Asus G73JH-TZ014V Gaming Notebook

The G73 already let the hearts of the notebook gaming community beat faster in its first available alternative. Asus has now upgraded it and equips the machine with an i7 quad-core CPU, 8 GB RAM, a mass memory of 1TB and a FullHD display. Currently, nine different models are listed at notorious price comparisons for the European market. You can take delight in the Intel i7-720QM quad-core CPU and the 1920x1080 pixel FullHD display for starting at 1599 euro. That's about 200 euro more than the starter alternative with an i5 CPU and a lower hard disk capacity and RAM, and without BluRay. Naturally, a legitimate question turns up in the target group: Is the surcharge worth it also in view of performance and image quality? We've tested the latest model and will try to answer these questions. Issues like the case, the connectivity and input devices won't be dealt with. Detailed information about that can be found in our review of the identically constructed Asus G73JH-TY042V.

Specifications Asus G73JH-TZ014V :

• Processor : Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6 GHz

• Mainboard : Intel HM55

• Memory : 8192 MB, DDR3 PC3-10700, 4x2048MB

• Graphics adapter : ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 - 1024 MB, Core: 700 MHz, Memory: 1000 MHz, GDDR5 VRAM, 8.683-091217a-092929C

• Display : 17.3 inch 16:9, 1920x1080 pixel, Full HD Color-Shine (glare-type), glossy: yes

• Harddisk : Seagate ST9500420AS, 500GB 7200rpm 2x500GB 1TB total

• Soundcard : Realtek ALC269 @ Intel Ibex Peak PCH

• Connections : 4 USB 2.0, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: Headphone, microphone, Card Reader: 8in1 (SD,MMC,MS,xD,Smart Media,mini SD w/ adapter,MS-Duo)

• Networking : Atheros AR8131 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (10MBit), Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (bgn), Bluetooth 2.0 Bluetooth

• Optical drive : Matshita BD-CMB UJ141AS

• Size : height x width x depth (in mm): 57 x 420 x 310

• Weight : 4.03 kg Power Supply: 0.82 kg

• Battery : 75 Wh Lithium-Ion, 14.6V 5200mAh

• Price : 1679 Euro

• Operating System : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit

• Additional features : Webcam: 2Mp Webcam, Velcro cable tie, cleaning cloth, driver & tool DVD, 24 Months Warranty

Performance

Let's now continue with the performance part, as especially the upgrade of the CPU, RAM and built-in mass memory are a significant part of the newly laced gaming package. The most alluring modification for gamers is most likely the utilization of an Intel Core i7-720QM quad-core CPU, which tethers a high clock rate of single cores (up to 2.8 GHz) with the possible advantage of several cores (with up to 8 threads in sync due to hyperthreading). Looking at Intel's price design, the upgrade from a i5-520M to i7-720QM chip costs exactly 139 dollars. That's how much the current price difference of both processors is when 1000 units are bought.

If the other technical data of the CPUs are compared, 2.4-2.93 GHz speak for the 520M chip in opposition to 1.6-2.8 GHz in the 720QM. Nevertheless, the dual-core is again inferior, with a L2/L3 cache of 512/3072KB, to the quad-core (1024/6144KB). Ultimately, this also applies to the maximum power consumption of 45W vs. 32 W. There haven't been any changes in the graphic card. An ATI Mobility Radeon HD5870 GPU with a 1024MB GDDR5 video memory still does its job in the Asus G72JH.

The G73JH version with a quad-core CPU at hand also has the "Twin Turbo Mode" of Asus' Power4Gear software. We couldn't observe an impact on the CPU clock rate in opposition to the dual-core alternative, though. Even according benchmark tests didn't show any noteworthy differences.

Referensi : www.notebookcheck.net