)	8,791 3DMarks
HP Pavilion HDX (2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB)	4,205 3DMarks
Gateway P-171XL FX (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900, NVIDIA Go 8800M GTS)	8,801 3DMarks
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT)	3,775 3DMarks
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT)	2,934 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1720 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT)	2,930 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,329 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	532 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66 Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	794 3DMarks

HDtune results:

Ports and Features

The G50Vt has a good layout of ports, offering four USB ports, an eSATA connection, LAN, HDMI and VGA, Firewire, and digital/analog audio hookups. It also featured a ExpressCard/54 slot and 8-in-1 card reader. A TV antenna hookup was also present on the side, but our model was not equipped with an internal tuner to make use of it.

Front: Wireless On/Off

Rear: Kensington lock slot, one USB, LAN, AC-Power

Left: VGA, System Vent, one USB, Antenna, eSATA, HDMI, ExpressCard/54, 8-in-1 card reader

Right: Audio hookups, two USB, Optical drive

Speakers and Audio

The Altec Lansing speakers sounded average, with weak bass and midrange, but adequate volume levels. For gaming the audio is fine for knowing when enemies are approaching, but the channel separation was not that good for knowing which direction they were coming from. I would have liked to see larger speakers, similar to what Toshiba uses on the A305 series notebook.

For most gaming I highly recommend a good pair of headphones, which let you hear the quieter footsteps of enemies around you. Another added benefit is the louder volume levels and the "private" gaming capabilities where you can stealthy slaughter zombies even in a quiet lecture hall.

Heat and Noise

Under heavy to moderate activity the palmrest and keyboard warm up quite a bit. Compared to other notebooks with G50Vt does run on the warm side. Fan noise was noticeable under light activity, with a steady breeze of warm air felt on your leg with it on your lap. Under heavy activity the temperature of the system exhaust increased greatly making it uncomfortable if not resting on a desk surface.

Battery Life

With the screen brightness set to 60 percent, wireless active, and the Vista power profile set to "Balanced" the ASUS G50Vt managed 2 hours and 19 minutes on the 6-cell battery. While most gaming rigs do poorly on these types of test given the substantial power draw of the highend graphics card, some include a larger battery to overcome this. The Gateway P-7811 FX used a larger 9-cell battery and even with a 17" WUXGA screen managed 3 hours and 10 minutes.

Conclusion

The ASUS G50Vt was designed to handle the latest games while also staying at a price point that the average person can afford. In that respect, the G50Vt meets or exceeds expectations. Handling Left 4 Dead at 40-70FPS and HL2:Episode 2 at 70-100+FPS the G50Vt kept the action moving smoothly without much lag. The display quality was average and poor contrast made it difficult to view darker detail in poorly lit areas of games. The notebook also ran on the warm side, which for a gaming rig can sometimes be expected. Overall the price of $1,249 and great performance make the ASUS G50Vt-X1 good deal, but better performing notebooks do exist in this price range.

Pros:

• Great performance with the NVIDIA 9800M GS graphics card
• Lots of flashing lights (although this could be a con depending on the person)
• Mini OLED screen handy for staying up-to-date while gaming

Cons:

• Cooling system could be better
• Display not a good match for a gaming rig

 

Nice notebook(and review),but the screen?C'on,it is 2008/9

IMO,who won't pay 100$ more for this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220403 ?

 

Does anyone know if the G50VT-X2 on Newegg has the same screen issues as the G50VT-X1 just reviewed?

 

**** the screen is a big no-no i was thinking about getting this

 

Chances are it will be different, but who knows. Some people who buy the G50Vt might find a better quality screen depending on if ASUS uses multiple suppliers.

 

I find the color scheme on this model more pleasing than the black and orange scheme on the other G50 models myself. Too bad I can't get those higher end models in this model's case color.

 

Nice review, pretty much sums up the experience that I have had myself with mine. The screen really does need to be atleast 1440x900 or higher. I think even the $500 Acer with the same screen setting next to it in the store had better viewing angles than Asus's.

Another small annoyance I have noticed is that when it is sleeping, the entire lid pulses. Other than that, the machine is actually excellent quality, much more than the Gateway P-FX series, and runs XP Pro like a dream.

 

sounds like Asus cheaped out big time to offer this laptop as such price...the fact the finish is not of a higher quality as other makes me walk away and the screen. well what you gonna do when you must meet a certain price criteria...but i am sure people buying this notebook in best buy wont even notice any of the things mentioned in this review, to them a notebook is a notebook

Asus needs to improve their quality in general, after looking at those gold models in BB and black/gold scheme, keyboard flex was so bad i just walked out

 

HOnestly, I have yet to see a notebook sold at a retailer that does NOT suffer from this exact same problem with the screen. Let's face it guys, to be able to have an affordable gaming notebook that used to cost twice as much even 3 years ago they need to cut some corners. This sucks, and maybe they should offer a higher end screen as an option, but these prices are ridiculous compared to what they used to be.

I noticed this right away with my new toshiba p300. Thinking it was a defective screen, I went to staples and bestbuy. I found virtually all the 15" and 17" screens had the same problem, some worse. Except for the fact that it is dimmer, my older M60 has a much nicer screen with good viewing angles. And it also cost over twice what I paid for my P300. That's life.

 

Is the 9800m GS better than a 9700m GTS?

 

Yes. It has a 256-bit memory bus, while the 9700 GTS is 128-bit. The GS is supposed to be a downclocked 9800 GTS.

 

Nice review, and decent notebook. When I first saw it, the 16:9 low resolution screen was a huge downer, and to see it suffers from such quality issues, just ruins the notebook. And a bigger battery should have been made an option. Alas, they had to cut corners somewhere, and for an affordable, portable, gaming notebook, it's pretty decent. But if I were in the market for a new notebook, I would be willing to pay extra for a better screen.

 

wow a notebook like this would even make a 7811fx owner shiver but ill keep my screen though

 

This is incorrect.

The 9700M GTS uses a 256-bit memory bus and has 48 shaders. It's based off the desktop 9600 GT.

The 9700M GT in the G50s on NewEgg is pretty unexciting; I actually reviewed one of these for another site and was disappointed with it.

 

the screen is ....

 

yes, 48 shaders vs 64 shaders
btw: nice review, as you have mentioned in your conclusion there exist better performance machines in the price range. how come I'm not aware of any that is of same performance, 15-16in at this price point. please enlighten me

 

This is a very attractive notebook. Now the question is, when do I upgrade? I was going to hold out for another year, but these prices are starting to become unreal.

If this drops by another $100, I think I will buy it.

 

It is a very good review, but I think the screen issue is over exaggerated. Altho it does have rather poor viewing angles, you will be rarely playing or using it at weird angles yourself. Also, I am not sure how they measure the contrast and black levels but in my screen I see from deep blacks to bright whites. Actually the contrast on the machine is better than my previous Asus M50 and on par with most notebooks. In fact, I think contrast is good, but the issue itself are the bad viewing angles, however you will rarely NOT be on the sweet spot of the machine, which is what matters.

Resolution indeed is low, but somehow it did grew on me, maybe because the screen is a bit bigger and wider so it doesn't affect me much. For me the low resolution was actually a plus, as I am able to play all games at native res without any problems.

It is an average, decent screen for the price of the machine. Which I might add I got it for $1,099dlrs.

Build quality is amazing, very sturdy, strong frame. definetly way above average.

and lastly, about heat.... the way this computer handles heat is quite amazing. It is packed with a high end graphics card, and an OC able processor and manages very decent temperatures. In fact it is much cooler than my traditional 15.4 laptop with Nvidia 8600GT. Webs surfing/Idle temps get as low as 28C for the processor, 48C for the GPU and 30C+ for the HDD.

I believe this is an absolutely amazing deal for the price, specially i you can get it on sale for 1099dlrs. It delivers great gaming performance and great specs.

I am, however, puzzled with your conclusion regarding better notebooks for the price... I don't think that there are that many better deals at all for the price. better performing machines cost at least 100dlrs more, and you don't get that really of an increase in performance, just better viewing angles and res.

 

Good review!

This notebook is almost perfect! Hot performance (thanks to the 9800m GS), a true 16:9 ratio screen, and style to match!

Unfortunately, despite the 16:9 screen, I am very disappointed in it. 1366x768?! Are you kidding me?! My 4:3 Dell 1500FP LCD from 1998 is 1024x768!! What was Asus thinking when they decided on such a low resolution?? That, and that LCD does look terrible from the pics.....

The heat and noise don't really bother me much; my nw8440's fan is on virtually 100% of the time, and the CPU idles in the low to mid 50s, going as high as the mid 80s under loads.

Throw in a better, higher-res screen and the G50V could be a real winner! (I'm guessing you can configure a G50V with such a screen, but I don't know for sure)

 

Unfortunately, Asus doesn't let you configure their notebooks at least in the U.S. There are SKUs of the G50 with 1680x1050 screens. I think this Best Buy exclusive model is the only one with a 1366x768 screen.

 

I'd buy this one over G50VT-X2... Just switch out the LCD myself afterwards... The blue silver is just too much better looking than the orange black..

 

Its nice and powerful but the lights really put me off...a bit too flashy IMO.

 

Is it possible to swap the screen out. Anybody do this with the other G series laptops from Asus? Got a good 1600x1050 screen suggestion?

 

You could try do it, but it's not guaranteed unless the data cable is identical to the G50Vt-A1/A2. One of the best 15.4" 1680x1050 screens I've used is the CMO N154Z1-L02. It's the same one used in the Asus C90S and G1S.

Make sure you check out the G50 dissasembly guide prior to your laptop surgery

 

Isn't this a 15.6" though? Haven't seen any 15.6" LCD screens for sale. Never tried looking for them though.

 

Are the dimensions different between G50VT-X1 and the other G50VT models?

This one has a width of 15.4" x 10.5 x 1.4-1.7",
while XoticPC claims the A2 to be 14.2" * 10.5" * 1.1"-1.6"

 

I can't wait till Best buy drops the price to $1099 again. I've been checking the site every day for a price drop.

 

Does it have a 9800M GS as advertised and as posted in the review, or actually a 9800M G T, as claimed by this guy over on laptopvideo2go? He posts a DXDiag screenshot that backs it up, too!

Kevin, could you or someone else check this on their machine, please?

 

It has a 9800M GS for sure. Its just GPU-Z didnt have the GS in the database so it was labelled a GT.

And besides, even if it was a GT,its performance is no way near that level. So it doesn't really matter.

 

yes, yes it is

 

If the notebook is still in the office when I get back form WI, I will fire up GPUz and checkout the GPU chipset and ram speed. Might have already been shipped back though.

 

Good review

 

Just in case the laptop it shipped back aleady, the GPU should most likely be detected as a 9800M GT clocked at 530mhz, memory at 799mhz and shaders at 1325mhz. This is what's on the G50Vt-A1 which has the identical GPU. so I'd assume it would be the same.

 

well....todays BestBuy add has these for $999.00 off to buy one. Cant see any down side at this price point.

 

Saw that too, very tempting now!

Learux

 

Guys, I have a question.
I am debating on getting this laptop, myself. At first I was wanting to get the Asus X83VM-x1 14" laptop with the Nvidia 9400M GS 1GB card in it, but I saw this one and it's been a toss up between these two ever since. I only have 1100 to spend, and the G50Vt-X1 is @ 999 right now, and within my budget. Since we're moving into a smaller place, I am having to get a laptop due to space issues and I rarely use battery power. I am currently using a 12" PowerBook G4 and it's on it's last leg. People are complaining about the screen resolution on this one and a crappy screen. It appears that almost everything on the X83VM-x1 and the G50vt-X1 are identical as far as having the same P8400 and Ram, etc. I don't mind the look of either of these, because I'm not picky. The black one does look cool. I kind of like the lights, but the expresso brown look of the X83VM-x1 is ok too. Any input guys? I'll be playing WOW, fallout 3, Left 4 dead, etc, as well as some writing and general computer stuff. I'm a computer helpdesk tech myself, and the last laptop before the little powerbook was a 17" HP Pavillion DV7000 (I think that was the model number but not 100% sure)
I havent' been able to find too many reviews other than the CNET ones for the X83vm-x1 laptop, so i'm up in the air. What would you do?
Thank you in advance for any assistance you can render.

 

Nothing compares to this laptop right now as far as price/performance ratio goes.

 

I was looking at the X83Vm-X1 and had issues with Ubuntu on it... did you get Linux to work on this model?

 

I just picked up the G50VT-X3 from NCIX. It is a unique configuration just for them. It has the 1680x1050 screen, Blu-Ray and single 320gb HD. I have been running it for a few days now and can say that it is an amazing rig. I was comparing it to the X305 from Toshiba but decided on the Asus due to the smaller size, higher rez screen, and the fact that it came with a Razer mouse and Asus backpack. I will try and do a review soon.

B