ASUS ROG G750JM-DS71 17.3-inch Gaming Laptop, GeForce GTX 860M Graphics

Own your opponents with the ultimate gaming notebook. The ROG G750JM comes with the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M dedicated graphics that is 60% faster than its predecessor. You can boost already-impressive performance with ASUS-exclusive TurboMaster technology, which supports 5% overclocking while an upgraded cooling system ensures your G750JM stays ventilated and quiet.

Spending $1,329.99, here are what you get: 

Intel Core i7-4700HQ 2.4Ghz (Turbo 3.4 GHz) 

12 GB DDR3 

1 TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive 

17.3-inch screen, GeForce GTX 860M 2GB 

Windows 8.1, 3.5-hour battery life 

This laptop is a gamer's dream - with a latest gen i7-4700HQ processor, 12GB RAM, the Nvidia GTX860M GPU, 1TB drive (Toshiba MQ01ABD100), and a 17.3" anti glare display. And, if that power weren't enough, you get the ability to overclock the GPU using a simple software tool. This laptop is designed for power users (gamers, video editors, animators, engineers, developers, etc.) who need a portable replacement for their desktop. For all other users, this laptop is not only overkill, it may actually be a problem in terms of battery life and luggable weight.

With its rubberized black lid, dull matte finish, and black aluminum casing, this is a laptop that looks like its design was inspired by a spy plane. There are lots of small aesthetic touches that make it a pleasure to look at - the glowing power button that would not be out of place on Krypton, the discreet glowing LED on the lid, the brushed aluminum wrist rest, and even its raised rear vents. This is a machine that looks as mean as it performs!. All that aluminum and copper means that this is not going to be the laptop that you'll take on holiday. Even its power brick is massive - possibly large enough to contain a mini nuclear reactor. Its screen is a joy to use - large, bright, brilliant colors, and no reflections - even in broad daylight. Which means that movies are fun and games are immersive. The matte screen is not for everyone, however, and might be annoying for anyone who actually notices the line-like patterns on the screen. A backlit keyboard is a mandatory requirement for me, and the G750 even supports 3 levels of brightness. I am a heavy touch typist, and the wrist rest provides solid support and there is no noticeable flex in the keyboard. The keys are comfortable to use and I have not noticed any fatigue over extended sessions.

I'm normally aggravated by most laptop touchpads, but this one is designed very well - the buttons are easy to click, it is very responsive, and all actions are intuitive and happen without any fuss. One tip is to turn off some of the edge gestures that you tend to trip unintentionally. For instance, my typing posture often sets off the swipe from the right edge action that brings up the Win 8.1 charms menu, so I used Asus' Smart Gesture application to turn it off. I own a Toshiba gaming laptop, and without an active cooling pad, I literally fry my thighs. By contrast, the G750 is much less problematic because it vents its exhaust out the rear and away from you. However, it does get hot, particularly around the left rear vent. In addition, once the fan kicks in, it can be fairly noisy. It takes about 30 seconds to boot up - possibly due to its 5400rpm hard drive. Its GPU was able to drive Spec Ops The Line at highest quality with no problems for over 3 hours of gameplay last night. The game is spectacular to begin with, and the atmosphere was replicated perfectly on the G750. Games such as Civ5 and XCom were just as great - though they do not tax the GPU quite as much. Productivity applications and video editors all ran comfortably - making the G750 truly a versatile tool. I only got about 150 minutes of full screen HD movie streaming out of a single charge - not quite as high as the 3.5 hours mentioned on the product page, but in line with my expectations. (In general, I have found that battery life is about 2/3rds of the marketing promise.) You have every conceivable port on here, but the ones that need special mention are the HDMI 1.4 port that supports 4K output, and the Thunderbolt port that is likely to be the interface of the future. Thunderbolt lets you connect external devices directly onto your PCI-Express bus within the computer, and delivers 2 full duplex channels of 10Gbps bandwidth each way! This is twice as fast as USB 3.0. What this means is that as Thunderbolt peripherals begin to appear, you can daisy chain up to 6 devices on to this port, 2 of which can be display monitors. Attach a monitor to your HDMI output as well, and you now have 4 monitors driven by the GTX860M! Note that of the 4 USB 3.0 ports on this laptop, one can be used to charge devices even while the computer is turned off. This is the weak link of this computer. I was underwhelmed by its performance. A better option is to invest in a good set of headphones (like the Corsair Vengeance 2100). There is no bloatware on this computer. When I get a new machine, I normally spend at least an hour getting rid of trialware and spyware. 

This time, I only had to swap out McAfee and I was done!. Instead of traditional bloatware, the ROG G750JM comes with a useful array of tools - including: Asus' GPU Tweak: lets you overclock your GPU by 5%, and to adjust the cooling fan's speed.  I intend to avoid overclocking for now until I see how this laptop handles heat. Nvidia's GeForce Experience: this is a useful tool that keeps your drivers updated, optimizes game settings to match your video card's abilities (Nvidia only supports certain games), lets you set a target frame rate so as to boost battery life (handy for less stressful games such as XCom), lets you record gameplay and broacast it (ShadowPlay) and even allows broadcast of games to connected devices (GameStream.) Note that I have not used either ShadowPlay or GameStream and cannot comment on how they work. Nvidia's Optimus: This feature switches off the GTX860M when its power is not needed, and lets the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600 take over, to conserve battery power. Asus' AudioWizard: Lets you customize audio for the type of game being played. The G750 allows easy access to its RAM sockets and its hard drive bays. Simply pull up on a rubber cover, remove a screw, and you are in.

My previous gaming laptop consisted of a top-of-the-line Toshiba Qosmio which was eminently capable but often felt like a molten brick in my lap, could not run for long when away from a power supply, and had a very unfriendly touchpad. This Asus is the perfect replacement for that machine. To my eyes, its only flaws are an underwhelming audio system and an anemic hard drive - both of which are easily remedied.

Let's read some comments of some users shared about their machine:

"It is heavy. Very heavy for a laptop. This is more of a desktop replacement than a laptop that you are going to take to class with you, so the weight is excused. It's also not uncommon in this category of laptops to have to deal with something heavy and bulky.", sorrybabe, a nick name of a user shared.

"As a computer, this laptop provides decent power for the price. But the keyboard and trackpad are not very good at all. The keys aren't responsive. You have to hit the letters very hard. The trackpad is nice and big, but therein lies the problem. It's impossible not to touche it unless your palms are entirely up in mid air. So I am constantly having to deal with inadvertent right-clicking and cursor jumping all over the place. So if you want a laptop, this is not the one to get. If you want a portable computer where you'll use a separate keyboard and mouse, then this is a very good computer.

I'm also not a fan of 8.1. But it seems stable and I can navigate okay. I just miss a lot of the shortcuts I'd developed for previous versions of Windows. Maybe I'll learn some new ones. But so far it's been a drag on my productivity.

I got this computer to handle large data sets. I must say I'm not a fan of Office 365 either. I was able to dedicate processors in previous versions of Excel. But those same tricks don't work in 365. Dedicating processors is a key element in crunching the numbers. Without it, My old HP with a 1.9Mhz dual processor crunches the numbers faster than this one. That's not the computer's fault, it's Microsoft's and their lack of searchable information on how to configure their applications. But it is relevant in my three star rating.

In summary, I'm happy with the computer overall. I like the responsiveness and even the McAffee software is unobtrusive. I feel some of my configuration issues can be overcome with enough searching to see how to accomplish my tasks efficiently. However, the keyboard and trackpad rate as two stars. One star because they work when you operate them the way they need to be operated and another star for the good layout of the extended keys. But otherwise, yuk.", Ann Lane, a user shared.