Asus G1-AK008

If you're one of the many mobile gamers who balks at paying an exorbitant price for a backbreaking rig destined for obsolescence, Asus has a proposition. The G1-AK008, part of the company's new gaming line, is a solidly built machine tuned for gaming, with parts slightly below top-of-the-line, and attractively priced at well under $2,000. This isn't a machine for the hardcore, but most gamers will find that price and portability can be as appealing as frame rates.
 
The 13.9 x 11.1 x 1.3-inch case features military styling appropriate for a gaming laptop. The lid and keyboard area are skinned with a mesh decal; hinge accents and a handful of green lights add to the serious appearance. An unnecessary button featuring the Asus gaming logo distracts from the comfort of the mouse pad, but we don't mind the clearly labeled WASD keys. Despite the handful of stylistic touches, the G1-AK008's restrained appearance doesn't immediately mark it as a gaming machine. Neither does the weight, which comes in at 6.8 pounds without the power adapter.
 
Without a massive chassis to play with, Asus had to squeeze the Home, End, and Page Up/Down keys along the keyboard's right side, where you can accidentally press them. Although there isn't a number pad, the keys are otherwise very well spaced with considerable depth, which makes them well suited for typing and gaming.
  
The 15-inch case is relatively small for a gaming system, which can become cluttered with ports. Asus made the unfortunate decision to mount all four USB 2.0 ports on the rear side of the system, with the VGA and DVI connections. The right edge features sound ports (headphone, mic, and output) as well as Ethernet, FireWire, TV-out, PC Card slot, and a 4-in-1 card reader. The left is dedicated to the optical drive, while the front bezel is decorated with media-player controls. Quick-launch buttons live above the keyboard, as does a small OLED display for system messages.
  
The 15.4-inch display features a native resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels; it looks great while working with media or documents, browsing the Web, and watching movies. For gaming, we found that Nvidia's Go 7700 graphics-a few steps behind the top-of-the-line GPUs-limited the playable resolutions to 1024 x 768 pixels. On autodetect, F.E.A.R. displayed a respectable if not impressive 55-fps average. With settings maxed, our tests suffered a significant frame rate reduction to 30 fps.
 
Outside of a professionally competitive multiplayer environment, the G1-AK008's performance is ample for most players. The 2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 7200 CPU and 2GB of DDR2 RAM provide a solid performance base. We'd like a faster drive than the 160GB 5,400-rpm SATA, however, as that speed could become a data bottleneck.
 
Relying on lower-spec components has two benefits. One is price: Just try to find a similarly capable machine for $1,800. The other is battery life: The G1-AK008 lasted 3 hours and 11 minutes with Wi-Fi on, making this system a truly mobile gaming platform.
 
Unfortunately, while gaming notebooks have been carrying more speakers, subwoofers, and audio options, the G1-AK008's sound system is meager. The speakers put out far too little volume, and even at the loudest setting, we found a tinny, unappealing soundstage for both games and movies. Adding headphones alleviated the problems, demonstrating that perhaps a few extra dollars for better onboard speakers might be worth the expense.
 
Asus' support options aren't as varied as those of major American manufacturers: You'll pay for shipping a notebook back and for help-center calls, which you can place only between 5:30 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. PST during the week and between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. PST on the weekends.
 
If you're considering buying the G1-AK008, you'll have to ask yourself the following question: How hardcore are you? If frame rates are the bottom line, pass up this option and go straight to machines by Alienware, Dell, or Voodoo. Gamers willing to settle for a very playable 30 fps on the most demanding games, however, will find that the G1-AK008 has plenty to offer and that the light weight and long battery life mean more gaming in the long run.  

 

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