The ASUS Republic of Gamers G-series gaming notebook is the brand's premium gaming lineup. Today what we have in our labs is the ASUS ROG G752VS gaming laptop where it has received a refresh and now comes with Intel's 7th generation Kaby Lake Core i7-7700HQ processor. Special thanks to ASUS Malaysia for the provision of the review unit. Without further ado, let's dive into the review.
The ASUS ROG G752VS Kaby Lake retails for RM 11,099.ASUS ROG G752VS Specifications
Model name: ASUS ROG G752VS(KBL)BA432T
CPU: Intel Core i7-7700HQ
RAM: DRAM DDR4 8 GB x 2 (2 extra RAM slot)
Storage: PCIe 3.0 x4 256 GB M.2 SSD + 1 TB SATA 5400 rpm HDD
Display: 17.3-inch || 120 Hz G-Sync || FHD 1920x1080 || 16:9 || IPS LCD || Anti-glare || NTSC 72%
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX1070 GDDR5 8 GB
Connectivity: 802.11ac || Bluetooth 4.1 (Dual band) 2*2
OS: Windows 10
Battery: 88 WHrs || 4S2P || 8-cell Li-Ion
Warranty: 2 years
Features: 8x Optical Drive
Unboxing
When you purchase the G752VS, this will be the package that comes with it:
- ASUS ROG G752 gaming notebook
- ASUS Cerberus gaming headset
- Laptop bag
The laptop bag is large and could fit in a 17-inch laptop with accessories without any issue.
Open the G752 box, we get more accessories:
- ASUS ROG G752VS(KBL)BA432T
- ASUS ROG Sica gaming mouse
- Charging adapter
- Velcro cable ties
- Paper works
The ASUS ROG Sica is an ambidextrous optical gaming mouse that comes with the notebook. From the shape of the body, it is best suited for fingertip or claw grip users. The mouse comes with the essential left, right buttons and a clickable scroll wheel. Nothing extra fancy here except the illuminated ROG logo on the body of the mouse.
The Teflon feet is smooth to glide on most of the surfaces and the optical sensor is configurable up to 5000 dpi. Overall, for a mouse that comes with a gaming notebook, this is a good start.
Open up the ASUS CERBERUS gaming headset box and we get:
- ASUS CERBERUS gaming headset with in line control and microphone
- Detachable microphone
- Headphone/Microphone splitter
- Alternative adapter for other devices with different audio jack configuration
- Paper works
Overview
The G752VS features an aluminium top panel with the rest of the laptop mostly in plastic. ASUS implements the combination of gunmetal silver and bronze colour scheme which is rather unique in its own way.
The hinge, even though has a bronze finish, is not made of copper. Nevertheless, the hinge has very solid build quality.
The back has no connectors, or rather it houses the dual exhaust for the heat dissipation.
You get plenty of i/o with the G752VS:
- Individual audio ports (SPDIF, Mic, Speaker)
- USB Type C (USB 3.1)
- 2x USB 3
- Mini Display Port
- HDMI
- Ethernet
- Charging port
But here's the problem when you put all the ports on the right side as the connectors will protrude out from them that may interfere with your mousing activity.
Much less is on the left side:
- Kensington lock
- 2x USB 3
- DVD ROM
- SD card reader
The front has sleek design over the edges.
Status LEDs are located at the bottom of the touchpad buttons. The LED has the perfect brightness which is not distracting even when you're using the laptop in dark environments.
Opening the lid reveals the display, keyboard and touchpad.
Note that the stereo speaker resides at the back of the display panel.
The hinge design on the G752VS does not allow you to lay the display flat. Although in all intent and purpose, it shall not hinder your gaming experience by any means.
Underneath the laptop, the first thing you'll notice is the transparent panel at the top to showcase the cooling module within the laptop itself. Aside from the cooling mechanism, the subwoofer is housed at the bottom right as well.
There's a simple pull tab hiding the philips screw underneath the laptop for easy access to the internals of the laptop, making upgrades that much easier.
What you can see here is components that allow user self-upgrade:
- SATA drive
- 2x extra DDR4 RAM slot
- 1x extra M.2 PCI-e slot
Thumbs up to ASUS.
Of course, you get LED lighting for this gaming notebook. The colour accent is locked to the orangish-bronze colour to match the overall colour scheme so those of you with RGB-needing syndrome might wanna look elsewhere.
Display
The 17.3-inch display panel of the G752VS has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels with a matte finish to reduce annoying glare and reflections. Thanks to it being an IPS panel, the viewing angle is wide without any distortion to the colours.
ASUS also upgraded the display panel from the previous generation's 75 Hz to 120 Hz. The new panel also supports NVIDIA G-Sync technology to allow dynamic adjustment of the refresh rate matching the graphics card that ultimately eliminates screen tearing and stuttering.
This is a much-welcomed upgrade especially when the GTX 1070 can achieve more than 75 fps for most of the AAA games out there.
Audio
The audio quality on this notebook is just average, sporting a stereo speaker at the back of the display hinge and a bass woofer underneath the notebook. Due to the placement of the stereo speakers is behind the screen's hinge, the produced sound is muffled and lacks details on the treble side. To compensate this, the speakers do get really loud with thumping bass.
If you need to game in the middle of the night or simply need to communicate with your teammate, the included ASUS CERBERUS gaming headset would do the job just fine.
While it may not be offering the best in terms of sound quality, it is comfortable to have on even with prolonged gaming sessions. Microphone quality is reasonably good for team coordination as well.
Software
ROG Gaming Centre
The pre-installed ROG Gaming Centre offers:
- System status monitoring
- Macro Key setup
- Fan boost
- Overclocking tool
- Keyboard backlight & touchpad control
- etc
Gaming Test
The ASUS ROG G752VS is equipped with the NVIDIA GTX 1070 GPU. Even though the raw performance is slightly reduced in order to cope with the thermal limitation of the notebook's form factor, but still, I am very impressed with the overall outcome.
We ran a few tests with the synthetic benchmarks and popular game titles and the graph shows the average frame rate for all the applications running at maximum quality.
Keyboard & Touchpad
The keyboard only comes with red backlight only, this the one section that we feel it's better to have RGB lighting instead. Hey ASUS, it's 2017.
Key travel is reasonable and the tactile feedback is satisfactory, so there's that
A simple Aqua Key Test and it shows the key matrix is able to support games that require multiple key inputs at the same time.
The trackpad has large surface area incorporating Windows precision driver for that extra accurate tracking. Palm reject could have been better as I have multiple encounters of accidental clicks whenever I was typing.
Battery Life
Battery life is not something I'll relate to a notebook of this stature. I'm getting around 3.5 hours out of normal usage which includes web browsing and typing some news/review articles. If you're gaming on battery power, expect to get around 80 minutes of runtime before the notebook would notify you to plug in.
Final Thoughts
Throughout my testing period with the ASUS ROG G752VS, I am very happy with the overall performance of the laptop. The GTX 1070 while having a slightly lower performance of the desktop class GTX 1070, nevertheless, it still breezes through most of the titles in maximum quality without any issue.
The cooling of the laptop is done really well with fan noise kept to the minimum thanks to the brilliant positioning of the exhaust which channels noise away from the user.
At the price of RM 11099, this is not your regular notebook, especially with its huge footprint and weight. Many would argue the practicality of purchasing a huge notebook; which is perfectly understandable from their use case of portability. However, comparing it with having to carry a small form factor PC with GTX 1070 with a monitor with you, the benefits of a high-end gaming laptop is much more ideal. In short, gaming laptop of this calibre is perfect for users who wish to have a gaming machine whenever they are travelling around.
Pros:
- Great build quality
- Good gaming performance
- Smooth gaming experience with 120 Hz G-Sync monitor
- Keyboard with optimised gaming matrix, good typing feel
- Large trackpad with Windows Precision driver
- Good cooling performance
- Fan noise is channelled away from the user
Cons:
- 17.3-inch, and around 5KG. Huge and heavy
- Connector ports location should be on the left side
- Single colour LED mode
- Subpar audio quality
- Limited battery life for gaming
- Cost a bomb
