Asus ROG Launches G551 and G771 Gaming Notebooks
Asus ROG G551On Tuesday, Asus added two new models to its line of G Series gaming laptops with the G551 and G771. Launched under the Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand, these two laptops include Nvidia's GeForce GTX 860M GPU with 2 GB or 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, depending on the model.
The Asus G771JM features a 17.3-inch screen. Again, depending on the model, the panel will either be an IPS display at 1920 x 1080, a TN display at 1920 x 1080, or a normal LCD with a 1600 x 900 resolution. This model also has an assortment of storage options including 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM hard drives, PCIe-based storage and SSDs.
Asus ROG G551The smaller G551JM features a 15.6-inch screen. Like the larger model, this laptop provides three display options: IPS with a 1920 x 1080 resolution, a TN panel with the same resolution and an LCD with a 1366 x 768 resolution. Storage options consist of 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM hard drives, a 256 GB SSD and an optional 24 GB SSD for cache.
The new laptops include either the Intel Core i7-4710HQ or the Core i5-4200H. There are also two SO-DIMM slots that support up to 16 GB of DDR3L-1600 MHz DRAM. Other ingredients include Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, gigabit Ethernet, an HD camera and an illuminated chiclet keyboard with a numeric keypad. The audio includes an array microphone and the company's SonicMaster Premium technology.
Asus ROG G771The two new laptops also provide a number of ports including three USB 3.0 ports on the G551 and four USB 3.0 ports on the G771. There is also one mini DisplayPort jack, one HDMI port, one external subwoofer port and one combo audio jack. All of this is powered by a 5200 mAh Li-ion battery.
"Aesthetically, the G Series exudes ROG DNA, sporting a premium matte-black brushed-aluminum finish, red diamond-cut edges and an illuminated ROG logo on the lid," the press release said. "In keeping with the ROG theme, the G Series has a seamless one-piece chiclet keyboard and specially-marked WASD keys for easy navigation and gameplay. The backlit keys glow red to make it easy for gamers to read keys in dim environments, and further adds to the ROG mystique."
Asus ROG G771So how big are these laptops? The specifications show that the 15-inch laptop measures 15.07 x 10.04 x 1.23 inches and weighs 5.95 pounds, whereas the larger model measures 16.33 x 11.02 x 1.40 inches and weighs 7.50 pounds. Not too bad for gaming notebooks.
Asus did not provide pricing or the actual availability.
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Your cell phone isn't going to drive high end desktop tier graphics at that resolution though. And with an GTX 860M, neither will this laptop. 1080p, or even 900p, is a more suitable resolution for the kind of power that a 860M will put out.
What's the point of having a 1440p monitor resolution on a laptop when you'll have to sacrifice visual quality just to be able to play a game. You'll probably need a dual video card setup and everything set to low just to compensate.
Would you prefer gaming with everything on high at 1366x768, 1600x 900 and 1080p or everything at low on 1440p?
If you're more into graphics design or photography and need mobility, then a 1440p laptop makes more sense.
1080P is good for 24" (1200P is even better) and 1440P is good for 32" if you don't want to go blind reading and editing text.
Rest looks rather nice though.
Having anything higher than 1080p on a laptop is useless and would be detrimental to the experience. People want 1440p on any laptop, whether it's a 15 inch or a 11 inch. Then, once they'll have it, they'll say "4k or bust". Are you kidding me? You'll have to stuck your eyes one foot away from the screen to be able to read most text on most websites/programs. That is not convenient at all, and is not a good user experience.
As for gaming... people complain that laptops are shitty for gaming, yet they insist for ridiculously high resolution. No wonder the laptop sucks for gaming at that resolution! It takes a beast of a GPU even on a desktop, yet alone a mobile chip...
And please, don't give me the phone argument. Phones actually scale UI properly independently of resolution so that everything stay nice and readable no matter the resolution. Haven't you guys realized yet you can't do that on Windows because of Windows' shitty scaler??? Not only that, but 1080p, 1440p, etc. are totally overkill on a 5 inch screen.
Seriously guys... stop complaining about resolution... complain about colors, contrasts, and motion resolution... not freaking resolution.
-Raj