Verdict

Pros

• Outstanding gaming performance
• Excellent keyboard and touchpad
• Superb audio and optional Blu Ray drive

Cons

• Average screen
• Extremely heavy
• Design not to our tastes

What is the Asus G750JX?

The Asus G750JX is a powerhouse of a laptop aimed at the serious games player. With 17-inches of screen real estate, a dedicated 3GB GeForce graphics card and a quad-core  2.4GHZ processor, it gives us the opportunity to really push our benchmarks. At 4.8kg in weight, though, its pushing the definition of portable. With that in mind, is it powerful enough to give its desktop rivals a scare? Let’s find out.

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Asus G750JX – Design & Build Quality

In an age when laptops are following all other technology and slimming down, with brushed aluminum stylings, the Asus G750JX is certainly a change – whether or not you’ll think it’s a breath of fresh air or a throw back to 1980s science fiction depends on your own tastes. The first thing you notice about it is how angular it is, with thick diagonal corners and ridges somewhat reminiscent of the original Xbox console. The top of its frame is in smooth black plastic, with just the Asus logo and ‘Republic of Gaming’ badge showing on top.

The screen lifts up just over an inch from the back of the base, making it appear less like a notebook, and more like a screen modded on top of a thick keyboard. Still, the inside is more tastefully done, with a dull polished black finish behind the backlit full size keyboard, in front of the expansive 17.3-inch display. A huge trackpad sits underneath with two equally generous buttons underneath.

At 4.8kg in weight, it’s portable, but not something you would want to carry around much. Sure, you could take it to LAN parties more easily than a desktop, but it’s not the kind of thing you can fling in your bag when leaving the house. It feels very sturdy and solid, though, and although we’re not sold on its appearance you can’t deny that it feels like an expensive, quality product.

With a large frame all around (it’s 50mm at its thickest point, and is undeniably chunky), there’s plenty of room for connectivity and the G750JX provides in spades. Four USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet jack, a card reader, a mini Display Port, a VGA out , an HDMI port, a headphone out jack and a microphone in jack all accompany a Blu-ray drive.

The latter means high definition films can be watched, which is quite a big deal on a laptop, and a big signal of intent. Most laptops we’ve seen recently have done without optical media altogether, and those which haven’t have gone for the cheaper DVD-RW drive route. You can also add a Thunderbolt port as an optional extra, but our review model didn’t come with this. In short, it has all you need, and possibly more.

SEE ALSO: Best Windows 8 Laptops and Tablets

ASUS G750JX – Screen Quality

Given it’s being sold as a gaming laptop, it comes with a Blu Ray drive and is fitted with a 17.3-inch screen, a lot of pressure is on the G750JX’s display to impress the eyes with high-definition output. We found it a bit of a mixed bag in our time with it.

First thing to note is that it’s not a touchscreen, which makes some of Windows 8’s tablet functions feel superfluous. We appreciate that most serious games rarely use these anyway (this is about Bioshock Infinite, not Cut the Rope after all), but worth noting that this is one area in which the price is kept down.

The brightness is impressive and the viewing angles work very well, producing a clear image long after you’ve gone beyond a practical gaming viewpoint. Colour accuracy is pretty good, although it perhaps feels a little more washed out than it should, but the real problems we have with it is the sharpness of the overall display and an occasional flickering that made it mildly uncomfortable for extended use.

The latter could be a glitchy review model, but the sharpness was a shame and just highlights that although 1,920 x 1,080 is a high-resolution, if you’re stretching it out to 17.3-inches of screen it won’t hold up as well as you’d hope.

In short, it’s a reasonable screen but not outstanding to our eyes.