Asus ROG G752 Review: A Pascal Packing Mobile Powerhouse
Asus ROG G752 Design And Layout
The Asus ROG G752 is a gaming system through and through, and it looks the part. The silver-colored exterior would be eye-catching on its own, but Asus ramped things up with copper accents and a bright-red exhaust grille that stretches the entire length of the laptop’s back end. A large, eye-like ROG logo sits on the back of the display, and “Republic of Gamers” is etched below. The laptop has so many angles and colored accents that it actually gives off a bit of a Transformers vibe, which is perfect for a gaming machine.
Although the ROG G752’s display has an ordinary 1920x1080 resolution, it’s a beauty. If you’ve been using a smaller laptop, the 17.3-inch panel feels absolutely spacious, and the display is more than bright enough for a great video streaming experience. The bezel surrounding the display is fairly wide, but Asus kept it free of clutter, so it fades into the background when you’re watching video. We fired up Netflix and watched Marvel’s Luke Cage, which has a mix of bright and shadowy scenes (along with bone-crunching action), all of which looked crisp.
One feature that disappointed us is the laptop’s audio, which didn’t produce the fullness-of-sound we expected from a large laptop. We should be clear that the audio isn’t poor – it’s not tinny, or hard to hear – but we couldn’t describe the sound as rich, either. The audio also didn’t sound as loud to us as the audio we’ve heard from other laptops. That could be an issue for anyone who plans to use the laptop as their primary computer, but it doesn’t matter as much for the gamer who wants to take the laptop to LAN parties, where headsets are usually required. The audio sounds fine over a headset, as you’d expect.
Gamers are notoriously picky about their keyboards, but we think most will like the ROG G752’s layout. The full-sized keyboard features large, responsive keys and a row of macro buttons that gamers can customize with included software. Asus marked the WASD keys to help gamers find them in a pinch, and it made the right-hand Control key wider than it is on most keyboards. Overall, the layout is similar to other keyboards and isn’t likely to throw off most gamers. We noticed that the keyboard flexes a bit, particularly at the center, but again, that’s not likely to be an issue for most people.
The keyboard has some unusual keys, including a Record button near the macros. The ROG G752 ships with a license for XSplit Gamecaster so you can record your game with a press of the key. This little hardware/software combo is the kind of feature gives a high-end gaming system a bit of extra flair and help differentiate them from mainstream machines.
The number pad pushes the rest of the keyboard farther to the left than it would be on an ordinary laptop. The touchpad is also positioned slightly left. The result is that when we typed, we found ourselves sitting closer to the left side of the laptop to keep our wrists straight. If you want to sit squarely at the middle of the screen when typing, the keyboard layout is a little annoying. From a gamer’s perspective, however, the keyboard placement shouldn’t be a problem at all.
The ROG G752 has plenty of room for ports. The left side sports two USB 3.0 ports, an SDXC card reader, a lock slot, and the optical drive. The right side of the system has the bulk of the ports, including a USB Type -C/Thunderbolt 3 combo port. You’ll also find two more USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and Mini DisplayPorts, a GigE port and audio jacks here.
Asus made upgrading the ROG G752 extremely easy. Remove a single screw from the underside of the laptop and you’ll have unobstructed access to the storage devices and memory modules. You’ll also be able to see the copper heat pipe from Asus’ custom 3D Vapor Chamber cooling system.
Although the ROG G752’s display has an ordinary 1920x1080 resolution, it’s a beauty. If you’ve been using a smaller laptop, the 17.3-inch panel feels absolutely spacious, and the display is more than bright enough for a great video streaming experience. The bezel surrounding the display is fairly wide, but Asus kept it free of clutter, so it fades into the background when you’re watching video. We fired up Netflix and watched Marvel’s Luke Cage, which has a mix of bright and shadowy scenes (along with bone-crunching action), all of which looked crisp.
One feature that disappointed us is the laptop’s audio, which didn’t produce the fullness-of-sound we expected from a large laptop. We should be clear that the audio isn’t poor – it’s not tinny, or hard to hear – but we couldn’t describe the sound as rich, either. The audio also didn’t sound as loud to us as the audio we’ve heard from other laptops. That could be an issue for anyone who plans to use the laptop as their primary computer, but it doesn’t matter as much for the gamer who wants to take the laptop to LAN parties, where headsets are usually required. The audio sounds fine over a headset, as you’d expect.
Gamers are notoriously picky about their keyboards, but we think most will like the ROG G752’s layout. The full-sized keyboard features large, responsive keys and a row of macro buttons that gamers can customize with included software. Asus marked the WASD keys to help gamers find them in a pinch, and it made the right-hand Control key wider than it is on most keyboards. Overall, the layout is similar to other keyboards and isn’t likely to throw off most gamers. We noticed that the keyboard flexes a bit, particularly at the center, but again, that’s not likely to be an issue for most people.
The keyboard has some unusual keys, including a Record button near the macros. The ROG G752 ships with a license for XSplit Gamecaster so you can record your game with a press of the key. This little hardware/software combo is the kind of feature gives a high-end gaming system a bit of extra flair and help differentiate them from mainstream machines.
The number pad pushes the rest of the keyboard farther to the left than it would be on an ordinary laptop. The touchpad is also positioned slightly left. The result is that when we typed, we found ourselves sitting closer to the left side of the laptop to keep our wrists straight. If you want to sit squarely at the middle of the screen when typing, the keyboard layout is a little annoying. From a gamer’s perspective, however, the keyboard placement shouldn’t be a problem at all.
The ROG G752 has plenty of room for ports. The left side sports two USB 3.0 ports, an SDXC card reader, a lock slot, and the optical drive. The right side of the system has the bulk of the ports, including a USB Type -C/Thunderbolt 3 combo port. You’ll also find two more USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and Mini DisplayPorts, a GigE port and audio jacks here.
Asus made upgrading the ROG G752 extremely easy. Remove a single screw from the underside of the laptop and you’ll have unobstructed access to the storage devices and memory modules. You’ll also be able to see the copper heat pipe from Asus’ custom 3D Vapor Chamber cooling system.
