Customer Reviews

ASUS Republic of Gamers G51J-3D 15.6-Inch 3-D Gaming Laptop (Black)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Had this laptop for nearly a month, and my experience with it ranges from 2 to 5 stars, depending on what I'm doing. I was considering giving this 3 stars overall, but considering the price, I think it deserves a 4 star, though it really depends what you intend to do with this laptop. Note that this is a long review. I tried to summarize everything in the first sentence of each bullet so people can skim through it quickly if they aren't interested in the details.

Pros:
- Good value! An Alienware laptop with nearly identical specs cost about $1750 the last time I checked, and that's without 3D Vision (which retails for about $200), a second hard drive and only 1 yr warranty. Also, Amazon dropped the price, twice, since I bought this (probably trying to clear stock as G51JX-3D is coming out - almost identical computer except they replaced GTX 260M with GTS 360M, which is slightly weaker but runs cooler, and replaced the 2nd HDD slot with 2 RAM slots)

- Screen looks great! Not sure if it's the 120Hz or the LED backlight, but this screen blows my old laptop away (Compal FL90). A lot of my games look noticeably better on this screen (not because of extra fps, I'm talking about old games where my old laptop runs great as well)

- 3D was surprisingly good! 3D actually was not the primary reason I bought this laptop, so I wasn't expecting much from it. But I totally don't regret getting the 3D (I wanted a G51J-A1, but you can't buy them brand new anymore - I wanted the 2nd Hard drive, which is not available on the G51JX-A1 - the replacement for the G51J) For those that see a lot of flicker in 3D, try turning up your screen brightness - when my screen is near 100% brightness, the flicker completely goes away for me and my wife. I've put additional comments on games I got to work in 3D at the bottom of this review.

- 2 hard drive bays in a 15". I couldn't find a single other 15" laptop out there with 2 hard drives. Useful if you want to have a solid state hard drive (SSD) but don't want to shell out $400+ for a 160GB SSD (I got the $200-ish Intel 80GB SSD for running the OS and some of the newer games and stuck all my old games and documents on the 2nd HDD).

- Full-sized back-lit keyboard. The back-lit keyboard is actually pretty cool and is actually useful when playing 3D - the shutter glasses make everything look darker like sunglasses do when active. The backlight makes it a lot easier to find the keys.

- Runs graphics-intensive games fluidly. I ran Oblivion, everything on max on max resolution (which is only 1366x768 on this laptop though) with 3D on, went outdoor and the scenery looked awesome! Didn't measure the framerate, but didn't notice any stuttering at all, even during combat (CPU-intensive games are a different matter though, read the Non-G51J-3D Specific Cons section).

- Driver disc lets you select what bloatware to install. If you reinstall Windows 7 using the recovery disc, the first time you boot up, the drivers disc lets you select what bloatware to install, instead of forcing you to install everything then uninstall stuff you don't want (drivers disc is bugged though, see Cons section). There're actually a number of useful programs, but still a lot of bloat imo.

- Lots of ports. Has modem, LAN, VGA, HDMI, card reader, e-SATA and 4 USB (might have missed some, check the official specs). There're 2 USBs on each side of the laptop, so you don't have to worry about a big USB device blocking off all your ports. However, you'll probably end up using all four at once most of the time: 1 for mouse, 1 for 3D IR emitter, 1 for laptop cooler (strongly recommend one), leaving only 1 USB left for your flash drive.

Cons:
- GPU comes underclocked. Probably due to heat and power consumption issues. You can easily clock the GPU back up to NVIDIA's stock clock using the latest Forceware, but then you'll need to watch the temperature much more carefully.

- CPU throttling. The CPU supposedly throttles (or clocks down) if the laptop draws too much power. I haven't yet observed this in any of my games, so I can't comment much. Google "asus g51j throttling" for more info. Note that various other gaming laptops have similar issues, including the Alienware m15x.

- Heat. This is an issue with all gaming laptops, but is particularly an issue with this model. Running Furmark at 1366x768 in a room at 20C resulted in the GPU running up to 94C for me (no cooling, though adding my targus cooling fan only trimmed 2C from that). I think the GPU can take that kinda temperature, and real-world gaming is usually less intense than Furmark, but when summer comes and my room is near 30C, this will become an issue. Also, the CPU shares the same heatsink as the GPU, though I never managed to push the CPU above the mid 70C, even when running Prime95 or Cinebench.

- Warranty void if sticker removed. There's a sticker over the heatsink saying that warranty is void if removed, so basically, I can't replace the thermal compound on the CPU and GPU to help with the heat issue without voiding my warranty >.>

- BIOS is extremely basic. I'm using the unofficial BIOS version that supposedly fixed the BSOD issue (google "G51J BSOD fix"). The only useful thing you can do in the BIOS is changing the boot order. No turning off hyperthreading, setting clock speeds or anything you'd expect a regular BIOS to have (and I'm not aware of any secret key combos that unlocks more advanced functions). Not an issue if you never mess with the BIOS, but rather disappointing for people that want to squeeze more performance out of their machines.

- Low battery life. To be expected for a gaming laptop, though the battery life on this computer is particularly bad. I get slightly over 1 hour when doing actual work (minimum brightness, balanced power scheme, surfing the web, transferring files to and from a flash drive etc.) Others have reported squeezing out 1.5 hours on more aggressive power saving options. You can replace the 6-cell with a 9-cell battery from ASUS, though it's $169 the last time I checked, and it's out of stock. I'm planning to buy a universal external battery pack before I travel with this.

- VGA out sucks, though luckily HDMI works. I've read a number of reviews online before I bought this, and I'm surprised no one brought this up, so maybe I just got a lemon. The VGA connector on my G51J-3D is very loose and flickers majorly when I connect it to my TV. The exact same cable and TV gave me flawless display on my old laptop, so I know the issue is the connector. HDMI works fine and looks great, so it's not the GFX card either (the computer won't detect my TV on HDMI without a reboot though, can't figure out whether it's Windows 7, my TV or the laptop causing problems). If you're thinking of connecting this to your old CRT monitor for 3D, it may not work out.

- Recovery discs are bugged. I tried reinstalling Windows on my new SSD which I swapped into the laptop, and when it asked for the drivers disc, it gave me a file not found error and I was forced to do a hard reboot as it won't move on. The reboot led to a BSOD. Using the recovery discs I created using ASUS's software didn't work either. Interestingly, the second time I tried the recovery discs (not the ones I made) turned out fine, so maybe it was just bad luck (still gave me the file not found error, but hard reboot did not lead to BSOD the second time. Windows 7 now running without problems on my SSD).

- Drivers disc doesn't respond once some drivers are installed. Not sure why, but when some drivers are installed, the drivers disc autorun no longer works - trying to view the contents of the disc in Windows Explorer will also result in a moving green bar that never stops moving. The workaround I found was to put the driver disc into a non-ASUS computer, copy all the contents over to the hard drive of the G51J, running setup.exe from the hard drive solved the problem.

- Lid design and lighting. I'm in the camp that hates the lights, especially the fact that you can NOT turn off the lights on this model unless you open up the laptop and cut some wires (for the record, I also do not like the alien head of Alienware, or anything on the lid that screams "hey, look at me!"). The lights blink when the laptop is in sleep mode, so I usually shut down instead of sleep (boot time is slightly over 1 min with my SSD). The upside is that the real thing looks less ugly than the pictures imo - it's darker and doesn't look as flashy from a distance.

- Size is more like a 16" rather than 15". However, the hardware packed into this thing usually results in a 17", so maybe you can say the size is more like a 16" rather than a 17".

- Looks like it'll be replaced by the G51JX-3D. The JX is supposed to come out around now. The G51J-A1 has been replaced by the G51JX-A1 already. As described earlier, the JX trades 2nd HDD for more RAM and trades the underclocked GTX 260M with a higherclocked GTS 360M (benchmarks show that they're actually comparable surprisingly, though GTX 260M at stock clock will still outperform the 360M, assuming you don't fry your computer). If you think you need 6GB RAM or more or don't care about the 2nd HDD, you may want to wait (the JX is not on Amazon yet, but you can pre-order it at various resellers). If you want the 2nd HDD, might want to buy the J soon before retailers start stocking up on the JX variant.

Non-G51J-3D Specific Cons:
- This section contains cons that are specific to all computers using these components, not just the G51J-3D

- Windows 7 incompatiblity. Certainly not as bad as when I first started using Vista, but I have a good number of older games that just won't work on Windows 7. The most annoying thing for me so far is that games such as Starcraft will have inverted colors when run on Windows 7 (killing explorer.exe before starting the game is supposed to fix the problem, but not exactly an ideal solution). I get round this by installing Starcraft under Win XP in Virtualbox (though you'll need a copy of XP to do this - I bought one 'cos I hated Vista so much).

- i7 720qm seem to suck for single-threaded apps. It seems that almost every gaming laptop has this processor these days. The processor performs great in benchmarks, but in the real world where most of the applications are still single-threaded (especially for games), the 720qm's performance is quite mediocre and the quad core hyperthreaded (giving 8 logical cores) is probably way overkill for most people. My old laptop running Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz, 800MHz FSB running on DDR2 667 MHz RAM actually runs X3TC better than the i7 720qm (it stutters less on the i7 but the Core 2 can handle the highest graphics setting (AA and AF off) in a busy sector while the i7 will slow to a crawl; note that X3TC is notorious for being CPU-bound rather than GPU-bound, so it may not matter to you if you don't play that game). Turning 3D on and off and changing AA and AF from off to max made 0 fps difference in a busy sector (measured using Fraps), and GPU-Z never shows the GPU above 70%-ish load in the game, so I'm pretty sure it's not the GPU causing problems. Similar observations for a busy park in Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. The only instances where I observed i7 being a lot better than my core 2 is at bootup and when running AVG virus scan (the scan is A LOT faster, and it's not just the SSD as I had a lot of stuff on the regular hard drive). i7 can also handle crazy multi-tasking such as running AVG virus scan, spyware doctor scan, windows defender scan all at the same time while surfing the web with my various sidebar apps active, but unless you use your computer regularly like that, you won't see the benefits. It looks like the i7 620m, which is 2 core instead of 4 but higher-clocked with lower power consumption may have suited my needs better, but when I bought this computer, there weren't any laptops with the 620m equipped with a respectable GPU, probably 'cos the 620m launched only a while ago.

- NVIDIA 3D Vision uses active shutter glasses, not the polarization technology used in 3D cinemas. In another words, if you want to have friends over to watch you game in 3D, they need to buy their own $160 glasses, not the $5 ones you get for free in 3D cinemas. If you want the polarization technology, consider the Acer Aspire model. I don't think that is capable of turning regular PC games into 3D though.

Games I got to work in 3D:
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - looks great!
- X3: Terran Conflict - looks good, the boxes around objects appear very close though, making it hard to focus on the object.
- Neverwinter Nights 2 - haven't tested it out much, but it works. Note that Neverwinter Nights Platinum (the original) doesn't seem to work unfortunately.
- Sid Meier's Pirates - turn off trilinear lighting or something like that and adjust the convergence a bit. It can make the game look really good!
- Mini Ninjas - looks great!
- Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 - looks great especially when riding the coasters!
- Command and Conquer: Renegade - need to adjust depth and convergence a bit, but can look really good!
- Command and Conquer: Generals - works in 3D, but game stopped working when I patched it, so haven't tested it much. Note that C&C original, Tiberium Sun, RA, RA2 do not work in 3D. No 3D Starcraft either.
- Galactic Civilization II: Ultimate Edition - custom ships look really cool!

Overall, this is a great laptop for playing GPU-intensive games and the 3D definitely adds replayability to older titles and is entertaining. I would give it a 5 stars for 3D gaming especially given the price of this thing! It's also great for multi-threaded apps, but if you run a lot of single-threaded cpu-intensive apps and games, the performance will likely be disappointing. Together with the underclocked GPU/heat issues, limited BIOS, poor VGA port and buggy drivers disc pushed me into the 3/4 star territory. Lid design and short battery life may also turn some people off, but for a gaming laptop, these are common issues.

If you are considering this laptop as a 3D gaming device, you will probably be satisfied. If you want a screaming 2D computer, you will be elated (it's REALLY fast).

If you are using it for 3D photo and video, forget it. This unit has apparently been crippled on purpose to NOT be compatible with the current standards of the industry in 3D software and hardware.

For instance, standard 3D glasses at $40 won't work, but their $200 ones do. Their stripped-down version of StereoScopic Player works (with shadows on the right and left side of images), but goes into "old-school" mode (red-blue 3D glasses) when an external 3D compatible projector is plugged in. There are no settings to overcome this that I see, and I've been doing 3D for 10 years. Upgrading to the full version of StereoScopic Player causes other problems, possibly due to "blocks" in the software/hardware of the laptop. Their 3D IR transmitter turns itself off sometimes, and the "on" button does not work. Basically, it seems that they do not want you to use a projector (and possibly even and external 3D monitor), don't want you to use cheap glasses that work better than the ones supplied, and don't want you running any "foreign" 3D software. Such a shame.

My cheap $1000 mini-desktop has none of these problems, works with projectors in any mode, any glasses, no shadows, no software quirks. Just great, realistic 3D video and pictures, that I don't have to pay $200 per person in order to enjoy. Some people are working on software and hardware "hacks" that may possibly unleash the 3D performance that this laptop should have.

Love this laptop, I was going to return it because it only takes 4GB RAM, but I tested one of these at a local computer outlet & it performed as well as the other unit with 8GB RAM & same Core i7 processor!

BIG PLUS, this thing came with 3D kit worth $200.00 & provides the BEST 3D I have ever experienced!

I am glad I decided to keep this machine, it is a monster, it is as FAST as they come & I just had the chance to run it side by side with an Alienware m15 loaded the same Core i7 processor & 8 GB RAM, this ASUS Republic of Gamers G51J-3D beat out the Alienware, I was surprised, so was my friend, he is now looking at this for himself!

I own an Asus G50-A1 that I bought ~Nov 2009; it has been rock solid and met all of my expectations and is in daily use.

Based on that experience, I purchased an Asus G51J from Amazon Dec 2010; had everything the G50 had, but quad-core, LED blacklit LCD, 1920x1080 (vs 1600x1080) screen, etc. Unfortunately, the machine constantly BSOD'ed. Amazon gave me a complete refund (good job guys!) and I immediately (yesterday) purchased the "step up" machine, the G51J-3D.

Obviously if you're reading this, like me, you're pretty excited by the idea of a 3D-capable laptop. And in that department, the G51J-3D doesn't disappoint. The 3D is "for real" and is a transformative experience. The biggest surprise to me was that the emitter has a very long range -- 15 feet -- and is not 'overly' directional, so you can place it almost anywhere and the goggles will get the signal they need to show your 3D content in 3D.

My main issue at this point is that Amazon listed te G51J-3D as "Full HD", which in any definition I've ever seen means 1080p (and since 16x10 and 16x9 are common screen ratios, I expected 1920x1080... or at least 1600x1080). No such luck. The screen, while beautiful and capable of the 120hz you need for 3D, is -only- 1366 x 768, which is pretty mediocre for 15.4" screen (making the web, email and spreadsheets really inefficient) and well below the capabilities of the GTX 260M (which also powers 1080p in the non-3D version).

Also of note, though properly disclosed; the optical drive is only DVD, not Blueray, and I suspect a fair bit of 3D content (Avatar, anyone?) will be Blueray/TrueHD/1080p.

I suspect I'll be returning this one too and waiting for someone to build a Full HD + Blueray 3D capable laptop for <$2000... :(

Ive owned the
Asus G60
Asus G72
Asus G73
and now the Asus G51J 3D.

There is nothing bad about this computer at all...except the battery life...everything running fully after 10 min i have about 20 percent battery left but if you use the right softwareu can clock it down to a reasonable speed and the battery will last up to 2 hours almost!!!

Starting for the complements..

The audio and mic entrance, are in the right side, just to annoy the mouse space movement.
The resolution could be better.. actual max res. is 1366x768, if were 1440x900 wold be awsome!! or 1080p xD
The sound is veeery nice, but at max volume, isn't louder enough as too many other laptops.

The keyboard is just great! I love the backlights!!
Processor and graphic card.. no words.. own!!! [5 stars]
mic, wifi, bluetooth, cam, trackpad, quick-buttons.. all are very nice..
I didn't have heat problems..great thing!

Aaaand.. 3D is amazing!! better that cinema..
but in a light tube lightened room, you have a "flashing" room because of the frequency of both (lens and light tube)

Buy it!! its veeeery nice =)

I had high hopes for gaming in 3d. especially Battlefield Bad Company 2
Unfortunately I kept getting the blue screen crash for hardware problems.
In addition it ran very very hot.
When I called Asus their only answer was to wipe the hard drive and start over.
Since I had only had the computer a few days that seemed futile so I returned the
computer to Amazon and am out the $42.00 in shipping and insurance.
Maybe I had a lemon, I hope so for Asus's sake