The market of gaming laptops is not the one that sees much action in India. The machines are pricey and companies often think twice before launching them here. But last year, there was more than the usual amount of activity. Of note were two new laptops Alienware 17 and Asus G751. But both also sported price tags of over Rs.1 lakh.
Now Asus has launched another gaming laptop. This one is more reasonably priced (for a gaming laptop) and aimed at a much wider base of consumers. This is G551J and unlike the aforementioned laptops, this one sells for less than Rs.1 lakh.
It packs in some regular specs and some surprises. We tested it for about three weeks, and here is what we found.
Design and build
The first thing you notice after unboxing this beast of a laptop is its fine brushed metal finish, topped with a Republic of Gamers logo. Not to forget the weight you will feel; which, however, is nothing unusual for a gaming laptop. It weighs about 2.6kg, which puts it in the lightweight category among other gaming laptops.
The whole laptop casing is the same metal that is used on the back panel. It looks classy but is prone to smudges.
The metal body of the laptop doesn’t just attract smudges. It is also a dust-magnet, even after using it for a day or two you will need to clean it properly, that includes the screen.
The keyboard and touchpad on this laptop are objects out of a gamer’s dream. The keyboard has a red backlight, which can be turned on or off and even dimmed to your likings. Keys sit very well and Asus has given the keyboard a gamer’s touch by underlining WSAD with a bold red streak, emphasising how important those four keys are.
We found the keyboard to be apt for gaming needs, you won’t feel any keys out of place. However, the power button is placed at an odd position — the top right corner on the same key-panel. An accidental press will put the laptop to sleep and eventually ruin your game.
The touchpad gets our thumbs up too. We found it to be aptly receptive to all strokes and gestures, although it would have been more convenient if there were a scroll and a middle mouse button.
The laptop has two speakers just above the keyboard, we will talk about the audio quality later in the review.
Overall, the design would suit a gamer through and through. The laptop is not too big, not too heavy and yet feels tough and sturdy.
Display
The G551J comes with a 15.6-inch display with a resolution of 1920 X 1080 pixels. The display is brightly lit but we found the colours too warm for anything else other than gaming. This means you will have to readjust the colours each time you want to watch a movie.
However, this is not such a big deal considering that the laptop is a gaming machine and the display performance during gaming is optimal. We found the resolution and colour contrast to be beautiful when it comes to games, also largely because this laptop packs in an IPS display instead of the TN ones usual found on Windows laptops. The IPS displays can show better colours and have excellent viewing angles. The screen during games shows great details and the warmth of the colour that we blamed for bad movie experience turns out to be a blessing.
Software
The Asus G551J comes with pre-installed Windows 8.1 Pro. It is the usual Windows and there is nothing more distinctive about its software part. The laptop also has some pre-installed apps like Twitter, Line, Fresh Paint and Music Maker Jam.
Hardware
The insides of the laptop are as strong as the outer shell. The laptop runs on Intel Core i7-4710HQ processor clocked at 2.5GHz.
On the graphics part, which is important for a gaming laptop, it has the Nvidia Geforce GTX 860M along with in-built Intel HD Graphics 4600. The graphics chip support Nvidia’s Optimus technology that maximises battery life. Basically, when you are gaming the performance part is handled by the GTX860M while during not-so-demanding tasks such as browsing photos on Facebook, the in-built Intel graphics chip is used.
The GTX860M is not the latest in the line, however, it serves the purpose quite efficiently. The GPU is supported by 8GB RAM and 1TB HDD.
The overall performance of the hardware is in sync with its functioning. It doesn’t make any unnecessary sounds, however, under heavy usage — in other words while gaming — you can hear the exhaust fan running, which can be a bit of distraction at times.
Performance
We found gaming performance of the laptop to be remarkable. While it handled 2-years old games as Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution without any lag or glitch, it also successfully ran latest high-end games like the Far Cry 4.
The games while being played on battery showed a drop in performance, somewhat slower frame rate and lag in audio output. But laptop pumped out extremely smooth frame rates when it was plugged into the wall socket.
However, we found the sound quality from the speakers to be on a lower side. Even though the audio is loud during games, we found that the lack of bass took away something from the experience, especially in games where low-pitch audio effects were used.
Overall, the performance of the laptop is good enough for the price. The machine does get hot under heavy usage, but that is expected from a gaming laptop.
Battery
The Asus G551J is powered by 5000mAh Li-ion battery, which is not at all impressive. The laptop is especially built for gaming purpose and the battery fails on that count from the start.
On normal, read non-gaming use, the battery can run for about 3 hours straight, but when used for continuous gaming we found it under 7 per cent from 100 per cent charge in about an hour or so.
Should you buy it?
If you want to buy a laptop for nothing but gaming then Asus G551J is a good bet. Comparing it to Alienware laptops would be unfair, mostly because Alienware charges a bomb or in other words over Rs.1 lakh for its machines.
The Asus G551J sells for around Rs.78,000. At this price a good gaming laptop is a steal. And the G551J is a good gaming laptop. It has a few weaknesses but in the grand scheme of things these are minor issues. In its price range, nothing beats the G551J.
