A closer look
Asus employs a two-tone black and orange color scheme on the G50V and litters the unit with blue LEDs. The lid features two long blue light bars on the sides, a third near the bottom of the back of the lid, and a "Republic of Gamers" logo at its center. Asus includes software that allows users to set how these adornments light up. By default, the lights flicker with CPU and memory usage, but you can set them to remain on or off if you're disinclined to sponsor your own little light-switch rave. The lid itself is latchless, as is all the rage these days. Lid wobble is one of those little annoyances that is liable to drive most users insane over time, and older Asus notebook models have been particularly guilty of having weak hinges that loosen as they age. This shouldn't the case with the G50V, whose hinges are firm to start.
The attractive, black-and-orange finish flows from the lid through the rest of the shell, but it comes with its own set of hazards. While certainly beautiful, the G50V's glossy lid is horribly prone to fingerprints and smudges. Just as purchasing a black car may lead to constant cleaning, this glossy coating will certainly prompt frequent use of the microfiber cloth Asus includes in the box. The shell as a whole, however, is quite firm. Build quality hasn't been one of Asus' strong suites, at least with the past notebooks I've used, so it's refreshing to handle something as well constructed as the G50V. The chassis is flex-free and feels very sturdy from top to bottom.
Sturdiness comes at a price, however. At 6.5 pounds, the G50V is heavier than one might expect from a 15.4" notebook, and that's before you include the weight of its monstrous 125W AC power adapter. The G50V is a little bigger than your average 15.4" notebook, too, measuring 14.6 inches wide, 10.3 inches deep, and 1.6 inches thick.
Flipping the G50V over reveals a massive bottom panel retained by a frankly ridiculous number of tiny, tiny screws. Once the panel is removed, however, we have access to both hard drive bays, the wireless adapter, both memory slots, the processor, and the GeForce 9700M GT's MXM Type II module. The processor, GPU, and north bridge are all cooled via copper heatpipes connected to a single blower that expels heat out of the left side of the notebook. Though the bottom panel is large, unwieldy, and can be difficult to remove, the access it ultimately provides to the notebook's internals should allow for upgrades that can extend the system's useful life, particularly when compared with competing solutions that aren't as open to tinkering.
With the bottom panel securely in place, we can see the bright orange vent over the blower fan. Even on the case's underside, there's an attention to detail. This vent could easily be mistaken for a subwoofer, especially given the Altec Lansing branding on the G50V's speakers. Finally, at the top left (top right when the unit is upright) is the system's removable six cell battery, rated at 4800mAh.
Interfacing with the G50V
The G50V-A1's 15.4" screen is top shelf, sporting excellent viewing angles, a glossy finish, and a generous 1680x1050 SWXGA+ resolution. I fired up PassMark Monitor Test 3.0 to give the screen a workout, and backlight bleed and banding were non-existent. The screen only seemed to have issues with contrast at the highest levels of red, green, and blue. Otherwise, picture quality was stellar.
Of course, the screen isn't perfect. While picture quality is excellent, a 1680x1050 resolution may prove too high for the GeForce 9700M GT handle in games without dropping to lower, non-native resolutions. A slightly lower resolution like 1440x900 may have been more appropriate given the hardware at hand, given the fact that this is billed as a gaming system. 1680x1050 on a 15.4" screen also results in a relatively high DPI, which may test the eyesight of some users. My eyesight is fairly poor, and I found myself thinking 1440x900 would be a more suitable compromise for this particular machine.
Below the screen you'll find the G50V's keyboard, which features full-sized keys, a dedicated number pad, and red arrow etchings on the traditional "WASD" cluster along with the number pad. The "Fn" key is happily in the right place, sandwiched between the Ctrl and Windows keys.
The inclusion of a number pad is great if you do a lot of data entry or prefer it for gaming, but it does introduce some issues that jeopardize the usability of the G50V's keyboard. The lack of dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys became frustrating in short order, and the cramped nature of the number pad affects its usability.
Asus surrounds the G50V's touchpad with a blue border that lights up, just in case weren't getting enough of a light show with the system already. The touchpad's surface is smooth, making navigation easy, and the buttons are sensitive enough with exactly the right amount of click. Synaptics supplies the touchpad and provides a wealth of configuration options in its driver, including the ability to toggle dedicated scrolling zones. There's also a button above the keyboard that disables the touchpad, should you wish to use a mouse instead.
On either side of the touchpad is a pseudo-rubberized texture that serves as an effective and comfortable palm rest. I didn't even realize the palm rest was plastic until my second or third week with the G50V, which is a testament to just how comfortable the texturing is; it's a wonder that similar texturing isn't included with more laptops. Of course, you'll have to peel off a large collection of stickers to actually get at the textured palm rest. Asus went a little overboard there.
As has become fairly common in the laptop market, the G50V features a row of touch-sensitive buttons just above its keyboard. However, next to them we find a small OLED display. This readout is one of the G50V's unique features, and it can be configured to display system statistics like CPU and memory usage. When the system is running on battery power, it displays a helpful battery life meter and percentage.
The display's configuration options are limited to basic system specifications and real-time messaging, though. Those looking for flexibility on par with Logitech's G15 keyboard will be disappointed, but everyone else should be satisfied.
