Pros

  • Excellent touchpad and comfortable wrist rest
  • Simple, elegant design

Cons

  • Not enough ports
  • Review model had faulty LED backlight

At A Glance

The Asus G74SX is huge, but its elegant design and excellent performance may be worth the lack of mobility.

Manufacturer’s Description

The world of portable gaming has a new reigning king. The Republic of Gamers G74SX-XA1 is a performance notebook that imposes its will with the combined power of a second generation Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU and NVIDIA GTX 560M GPU with 3GB of GDDR5 VRAM. A score of P2008 in 3DMark11 and P9180 in 3DMark Vantage takes over the reins as the fastest notebook in the land. Support for DirectX 11 ensures that you'll not only have the fastest rig in town, but also the ability to play games as they were meant to be seen for a long time.

The Specs

Pricing
Part Number G74SXXA1
Processor
Cache size 6.0 KB
Processor count 4
Processor speed 2000.0 MHz
Processor type Intel Core i7
Memory
Memory speed 1333.0 MHz
Memory type DDR3
Memory size 16000.0 MB
Memory max 16.0 GB
Display
Display type Glossy LCD with LED Backlight
Resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels
Display size 17.3 inches
Storage
Hard Drive Speed 7200 RPM
Drives included 2.0
Other storage
  • Memory Stick
  • SD/MMC Card
  • SDHC Card
Drive type
  • Hard Disk Drive
  • Solid-State Drive
Drive size 910.0 GB
Ports and Connections
SD/MMC Card 1
Ethernet Type 10/100/1000 Mbps
Video Interfaces
  • HDMI
  • VGA
MultiMedia Card (MMC) or MultiMediaCard (MMC) Yes
Wireless connection 802.11 n/b/g
Available Interfaces Bluetooth
Slots
  • Memory Stick
  • SD/MMC Card
  • SDHC Card
SDHC Card or Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) 1
Dimensions
Weight with Accessories 11.9 pounds
Height 2.4 inches
Weight 9.9 pounds
Depth 12.7 inches
Width 16.5 inches
Sound
Speakers Stereo
Storage Media
Memory stick Memory Stick
Included Software
Included Software CyberLink Blu-ray Disc Suite; Roxio CinePlayer
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Other Features
Devices
  • Built-In Microphone
  • Built-In Webcam
  • Carrying Case/Cover
Docking Station Port No
Input devices
  • Keyboard (backlit)
  • Mouse
  • Touchpad (multitouch)

Performance

Overall Performance
WorldBench 6 Score 150
Battery
Battery Life 3:17  (hh:mm)
Office Productivity
Web Browsing 244  seconds (lower is better)
Office Suite Use 322  seconds (lower is better)
File Compression 180  seconds (lower is better)
Power Usage
Off power usage 1  Watt hours
Sleep power usage 2.1  Watt hours
Idle power usage 27.5  Watts
Content Creation
CPU Graphics Rendering 227  seconds (lower is better)
DVD Burning 103  seconds (lower is better)
Image Editing 293  seconds (lower is better)
GPU Graphics Rendering 300  seconds (lower is better)
Video Encoding 189  seconds (lower is better)
Video Editing 174  seconds (lower is better)
Multitasking
World Bench 6 Multitasking 294
Gaming
Dirt 2, High Quality, 800x600 103.7  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 2, High Quality, 1024x768 86.3  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 2, High Quality, 1920x1080 48.8  Frames per second (higher is better)
Unreal Tournament 3, Medium, 800 by 600 198.41  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 2, Ultra Quality, 1920x1080 48.2  Frames per second (higher is better)
Far Cry 2, High Quality, 1024x768 81.5  Frames per second (higher is better)
Far Cry 2, High Quality, 800x600 97.6  Frames per second (higher is better)
Far Cry 2, Low Quality, 1024x768 111.7  Frames per second (higher is better)
Unreal Tournament 3, Highest, 800 by 600 119.36  Frames per second (higher is better)
Far Cry 2, Low Quality, 800x600 123  Frames per second (higher is better)
Far Cry 2, Low Quality, 1920x1080 76.4  Frames per second (higher is better)
Unreal Tournament 3, Medium, 1024 by 768 198.59  Frames per second (higher is better)
Stalker 2, Ultra Quality, 1920x1080 32.3  Frames per second (higher is better)
Unreal Tournament 3, Highest, 1024 by 768 118.75  Frames per second (higher is better)
Far Cry 2, Ultra Quality, 1920x1080 41.4  Frames per second (higher is better)
Unreal Tournament 3, Highest, 1680 by 1050 118.99  Frames per second (higher is better)
Far Cry 2, High Quality, 1920x1080 46.3  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 2, Low Quality, 1920x1080 100.1  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 2, Low Quality, 1024x768 129.9  Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 2, Low Quality, 800x600 130.5  Frames per second (higher is better)
Unreal Tournament 3, Medium, 1680 by 1050 166.09  Frames per second (higher is better)

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