Asus G50V

The Asus G50V is part of the Asus Republic of Gamers range or "ROG" for the initiated. The range is designed for gamers and even has its own annual convention that is also sponsored by Intel. On this model the manufacturer apparently had no qualms about laying it on thick with the marketing speak, claiming extreme graphic performance for gaming pleasure. Let's see what it gives in practice.

Handling, design and build

Gamer machines go hand in hand with garish colours, LEDs and futuristic lines. For me, this aesthetic is a little too much on the eye. And this model ain't even the worst of its type. For that I suggest you check out the Toshiba Qosmio X300. Why not offer a more sober design for us older gamers? That said, if colour is invading the market, there must be a demand for it somewhere.

Putting aesthetics to one side, this model does have a nice finish although the screen is a little too flexible as far as we're concerned.


Good news when it comes to the keyboard and this was already the case on the M51V series: it has a number pad on the right. This is very practical when it comes to office docs and internet navigation. The keys are nicely responsive on the whole and haven't had to be cut down in size too much to fit on the keyboard.

Above the keyboard, a small LCD screen on the left gives info on battery levels, memory, the CPU and so on. To the right of this screen, several buttons allow you, among other things, to change the power options (economy, maximum power etc.). Under the keyboard, a generously-sized touch pad (significantly smaller than those on the Apple and the Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 however) is framed by a matte metallic border with left and right click buttons. If you're allergic to touchpads, disactivate it and use the Razer Copperhead mouse that comes with the machine.

The webcam does well in low lighting. When the ambiant light is strong however, the most exposed zones are subject to burning. And don't be afraid to turn the microphone right up or to raise your voice if you want to hear yourself on playback.

The laptop has the following connectivity: 1 HDMI, 1 VGA, 1 FireWire, 1 e-SATA, 1 multiformat SD card reader, 4 USBs, 1 RJ45, 3 mini jacks of which one is an optical out. Extensive then and you and even get an Express Card 54 port.

And what do we have under the machine? A big panel that, after taking out the 12 screws, opens to give access to the RAM, the hard drive and various chips and the cooling system.

ExpressCard 54	3 mini Jack, 2 USB
USB, FireWire, e-SATA, HDMI, SD	USB, RJ45, power

Processor Power

Windows Experience Index 5.4. CPU 5.4 - Memory 5.9 - Graphics 5.9 - Gaming Graphics 5.6 - Hard Drive 5.9.

The processor sets the tone. It's an Intel T9400 clocked at 2.54 GHz. No surprise to see similar results to the Fujitsu-Siemens Xi3650, then, that has the same processor. Although there are small variations here and there, overall the two models are neck and neck, both giving very good results and an index of 100 for the Fujitsu-Siemens and 109 for the Asus G50V.

When reading Full HD video (Blu-Ray files), this Asus consumes 62 watts and 52% of the CPU is taken up on average, as long as graphics card acceleration is not activated. With this on, this fall to 16% of the CPU and 42 watts.

Gaming

The graphics chip is an Nvidia 9700M GT. You'll also find this chip in certain 18 inch laptops, including the Acer Aspire 8930G. The main difference is in the panel resolution: here we drop 15% from 1920x1080 pixels to 1680x1050. This makes for a clear difference in gaming. In Crysis, instead of playing at low quality you can move up to standard. Forget anti-aliasing however. In Race Driver Grid, we also managed normal quality and 2X anti-aliasing (AA). For World in Conflict, we hovered between "normal" and "high". Go for high if you don't mind occasional sluggishness. Why not 5 stars? Well, the MSI GT725 does a good deal better.

Audio

Two mini-jack ins, a headphone and optical out make up the entire audio on this laptop. A little surprising for a gamer computer, but there it is. The headphone out is horrible, noisy and with plenty interference. Very annoying, especially as it's coupled with very poorly built-in Altec Lansing speakers. This really is astonishing when you think that the Altec system has proved itself on HP laptops.

Battery life and portability

2.8 Kg is heavy for if you're planning to carry this computer round with you all day, even if it's "only" a 15 inch. And it only has a battery life of 1h25.