Introduction, Design Features
“Big-screened” and “wallet-friendly” are dual terms that don’t ordinarily go together, generally when it comes to gaming notebooks. Most low-price gaming notebooks tend to hang to 15.6-inch screens, like a renouned Dell Inspiron 15 7559Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming successor.
But a few models out there offer entry-level specs in a incomparable form factor, like a 17.3-inch Asus Republic of Gamers (RoG) Strix GL753VE that’s a thesis of this review.
Nvidia announced a GeForce GTX 10 “Pascal” array graphics cards for notebooks in Aug 2016. (Hit this integrate for a mobile-Pascal preview story.) Only a enthusiast-level cards debuted then: a GeForce GTX 1060, GTX 1070, and a flagship GTX 1080. We had to wait until CES 2017 rolled around for a lower-end GeForce GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti to reinstate a princely GeForce GTX 960M and GTX 965M, respectively. The Asus RoG Strix GL753VE we’re reviewing has a GTX 1050 Ti, a faster of these dual newer graphics estimate units (GPUs). This GPU is designed to let we play all of today’s games, nonetheless we competence not be means to max out a settings. We’ll uncover this after in a real-world gaming benchmarks. Still, it’s a large jump adult in opening from a GeForce GTX 965M, and notebooks with a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti card, so far, aren’t looking like they’ll be any some-more costly than ones that featured a GTX 965M.
Like many other Asus notebooks, a RoG Strix GL753VE is usually solitary pre-configured. Our examination model, privately a GL753VE-DS74, was a solitary SKU we could find for sale in a United States during a time of this essay in late Feb 2017. We consider there competence be a reduction costly indication without an SSD during some point, nonetheless we can’t contend for sure. Either way, a $1,299 for a section we have here buys a 17.3-inch IPS display, an Intel Core i7-7700HQ (“Kaby Lake”) quad-core processor, a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card, and 16GB of RAM. The foot expostulate is a 256GB solid-state expostulate (SSD), with Windows 10 installed, and it’s protracted by a normal 1TB tough expostulate for mass storage.
The RoG Strix GL753VE’s foe is comparatively scarce. Two other 17.3-inch notebooks that offer a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti are a MSI GE72 7RE Apache Pro, that we reviewed in an progressing iteration (the MSI GE72 6QD Apache ProHP Omen 17
. (We tested a Omen 17 with a higher-end GPU, though.) The pricing for a HP went good over $1,400 when versed like a Asus, nonetheless it’s not surprising for HP to have a sale and pierce that down. The MSI didn’t seem to be on sale nonetheless in a United States; a final one we reviewed was $1,199, and with a amiable spec strike on a new GE72 7RE model, it should be labelled right around what a Asus goes for. All of that is usually a prolonged approach of saying that a Asus RoG Strix GL753VE is competitively labelled among GTX 1050/GTX 1050 Ti models. It’s not indispensably a discount buy for a specs, nonetheless it isn’t unreasonably labelled when all it comes with is taken into consideration.
That said, a cost of GTX 1050 Ti-based machines, in a larger sense, is a indicate of row for a Asus RoG Strix GL753VE and a competing MSI and HP models we usually mentioned. Shopping on Amazon and Newegg, we found notebooks with a extremely some-more means GeForce GTX 1060 graphics for around a same price. They competence not have enclosed an SSD foot expostulate or other goodies local to a RoG Strix GL753E, such as an IPS display, nonetheless it’s tough to omit a scarcely two-fold alleviation in gaming opening for around a same price.
With that regard out in a open, a concentration of this examination is going to be what else a Asus RoG Strix GL753VE offers that competence make some gaming opening a inestimable trade-off.
Design
It’s visually apparent that a RoG Strix GL753VE is a gaming notebook. Its all-black extraneous is attractively flashy with splendid orange accents. The lid has a Asus RoG trademark and flanking stripes, that are backlit by a arrangement itself. Hence, they’re illuminated adult usually when a arrangement is on, and can’t be incited off. A smaller RoG trademark is printed on a right side of a palm rest.
The orange thesis continues with a rubber feet on a underside of a chassis, an outline around a hold pad, a USB Type-A ports on possibly side of a chassis, a orator grilles on a front, and even a cooling fins manifest inside a empty vent. Small sum like these go a prolonged way.
The RoG Strix GL753VE manages to demeanour slimmer in chairman than a 1.2-inch density implies. It’s about a same density as a competing MSI GE72 Apache Pro and a HP Omen 17. The rest of a framework is 16.3×10.7 inches, and it weighs 6.2 pounds. Those are normal specifications for a cover sporting a 17.3-inch display, nonetheless a weight is on a light side for a gaming notebook.
The build peculiarity is pretty strong. There’s minimal flex opposite a framework and a lid, and a arrangement hinges are unbending adequate to forestall arrangement wobble. To give a cover a slimmer profile, a hinges are trustworthy to a behind of a framework instead of on top. The hinges concede a arrangement to gaunt about 45 degrees behind past vertical, a normal operation of operation for a notebook.
The brushed-aluminum lid subsidy looks good, nonetheless we were reduction smitten by a cosmetic palm rest and surrounding areas, with their fabrication brushed-aluminum look. It both looks and feels rather chintzy to a eyes, even from a distance. The MSI GE72 Apache Pro offers genuine brushed aluminum on a palm rest, nonetheless a HP Omen 17 is all plastic. We similarly suspicion a edges of a RoG Strix GL753VE’s framework felt a bit rough, as if a tip and bottom of a framework didn’t accurately line up. This competence usually have been an emanate with a examination unit.
We’re softly irritated that a RoG Strix GL753VE’s keyboard doesn’t camber a breadth of a chassis. It appears to use a same keyboard pattern as on a 15.6-inch chronicle of this notebook, a RoG Strix GL553 series. The two-thirds-size number-pad keys competence make clarity on a smaller model, nonetheless on a 17.3-incher such as this, we’d like to see a breadth of a framework used some-more efficiently.
The flat-topped Chiclet keys have a satisfactory volume of up-and-down transport distance. The movement is on a rubbery side, nonetheless any keystroke has a certain and enterprising spring. The keys are likewise comparatively still when pressed.
The keyboard backlighting is detached into 4 straight zones. It’s easy to see a backlighting in a dark, nonetheless it can be tough to make out in a well-lit room. The Asus RoG Aura program lets we emanate adult to 3 backlighting profiles. Each of a 4 zones can be set to one of a approximately 16.8 million colors of a RGB spectrum. Various effects are accessible such as respirating and tone cycling. The liughtness settings request to a keyboard as a whole, nonetheless we can spin off particular zones if elite by changing a tone to black.
We’re reduction eager about a keyboard layout, privately a miss of dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys. They are respectively mapped to a 7, 1, 9, and 3 keys in a series pad, nonetheless we need to spin off NumLock for them to be usable. Pressing a Fn pivotal in and with a analogous number-pad pivotal doesn’t activate a printed functions while NumLock is on. It’s softly frustrating that we won’t be means to tell if NumLock is on, either, as there’s no LED indicator for it on a notebook. There is one for CapsLock in a status-lights cluster on a front of a chassis, nonetheless it’s tough to see unless we gaunt back.
It’s not odd for cover designers to try and fit a arrow keys within a categorical keyboard area, as Asus did with a RoG Strix GL753VE. This compromises a distance of a right Shift and number-pad “0” key. The arrow keys are similarly usually two-thirds size, like a rest of a number-pad keys.
Last on a list of quibbles with this keyboard’s blueprint is a fact a system’s energy symbol is a keyboard key, located during a tip right corner. This looks like a cost-cutting pierce to us, and cheapens a feel of a notebook. It’s thankfully distant adequate out of a approach that you’re doubtful to strike it by mistake. (At least, we didn’t.)
We started to get used to these blueprint differences after spending a few days with a RoG Strix GL753VE, nonetheless that didn’t stop us from wishing a keyboard pattern was some-more like that of a Acer Predator 15
.
The RoG Strix GL753VE’s buttonless hold pad is equivalent to a left in a palm rest, effectively center-aligning it on a categorical keyboard area. Finger tracking opposite a anti-glare aspect is easy enough, and we also favourite a comparatively unchanging clicking action. The clicks aren’t silent, nonetheless we can always tap-to-click if we need to be discreet.
This cover lacks built-in biometric features, such as a fingerprint reader or a Webcam that supports a Windows Hello functionality in Windows 10. That doesn’t make a RoG Strix GL753VE singular among gaming notebooks; in fact, gaming notebooks in ubiquitous seem to be lagging behind in a adoption of these features. We’d positively like to see a better-quality Webcam on a RoG Strix GL753VE a subsequent time around. The one built into a tip of a arrangement has usually a 720p resolution, and we remarkable murky and pixelated video peculiarity from it, even in good lighting.
Features
The 17.3-inch arrangement on a Asus RoG Strix GL753VE is an in-plane switching (IPS) row with far-reaching observation angles. Unlike many TN-type panels, a IPS row allows for unchanging design peculiarity when looking in from a sides or top. We were tender by a display’s frail picture, high brightness, and well-saturated colors. Asus advertises a row as covering 72 percent of NTSC, that is poignant as NTSC covers a incomparable operation of colors than a commonly-advertised sRGB. The rating is above normal for a notebook, nonetheless in line with what we’d wish to see during a GL753VE’s cost point.
Our singular censure about a RoG Strix GL753VE’s arrangement is a miss of support for Nvidia G-Sync. We indeed value this underline some-more on notebooks with less powerful graphics cards, given they’re some-more expected to have difficulty progressing unchanging frames-per-second (fps) rates in a latest games. G-Sync helps well-spoken out a gaming knowledge by gripping a display’s modernise rate in sync with a fps outlay of a GPU. The modernise rate of a GL753VE’s arrangement is 60Hz, definition it can arrangement adult to 60fps during a time. Our gaming benchmarks (to follow) showed a GL753VE’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU wasn’t means to consistently grasp 60fps in a tested titles during a local 1080p arrangement resolution, during slightest with a fact settings incited adult all a way, or even many of a way.
The dual speakers on this cover are behind a orange grilles on a front edge. From what we could hear, they glow downward and use a aspect a cover is resting on for amplification. The sound is full and picturesque adequate for examination a film or personification games. We beheld that a wrists blocked a conspicuous apportionment of a sound while we had a hands on a keyboard. Our analog headphones sounded excellent when plugged into a GL753VE’s audio combo jack, though. It was static-free during all volume levels, and supposing copiousness of energy even during assuage levels.
The pier preference on a RoG Strix GL753VE is important for a cover in this class. The left corner binds a AC energy jack, an Ethernet jack, HDMI and mini-DisplayPort video outputs, dual USB Type-A 3.0 ports, a USB Type-C 3.1 pier (it lacks Thunderbolt 3 support), and a audio combo jack. Note that if we have a headset with detached headphone and microphone connections, note you’ll need to find a suitable adapter for it to work with a GL753VE’s audio combo jack.
Along a front of a cover is usually a full-size flash-card reader.
The right corner has a USB Type-A 3.0 and a 2.0 port, a tray-loading visible drive, and a Kensington-style cable-lock notch. The visible expostulate was a DVD burner in a examination unit. It’s lovely to see an visible drive, even if it won’t see a lot of use from many users.
The chain of a ports toward a front corner of possibly side of a framework isn’t ideal for left- or right-handers. We consider a HDMI pier on a left generally should have been located serve back, as HDMI cables tend to expel outmost and are rather thick, creation them formidable to bend. If you’re maladroit and regulating an outmost mouse, you’ll expected have to pierce your rodent setup a few inches divided if you’re perplexing to diversion on an outmost display.
Intel Core i7-7700K. The Core i7-6700HQ was already one of a fastest processors we could get in a notebook.
The RoG Strix GL753VE is a initial cover we’re contrast with a new Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card, nonetheless we’ve entirely tested some desktop variants from MSI and from GigabyteGeForce GTX 1060
.
The RoG Strix GL753VE supports adult to 32GB of DDR4 RAM around dual DIMM slots. One of those slots was assigned by a singular 16GB DIMM in a examination unit. The singular DIMM means a memory ran in single-channel-only mode. We’d have elite a two-8GB DIMM setup to get a dual-channel capability, nonetheless a existence is that a benchmarks have shown no discernible disproportion between single- and dual-channel memory for setups like this. The upside is that if we wish to go to 32GB, we can usually dump in another 16GB DIMM yet rebuying all a memory. (That is, if we can get a framework open to implement it; some-more on that in a moment.)
The dual-drive storage arrangement in a GL753VE-DS74 examination section consisted of a singular 256GB M.2-format SSD for a Windows 10 handling complement and programs, and a delegate 1TB required tough expostulate for storage. We like a economy of this setup, nonetheless would have appreciated a PCI Express-bus SSD instead of a comparison SATA bus. The real-life disproportion between a expostulate interfaces isn’t night and day, nonetheless a fact is that SATA is solemnly fading, and we wish support for a latest and biggest for destiny upgradability.
Taking detached a GL753VE was an journey we didn’t utterly complete. The bottom of a framework is one plain piece…
Even after stealing all of a Philips-head screws holding it down, we weren’t means to examine it free. It competence still have been hold down by something we didn’t see, or we didn’t request adequate force to get it to release; possibly way, we felt like we were going to mangle something if we attempted any harder. Based on that, it doesn’t seem a GL753VE was designed with easy end-user upgradability in mind. Our examination section was well-equipped for gaming, so we don’t consider there’s an evident need to ascent it. Nonetheless, we’d have appreciated a dedicated entrance row on a bottom of a cover for a storage drives and RAM.
Thermals
A visible indicator that a GL753VE isn’t a many absolute Pascal cover on a retard is a fact it has usually one fan exhaust. Aimed out a left side of a chassis, a empty could potentially be an distrurbance if we use your rodent left-handed.
The fan profiles were generally respectful in a experience, not ramping adult and down all a time for tiny tasks. The fan does spin off when a cover is idle for extended periods, nonetheless it seemed to run a infancy of a time we used it. While gaming, a fan sound is noticeable, nonetheless low adequate that it shouldn’t means a bother. There’s no fan bemoan or additional engine noise.
The framework remained impressively cold all over after a 30-minute gaming event in Rise of a Tomb Raider. The tip heat we purebred on a tip of a framework was usually 84 degrees F, right above a keyboard area. The underside fared scarcely as well, hitting only 92 degrees F underneath a empty vent.
The Core i7-7700HQ reached 88 degrees C during a gaming event according to HWMonitor. That’s on a high side, nonetheless not surprising for a gaming notebook. Still, we’d like to see it run a integrate of degrees cooler. The GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU, on a other hand, reached only 75 degrees C, a decidedly low heat as distant as cover graphics go.