Gadget Review: Asus G56 Notebook

Last week I got my hands on the Asus G56, albeit briefly, and here are my thoughts on what I think is a solid gaming laptop.

Specs:

Display - 15.6, 16:9, 1920x1080 pixels (178-degree viewing)
VRAM - 2GB
Graphics - GeForce GTX 760M
CPU - Intel i7 4700HQ
RAM - 8192 MB
HDD - 1 TB 2.5" 5400R SATA
Weight - 2.7Kg

Design

The G56 is designed to stimulate all the important senses: sight, sound and touch.

Let's begin with the touch. The sleek and elegant design captures the attention of the user immediately. The curves and clever design angles mean the bulk of the machine goes unnoticed; what remains is subtle and powerful. Unlike an Alienware PC, which screams for attention, the Asus G56 opts for the stealth look. Every piece of this machine is testament to detail and attention on the part of Asus, which in my mind, is slowly shifting focus towards beautiful designs instead of just raw power.

While some features are not useful, everything seems to find itself within the system. For instance, the red backlight adds the right sort of colour to match the tensions of a high-stakes game. Yet, serious gamers don't actually play in darkened rooms (despite what worried mothers tell each other) so backlights are not really useful. But pretty, nevertheless. The touchpad is also highly responsive even with sweaty fingers. Yet, if you are a serious gamer, then you'll be certainly carrying a purpose-built gaming mouse for the occasion.

Something else that catches the eye is the overwhelming display, compounded with a 178-degree viewing angle and anti-glare. The screen is gorgeous and while I did spend some time tinkering with the settings, the first-impression was great. This is not, however, a touch-screen, which can be a little disappointing, especially with Windows 8.

Finally, there is sound. Notebooks aren't generally known for their sound quality and that is even true for "pro gamer" notebooks. The Asus G56, however, gets around this by packing an external Sonic Master sub-woofer along for the ride. This obviously amplifies the bass and generally improves the sound quality. But for obvious reasons, this might not be the accessory you'd take to a LAN party.

Portability Factor

At 2.7Kg, this 15.6 behemoth isn't exactly the most portable machine around. I tried using this on my lap but frankly, it feels best on a table because this is a rather heavy machine and becomes too warm for comfort during intense gaming sessions. Moreover, if you are going to use the sub-woofer a lot, you will need a table to set this up.
 
Even if you do spend most of your time at the gym, you can't take this very far from a table or a power source since the battery isn't up for a full-day of gaming. I had almost three hours of gaming time but from what I have read online, the average is generally just above two hours. So apart from short-bursts, this is not something you want to set up on the couch.

Performance

Underneath the hood, the G56 packs some serious performance enhancers. There is a powerful fourth generation Core i7 Haswell processor. It has two systems of graphics performance. The first is the integrated HD 4600 GPU, which works well for everyday tasks. The second is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M, that comes alive for gaming. While the primary GPU is a mid-end chip, it is more than enough for a decent gaming session. A little searching online reveals the G56 Fire Strike Score is only slightly below other standard gaming laptops and much higher than ultralight notebooks (High-end gaming PCs blew everything out of the water). In addition, the G56 comes loaded with 8GB RAM, which provide a much needed boost especially since the hard drive is capped at 5400 RPM.

OS and Apps

The G56 comes with Windows 8 and a whole bunch of proprietary apps/bloat ware. I found some apps interesting though I didn't spend too much time tinkering with them. However, given the raw performance, you can afford to live with these apps.

Conclusion

The G56 is certainly impressive machine and while this isn't a high-end gaming rig, it can certainly take on most games at the highest possible settings. Portability is not necessarily the best given the poor battery life and relatively heavy design, but the build is solid and the accessories and features are both practical and effective. The keyboard, trackpad, and the overall-feel of the G56 is a pleasure to behold. Overall, Asus tries to balance the pleasures of a Notebook with the serious attitude of a fully-fledged gaming rig, and the G56 comes away looking quite good.

By Navam Niles