ASUS Refreshes ROG Laptops With G752 and Liquid Cooled GX700 Series
by Brett Howse on September 2, 2015 7:00 AM ESTToday at IFA ASUS is announcing some of its fall laptop lineup. As with the other vendors, they have been waiting on Windows 10 which launched at the end of July, and Intel’s Skylake processors which launched just a few hours ago. The combination of new operating system and new processor is likely going to mean there are a lot of new products coming out in the next while.
Specifically in this announcement is the refresh of the Republic of Gamers laptops. The G752 is an upgrade to the G751 that we reviewed. New of course is Windows 10 installed by default, as well as Intel’s Skylake quad-core processor. There will be two options depending on the model purchased, with the Core i7-6700HQ processor as the base. This is a quad-core, eight-thread Core i7 with a 2.6 GHz base frequency and up to 3.5 GHz Turbo on a single core. On the top tier G752 you can get the Core i7-6820HK model, which is 2.7 GHz to 3.6 GHz and bumps the L3 cache from 6 MB to 8 MB. Being a K part, it means that it is overclockable as well which may let adventurous owners squeeze some extra performance out assuming they can keep the laptop cool. The G751 that we tested actually had a great cooling system so I don’t see that being a big issue. As is usual for a mobile quad-core, these are 45W CPUs.
The G752 also keeps what is great about the G751, with the NVIDIA GTX 980M GPU available to handle the graphics duties. One of the great features from the G751 was the introduction of NVIDIA’s G-Sync technology and I am pleased to say this has continued with the G752. The big difference though is that the G752 will be offered with a 1920x1080 panel as the base model, but the top version will be available with a 3840x2160 panel for the 17.3-inch laptop.
The G752 is not just a spec upgrade either. ASUS is rolling out a new chassis with a new design. It is not a huge departure from the outgoing G751 but it does clean up the lines and make the laptop a lot sleeker in my opinion. It will also be available in three colors, with plasma copper, armor titanium, and lava red options. The keyboard is a gaming keyboard with anti-ghosting 30-key rollover and 2.5 mm of travel in the keys. Thunderbolt 3 will also be available, and clearly Intel is pushing this quite heavily now that it can be piggybacked on a USB-C port.
ASUS ROG G752 | |||||
G752VL | G752VT | G752VY | |||
Processor | Intel Core i7-6700HQ Quad-Core + HT 2.6 GHz-3.5 GHz 6 MB L3 45 watt TDP |
Intel Core i7-6700HQ Quad-Core + HT 2.6 GHz-3.5 GHz 6 MB L3 45 watt TDP Optional Intel Core i7-6820HK Quad-Core + HT 2.7 GHz - 3.6 GHz 8 MB L3 45 watt TDP |
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Memory | Up to 64 GB DDR4-2133 | ||||
GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M 2GB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3/6GB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 4/8 GB | ||
Display | 17.3" 1920x1080 IPS with G-SYNC | 17.3" 1920x1080 IPS with G-SYNC | 17.3" 1920x1080 IPS with G-SYNC 17.3" 3840x2160 IPS with G-SYNC |
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Storage | NVME 128/256 GB SSD Up to 2TB SATA HDD |
NVME 128/256/512 GB SSD Up to 2TB SATA HDD |
NVME 128/256/512 GB SSD Up to 2TB SATA HDD |
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Optical Drive | DVD Combo Blu-ray writer | ||||
Dimensions | 428 x 334 x 23-43 (mm) 16.85 x 13.15 x 0.91-1.69 (inches) |
428 x 334 x 23-53 (mm) 16.85 x 13.15 x 0.91-2.09 (inches) |
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Weight | 4.06 kg / 8.95 lbs | 4.36 kg / 9.61 lbs | |||
Price | Starting at $1499 |
I quite liked the G751 but I found the chassis to be a bit dated, so these updates make it a pretty compelling gaming laptop. It will be available in Q4 starting at $1499.
The big announcement from ASUS though is a completely new gaming laptop called the GX700 series. This is a new flagship gaming laptop from the company and they have tried to pack in quite a few unique features to differentiate from the competition. Someone can correct me if I am mistaken here, but I believe this is the first modern gaming laptop to be offered with a closed loop liquid cooling system. We have seen what a dramatic difference this can make under load on the recently launched AMD Fury X GPU, and ASUS is just teasing us for the moment and will release more details about this later. It will feature a 3840x2160 17.3-inch display, and a yet to be determined GeForce GTX graphics system. The GX700 will feature the mobile K-series Skylake processors much like the G752 and will therefore support overclocking. With the water cooling system, this could make for a pretty powerful laptop. The GX700 will be released in Q4 as well but the price is not final yet.
Source: ASUS
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meacupla - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
I'm going to assume that CLC is removable, like a dock, otherwise that thing would be super clunky.zoxo - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
I don't really see how a CLC can improve a laptop's cooling over a large air/heatpipe system. In the end the limiting factor is the cooling surface area that air can be blown through. As far as I know, heatpipes are more effective at transferring heat than water or similar CLC liquids, especially over relatively short distances.In case of a desktop PC and a videocard, CLC offers several advantages over the alternatives, in that it can dramatically increase the effective surface area where cool air can be blown through the system. CLC can blow the hot air straight out of the case, and you have some flexibility of placing the components. In a laptop, in a fixed case design these advantages don't really come up over what can be done with heatpipes.
Death666Angel - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
That huge thing in the back of the laptop looks like it packs quite a nice radiator for a good amount of surface. And they could still use a heatpipe / fan / regular heatsink combo inside the laptop (to be portable on the go). So I don't see why it shouldn't be better cooled.sluflyer06 - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
Apparently you didn't look at the picture...the CLC is a huge external box...it's not built into the laptop.zoxo - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
if that huge thing is indeed the CLC, then ofc, that would be an insane cooling perf increase. Though that raises a whole range of another problems, since there must be openings in the system where the external box attaches to the laptop.DanNeely - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
It is a dock, but only for cooling (no data connections). Windows central has a decent gallery and a more detailed writeup.http://www.windowscentral.com/asuss-new-rog-gx700-...
Gadgety - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
Super clunky. Ha, ha, my thought, too. Super splashy or lappy. Looks like a water cooled GPU dock. That 17.3 screen will have its followers.Gadgety - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
I checked the links, OK, so it's actually just a water cooler. I'd be concerned over the risk of leakage, but provided it works, and doesn't break down over time, it's quite impressive. And as I said that 17.3 4K is wow.SeannyB - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
dat assSeannyB - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
Though seriously how does it even work? Is it an external GPU or is there actually a liquid cooling loop inside the laptop that connects with (what I have to assume is) the dock? The latter would be nuts and AnandTech should totally review it.