Review Updates:
2012-04-03 - some update - see at the end
2011-12-11 - some tips from experience
2011-12-03 - my final conclusions
2011-11-25 - the keystroke and touchpad problem seem solved (see at the end)
2011-11-16 - the 'missing keystroke' problem (see at the end)
2011-11-03 - added minor complaint #8 and under usage on Ctrl keys
2011-10-28 - regarding new BIOS 203 (the new update didn't solve problems cited)
2011-10-24 - see display update problem at the end (under daily usage update)
2011-10-18 - finger sensing pad control didn't fully work after all (under complaint #1)
2011-10-14 - added minor complaint #7
2011-10-10 - finger sensing pad control (under complaint #1)
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I have just acquired this laptop [first week of 2011-09] and I am impressed by it. Asus is keen to advertise this product under the 'Gaming Powerhouse' which may be an accurate description considering its power and multimedia capabilities. I didn't buy this laptop for gaming, rather for multimedia oriented programming and processing where CPU and GPU power, like in gaming, is in high demand. And I can report that it does the job brilliantly. You'll be amazed how fast H.264 video encoding is with nVidia GPU encoding enabled which is supported on applications such as Expression Encoder 4 Pro (part of the
Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Ultimate Edition (PC) suite).
You will note that prices vary substantially for G74SX-91131Z (which is the UK version with 3D video) so do your research before you part with your money. You'll be surprised that you may even find a 16GB RAM version of same model for under 1.7K. Also worth mentioning that there are many versions for G74SX and often confusing (I nearly bought -90131Z obviously not -91131Z) and there are many imports similar to US versions. G74SX-91131Z is the UK version with top spec with 3D. You may also come across G74SX-91131Z-16GB which is the 16GB RAM version of the same laptop.
What I like about this notebook:
- First and foremost, worth mentioning that this is a laptop equipped with full HD 1920x1080 display (same pixel as full HD TV with largest screen size out there). Okay, this is only 17.3" screen so what is the deal? It means you'll get the crispest and refined image on the laptop screen; It also means that you can view full HD on your TV if your laptop is connected to TV with HDMI cable (which it's is capable of). The display is also supported by a powerful nVidia GPU with 3GB dedicated RAM to do the multimedia number-crunching without stealing much of your own RAM.
- Full keyboard with numeric keypad, i.e., no crammed in keys as in most notebooks (see in product picture gallery but also note what is shown is a US keyboard. In comparison, the UK keyboard has a backslash key to left of Z key and of course the pound key, and some swapped over key positions such as the @ key).
- Back-lit keyboard and this really has a wow! factor.
- Quick bootup; this should be expected for a CPU (quad-core and all that...) and memory spec but it just feels nice.
- 3D video, another wow! factor. Personally, I am still to be won over with all things 3D, but if you don't mind wearing 3D face furniture (a very nice nVidia gadget is provided for this), then you will be amazed by the 3D video this machine is capable of playing. There is however something that you have to figure out: you have to download and install 'nVidia 3D Vision Video Player' from nVidia website. I was a bit surprised that the installation of this essential program was overlooked by ASUS.
- Silent and cool operation, and can't emphasise enough! Yes, a wow! factor.
- Upgrading is dead easy as you can access user-replaceable parts (HDD, memory). All you need is a 2p coin to open and close the back panel. I nearly bought a predecessor of this model, the G73SW, and I was put off by its near-impossibility for memory upgrade. Full RAM upgrade to 16GB requires dismantling the top of the G73SW notebook which for me was a no go. Well worth the wait for G74SX and in this regard no doubt ASUS took on board customer complaints with G73 series.
- Well-thought-out hot-keys (fn followed by F1 to F12) for hardware related commands. You will also note two new (for me anyway) hot-keys courtesy of ASUS: one near the right ctrl key for Windows context menu (same as mouse right click) and another one on the numeric keypad area to appropriately launch a related Windows command -- the Calculator.
- Blu-Ray R/W drive (yes, read-write). Well, now you can produce those personal video collections on a 25GB Blu-ray disc (though I haven't got this far with this notebook usage). How time has moved on with digital video tech ;-)
- Anti-Theft technology is built into the CPU and this can be an important feature to some people. See a detailed description on this feature under item 4 below (under 'what I don't like ...')
- The audio output level from laptop speakers may not be to everybody's liking but personally I have no problem with this. The audio quality through the headphone, assisted with THX TruStudio audio enhancement technology, is first class which gives uncomplicated option with minimal settings for Head Phone, Laptop Speakers, and External Speakers. You don't have to stick to the suggested settings; for instance, you may prefer listening through laptop speakers with THX TruStudio set to External Speakers. Did I mention the A++++ headphone supplied with the laptop?
The audio on Bluetooth link is as good -- obviously this depends much on the Bluetooth headphone and THX TruStudio equalizer doesn't work for this link, but I use a relatively cheap and cheerful Bluetooth headphone type
Motorola Stereo Headphones HT820 and with this laptop provides as close enjoyment to that provided by very pricey Bluetooth headphones.
- Some useful utilities and multimedia applications I have never come across on other laptops (I come from a Toshiba Qosmio multimedia background) so this adds to the feel-good factor of owning this notebook.
- ASUS technical support and web interface is generally good although there is much room for improvement, for instance, providing descriptions of driver and application software. You'll be on your own to figure out what exactly some utilities do for you although you can deduce most from their names. All ASUS needs to do is provide descriptions on the download pages of driver or utility program. I have used Toshiba's website and in this regard Toshiba does a better job.
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What I don't like about this notebook:
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So far nothing that stands out as being overly negative, but watch this space.
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Important Note: The nature of problem under item 1) below has now changed. You can skip 1) and instead read the entry under [2011-11-25] toward the end which in effect will over-ride some of the speculation with regard to BIOS mentioned under 1) below.
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1) Major complaint: Not only on this laptop, but did you find your cursor jumping all over the place while typing? Found yourself typing in the middle of text and wondered how you got at that random text position? Worse still, did you lose a chunk of text while typing? It's as if you selected the whole text and then typed over it! How frustrating this can be if the Undo command is missing for your application and you cannot rescue the text just lost! I bet you always blamed yourself for pressing the wrong key, or got puzzled and left at that. Almost certainly, it is the touch sensitive mouse pad on the laptop playing a trick on you. Touchpad mouse is excellent in the right situations (where usage doesn't involve editing) and I usually disable it to avoid the problem I've just described in favour of external mouse.
So, what better place than going into the BIOS to disable the misbehaving rodent? If you get into the BIOS, you will see the 'Internal Pointing Device' enable/disable option, so you don't need to hire a lawyer to tell you that this means the built-in mouse pad. You go ahead and disable it and it will also disable your keyboard! This must be a BUG! Keyboard is an input device, and not a pointing device and we cannot even argue on ambiguity in meanings here. I hope the next version of the BIOS will correct this. The only way to disable the touch sensitive pad is therefore by disabling it with its device settings control (appears in task tray notification area) which is less than ideal.
Update 2011-10-10: I'm pleased to notice later that the issue of cursor moving to a random location while editing has actually been addressed by the Finger Sensing Pad driver software. The settings program for the pad (tucked away in the notification area) has all the options you need - whether the pad should be disabled while typing, and the reactivation time after typing ceased. This is exactly what is required to avoid the problem I've described. Furthermore, there is an option of disabling the pad when an external USB mouse is attached. So, good show (by Sentelic behind the technology) for addressing the issue programmatically and comprehensively. Very impressive!
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