When it comes to playing the latest titles on a notebook, you want the best of both worlds: high frame rates and plenty of detail. The ASUS G51J-A1 delivers on both counts, thanks to its Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M graphics, and full HD display. You also get 640GB of storage space. Moreover, this is a sleek system that you’ll be psyched to whip out of your backpack at the next LAN party. The best part is the price; at $1,499, the G51J-A1 gives you a lot of bang for your buck.
An update to the ASUS G51Vx, the G51J-A1 sports a glossy blue lid and is adorned with a backlit ASUS Republic Of Gamers logo. There is also a light bar located on the lower portion on the lid. Taken as a whole, these touches tell you that this is a serious gaming rig.
When we lifted the lid of the 14.6 x 10.3 x 1.6-inch system, our eyes were treated to a highly attractive interior. The bezel surrounding the 15.6-inch display and the keyboard are glossy and reflective, making the system an immediate attention-grabber, though highly susceptible to fingerprints and smudges. A rubberized slip-proof (and smudge-resistant) palm rest inhabits the space below the keyboard, and has a great feel.
Above the keyboard is a speaker strip with several touch-sensitive buttons: Adjusting the gamma correction, enabling Turbo mode, disabling the touchpad, and booting into Express Gate are among the options.
Like all ASUS gaming notebooks, the G51J-A1 comes with a gaming backpack and a Razer Copperhead gaming mouse; while they may not be top-of-the-line, it’s still a thoughtful inclusion.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The premium look of the G51J-A1 extends to the keyboard, where a white backlight gives each key a soft halo that can be raised or lowered through the use of the Fn and F3/F4 keys. Because the layout doesn’t extend to the edges, some keys are undersized, such as the right Shift key and the numbers on the dedicated number pad. Nevertheless, the island-style keys are springy, which made for a solid typing experience.
As the G51J-A1 is designed for gamers, there are a number of gaming-specific icons scattered across the keyboard: Arrows highlight the WASD keys (which are typically used for movement), and the 1 and 6 keys are highlighted with white circles, so you can quickly tap whatever number you need to switch weapons.
Above the keyboard is a grill that houses Altec Lansing stereo speakers, and buttons that let you cycle through visual modes (Gamma Correction, Normal, Soft, Theater, Vivid), and power settings (Battery Saving, Entertainment, High Performance, Quiet Office). To the right of those are three buttons: Express Gate (ASUS’ brand of the Splashtop instant-on operating system), Power, and TouchPad Enable/Disable.
The nontextured touchpad allowed us to navigate the desktop with ease. The brushed-metal mouse buttons look cool, but felt a little stiff.
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