ASUS ROG G751JT-CH71 Review

[Slayher]

Got a question that's not answered in this review? Post the comment and I'll answer it for you.

I'd like to say thanks to Volbet for posting a review which can be found here that helped me make this layout for this review to make it look as professional as possible.

 

What is the ASUS ROG G751JT-CH71?
The ROG G751JY-CH71 laptop computer is the choice of champions. The realms of overclocking and performance is dominated by the Republic of Gamers. Infused with the ROG DNA, own your opponents with the ultimate gaming notebook.

 

Why did I get this laptop?

I'm a professional streamer for Major League Gaming and I needed to produce more streams and content. I stream on their video platform "MLG.tv" and I felt like I could improve my work load by streaming whenever I travel which is a lot.

I travel from city to city on a lot of occasions to see family or for other things so now I can finally stream and render videos on-the-go with this machine.

 

Purchase Links

Microcenter: http://bit.ly/1uzdf7u

Amazon: http://amzn.to/13iwf3E

Newegg: http://bit.ly/1wkNCvv

Tiger Direct: http://bit.ly/13iwuvJ

B&H: http://bhpho.to/1sldBDD

 

What's the specs?

OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit

CPU: Intel Core i7-4710HQ at 2.5GHz

RAM: 16GB RAM (Up-gradable to 32GB RAM)

HDD: 1TB 7,200RPM Hitachi
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3GB GDDR5

Screen Size: 17.3

Resolution: 1920x1080

 

What's in the box?

This is what was included:

- 1x ASUS ROG G751-JT-CH71 Gaming Notebook

- 1x Dust bag for the computer

- 1x Power Brick + AC Adapter

- 1x Asus Branded Twisty Tie

- Basic Manuals

 

The laptop itself (Beware Big Images)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What inputs does the laptop have?

1x VGA

1x Ethernet

1x HDMI

1x Thunderbolt

4x USB 3.0

1x Headphone Jack

1x Microphone Jack

1x DL DVDRW/CD-RW Drive

1x Webcam

 

Laptop 17.3" Screen Image Quality (Beware Big Images)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What software comes pre-installed?

ASUS Gaming Center (Where you can see the RAM usage, HDD usage, Setup Gaming Profiles, ASUS ROG MacroKey, NVIDIA GeForce Experience, Audio Wizard Multimedia, Splendid)

ASUS GIFTBOX Desktop

ASUS Live Update

ASUS ROG Gaming Moues

ASUS Screen Saver

ASUS Splendid Video Enhancement Technology

ASUS USB Charger Plus

ATK Package

NVIDIA GeForce Experience

ROG Game First III

Web Storage

Thunderbolt Software

 

Desktop Images:

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Wallpaper:

Credits to NicolasNSane over at Deviant Art for the wallpaper!

 

Pros:

• Is large, good for large hands
• Great software
• Great Battery
• Great Viewing Angles
• Boots fast w/out SSD (2 Second Boot)
• It came with a free game from NVIDIA (Far Cry 3, Assassins Creed: Unity or The Crew! I ended up picking The Crew since I have the other two for console)

 

Cons:

• Shadowplay + Steam button in horrible positioning (Right above esc so you can click them by an accident a lot of the time)

[Analog]

Nice review, I am still not sold on the idea of buying a huge gaming laptop if you have a regular desktop PC. I would be happy enough with a similarly specked out machine with a much smaller form-factor. 15.4'' is big enough in my opinion. 

 

FYI, You can override the automatic brightness on any device through the power management console in the Control Panel, give it a try. 

[razor767]

Nice review, how on earth does it boot so fast without an SSD?

[CostcoSamples]

Thanks for the review! I've been eye balling that laptop. I need a second computer and thought I might as well make it a gaming laptop.

Do you think it's worth getting the one with the gtx 980?

I wish I could get it with the 980 and one 500gb ssd. It seems if you want the 980 version, you are limited to just a couple drive options.

[CostcoSamples]

Also, is the Asus bloat ware pretty easy to remove? I'd be tempted to remove the included hard drive and put in a nice ssd like Intel 730 series or Samsung 850 pro if it ever goes on sale.

[Slayher]

Nice review, how on earth does it boot so fast without an SSD?

I personally have a custom gaming desktop and I have the ASUS MAXIMUS VI FORMULA motherboard and it has a "Fast boot" option and boots super fast without an SSD.

I guess the motherboard that's on this laptop has a feature? I haven't even entered bios yet, I'm just guessing here.

[Slayher]

Thanks for the review! I've been eye balling that laptop. I need a second computer and thought I might as well make it a gaming laptop.

Do you think it's worth getting the one with the gtx 980?

I wish I could get it with the 980 and one 500gb ssd. It seems if you want the 980 version, you are limited to just a couple drive options.

The 980M model of this laptop will come with either a 256GB SSD or 512GB SSD

The 256GB SSD configuration can either come with 16GB RAM or 24GB RAM while the 512GB SSD configuration only comes with 32GB RAM and prices may vary! It all depends if you need that extra graphics card horsepower, but keep in mind it'll be more expensive than the configuration I posted.

[Slayher]

Also, is the Asus bloat ware pretty easy to remove? I'd be tempted to remove the included hard drive and put in a nice ssd like Intel 730 series or Samsung 850 pro if it ever goes on sale.

Hmm, I haven't tried removing the bloatware because it seems so minimal and it doesn't bother you + you don't need to use the said programs I listed.

If it'll bother you, you could just do a fresh install of windows on the SSD and nothing will be there.

[CostcoSamples]

Well from what I've seen, I think the GTX 980m is about the same as a desktop 970, which I find pretty amazing!  

 

Normally for a desktop it makes more sense to get the better valued 970, but for a laptop it's not as clear which is better value.  The biggest reason is that it cannot be upgraded.  Let me know if this logic is sensible:

 

in a desktop, you'd get great performance per dollar for a gtx 970, and could easily either add a second one in a year or two to boost performance and extend the life of the system to, lets say 5 years.  You could stick with the one 970 for 5 years, but to maintain good frame rates in the latest AAA games, you'd want a bit more power.  So you either add a second card after 2.5 years (for a cost of perhaps 1/2 the original launch price).  so for example lets say you bought your 970 for $350, then after 2.5 years you added a second 970 for another $175 to extend good performance to 5 years.  Alternatively, after 2 or 3 years you could spend another $350 to upgrade to the latest card and extend the life of the system to 5 years.  Option 1 cost you $525 and option 2 cost you $700.  both scenarios got you great gaming performance for 5 years.  For this example we can ignore the rest of the system, since most of it won't affect gaming that much (assuming you have a decent CPU that you keep for the full 5 years).

 

For a laptop, you are looking at a steady decline in performance over the life of the system.  the components that CAN be upgraded won't affect gaming (ram, ssd, etc.  even if CPU can be upgraded, it wont make much difference without upgrading GPU along with it).  so the out-of-the-box gaming performance is what you get for the life of the system.  If you spend $1500 for the system with a 970m, you'll get great gaming performance today, and as new games come out, performance will drop off steadily (since new games have better and better graphics/physics etc).  So in your mind you have to decide what an acceptable level of performance will be.  when the system drops below that threshold, you consider the system obsolete.  Perhaps $1500 laptop starts at a performance level of 8 and drops off by say 2 points per year, giving it a service life of 4 years.  The $2000 laptop (with 980m) might start with a performance level of 10, dropping 2 points per year, for a service life of 5 years.

 

So $1500/4 years = $375 per year.  and $2000/5 = $400 per year.  So in this case the $1500 laptop is a better choice, but not by much, and probably within the margin of error for these assumed numbers.  It is not a clear winner.  And what if your financial situation is such that an upgrade will be impossible for 5 years?  in that case, the $1500 system would mean you are operating BELOW your level of acceptable performance for a full year.

[CostcoSamples]

Nice review, I am still not sold on the idea of buying a huge gaming laptop if you have a regular desktop PC. I would be happy enough with a similarly specked out machine with a much smaller form-factor. 15.4'' is big enough in my opinion. 

 

FYI, You can override the automatic brightness on any device through the power management console in the Control Panel, give it a try. 

 I had a low end gaming laptop back in 2006-2007 and it got really hot, and was pretty loud when gaming.  I think the idea with these ROG laptops is the large heatsink/fan combo, which runs a lot cooler and quieter.  It's a big trade off though, since the thing is really bulky and heavy!  i don't think I'd mind the bulk, personally.  I'm more interested in good cooling than portability.  The IPS screen is also a major selling point!  Are there any other GTX 970m/980m laptops with an IPS or similar screen?

 

If you have experience using a thinner/lighter gaming laptop, I'd love to hear about it. 

[Slayher]

Well from what I've seen, I think the GTX 980m is about the same as a desktop 970, which I find pretty amazing!  

 

Normally for a desktop it makes more sense to get the better valued 970, but for a laptop it's not as clear which is better value.  The biggest reason is that it cannot be upgraded.  Let me know if this logic is sensible:

 

in a desktop, you'd get great performance per dollar for a gtx 970, and could easily either add a second one in a year or two to boost performance and extend the life of the system to, lets say 5 years.  You could stick with the one 970 for 5 years, but to maintain good frame rates in the latest AAA games, you'd want a bit more power.  So you either add a second card after 2.5 years (for a cost of perhaps 1/2 the original launch price).  so for example lets say you bought your 970 for $350, then after 2.5 years you added a second 970 for another $175 to extend good performance to 5 years.  Alternatively, after 2 or 3 years you could spend another $350 to upgrade to the latest card and extend the life of the system to 5 years.  Option 1 cost you $525 and option 2 cost you $700.  both scenarios got you great gaming performance for 5 years.  For this example we can ignore the rest of the system, since most of it won't affect gaming that much (assuming you have a decent CPU that you keep for the full 5 years).

 

For a laptop, you are looking at a steady decline in performance over the life of the system.  the components that CAN be upgraded won't affect gaming (ram, ssd, etc.  even if CPU can be upgraded, it wont make much difference without upgrading GPU along with it).  so the out-of-the-box gaming performance is what you get for the life of the system.  If you spend $1500 for the system with a 970m, you'll get great gaming performance today, and as new games come out, performance will drop off steadily (since new games have better and better graphics/physics etc).  So in your mind you have to decide what an acceptable level of performance will be.  when the system drops below that threshold, you consider the system obsolete.  Perhaps $1500 laptop starts at a performance level of 8 and drops off by say 2 points per year, giving it a service life of 4 years.  The $2000 laptop (with 980m) might start with a performance level of 10, dropping 2 points per year, for a service life of 5 years.

 

So $1500/4 years = $375 per year.  and $2000/5 = $400 per year.  So in this case the $1500 laptop is a better choice, but not by much, and probably within the margin of error for these assumed numbers.  It is not a clear winner.  And what if your financial situation is such that an upgrade will be impossible for 5 years?  in that case, the $1500 system would mean you are operating BELOW your level of acceptable performance for a full year.

Everything that you are talking about is correct. The components can't be up-gradable besides the ram, ssd, etc as well, this is the risk you take when you purchase laptops. My financial situation is great, if a upgraded version of the laptop will release I'll be able to get it so I'm not really worried. I'm going to be mainly streaming console games via a capture card so this CPU will be able to handle it even if I don't game on the laptop which will last longer than ~ 5 years.

[CostcoSamples]

@Slayher
 
I went ahead and purchased the gtx 970 version.  very happy with it!  the monitor is very nice, although the viewing angles are not quite as good as I was expecting for IPS display.  still very good, and no issue with it when using it.  the only time it becomes apparent is when standing beside someone who is using it.  at those sharp angles you definitely notice some brightness and color shift.  
 
i was also pleasently surprised to learn that the display operates at 75 hz, instead of the more standard 60hz for IPS displays.
 
Also, you can change the steam button from big picture mode to window mode.  its easy but you have to install a hex editor, open the steam launcher and change one line.  see this thread:   
 
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?53229-Steam-key-open-desktop-mode&p=462624&viewfull=1#post462624

[CostcoSamples]

Oh also, you can delete the extra hard drive partitions.  I got the G751 with 2x1TB HDDs, so the first drive was partitioned into a boot drive, data drive, and recovery drive.  the second drive was split into two data drives.  I have no idea why anyone would want this, but its easy to change.  go to the disk manager and remove the extra partitions, then expand the ones you want to keep to include the now available space.  easy peasy.

[Slayher]

@Slayher

 

I went ahead and purchased the gtx 970 version.  very happy with it!  the monitor is very nice, although the viewing angles are not quite as good as I was expecting for IPS display.  still very good, and no issue with it when using it.  the only time it becomes apparent is when standing beside someone who is using it.  at those sharp angles you definitely notice some brightness and color shift.  

 

i was also pleasently surprised to learn that the display operates at 75 hz, instead of the more standard 60hz for IPS displays.

 

Also, you can change the steam button from big picture mode to window mode.  its easy but you have to install a hex editor, open the steam launcher and change one line.  see this thread:   

 

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?53229-Steam-key-open-desktop-mode&p=462624&viewfull=1#post462624

I'm glad you picked it up and happy with it!

Thanks a lot for letting me know that the big picture --> window mode could be a change! Awesome.

[Slayher]

Oh also, you can delete the extra hard drive partitions.  I got the G751 with 2x1TB HDDs, so the first drive was partitioned into a boot drive, data drive, and recovery drive.  the second drive was split into two data drives.  I have no idea why anyone would want this, but its easy to change.  go to the disk manager and remove the extra partitions, then expand the ones you want to keep to include the now available space.  easy peasy.

I did that and now I have all the space on one partition which is my main one, 

[Nayem33397]

Can I use this one for 3d modeling and animation  (3ds max )? Workstation laptop are too pricey. 

[Nayem33397]

 

Got a question that's not answered in this review? Post the comment and I'll answer it for you.

I'd like to say thanks to Volbet for posting a review which can be found here that helped me make this layout for this review to make it look as professional as possible.

 

What is the ASUS ROG G751JT-CH71?

The ROG G751JY-CH71 laptop computer is the choice of champions. The realms of overclocking and performance is dominated by the Republic of Gamers. Infused with the ROG DNA, own your opponents with the ultimate gaming notebook.

 

Why did I get this laptop?

I'm a professional streamer for Major League Gaming and I needed to produce more streams and content. I stream on their video platform "MLG.tv" and I felt like I could improve my work load by streaming whenever I travel which is a lot.

I travel from city to city on a lot of occasions to see family or for other things so now I can finally stream and render videos on-the-go with this machine.

 

Purchase Links

Microcenter: http://bit.ly/1uzdf7u

Amazon: http://amzn.to/13iwf3E

Newegg: http://bit.ly/1wkNCvv

Tiger Direct: http://bit.ly/13iwuvJ

B&H: http://bhpho.to/1sldBDD

 

What's the specs?

OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit

CPU: Intel Core i7-4710HQ at 2.5GHz

RAM: 16GB RAM (Up-gradable to 32GB RAM)

HDD: 1TB 7,200RPM Hitachi

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3GB GDDR5

Screen Size: 17.3

Resolution: 1920x1080

 

What's in the box?

This is what was included:

- 1x ASUS ROG G751-JT-CH71 Gaming Notebook

- 1x Dust bag for the computer

- 1x Power Brick + AC Adapter

- 1x Asus Branded Twisty Tie

- Basic Manuals

 

The laptop itself (Beware Big Images)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What inputs does the laptop have?

1x VGA

1x Ethernet

1x HDMI

1x Thunderbolt

4x USB 3.0

1x Headphone Jack

1x Microphone Jack

1x DL DVDRW/CD-RW Drive

1x Webcam

 

Laptop 17.3" Screen Image Quality (Beware Big Images)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What software comes pre-installed?

ASUS Gaming Center (Where you can see the RAM usage, HDD usage, Setup Gaming Profiles, ASUS ROG MacroKey, NVIDIA GeForce Experience, Audio Wizard Multimedia, Splendid)

ASUS GIFTBOX Desktop

ASUS Live Update

ASUS ROG Gaming Moues

ASUS Screen Saver

ASUS Splendid Video Enhancement Technology

ASUS USB Charger Plus

ATK Package

NVIDIA GeForce Experience

ROG Game First III

Web Storage

Thunderbolt Software

 

Desktop Images:

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Wallpaper:

Credits to NicolasNSane over at Deviant Art for the wallpaper!

 

Pros:

• Is large, good for large hands
• Great software
• Great Battery
• Great Viewing Angles
• Boots fast w/out SSD (2 Second Boot)
• It came with a free game from NVIDIA (Far Cry 3, Assassins Creed: Unity or The Crew! I ended up picking The Crew since I have the other two for console)

 

Cons:

• Shadowplay + Steam button in horrible positioning (Right above esc so you can click them by an accident a lot of the time)

 

Can I use this one for 3d modeling and animation  (3ds max )? Workstation laptop are too pricey.

[Slayher]

Can I use this one for 3d modeling and animation  (3ds max )? Workstation laptop are too pricey. 

You should be able to, I wouldn't see why not as it has 16GB of RAM and you can buy 16GB more and have 32GB which is more than enough for a rendering station.

[Nayem33397]

You should be able to, I wouldn't see why not as it has 16GB of RAM and you can buy 16GB more and have 32GB which is more than enough for a rendering station.

Thanks. But I am concerned about the gpu. Will 970m give same performance for 3ds max as quadro K1100M? 

And I am also concerned about the quality. I live in Bangladesh and buying the laptop from uae. So I can check after buying but can't use the warranty once I bring it to my country. So I am wondering how many days/years  will it last without needing any kind of repair. 

Edited August 15, 2015 by Nayem33397

[Slayher]

Thanks. But I am concerned about the gpu. Will 970m give same performance for 3ds max as quadro K1100M? 

And I am also concerned about the quality. I live in Bangladesh and buying the laptop from uae. So I can check after buying but can't use the warranty once I bring it to my country. So I am wondering how many days/years  will it last without needing any kind of repair. 

I'm not sure when it comes to program benchmarks but if you check a website that does GPU vs. GPU the 970m has great performance.

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=2536&gid2=2006&compare=geforce-gtx-970m-3gb-vs-quadro-k1100m

 

Here's a link that shows the Quadro K1100M vs. GTX 970M, check it out.

I've had my laptop for about 7-8 months now and I haven't had any issues, you should be fine for years.

[Nayem33397]

I'm not sure when it comes to program benchmarks but if you check a website that does GPU vs. GPU the 970m has great performance.

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=2536&gid2=2006&compare=geforce-gtx-970m-3gb-vs-quadro-k1100m

 

Here's a link that shows the Quadro K1100M vs. GTX 970M, check it out.

I've had my laptop for about 7-8 months now and I haven't had any issues, you should be fine for years.

Did you used any other Asus rog series before? How long they lasts?