Asus G74SX 3D review: a gamer’s best laptop computer friend
If you’re a gamer you already know the “Republic of Gamers” series of products from ASUS. The latest to the series is the monster desktop replacement ASUS G74SX 3D, a 17.3 inch laptop with 3D technology onboard. There will be many versions of the ASUS G74 laptop but I think I’ve got one of the best ones featuring a quad core CPU, dual hard drives, a Blu ray unit, 16 GB RAM and an Nvidia GTX 560M with 3GB of video RAM.
As you can see this is quite a beast, managing not only to be tough but also to look touch, borrowing the same stealth design from the F117 stealth fighter jet and weighting almost 9.5 pounds. You surely won’t pass for a ninja carrying this huge beast in your backpack, and surely you won’t hold it on your lap due to weight and heat.
Here are the specs of the unit we’ve received for testing:
ASUS G74SX 3D quick specs
- 17.3 inch display, Full HD, 3D ready (120Hz refresh rate)
- Intel Sandy Bridge Core i7-2630QM quad-core @2.0 GHz
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M, 3GB DDR5 memory
- 16 GB of DDR3 RAM
- 2x HDDs, 500 and 750 GB, 2.5 inch @7200 rpm
- Blu-ray combo optical unit
- 3xUSB 2.0 and 1xUSB 3.0 slots, HDMI, VGA, card reader, Webcam
- Wireless N, Bluetooth, Gigabit LAN
- 8 Cell 74Wh battery
- 420mm x 325mm x 20.9~62.0mm (16.5 x 12.8 x 0.8~2.4 inch)
- 4.28 kg (9.42 lbs)
Stealth design catches your eyes
- List Price:
$1,449.99 - Current Price:
- [Details or Buy from Amazon]
[Amazon User Reviews]
There are quite a few things worth mentioning about the stealth laptop, but you’ll have to read the comprehensive review of ASUS G74SX. I’ve managed to put a list of pros and cons for you:
Pros
- aggressive design with multiple angles
- amazing build quality
- redesigned island keyboard, big and precise trackpad and solid screen hinge
- redesigned cooling exhaust on the back helps with heat disipation
- top notch hardware and performance
- there’s no game it can’t run at Full HD resolution, with all details activated
- Full HD display with very good Nvidia 3D technology support
- silent even under heavy load thanks to well put together cooling system
- Blu-ray combo unit is good for watching all sorts of movies
- excellent sound quality for a laptop
- you can run it for a few hours of ‘office’ work, if you need to
- competitive price considering the features
Cons
- Too big and too heavy for moving around LAN parties
- some problems with correct drivers, but that won’t be a problem with the final version
Amazing configuration in a robust package
We’ve even put up a few videos of the ASUS G74SX 3D thanks to MikesQuarter.com:
1st part: exterior and casing
2nd part: hardware and performances
3rd part: playing games on ASUS G74SX 3D
4th part: conclusions and wrap-up
- List Price:
$1,449.99 - Current Price:
- [Details or Buy from Amazon]
[Amazon User Reviews]
Ionut is Chief Editor. He has a degree in Computer Science BA and worked in IT since 2002. Ionut is now managing several tech sites, including GadgetRoad. Find me on Twitter
What a great laptop for gaming purpose. I love this laptop and it giving me plenty of great time to play games on the move. My only concern over the laptop is the touchpad. As we know that gamer require a good sensitive touchpad. I slap on a tecty.com protector to make the touchpad a sensitive one with matted surface. Perfectly match with the gaming purpose of the laptop.