At the time reviewing the ASUS ROG G751JY laptop, my primary machine is the MacBook Pro 15 with Retina Display. I moved to Mac 2 years ago and it is so difficult to move back to Windows because the MacBook is sleek, portable and comes with the smooth Mac OS X. However, it still has its own limitations.
I was searching for a more powerful laptop that can do a better job in video processing as well as gaming. The ASUS ROG G751JY-DH72X 17.3-inch gaming laptop seems to be the best choice at the moment as it comes with admirable specs and the latest dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M graphics card. So, how this laptop performs and can it replace my MacBook Pro? Keep reading the review to find out.
Unboxing & Initial Setup
Design
Honestly, there is nothing special about design of the Asus Rog. My first impression is that it is huge and super heavy. Really you should never ever carry it with one hand, I almost ended up turning the $3000 laptop into a plastic paper weight when I used one hand to put it into my laptop bag. The laptop weighs about 8.5 pounds and measures 12.50 x 16.40 x 1.70 inches. Even its charging adapter is very big and heavy, so I don’t think it is a good idea to carry the laptop around.
On the other hand, the Asus Rog is excellent in terms of connections. On the right side, we can spot a headphone jack, microphone jack, audio input jack, two USB 3.0 ports (one of them comes with USB Charger+ for quickly charging your mobile devices even when the laptop is in sleep, hibernate or shutdown mode), Thunderbolt port, HDMI port, LAN port, VGA port and power input port. On the left side, there are a Kensington security slot, two USB 3.0 ports, a Blu-ray optical drive (a Blu-ray writer), and a SD card reader. I don’t really like the placement of the headphone jack because when I plug in my headphones and use a mouse, my hand touches the cable all the time, so I think Asus should move it to the left side in the next generation.
Besides, I’m very impressed with cooling system of the rig. Apart from air vents from the bottom, we can also see two big air vents on the back which will expel heat away from the machine. There are two independent fans for CPU and GPU to guarantee low temperature when the laptop performs intensive tasks. Therefore, you can play the most graphically demanding games without overheating issues.
The Asus Rog features a full-sized QWERTY keyboard with a numeric keypad on the right side. Both the keyboard and the touchpad are quite responsive and I don’t have any problem at all. If you are a gamer, you might also appreciate the highlighted WASD keys and some quick-access keys on top. You can easily open Steam, record gameplay and set up frequently used commands with three macro keys.
Display & Audio
As a high-end entertainment laptop, the Asus Rog G751JY fails to deliver high-quality screen and speakers. I love the size 17.3 inches and the anti-glare display, unfortunately, its resolution stays at 1920×1080 pixels. Therefore, this is definitely not as crisp and clear as the Retina display on my MacBook. Besides, it seems like the only speaker of the laptop is placed on the bottom. The speaker is said to be the internal Bass Eye subwoofer and its quality is totally disappointing, you’d better prepare a pair of headphones or speakers if you want to enjoy a good sound on this device.
OS & Performance
The Asus Rog still runs on the latest Windows 8.1 and I’ve never seen such a smooth experience on any other Windows laptop. It is even much faster than my current MacBook. I made a startup and reboot time comparison between the G751JY and MacBook Pro 15, the results were so impressive. The G751JY is always ready to use even for a cold startup, it takes me just around 8 seconds to boot into Windows while the MacBook takes twice as long to do the same task. You can check out the startup and reboot time comparison video here.
I also used Adobe Photoshop and Cyberlink PowerDirector on the Asus laptop, its performance didn’t disappoint me. It can easily handle 4K videos and process big images in seconds. In terms of gaming, I’m also overwhelmed with the power of Intel Core i7-4860HQ and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M. My previous gaming rig was the Alienware Alpha and its performance is nowhere close to the Asus Rog’s. In the videos below, I played some games in my collection like Assassin’s Creed Unity, Saints Row 4, Far Cry 3, Counter-Strike Global Offensive and more. All of them are set at the highest settings and you can see that it runs very smoothly even for heavy games like Assassin’s Creed Unity, the FPS is kept at 40-60 most of the time.
The only problem I had is that the screen stays dark when I turned on the laptop. The issue happened occasionally and I had to turn it off and on a few times to see it boots properly again. The issue was only fixed when I factory reset the Asus laptop.
Battery Life
This is not really an important aspect of this laptop because it mostly stays in one place. However, I still move it sometimes and the battery could last around 3.5 hours for normal tasks like web browsing, running some simple softwares, viewing photos and videos. If you play games on the laptop, its battery will die in just about an hour.
Conclusion
Pros
- Great cooling system
- Solid build
- Outstanding gaming performance
- Super fast
- Good battery life
Cons
- The screen won’t turn on sometimes
- Too heavy and bulky
- Mediocre display
- Horrible speaker
- Unreasonable headphone jack placement
Despite some aforementioned issues, this is absolutely still the best gaming laptop you can find on the market this year. If it is out of your budget, you might want to consider its little brother with a little lower specs, the Asus ROG G751JY-DH71. It is about $500 cheaper due to the lower SSD capacity, RAM and CPU but both of them use the same GPU, therefore, I believe it will be more than enough for most gamers.
And to answer the question in the title, I have to say that I am still using the MacBook because I prefer a portable laptop and I’m not a hardcore gamer. The two laptops serve different purposes, so they can’t replace each other.
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Justin Germino says
My son wants an ASUS ROG as his Xmas present, gaming laptops are really big for teenagers and younger kids, I myself was given the Razer Blade 2014 for Xmas which is a SUPER slim 14″ Gaming laptop with 512GB SSD drive. Nice showcase, did ASUS send you one to review?
Tuan Do says
Yes, Justin
They loan it to me for more than a month. I love the performance of GTX 980M as it could run most modern games in highest settings. I loved your Razer Blade but I really think they should drop the price, it is powered by the slightly outdated GTX 870M and somehow it is even more expensive than the ASUS ROG G751JT and G751JY.
Justin Germino says
The 2014 Razer Blade has the The GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB VRAM and 3200×1800 resolution screen, this on a 14″ screen produces an amazing experience, but I agree the Razer laptops are a premium and you are paying for the name. I would have chosen an ASUS ROG myself, it was primarily that I wanted to see the 3200×1800 screen for myself, plus I wanted a 14″ laptop that was even leaner and more portable for me. The ASUS ROG is a beast and not slim by any means, but I woudl rather have the GTX 980M of course. Both of my kids are likely to get ASUS ROG laptops for Xmas if they are on sale cheap enough.
Tuan Do says
Really? I didn’t know the 2014 Razer Blade has GeForce GTX 970M. I follow the news and read that GeForce GTX 970M comes with the new 2015 Razer Blade that is available this month.
I really love a portable gaming laptop like the Razer Blade and also added the new one to my wishlist. The screen on Asus Rog is horrible and I’m not sure your kids will love it.
Justin Germino says
I would be getting them 15.6″ ASUS ROG not 17″, and considering they have only 1366×768 resolution now, they will love having 1920×1080 on the same size laptop screen they have now. You must be used to high resolution displays? I have 24″ monitors with 1920×1080 and am used to it, would think that same resolution on a 17″ screen would be even sharper. I found that with the UXHD 3200×1800 resolution, some apps don’t support, and when apps don’t support scaling the text looks like tiny dots, unreadable. This includes a few game HUD’s, Start Screens, but also my mail program Postbox doesn’t scale well. Playing Elite Dangerous in 3200×1800 resolution though is fantastic and beautiful, but I opted to use a 24″ monitor when home and only use the default crisp screen when on the road.
Wyatt K says
I have the touch screen version on this ASUS. I have to say that this is the best laptop I ever used. I had a MacBook Pro and it does not compare to this ASUS. I am not a gamer. I chose the ASUS because I edit video, audio and photos. The ASUS is nothing short of amazing. Forget the MacBook Pro. The ASUS ROG is the best laptop you will find hands down. I agree that it is bulky, but if you are going to spend this much on a computer, it is more likely that you are going to principally want to use it at home or in the office. I am amazed at the ASIS.
Tuan Do says
Hi,
What is the model of your Asus Rog? I can’t find anyone with a touch screen. I guess its screen must be 15 inches.
Wyatt K says
Hi Tuan! My Asus is a G751 JM. I would highly recommend it. It is a 17 inch screen. I will tell you that I think this is a better laptop than the MacBook, but I don’t think ASUS intended to compete with it. However, this is said to be a gaming computer, but I can tell you right now that if you add some RAM to it, you will have one of the best laptops you ever owned. I love it!
Ice says
Just a friendly correction to the article: you indeed have a subwoofer under the laptop, but it’s not the only speaker it has. you have 2 speakers on the sides of the laptop, hidden under the screen, just above the vents
hungrybeast says
It actually has an ROG Bass eye,and if you dont like it’s sound,then i dont know what to do.i own this laptop.
Tuan Do says
Good for you.
I know it has more bass but the sound is still not good enough for gaming. That’s why I recommend using headphones.
lori says
if you are not a gamer which is best I’m a realtor not real computer savey need help some say apple but I need speed storage what ever is required to do flyers print a lot help all the office stuff
HP Support Number says
Asus Rog G75 is a great laptop for gaming. However, the display is not the best in class and the speaker output is low considering other laptops.
Janice says
My screen is stuck on blue password and we’re don’t know it bought reboot USB not helping