Asus G75VW Ivy Bridge 660M Review! and owners lounge

[bchreng]

Picked one up from Best Buy as well. The HDD really makes the system feel a little slow, the keyboard feels a little cheap (keys feel a little loose)compared to the one of the Envy 15, the matte screen is going to take a bit of getting used to and the notebook and power brick combo are heavy. On the plus side, the system runs much quieter than my Envy 15 and looks great!

[rokopt]

i just picked up the Best buy model. only reason is for wow/starcraft/D3. i dont need the blueray or the extra 8g of ram for them games But i am replacing the 500G 500rpm to a 120g 550 intel ssd. Also it does have a thunderbolt port.

Thanks for the information! Sorry to pester, but is it definitely Thunderbolt and not mini-DisplayPort? I ask because when I look at the specs on Asus's own site I only see mini-DisplayPort and not Thunderbolt. There appears to be some disagreement among resellers too, with, for example, HID Evolution listing only mini-DisplayPort, but Gentech PC and Xotic PC listing Thunderbolt. I seem to remember the reviews I've read from people receiving advance shipments also being divided between calling the port mini-DisplayPort and calling it Thunderbolt.

[Shouzen]

First of all, thanks for all the info - reading this thread has been awesome. I'm very curious to hear about the build quality of the G75. Does it feel solid? Any creaking? General thoughts on fit and finish?

[valen2384]

Build quality is great i had bestbuy install the ssd... but i am missing alot of software now... just great. anyone know where i can find the extra stuff i am missing lol... plus the recovery partition on the 1terebyte harddrive does not boot up lol....

[Cecil_2099]

Thanks for the information! Sorry to pester, but is it definitely Thunderbolt and not mini-DisplayPort? I ask because when I look at the specs on Asus's own site I only see mini-DisplayPort and not Thunderbolt. There appears to be some disagreement among resellers too, with, for example, HID Evolution listing only mini-DisplayPort, but Gentech PC and Xotic PC listing Thunderbolt. I seem to remember the reviews I've read from people receiving advance shipments also being divided between calling the port mini-DisplayPort and calling it Thunderbolt.

I too have purchased the G75 from Best Buy today, but I can't confirm whether or not the Thunderbolt Port is a real Thunderbolt Port or just a mini-DisplayPort. Reading the manual from Asus' website and what's loaded on the laptop, it says that the Thunderbolt Port is available on select models. The imprint on the case above the port does show a lightning bolt within a box which would lead one to believe it has a Thunderbolt Port, but I can't find any reference to "Thunderbolt" in Windows Device Manager. Also my G75 has a 3D Mode Switch Key but when you press it, it cycles through the Power4Gear modes. There's no indication that it toggles between 3D Modes or not (perhaps I'm not doing it right, or not in the right program environment?). I have an email in to Asus support to see if they can confirm and will post when I find out.

[long2905]

Couldnt you guys search on google for the image of a display port and thunderbolt one and compare them together?

[valen2384]

I too have purchased the G75 from Best Buy today, but I can't confirm whether or not the Thunderbolt Port is a real Thunderbolt Port or just a mini-DisplayPort. Reading the manual from Asus' website and what's loaded on the laptop, it says that the Thunderbolt Port is available on select models. The imprint on the case above the port does show a lightning bolt within a box which would lead one to believe it has a Thunderbolt Port, but I can't find any reference to "Thunderbolt" in Windows Device Manager. Also my G75 has a 3D Mode Switch Key but when you press it, it cycles through the Power4Gear modes. There's no indication that it toggles between 3D Modes or not (perhaps I'm not doing it right, or not in the right program environment?). I have an email in to Asus support to see if they can confirm and will post when I find out.

From my understanding with thunderbolt ports that i have seen on my sisters macbook pro 15 has the same picture "usb + Bolt" but i have also been looking for the drivers online for that port.. Funny thing is that the display port picture is a "box + bolt" which i dont see on the laptop. Gah frustrating lol

[Shouzen]

Couldnt you guys search on google for the image of a display port and thunderbolt one and compare them together?

I'm pretty sure the ports look the same physically based on external inspection?

Build quality is great i had bestbuy install the ssd... but i am missing alot of software now... just great. anyone know where i can find the extra stuff i am missing lol... plus the recovery partition on the 1terebyte harddrive does not boot up lol....

Hmm, I'll probably install the SSD myself. It came with the Windows discs, right?

[bchreng]

First of all, thanks for all the info - reading this thread has been awesome. I'm very curious to hear about the build quality of the G75. Does it feel solid? Any creaking? General thoughts on fit and finish?

There's a bit of creaking/cracking when opening and closing the lid and the keys move around a bit. The system doesn't feel as solid as the Envy 15 that I was using before. The materials are nice though. I'd give it a 6/10 on fit and finish compared to the 9/10 on my HP.

edit: Oh and another thing. I'm not sure how the volume controls work. Even with the volume setting lowered all the way down, youtube videos are still incredibly loud. Anyone else have this issue?

[paulnelson88]

For the last time: Could you please run 3DMark11 and 3DMark Vantage on STOCK frequency, without any overclocking of memory or cores what so ever, and post them?

No offence but you should really start with that and THEN overclock to see how much you can gain. We here don`t have a clue where the 660M stand

Sorry about that just got home from a 27 mile trail run in which I ran out of water and had to drink out of the creek! All I could think about was loading some games up on this and doing some more testing!