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The system performed very well in our benchmark tests, falling behind an overclocked (and much more expensive) Origin system, and landing in the same ballpark as other 2011 quad-core gaming laptops from Toshiba and Dell.
The Nvidia GeForce 560M GPU is part of the top tier of that company's current line of mobile parts, but the newer 570 and 580 GPUs are more powerful. In our very challenging Metro 2033 test, at full 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution, the game ran at 20.3 frames per second. Street Fighter IV, a more mainstream test, ran at 59.7fps. Anecdotally, playing Skyrim at the same resolution, with all graphics settings at either high or ultra, the game was usually smooth and playable (and obviously looked a lot better than the console version).
 Juice box |
|
| Asus G74SX-A2 | Avg watts/hour |
| Off (60%) | 0.86 |
| Sleep (10%) | 2 |
| Idle (25%) | 23.54 |
| Load (05%) | 69.82 |
| Raw kWh number | 128.95 |
| Annual power consumption cost | $14.64 |
A big desktop replacement laptop isn't designed to spend a lot of time on the road, so it would be unfair to judge its battery life too harshly. That said, the G74SX did reasonably well in our video playback battery drain test, lasting 2 hours and 27 minutes. The Origin EON17 ran for 2 hours, 19 minutes in the same test, while the Dell XPS 17 3D ran for 3 hours and 6 minutes.
Asus gives its higher-end systems better-than-average coverage: a two-year parts-and-labor warranty that includes one year of Asus' accidental damage coverage, which protects you against damage from fire, electrical surges, drops, and spills. You'll find the typical online help--FAQ and troubleshooting pages, driver downloads, and user forums--on the Asus support Web site, but it's not nearly as easy to navigate and search as the support sites of more mainstream PC makers.
The $2,000 configuration of the Asus G74SX feels a bit too expensive to us, but the less-pricey $1,500 version could be a solid gaming choice, especially as Asus has a good rep for gaming laptops. True high-end gamers will want something a bit more boutique, and showoffs may gravitate toward Alienware's glowing alien-head logos and blinking lights.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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1,366x768, High, DX11, AAA, 4X AF | |
1,920x1,080, High, DX11, 4X AA, 16X AF |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Find out more about how we test laptops.
System configurations:
Asus G74SX-A2
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM; 16GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 3GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M; HDD No. 1: 160GB Intel SSD + HDD No. 2: 750GB Seagate 7,200rpm
Origin EON17-S
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-2920XM; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M; HDD No. 1: 500GB Seagate 7,200rpm + HDD No. 2: C300-CTFDDAC128MAG 128GB SSD
Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G-9600
Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit); 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 555M; 750GB Seagate 5,400rpm
Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV78
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 1.5GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M; HDD No. 1: 500GB Seagate 7,200rpm + HDD No. 2: 750GB Toshiba 5,400rpm
Dell XPS 17 3D
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 3GB Nvidia GeForce GT 555M; 500GB Seagate 7,200rpm
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