ASUS G74SX: Noteworthy Updates to ASUS' G7 Series
by Jarred Walton on October 6, 2011 12:00 AM ESTASUS G74SX: A Worthwhile Update
I must admit that the G73SW left me feeling a little underwhelmed; it was nearly the same as the G73JW, only with a Sandy Bridge CPU. Yes, Sandy Bridge is a noteworthy upgrade from Clarksfield, but we wanted more. The G74SX is the answer, bringing some minor and some not-so-minor updates to the G7 series. The external design is similar to the previous generation, but there are some clear changes in materials and hints that the internal layout isn’t the same. Perhaps the biggest change, however, is in the keyboard.
I’m something of a keyboard snob when it comes to laptops and notebooks. I write (type) for a living, and I type fast enough that differences between my regular desktop keyboard and typical laptop keyboard become immediately apparent. Having discovered the improved layout on the G74SX, I decided to try something: I’d write nearly this entire review on the keyboard to see how I felt after a lengthier experience. The verdict? While I still prefer my MS Natural keyboard, for a notebook the ASUS G74SX does quite well. The size of the keys and their layout makes it easy to switch between a desktop keyboard and the notebook, key travel is good, and there’s keyboard backlighting. Unfortunately, I still suffer from RSI issues, and typing on a notebook definitely made me more aware of my carpals, but there’s not much I can do about that. As a final bonus, there’s no flex to speak of, even when really mashing against a key, which is more than I can say for most notebooks. The only blemish is the half-size zero key on the keypad, which is irritating if you use the 10-key a lot but not a bit enough issue for most people.
Besides the overhaul of the keyboard, ASUS also updated the LCD, providing a brighter panel with similar to slightly better colors. If you’re at a dark LAN party with your laptop, the G73SW worked well, but sitting in a car or airplane the LCD just wasn’t bright enough in my opinion. The G74SX fixes that, though how many people would actually try to use this sort of notebook in a car or on an airplane—or tote it around a college campus—is questionable. Regardless, all things being equal I prefer a display that can get brighter if I need it, and with nearly 300 nits on tap the G74SX delivers.
As far as performance goes, the G74SX is anywhere from slightly faster to noticeably faster than the G73 variants. The big change is in the A2 model we received for review, which combines a 160GB Intel 320 SSD with a 750GB 7200RPM HDD. That gives you the best of both worlds: great performance for the OS and core applications, and maybe even a few games, with plenty of mass storage still available for images, movies, and additional games (hello, Rage—thanks for eating up 21GB of space on my drive). ASUS also doubled the amount of RAM, packing in a full 16GB—more than even my desktop system!
Battery life on the other hand is about the same (slightly lower), but the improved specs are enough to make up for that. The big omission in this area is NVIDIA’s Optimus Technology, but I understand why that can be polarizing. Intel’s HD 3000 graphics are generally “good enough” for Windows use, typical office tasks, and web surfing. Start hitting some of the latest CSS3/SVG sites, however, and NVIDIA (and AMD) GPUs can be noticeably faster. I haven’t personally been bothered by Optimus, but if you look for it you can find some choppiness and slowdowns when rendering certain content on the Intel IGP. For better or for worse, ASUS avoids all of that by not supporting Optimus, but in the process they basically cut their potential battery life in half.
Ideally, we would get discrete GPU performance with IGP power requirements—basically have a discrete GPU that’s just fast enough that you don’t notice any choppiness and using only as much power as an IGP, but it can also scale up to full power mode when playing games, or anywhere in between. Optimus provides all the power savings but relies on Intel’s IGP for other areas, and at times the Intel IGP still isn’t quite at the level of discrete GPUs. This was a bigger problem when Optimus first launched (with GMA 4500 IGPs), but it became less of a concern with Arrandale (HD Graphics), and Sandy Bridge (HD 3000) has cleared up probably 95% of my concerns. When Ivy Bridge launches late this year or early next and Intel delivers a DX11 IGP, hopefully that will remove any lingering issues.
The remainder of the notebook design is roughly the same as the older G7 models. If you don’t like the slightly wedge shaped design, it’s still there, although ASUS did tone it down quite a bit. This is also a very large 17.3”-screen chassis (just like Alienware’s M17x), and weighing in at 8.5 pounds you definitely don’t want to carry this thing around all day. For people looking for a good desktop replacement, though, the G74SX is a great system that can handle just about anything you might throw at it.
Right now, if you were to ask us for the best gaming notebook, there’s really no clear winner. Price is always a major consideration, but you’ll want at least a GTX 560M for graphics duties if you actually intend to play recent games. Delivering the best overall build quality and features, there are really two contenders for your money: the ASUS G74SX, and the Alienware M17x R3—I rule out the M18x because if the G74SX is too big, the M18x is downright enormous (and expensive). The base model M17x will set you back $1500, but it comes with slightly slower graphics, 4GB RAM, a 1600x900 LCD of questionable quality, a single 500GB 7200RPM hard drive, a DVDRW, and a 1-year warranty. For $1950, the G74SX-A2 provides a lot of upgrades, and configuring the M17x R3 to a similar level of features will set you back about $2350. If you like the added lighting features of the M17x, it’s still a worthy contender, but if you’re trying to cut costs the ASUS G74SX is definitely a great alternative—call it a tie if you will.
The design and appearance of the G74SX won’t please everyone—nothing ever could—but anyone looking for a mobile gaming notebook for under $2000 will be hard pressed to do better than this. The base model trims the specs down on the RAM, storage, and display and can be had for $1200, or there’s the 1080p-equipped G74SX-XR1 for $1320—add a 240GB SF-2200 SSD and you’re still looking at $1600 or so for a potent setup. Or if you just want the maximum configuration, the G74SX-A2 gives you an SSD+HDD, 16GB RAM, a great display, and even tosses in a backpack and mouse for good measure, all for $1950. As long as you grab one of the 1080p equipped models, you really can’t go wrong with the G74, and like the Alienware M17x we’re also awarding ASUS our Bronze Editors’ Choice award. Both are great gaming notebooks, and right now they’re our top two picks—grab whichever better suits your needs. Why no gold? We'd like to see the ability for the fan speed (and cooling capacity) to ramp up higher under load--just in case--and after two prior versions with NVIDIA GPUs we feel it's time for the G7 series to add Optimus support. Neither of those complaints are major, but they're the only items that are lacking.
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JarredWalton - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
AMD's mobile GPUs tend to hit higher temperatures on the high-end in my experience, so that may be part of the equation. Obviously, we don't get to keep these systems long-term, so unfortunately I can't say how any of these will hold up after six months or a year of use. On the plus side, if you do change your thermal paste out, you can use something better that won't need to be replaced a second time.Coup27 - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Am I the only one who is confused by the single USB3 port? I am assuming they used a controller such as NEC which supports two ports, so why did they only use 1?Wolfpup - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
Yeah, no Intel chipsets support USB 3.0 until next year (I guess it's finally coming next year).Can't remember what chip it uses, but it's worked fine for me (the port is blue, so you can tell the difference).
I'd guess maybe it's harder to wire it up to two ports, or maybe they didn't want to reduce the available ports to only 2 if you're not using Windows 7 (or don't have the drivers installed).
Like the port doesn't work until you get the drivers on there (hopefully Windows 8, or whatever they call 6.2 will just support it out of the box).
I've got a Tripp Lite USB 3.0 hub which seems to work well, and my two external USB 3.0 drives (that I happened to already have) hooked in to that.
I love USB 3.0 so far! I mean 2.0 gets the job done for me, but of course maxes out around 25MB/s-ish, while the same drive under 3.0 seemed to be averaging 95MB/s-ish (and sometimes even higher), which is not something I'll complain about!
hrbngr - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Jarred,I have read you mentioning your RSI issues in several articles. The MS keyboard is a nice option, but you really owe it to yourself to try out a kinesis ergo keyboard:
http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/advantage_pro.htm
It has a USB connection and comes w/a foot pedal that is usually programmed to be the shift key, it only needs a separate numeric keypad--the built in one is kind of clunky--if you use that a lot. I'm not sure I could live w/out mine. Individual key wells and a focus on using both thumbs for the shift/alt/control/tab keys vs using your pinky really work--and I didn't take as long to get used to it as I thought I would.
Great laptop review as btw. However I think that I will wait for the next gen chipset as the on-board video seems to be a substantial upgrade, and when used in Optimus mode, would be good for most all work but heavy gaming.
666 - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Those horrendously overpriced weird keyboardlike things are not selling that well, are they? Perhaps it's the color? :)hrbngr - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
666,I suppose the white color is a little off-putting, but I did buy the black usb model! :-) They are very overpriced, but there is no other keyboard on the market that come close to it in terms of comfort--especially through the use off the foot pedal for the "shift" key.
Wolfpup - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
And I really like it. I agree with everything in the review except the (continued) obsession with switchable graphics. A big factor in my purchase of the G74 over other models is that it DOESN'T use switchable graphics. No driver weirdness. No reduced performance. If I'm buying something mid range or high end and it's got a GPU, I want to use the GPU. Power gating and whatnot to get power levels down further would be fine, but I'm not compromising on compatibility or performance to get some extra battery life, even if I used the battery, which I never have on a notebook.I find the G74 very portable too, though the bag they included didn't fit it well, and most don't. Targus' "XL" bag works pretty well, and is pretty decent build quality (if not LL Bean quality).
I've found everything in the review (save for the Optimus stuff...) to be dead on. The performance is great. The keyboard's remarkable for a notebook. (And I love finally having a numberpad!) Physically it SEEMS similar to my Macbook Air keyboard, but the buttons on the Air are much more "mushy" and don't have as much travel as the G74 keyboard does.
The cooling's awesome, the noise level is awesome, just as the review says. The screen's great by notebook standards too-looks great, great viewing angles and contrast, etc.). I normally leave it on minimum brightness (and half the time use a 24" external monitor) but I love having the headroom to crank it up if I need to!
Obviously I'd have loved a GTX 570 or 580, but the 560 is getting it done for me, and probably will for a long time, so...that's fine. Mine (the A1 model) comes with 3GB instead of 1.5GB, though I guess that doesn't affect performance today? Hurray for Windows and good hardware...I was running Modern Warfare 2 on my external screen, while leaving Outlook 2010 running on my internal display, all just working flawlessly!
RAM access seems super easy compared with any other notebook I've seen (there's a bit more space than normal, and of course 4 DIMM slots). My only complaint with access is I wish the cable for the second hard drive had a better mechanism attaching it to the motherboard. If you swap drives as I did, I wouldn't disconnect the cable from the board, just disconnect it from the drive. Otherwise that all went smoothly.
My A1 shipped with two Seagate Momentus 7200/16MB drives, and I stuck a 300GB Intel 320 in as the main drive, which has been a great combo. I stuck Steam stuff on the second drive, as well as all my shows from my Tivo, etc., while most of my programs are on the first drive. (The Seagate Momentus XT is a nice compromise if you don't want to spend a crazy amount on an SSD as the boot drive...honestly to me there feels like a bigger gap between normal drives and the Momentus XT than between the XT and SSDs...so the $550ish I spend on my SSD isn't REALLY worth it, I just wanted to do it!)
Anyway, so far my G74's just been a pleasure to use. Normal Nvidia.com drivers installed with no hacks or weirdness. Nothing's gone wrong. All the hardware's nice, and fast, etc.
aguilpa1 - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
This thing is huge and uses the same tired old 560, so sad. I don't see how this is news or can be considered an update.Siorus - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
Jarred, have they fixed the throttling issue that they've had since the G73 came out yet?I bought a G73 for work a few months ago, because I needed a mobile CAD workstation RIGHT (bleep)ING YESTERDAY and that was the closest I could get locally. 2630QM or a 2720QM or something, and a GTX460m. While setting it up, I found that if you run furmark and prime95 at the same time, the CPU throttles down to 800MHz and stays there. It's not a heat issue; temperatures stay well under control (60s-70s*C); I did some googling and found people reporting performance problems in games because of it.
So I ran out and bought a G74 since the guy that needed it was going on a trip and he needed a machine the next day (it's great when people don't tell you these things until the last minute). The G74 (same CPU, 560m) has the same exact issue.
I guess some HP laptop had the same problem and HP released a BIOS update to fix it. As far as I know, ASUS has not yet seen fit to actually fix or stop selling a fundamentally broken machine.
I'm frankly disgusted with the whole episode; I've used ASUS boards almost exclusively both at work and at home for years (since the demise of Abit), and unless this is addressed, I, for one, will never buy another ASUS product again.
JarredWalton - Saturday, October 8, 2011 - link
I just spent the last couple of hours trying to replicate the throttling issue, without using Furmark. I have been unable to do so. With Furmark however, running any heavily threaded load at the same time will result in almost immediate throttling of the CPU clock, as you mention.The problem I have here is that Furmark is a well-known "power virus". Both AMD and NVIDIA have already essentially prevented it from running at maximum load to the point where it will ruin hardware (or at least they have tried). I have not found any other graphics program (without including Furmark derivatives like MSI Kombustor) that will generate a similar load on a GPU. As such, it's difficult for me to ding a laptop for throttling while running what is essentially a load that you cannot replicate without using a synthetic utility.
If you can give me some real-world scenario where throttling results (e.g. running a particular game), I'll be happy to look into it. But it needs to be an actual game (or game + heavily threaded application load). I'll put a note on the power/temp page at least warning of the throttling potential, but until I can replicate it elsewhere I won't lose any sleep over Furmark.