Stealth Fighter-inspired gaming laptop: Asus R.O.G. G73Jh
The new Asus R.O.G. G73Jh (as in "Republic of Gamers") aims to "excite your visual senses with design cues inspired by the Lockheed F117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter," according to the company.
- Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
High-end gaming laptops may be far from the minds of most consumers, infatuated as they are with low-cost, pocket-size Netbooks. That doesn't mean we can't still find some crave-worthy hardware out there for the small but dedicated audience of serious PC gamers.
The new Asus R.O.G. G73Jh (as in "Republic of Gamers") aims to "excite your visual senses with design cues inspired by the Lockheed F117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter," according to the company, while at the same time using an Intel Core i7 processor and built-in overclocking to tear up your frame rates on hardware-intensive games. Asus says this is the first DirectX 11-compatible gaming laptop. It uses a single ATI Radeon HD5870 to power its graphics.
While many laptop makers are emphasizing 16-inch systems as their big-screen models, this is a large 17.3-inch display, with a full 1,920x1,080 resolution. Dual 7200rpm 500GB drives add up to 1TB of storage, and a Blu-ray drive is standard.
To keep all these high-end parts cool and running efficiently (a problem for many high-end gaming rigs), Asus claims to have created a unique cooling system that pulls in cool air through the front edge, and exhausts it through a rear vent, helping to keep the palm rest area and keyboard cool to the touch.
While that sounds promising, we also liked the backlit keyboard and the slightly tapered design that fits in all the hardware without making the system look too bricklike.
This high-powered gaming rig will start at $1,699 and be available in February.