Gaming notebooks – a segment of very narrow focus. From conventional laptop gaming differs primarily their large dimensions and, consequently, weight. Filling these devices should be the most powerful, and the keyboard – adapted to the needs of players. Of course, the cost of these gadgets differs materially from those that are suitable for undemanding daily work.
In this review, we will focus on the new product of the year – a laptop ASUS G771JW, which is a typical laptop for gaming. Confirms this fact: a huge 17-inch display, a processor Intel Core i7-4720HQ fourth generation, powerful graphics card GeForce GTX 960M, and the corresponding appearance of the laptop.
Design of ASUS G771JW
Appearance is quite simple, it has no hint of pretentiousness, on the contrary, all strictly and concisely. The cover is made of aluminum, and its surface is textured so slightly rough to the touch. In the center – a proprietary inscription ASUS, just below – the red emblem of ROG, which, moreover, highlighted in the dark. In general, a guess about the involvement of a gaming notebook lineup is possible, perhaps, by the presence of a familiar logo gamers.
The display is surrounded by a black frame, which at the top and bottom looks thicker than the side. Above the screen, manufacturer placed a webcam, and next to it – a microphone, all located on the glossy plastic bezel. The working surface of the gadget has a metallic matt finish, which, like the lid collects fingerprints. Soiled, certainly not for the benefit of this device, however, as any other, if not timely wipe the surface, it will look sloppy and unpresentable.
The bottom of the laptop is plastic, in every corner of it has legs, thanks to which the device takes up a stable position on the table. If you wish, you can unscrew a few screws and remove the two covers, accessing the memory, hard drive and battery. By the way, the side faces are also made of plastic, further decorate their red stripe on the perimeter, which dilutes the dullish design. Ports and connectors, at first glance, quite a lot, they are evenly spaced on all sides except the back.
Finally, we note the size and build quality ASUS G771JW. From gaming laptop should not expect compactness or miniaturization, therefore not surprising that the laptop got a big and heavy. Its dimensions are 415h280h36 mm, and weight – 3.4 kg. As for the build quality, in this regard, gaming “machine” has no equal because their body manufacturer pays maximum attention. As expected, our test laptop did not disappoint: While no backlash, scratches, no sagging and with pressure on the surface. In general, ASUS G771JW looks a bit boring, but this disadvantage can not be called because this segment is more important than the internal content than the outer shell.
Display, sound, and webcam of ASUS G771JW
The screen, of course, is an important characteristic when choosing a gaming laptop. After all, it depends on how clear and the image quality will be, which in turn determines the feeling of immersion in the virtual world. Thus, the diagonal of the screen is 17.3 inches, resolution – Full HD, matrix – IPS. The screen surface is protected by an anti-reflective coating, respectively, even when playing near the window, the image will not have to look closely through the reflection.
Maximum screen brightness is around 300 cd / m2, contrast – 690: 1, sRGB-line space – 90%, which is a good indicator. With viewing angles and there is no problem: from any angle is saturated color and image – rich and realistic. Touch input, even optional, not provided. Note also the time that the screen support JavaScript Trinity Display, which allows you to simultaneously connect three external display via the video output HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, which can significantly expand the gaming horizons.
The notebook supports a technology SonicMaster, in addition, provide a sound 2 speakers, which are located just above the keyboard. In general, it turns out good sound, but it is up to the ideal, of course, does not hold. Of course, listening to music or watching movies on the laptop will be comfortable, but during the game is still better to use headphones.
The upper display frame is decorated with HD-webcam with a resolution of 1 megapixel. Wonders of it is not worth waiting, but for video chatting it will fit. In principle, with its functions the camera handle, so no claims to it can not be.
Keyboard and Touchpad of ASUS G771JW
ASUS G771JW received the island keyboard. Her small square keys, labeled in red. In general, the button layout is compact enough, which is why the working surface appears unusually large. Of course, there is a full gamepad, which is convenient to use to enter numbers. Podladonnaya surface has a metallic finish, making a cool hand at all times, and, therefore, comfortable. Keys received a successful form, designed, above all, for the convenience of the game. Key [Enter] – single-row, both [Shift] have an average size, [Caps Lock] and though not very big, but groped the first time. A switch unit compact enough and Right Arrow “found itself”, the rest – in the zone of the main keys.
By the way, note the presence of the backlight, which is when the letters are highlighted in red. By the way, it is possible to adjust the intensity of the buttons [F3] and [F4]. Typically, the manufacturer is trying something to note keyboard accessory to the gaming type, at least remember the MSI gaming laptops with their “golden triangle”. Our case was no exception: the ends of the keys [W], [A], [S], [D] is further highlighted in red, so they immediately apparent during the game. Well, a few words about the power key gadget. Of course, not used to it can cause discomfort, but to adapt to such a feature is not difficult.
As for the touchpad, it is enough headroom, made of plastic. Touchpad a bit harsh, but, in general, works without any problems. In addition, it supports a variety of gestures that you can perform one, two or three fingers. Physical buttons have the touchpad, but there are conventional separator prospective zone of mouse buttons. Of course, the touchpad is useful for web surfing, but for gaming it is better to use the specially adapted mouse.
Performance of ASUS G771JW
ASUS G771JW (90NB0856-M00160) shipped with the operating system Windows 8.1 64-bit. The processor is a quad Intel Core i7-4720HQ architecture Haswell. It clocked at 2.6 GHz, but with Turbo Boost it can be increased up to 3.6 GHz (with an active nucleus). The CPU is made on 22nm process technology, it supports multi-threading Hyper-Threading, a 6 MB cache level 3, and consumes up to 47 watts of power.
An integrated graphics card Intel HD Graphics 4600 supports DirectX 11.1, OpenCL 1.2 and OpenGL 4.0. Depending on the complexity of the task, its frequency may vary from 200 to 1350 MHz. Obviously, this game for graphics processor – not the strongest of his party, so the filling includes a discrete graphics card – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M with 2 GB of internal memory standard GDDR5. It is made of the 28-nm process, supports DirectX 11.2 and Shader 5.0 while the operating frequency range from 1029 MHz to 1097 (with the participation of Turbo Boost).
The manufacturer gave the device to 8 GB of RAM standard DDR3-1600 MHz, however, thanks to the two strips provided by RAM, the maximum amount of RAM can be up to 16 GB. With regard to the storage of information for these purposes, it has a hard disk capacity of 1 TB with a spindle speed of 5400 revolutions per second.
Play of ASUS G771JW
Since the aforementioned discrete graphics card appeared recently, it makes sense to try on her different modern toys. As an example, we have chosen GTA V, Assassin’s Creed Unity, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Metro: Last Light. The latest version of GTA with a native resolution on high settings showed the result in 42-45 fps. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare with the same parameters is generally no complaints at 52-55 fps. With regard to the Assassin’s Creed Unity, on the ultra setting is less playable, comes with 11-13 frames per second, while the high – with 24-26 fps. Finally, Metro: Last Light at the maximum resolution of 1920×1080 pixels will go with a frequency of about 30 fps.
Ports and Communications of ASUS G771JW
In gaming notebooks usually do not have problems with interfaces, ASUS G771JW in this regard is no exception. On the left side you can see two USB 3.0 standard, video output HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, a network RJ-45 connector and socket for recharging. One of the USB is used to recharge the mobile.
The right side has two additional ports USB 3.0, a combined audio jack, Kensington lock slot and optical drive DVD-RW.
Under the touchpad is placed a number of indicators, including: the indicator [Caps Lock], the indicator of the notebook, the battery status and hard drive, as well as flight mode, which disables all wireless modules.
Front – a card reader 2-in-1 (SD / MMC), back face, and all empty.
With regard to wireless communications, the laptop available Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi standard 802.11 b / g / n.
Battery and heating of ASUS G771JW
In principle, the battery in gaming laptops – not the most important criterion for selection, but if it is powerful, it is undoubtedly a bonus. The ASUS G771JW installed removable 6-cell battery with a capacity of 5200 mAh (56 Wh). The persistence of a laptop from a single battery charge is as follows: in the mode of games it is slightly more than one and a half hours; in the Web-surfing with Wi-Fi enabled and brightness to 60%, the laptop will last about 4 hours; Idle its last approximately 5 hours.
On heating there is no problem: on the left side is a large ventilation grille, which “throws” hot air. The body is constantly cool, but during a very intense game battles surface may be slightly warm, but no discomfort in this regard does not arise. By the way, at high load the laptop is very noisy, but that’s normal for this form factor. But in the daily work of the noise is not observed.
Conclusion of ASUS G771JW
Well, summarize: ASUS G771JW turned laptop, able to compete with modern analogs. It is quite massive and heavy, but in this case it is not a minus because gaming laptops usually stand in one place and not have to be extremely mobile. Most important in the gaming gadget stuffing, and in our case, it did not disappoint. Thus, the role of the processor takes Intel Core i7-4720HQ, but as a video graphic adapter performs the recently released NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, which “pulls” even a very powerful toy.
17-inch display with a resolution of Full HD has good features, which allows to fully enjoy the gameplay. In addition, we were pleased with an ergonomic keyboard and a sufficient number of ports and connectors. It also claims there is no price tag because $ 1,500 (in the reporting package) – quite adequate for a gaming notebook cost.
Source: ASUS
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