Asus G51J – 3D Gaming Laptop
Just in case you hadn’t noticed, 3D has been on the rise over the last year, and the success of James Cameron’s Avatar movie has really catapulted the technology into the limelight not only just for films but for games as well and that’s where the Asus G51J-3D comes in – it is the first laptop that comes ready packed with the popular Nvidia 3D Vision technology.
Now Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology is nothing especially new (in fact I was lucky enough to have a play with it at the Eurogamer Expo in October 2009) but this is the first time it has been offered in a laptop, mostly due to the string of requirements needed to get it up and running.
The problem mostly comes in the form of the monitor, but the 120Hz display and compatible GPU that the G51J offers, combined with the necessary Infra-red emitter and the included set of Nvidia’s 3D glasses means that you will be able to play in glorious 3D on the move.
As far as specs go they are pretty high which is not at all surprising given that it’s a gaming laptop, and that it needs to not only play the game but render it in 3D at the same time. It has a 1.6GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB of 1,066MHz DDR3 RAM and two 320GB hard drives which should be more than adequate for anything you need.
As far as graphics go there is a Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M card, but unfortunately it’s not really allowed to show its full potential due to the fact that despite the power of the system there is only a 15.6” screen with a 1,366×768 resolution, which although would still be good for gaming does not offer the size that you would really want if you’re going for a gaming laptop.
As far as the form goes it is quite bulky, so you are unlikely to be walking around with it any great distances, but it certainly looks nice with silver finishes on the sides and bottom of the lid, and a large blue/white design across the middle in the style which apparently all gamers like! I’m not complaining (I think it looks really nice!) but there are more brightly coloured gaming laptops than just standard black/white.
But I guess if you are spending that much then you’ll want it to stand out, and the G51J is hardly cheap with a price tag of around £1,700, and although the rig is very good you do get the feeling that Asus could really have charged whatever they like as there is literally no competition when it comes to the 3D.
This makes the G51J the most powerful (and I guess, least powerful) Nvidia 3D Vision laptop on the market, and you will have to weigh up whether it’s really worth shedding out that much just for the 3D gaming. But if you do I can assure you that you won’t be disappointed – I thought the 3D really does (both literally and metaphorically) add another dimension to the game and makes it that but more realistic and engrossing!
With regards to games there is a list of about 400 that are compatible with the 3D, and that is only going to grow as more companies get in on the act! It does in fact come with a voucher for a free copy of the 3D Avatar game (which in my opinion isn’t quite as bad as some critics have made out) but don’t think that it is limited to that, and it will help give some of your games a new lease of life!
So although it’s pretty expensive this is a step in the right direction for mobile gaming, and I doubt that it’ll be long before some more manufacturers catch on and the Asus G51J 3D gaming laptop will have some competition, but until then I can definitely say that this is the best Nvidia 3D laptop out there!
Via – CNET
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I’m sorry but to have that sort of power and only be capable of that resolution is absolutely criminal. would almost be worth snapping the screen off and using it as a desktop/keyboard
I recently got a chance to use one of these G51J laptops and I was really impressed it performed up-to par with my desktop. The only thing holding it back is battery life but you should expect that problem when buying a gaming notebook.
Great laptop, but if you wish to play only free flash games a cheaper one will do.
Did you hook it up to a monitor capable of 120Mhz to see if the 3D works – that way there might be potential of scaling up the resolution as well as seeing it on a bigger screen
None of the reviewers I have seen have bothered to do this – It’s very important if you’re thinking of moving from a desktop to a laptop
I have contacted ASUS myself to see if they know