Conclusion
ASUS has done it again. The company’s laptops have long been the go-to choice for gamers in need of a powerful yet affordable alternative to custom laptops from brands like Alienware, and the G74 upholds this tradition of affordable excellence.
From the design to the display to the keyboard, there’s little fault to find. My only serious complaints stem from the weight and bulk of the laptop, but these are traits that no large 17-inch gaming laptop can buck, and it’s hardly an issue for any gamer who needs this kind of equipment.
If there is any problem, it’s the fact that the price of $1799 is high for a laptop which, despite a substantial redesign, is only marginally quicker than its predecessor. The comparable G73SW-XA1 model is available for $1399, and I’m not sure if the new model is currently worth $400 more. Certainly the whopping twelve gigabytes of RAM and massive 1.5 terabyte hard drive are impressive, but they do little to improve gaming performance.
However, this problem can easily be solved by waiting for a less expensive model, which will surely hit the market soon. In fact, Amazon already has a listing for a G74SX-XA1 at $1499, but the item is “not yet released.” I suspect that we’ll see new models with less RAM and smaller hard drives occupying more reasonable price points soon.
Whatever the price, this is an awesome laptop with few flaws. Anyone looking at a new gaming laptop – particularly those on a budget below $2000 – should seriously consider the G74.
This review is great, but the
This review is great, but the conclusion is crap. The G74SX-XA1 is a cheap model with less performance and you forgot to mention this model has 2gb more of GPU than the G73. 😉
I looked at the G74 at Best
I looked at the G74 at Best Buys for $1299. But it did not have the HD screen, so I passed.
When you evaluate it against the MainGear, you have to look at their price which is $2499. So maybe it not a fast, but the performance is its in the range … and at a much looker cost. When you compare it to the G73SW … yes there is only margin improvement … but the price also marginal. Maybe for some $400 is not marginal, but you know what I mean.
The BUY decision for the G74 obviously is different for a G73 owner looking to upgrade vs the 1st time owner.
I am that latter and had the choice of going with the $1299 Best Buy or a G73SW from Amazon or Tiger Direct. I ended up buying the G73SW-A1 which included the HD screen and 2 Hydrid Momentus drives. That boosted the cost to $1599, but Asus had a $150 rebate which made all the difference in the world… so my net cost was only $1349. Now that’s $1000 less than the Maingear model used in this review.
I think I made the right choice …
The cooling mystery of this
The cooling mystery of this machine is “where are the intake vents?” Supposedly they were to be at the left and right sides of the G74, but I challenge you to find them. If the reviewer could show the intake vents, that would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
I have found the intake
I have found the intake vents!
It’s the other exhaust fan at the back
The back of asus g74 has two fans right.
One of those fans is the intake and the other is the exhaust
try puttin it on a room filled with smoke
No your not correct… The
No your not correct… The intake is not from the rear exhaust. If you look in the manual it shows the Diagram. The air is brought in through the top of th laptop through the keyboard. Putting a intake right next to the exhaust would make no sense… Look at the Manual and it shows th flow of air.
That is correct, however the
That is correct, however the air also comes in from the rear vents, which extend further than the fan heat sinks, allowing air in from the outside of the cooling vents. it is drawn in through the suction of the fans pushing hot air out, and therefor drawing cool air to fill the space
Thanks for the review. Having
Thanks for the review. Having 3 hours of battery life is certainly quite impressive. However, this laptop looks extremely bulky, and its exterior design leaves much to be desired. However if fans of gaming can see past that, they might appreciate this gaming laptop more than me.
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I considered buying the top
I considered buying the top of the line G74 for gaming, but couldn’t pass up the deal they have at Best Buy right now ($1050). I had 8 GB of RAM from another computer at home which I threw in, then loaded X-Plane and Flight Sim X and jacked up all the graphic settings. Granted, there was some stepping and I had to take things down a notch, but overall I was pretty impressed with the performance. The updated cooling system works as advertised – the case (and my lap) stayed surprisingly comfortable! Other laptops I use always get hot to the touch and their fans are annoyingly loud.
As far as the screen goes, the 1600×900 is fine for me. My only complaint is the speakers are not quite loud enough for me, but I guess I can wear headphones. Be warned – this laptop is hefty (along with the power supply), but look on the bright side – you’ll be burning more calories while carrying it around! ha ha! Oh, and 3 hr battery life is probably optimistic for most users – this past week I turned the brightness down and just surfed the net (no gaming) and didn’t quite get 2 1/2 hrs (warned me at 7%) before I plugged in. I’ve never been anywhere I couldn’t find an outlet so no big deal for me. Still, pretty impressive for such a small battery pack.
Cost vs performance was good enough for my purposes. I’d love to always have the top of the line equipment, but how long will that last before something new comes out? The only other upgrade I’m considering is throwing in an SSD to see if that makes any difference with the flight simulators.
i just got my g74sx today and
i just got my g74sx today and it doesnt have a blu ray player??
some one buy me one for xmas
some one buy me one for xmas im only 13
Get a job and you can buy it
Get a job and you can buy it yourself. 13 is old enough to babysit
some one buy me one for xmas
some one buy me one for xmas im only 13
[i just got my g74sx today
[i just got my g74sx today and it doesnt have a blu ray player?? ]
not all of the g74sx have the blue-ray reader.
they have model numbers so it looks like “G74sx-a1” and so on.
other than that nice review it gives me a better look at it.
i plan on buying one in January.
Great review. May be blocky
Great review. May be blocky but has an amazing spec for a laptop. Imagine playing the best flight sim on this beast.
I am on my 2nd G74SX in less
I am on my 2nd G74SX in less than a month. The Laptop display is suppose to be a 1920×1080 120Hz 3D capable. However, the monitor driver is PNP generic. I thought I did something when updating, Went to restore factory setting but Geek squad had image file error and the right chip set driver did not load. Second G74Sx-a1 and same thing fresh out of the box.
Asus have updated the G74
Asus have updated the G74 line, with the G74SX-DH72 / G74SX-DH73-3D running the Intel Core i-7 2670QM and outfitted with a BluRay DVD writer (along with possibly improved sound); Amazon is presently these for about $2k USD, the former with 16 GB DDR3 and a 160 GB SATA II SSD boot drive + 750 GB HDD, the latter with 12 GB DDR 3 and two 750 GB HDDs.
Might we expect a review of these current models?
Thank you.
I have a question, it’s about
I have a question, it’s about the two exhaust fans on the back one of them gives out no air it’s the left if your looking at the computer from the front is this normal please help!!!
BTW i have the G74 ah71 model please help!!!
Hi,
Was wondering the exact
Hi,
Was wondering the exact same thing on my G74SX-3D. If you look carefully, you will see that the right vent (when viewing the laptop from from the back) is covered by plastic. The right side (again, seen from the back) has the heatsink for the fans. After some research I found out that the left side accomodates the speakers and the right side, the air vent opening. So nothing to worry about there.
*ditto previous message. I
*ditto previous message. I referred to left and right as seen from the back. It should actually be “as seen from the front of the laptop”.
One thing to beware of in
One thing to beware of in this line of machines: there is no Num Lock key. If the game you want to play uses Num Lock, it’s not there. ASUS technical support says to reconfigure your games around this design defect.
ASUS could fix it with a BIOS update, but they haven’t in seven months.
I noticed the same thing.
I noticed the same thing. With one of my wireless keyboards this creates a problem as the NumLock is treated as always down so the “P” gets translated as a “9” (along with the other numbers that have been mapped to letters since the mini wireless keyboard has no keypad.)
This may not be a problem for most, but I use the thing for 3d scanning and ReconstructMe uses the “P” to start and stop scans.