You are browsing within the review sections of our forums. Content within these sections reflect consumer opinions of laptops. Our admins take the best and most objective laptop reviews and index them here to create a distinct selection of quality reviews with averaged overall ratings. Many of these reviews have benchmarks attached to them which allows for users to compare their laptop's performance with others, and ultimately enables us to provide a sortable list which at a glance show the fastest laptops amongst a variety of applications (gaming, video editing, web browsing, etc...). Help us build a better laptop database by submitting your laptop review.

Asus G50VT-X1

The first Asus gaming machine in the family came last Christmas at around $1.100

It is impressive and good value for price to performance ratio.


Specifications:

Operating Systems:
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium 64 bits
Microsoft® Windows® Service Pack 2 (just updated)

Architecture:
. Intel® Centrino® processor technology
. Mobile Intel® PM45 Express Chipset

CPU Section:
. Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8400, Supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology
. 2.26GHz,
. 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 cache

Memory:
. 4GBMemory Speed (MHz) 800
. DDR2 SDRAM (2x2GB)
. Max. Supported Memory: 4GB

Drives:
. 320GB S-ATA 5400rpm
. 8x Multi-Format Dual Layer DVDRW with LightScribeTechnology

Drives Speed:
. Write: CD-R x24, CD-RW x24, DVD-R DL x6, DVD-R x8, DVD-RW x6, DVD+R DL x6, DVD+R x8, DVD+RW x8, DVD-RAM x5

. Read: CD x24, CD-R x24, CD-RW x24, DVD x8, DVD-R DL x8, DVD-R x8, DVD-RW x8, DVD+R DL x8, DVD+R x8, DVD+RW x8, DVD-RAM x8

Display:
. WXGA Glossy LCD
. 15.6
. 1366x768

Graphics:
. NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS with 512MB of GDDR3 discrete video memory
(we note here that within the 3DMark, it is shown as 9800M GT - a pleasant surprise)

Interfaces:
. 1 x Microphone - Input - Mini-phone 3.5 mm ,
. 1 x Audio - SPDIF output/headphones ,
. 4 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type A ,
. 1 x Modem - Phone line - RJ-11 ,
. 1 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45 ,
. 1 x Display / video - HDMI ,
. 1 x Storage - eSATA - 7 pin external Serial ATA,
. 1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire)

Connectivity:
. Integrated Wireless LAN, 802.11a/b/g/Draft n
. Ethernet network 100 BASE-TX/10 BASE-T
. Modem

Multimedia:
. Intel® High Definition Audio compatible
. Dolby Home Theater , High Definition Audio
. Altec Lansing Speakers
. Windows® Sound System Compatible

Built-In Camera:
. Integrated 1.3 Megapixel Web Cam

Keyboard:
. Touch Pad 1

Features:
. Power button, Wireless switch, AV buttons, AV Mode, Capture
. Auto Resolution: Plug and Display
. Built-in Microphone
. Kensigton Lock

Softwares:
. Power 4 Gear Extreme, ASUS Direct Console
. ASUS WinFlash ,
. ASUSDVD 6-in-1 ,
. ASUS NB Probe + ,
. ASUS SmartLogon ,
. ASUS CopyProtect ,
. ASUS Live Update ,
. Adobe Reader 8.0 ,
. ASUS Power4 Phone ,
. Nero 7 Essentials ,
. Drivers & Utilities ,
. CyberLink Power2Go 5
. ASUS Data Security Manager ,
. Norton Internet Security 2008


Supplied Accessories:
. AC Adapter
. 6-Cell 11.1v 4800mAh battery, 120w power supply
. Power Cord

Dimensions:
. 15.4" x 10.5 x 1.4-1.7"
. Weight with Supplied Battery and Supplied Drive : 7lbs +

What's in the Box:

. Notebook
. AC Adapter
. Power Cord
. Manual, quick setup
. Restore CDs

Looks & Design

This notebook looks impressive – with a funky futuristic tribal tattoo paint scheme on the lid . The case surrounding the keyboard and the palm rest feels solid and has a nice silver “honeycomb” texture, and more matching blue lighted areas when the machine is being turned on.



It definitively has the look and feel of a high-end gaming notebook, and the one-touch overclocking and interactive lighting effects features really add to it attractiveness.









Screen:

The 15.6-inch screen makes the notebook portable, and can be well suited to home gaming or multimedia use. The screen is impressively bright and colourful, but lacks the sharpness of its rivals. Surprisingly, when gaming, the screen presents great colors and sharpness. It offers great viewing angles from all sides.



Keyboard

Keys are solid and responsive and comfortable.






Touchpad

It is of a wide footprint, responsive and comfortable, and is framed by a strip of blue LEDs that match the exterior lighting.






Multimedia Keys

Above the keyboard one has access to a small 3.1-inch Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display and four touch-sensitive buttons, allowing changes to the look and performance of the G50Vt-X1.

The best one is the button on the left, that takes the user into the Direct Console applet, where one can toggle among three processor modes—Normal (2.26GHz), Turbo (2.38GHz), and Turbo Extreme (2.49GHz) – this is being done on the fly, meaning without having to reboot or enter the BIOS.





Wireless Performance–

Good connectivity, with its ability to quickly find and connect to the home network.

Optical Drive

The double layer supporting DVD drive performs flawlessly and quietly




Sound

Good clear sound, and quite good with the Altec Lansing sound system. Still, as with any other notebooks, headphone and external would be a good investment.




Heat and Noise

When running Crisis at high resolution, there is a slight high pitched noise, possibly from the fan. Throttle down to medium, the noise is almost unnoticeable.

It is running warm at full blast, which is a nice surprise for a gaming notebook.





Gaming Performance

I will update the review in this area shortly, and I will not be surprised of the rave reviews so far from other gamers, on this low-budget game machine.


System Performance




Input and Output Ports

Front:




Right Side:



Left Side:



Rear:



Bottom:



Gaming Possibilities

... To be updated.
. 3DVantage:



. CoD4 (can you play?)









Battery Life

Not much here to say other than that one can barely expects 1+ hours of usage.


Pros:

. Nice and stylish
. Good system performance
. (Very) Quiet Operation

Cons:

. Screen resolution/performance can be better
. Lousy battery life.
. Heavy to lug around, but what can one expect from a gaming machine (?)


Conclusion:
This is a good budget gaming, despite its weak DX10 gaming performance and low-res display, whilst, offering solid DX9 performance and a coolness factor.

Damn qhn you've been busy!

Just catching up

cheers ...

Updated OP with COD4 "can you play" screen shots!

Again the test saw the system GPU as 9800M GT and not the GS as advertised at sale

cheers ...

I've seen a lot of comments on this. Many people have reported the same thing. I'm not sure if Asus advertised it incorrectly or it's being detected wrong, but it's good news regardless.

I did check with the MSI GT627 that we have in Hamburg, using the same test software, and they all show 9800M GS.

Wondering if there is a way to check the GPU "firmware" version, or some markings to determine what is really being installed. This should be interesting.

cheers ...

It might be written on the GPU die, or on the graphics card silicon somewhere. Mind you, that's just a possibility, since Asus most likely made the graphics card and the GPU die may just say "Nvidia"

Good info here Djembe.

I will dig more onto it, once I get back to Hamburg later this month.

cheers ...

Wow, interesting little mystery. If by some off chance they do prove to be GT's and are capable of running as such, I'll be picking up an X-1 or X-6 in a hurry.

Actually I have picked up some more readings, and all of "personal" reviews of the X1 reported that it is a GT in the body with different tests and .

By "personal", I meant the ones that perform the review with the machine in hand, and not "marketing" review by many sites.

On top, I just installed and ran Everest Home - it shows up as 9800M GT!

cheers ...

Wow!

Is this known to be limited to just the X-1's or does this extend across the rest of the line?

I have no idea, even with the X1s out there. A different batch can also be delivered with the GS. It could be just luck that during the assembly of this model, this batch, that the GS was out of inventory, and got replaced with the GT

So, feel good it you get the GT, but not disappointed if the GS pops up - as advertised ;-)

cheers ...

You going to flash it?

Not on this machine . The comp has "native" oc capabilities built in already. I can push up to 20% in CPU performance, and so far it has been running cool.

cheers ...

I've pushed this comp pretty far, gpu at higher than gts clocks and stable. Installed an x9100 at 3.33ghz. 3dMark06 is at 10,200 so far. Won't go past that as the gpu will not remain stable.