Just recently, Asus launched its Republic of Gamers-branded G701 gaming laptop, a mobile beast based on the company’s GX700 liquid-cooled gaming laptop. It doesn’t come with the extreme cooling even though the Intel Core i7 K-series processor is totally overclockable (like, totally), but it is packed with a discrete Nvidia GPU and a screen that supports Nvidia’s G-Sync technology.
Based on the specs, there are several models on the market. On the processor front, the laptop sports an Intel Core i7-6820HK CPU that’s backed by up to 64GB of system memory and what appears to be a full-blown Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 graphics chip with 4GB or 8GB of dedicated video memory.
Storage-wise, the laptop provides two PCIe Gen. 3×4 SSDs in RAID 0 with capacities of 256GB or 512GB each, meaning owners can see up to 2,842MB per second read speeds and up to 2,482MB per second write speeds. This storage setup is backed by a built-in SD card reader although its maximum capacity is currently unknown.
As for other installed goodies, the new laptop includes one USB 3.1 Type-C port, three USB 3.0 ports, one Ethernet port, one HDMI port, one mini DisplayPort connector, and one Thunderbolt port. An HD web camera is mounted on the 17.3-inch screen that is LED-lit and has a maximum resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 (72-percent NTSC) or 3,840 x 2,160 (100-percent NTSC). Wireless networking is handled by a built-in Wireless AC component.
Overall, the new gaming laptop measures 16.88(W) x 12.16(D) x 1.29(H) inches and weighs around 8.37 pounds with the battery installed. The anti-ghosting keyboard is backlit for gaming in dark caves, and has 30-key rollover technology so that up to 30 keystrokes are correctly logged even when several keys are hit simultaneously. The keyboard includes macro keys that can be assigned through the ROG Gaming Center software.
The installed Asus software can also be used to overclock the processor with four settings: Standard, Optimized, Extreme, and Manual. According to the company, the GTX 980 graphics chip provides 20-percent better performance in a 3DMark DirectX 11 test than the GTX 980M chip that’s typically used for notebooks. Overclock the processor, and owners get an additional 17-percent performance boost for desktop-like gaming.
“ROG G701 features an ESS Sabre headphone DAC and amplifier for those of you who demand amazing sound not only in games, because you also spend a lot of time listening to music and watching TV shows or movies,” the company says in a blog. “The amp really helps to give you that crisp, punchy bass (of course you have to pair it with a nice pair of capable cans). For true 7.1 surround sound you can check out Strix 7.1, or ROG Strix Wirelss if you want to go wireless.”
If this laptop sounds tasty to you, wait until you take a bite into the price tag. On Newegg, the Asus ROG G701VO-CS74K laptop with a 64-bit version of Windows 10 Home costs $3,750. This model packs the GTX 980 GPU with 8GB of GDDR5 memory, the Intel Core i7-6820HK processor, 64GB of DDR4 memory, 1TB of storage capacity, and a screen resolution of 1,920 x 1,080. A laptop bag and mouse is included.
