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ASUS G75VW battery Life
I managed three hours, three minutes of battery life during our standard battery run-down test (Windows 7 Balanced power profile, 70% screen brightness, wireless active and refreshing a web page every 60 seconds). It's not a spectacular time but certainly not something I'm going to complain about. The second hard drive undoubtedly adds to the drain on the battery life. The Nvidia Optimus technology helps improve it by turning off the dedicated Nvidia graphics card and switching to the integrated Intel graphics card (which is actually part of the Core i7 processor) when no 3D processing power is needed. This also helps keep the heat and noise level down.
ASUS A42-G75 Battery life could be further improved by reducing the screen brightness to minimum and installing an SSD in place of one of the hard drives.
Case
Like a Ferrari, the ASUS G75VW is built for looks and speed. The notebook sports a soft-touch plastic lid with the ASUS and Republic of Gamers logos displayed prominently in the center. (The shieldlike Republic of Gamers design bears a passing resemblance to Ferrari's logo, too.)
The keyboard rests on an aluminum deck that wraps around the back of the notebook, and above it, a speaker grille runs the length of the system. The rubberized soft-touch plastic palm rests made using the keyboard for extended periods of time exceedingly comfortable. Large rear-facing vents complete the G75VW's sportscar aesthetic. Our only complaint is that the lid picks up fingerprints more quickly than we would have liked.
At 16.3 x 12.6 x 0.9-2 inches and 9.4 pounds, the ASUS G75VW is slightly larger (though a touch lighter) than the 17-inch Alienware M17x (16 x 11.9 x 1.8 inches, 9.6 pounds). The MSI GT60, a 15.6-inch gaming notebook that offers comparable performance, measures 15 x 10.2 x 1.8 inches and weighs 7.8 pounds.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The island-style keyboard on the ASUS G75VW features a full number pad on the right. The keys offered just the right amount of tactile feedback to make typing quick and virtually error-free. On the Ten Thumbs typing test, we achieved a rate of 72 words per minute with an error rate of 0 percent, well above our average typing speed.
Perhaps due to the aluminum base, keyboard flex was nonexistent. Of course, no high-end system would be complete without a backlit keyboard, and the G75VW one-ups the competition by providing adjustable backlighting. (Sadly, this ASUS doesn't go whole hog and offer adjustable multicolored backlighting, such as the Alienware M17x or MSI GT60.)
Overall, the G75VW boasts one of the best touchpads we've seen. The ASUS G75VW's 4.1 x 2.5-inch Synaptics touchpad is positively spacious. The cursor glides smoothly and accurately across the screen, and gestures such as two-finger-scrolling, pinch-to-zoom and three-finger-flick work consistently. The mouse buttons depress almost inaudibly and don't require an excessive amount of pressure.
Connectivity
The connectivity is decent, but not excellent. While the left side houses two USB-3.0 ports, a card reader and two audio jacks, the right side provides two video interfaces (VGA & HDMI), an RJ-45 Gigabit LAN port, a Thunderbolt/DisplayPort interface and another two USB 3.0 ports.(MSI BTY-M6D batteries)
Didn't we mention a DisplayPort in the previous review? Asus list a mini display port on their homepage, but the icon (a thunderbolt) remains on the Thunderbolt logo. Asus hinted that the G75/G55 won't feature Thunderbolt before autumn at the Computex . Anyway, we will discuss this topic with the manufacturer.
As this is a production model we could finally assess the scope of delivery. Alike most competitors Asus do not provide a Recovery DVD, but only a driver and tool DVD, a small user guide, a warranty pamphlet and some cable straps. The Wi-Fi module (Atheros AR9485WB-EG) and the excessive software installation (bloatware!) weren't touched since our last review.
Strange: The laptop sometimes requires USB devices to be plugged a second and third time before it recognizes them.
Display
Contrary to the more expensive model the display of the ASUS G75VW is not 3D capable. Asus impressively demonstrate that games and films do also look nice without 3D-Vision support (which requires a 120-Hz display).
Also other gaming notebooks like the MSI GT70 use the 17.3-inch Chi Mei N173HGE display (CMO1720) because of its good image quality. Though the matte surface looks slightly grainy, it is easy to neglect this flaw because of its "inner" values.
Although the brightness of about 260 cd/m² cannot keep up with the LGD02C5 display of the 3D model, it is above average in brightness. The display remains easily legible on bright days. Subjectively, the brightness distribution is uniform and the calculated value was slightly above 80%.
Compared to the 3D model the advantage of the lower brightness is that the black value is amazingly low (0.34 vs. 0.61 cd/m²). The lower the black value, the less grayish dark elements appear (e.g. night scenes in videos and games).
The two displays are on par in terms of contrast. The ASUS G75VW achieves an excellent contrast ratio of 800:1. The color space is also decent - pictures look good.
If you like you can also use this gaming notebook outdoors. The matte display and the decent brightness limit reflections. We appreciate the current trend to non-glare screens.
The viewing angles are noticeably better than of inferior displays. A slightly more tilted position only has a marginal (vertically) to no impact (horizontal). Colors and brightness changes only occur at bigger deviations.
Verdict
Our first verdict is mostly also true for the production model. The ASUS G75VW from Asus is a successful and sophisticated gaming laptop with hardly any flaws – apart from its weight.
Besides high build quality, decent input devices, and low noise and temperature emissions, we have to mention the matte Full HD panel positively. Gamers and film fans will not only appreciate the low black value, but also the excellent contrast.
Accepting that the graphics card may be a limiting factor in the future: The ASUS G75VW is without a doubt one of the best high-end notebooks available today.
More info: laptop-batteries.com.au , laptop-battery.org.uk , battery-store.eu
