The ASUS G51-series is a 15.6" gaming notebook offering dual hard drive bays, NVIDIA GTX 260M graphics, and an optional quad-core processor. To enhance the multimedia experience this notebook offers a 1080P 16:9 display, a backlit Chiclet-style keyboard, and Altec Lansing speakers.

The prices of the ASUS G51VX-A1 are in the range of $1049 for a dual core processor and $1699 for a quad core variant with dual hard disk bays.

The ASUS G51VX-A1 specifications

Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 64-bit)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 (2GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
Intel PM45 + ICH9M chipset
15.6" WUXGA FHD LCD display at 1920x1080
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M 1GB GDDR3 memory
Intel 5100AGN Wireless

4GB DDR2-800 SDRAM (2GB x 2)
Two 320GB Seagate 7200RPM Hard Drives
DVD SuperMulti
Webcam, Altec Lansing speakers, Backpack, Razer Copperhead USB mouse
120W (19V x 6.32A) 100-240V AC Adapter
6-cell 53Wh 11.1v 4800mAh Lithium Ion battery
Dimensions (WxDxH): 14.6" x 10.3" x 1.3-1.6"
Weight: 7lbs 9.0oz
2-Year Global Warranty/1-Year Accidental damage
Price as configured: $1,699

ASUS G51VX-A1 video review

Build and Design

The G51 is part of the Republic of Gamers lineup from ASUS, meaning it incorporates the ROG logo on the front cover and a more aggressive notebook design. The outside cover has chrome trim around the side and bottom edges, and a futuristic pattern painted onto the lid; both helping to push the overall gaming theme. The sides are black plastic, with a silver strip painted on the sides and front of the notebook.



The ASUS G51VX-A1 has an overall good built quality with some decent plastic and has some trendy logos and stickers that make it stand out from the rest of the laptop crowd. But, remember, this is a gaming laptop and this doesn't compromise on that to any extent. It also features a rubberised palm-rest, glossy black trim around the display panels and a backlit keyboard as well.

Screen and Display

The display is glossy, the LCD lid is covered with a graphic, there are blue LED lights along the sides of the LCD lid, and there is a backlight “Republic of Gamers” logo right in the middle of the lid. This system has a lot going on with the design, enough to turn off someone that might want to use the laptop for work or for class.



The display on the G51 looks above average with good color saturation and better than average viewing angles. The glossy surface helps make the already good looking colors "pop" out at you more than they would on a matte display, as well as improving the looks of dark colors. While gaming I didn't notice any lag or abnormal backlight bleed in dark scenes.

More impressive than the input devices is the display, which is 16:9 and bright, plus the 1920×1080 resolution offers the potential for excellent fullscreen gaming as well as desktop multitasking. The high resolution on not-so-big screen might be tough on older eyes, but it wasn’t a problem during testing.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The G51VX is a gaming notebook that looks like a gaming notebook. This is good in that it brings with it a backlit keyboard, great looking display, soft-touch rubber palmrests, metal buttons around the trackpad, and a chiclet-style keyboard, but along with that comes details not everyone will like.



The keys and inner trim were all matching black, with white lettering that lights up when the backlight is enabled. The individual keys were easy to press, and felt very solid with very little wiggle if you moved your hand around the keyboard.
The G51 includes a large Synaptics touchpad with a very smooth barely- textured surface. Tracking speeds are excellent with no lag noticed in our game testing, and the sensitivity was great even with the default settings. The touchpad buttons were easy to trigger, but didn't give as much feedback as longer throw buttons.

Battery

With its 6-cell battery life the G51VX is said to be good for 2-2.5 hours, depending on usage. Testing revealed this number to be close to accurate, though generally on the high side. If you are doing something demanding the quad-core processor and video card will empty the battery in around 90 minutes, but if you are conservative with it and keep the brightness down you should be able to get a bit over 2 hours from it.

>