Gone are the times when a certain Italian plumber used to be a significant part of our daily routine. With the advent of high-end graphic cards accompanied by super-fast processing units, gaming has never been more fun. Huge developments in the Virtual Reality(VR) technology has made our favourite games like NFS, Counter Strike, Grand Theft Auto etc. highly interactive and thus provide a seriously rich playing experience. However, the aforementioned rich gaming experience comes at a price. Several of these games are graphics hungry and need a lot of resources to run successfully. Enter Gaming Laptops. The one and only purpose of the Gaming Laptop is to provide its user a wonderful gaming experience possessing some of the best hardware and software specifications in the process. One such company trying its luck in the Gaming sector is ASUS. The Taiwanese company’s dedicated Gaming laptop series, namely, Republic of Gamers (ROG), has a wide range of products under its belt with distributed price range. One such recently launched Gaming laptop in the ROG series is ASUS ROG GL552JX. With it possessing some pretty decent hardware specifications and a mid-range price tag, the ASUS ROG GL552JX is for those who want to experience playing games with high-end configurations and yet don’t want to loosen their purse strings.
We got our hands on the ASUS ROG GL552JX for a fairly reasonable period of time and have prepared a detailed review of our experience using the said laptop. So, without delaying further, let’s discuss the characteristics and performance of the ASUS ROG GL552JX:
Asus ROG GL552JX Technical Specifications at a glance
| CPU | Intel Core i7-4720HQ |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M |
| Display | 15.6-inch LED display, Full HD resolution of 1920 X 1080 |
| RAM | 8GB DDR3 |
| Storage | 1TB HDD |
| Battery | 48WHr 4-cell Li-ion |
| Connectivity | USB 3.0 ports ,3.5mm mic,HDMI, VGA ,LAN |
Design and Build
The ROG GL552JX is equipped with some great and innovative design which aims to appeal to gamers and beyond. The lid on the laptop has an elevated surface which possesses a backlit ROG logo. The surface is complemented with a faux metallic finish. The texture of the laptop lid also has been given faux metal finish. The laptop measures 382×255×16-32.6mm.
Once the laptop’s lid is opened, it has got similar looks to its predecessor the GL551. At first, the ROG GL552JX looks to be a bit heavy, however, Asus’s designing team has a done an appreciable job at keeping weight of the laptop in check. The machine weighs just around 2.5 kgs which is a great figure for a gaming laptop.
Speaking of the Asus ROG GL552JX’s keyboard, it possesses a keyboard with highlighted WASD keys. Being a gaming laptop, keyboard on the GL552JX is backlit. Gamers have the liberty to choose between different brightness levels. Moreover, the keyboard is quite good to work with stuff other than gaming as the keys are soft and comfortable to use.
The laptop has three USB 3.0 ports along with 3.5mm microphone and speaker jacks. Other connectivity options on the machine include various ports such as HDMI, VGA, and LAN. It also comes with one SD card reader slot.
Overall, the Asus ROG GL552JX tries to impress people with its great and impressive looks. With its light weight, robust build and backlit functionalities, it clearly scores in the build and designing category.
Display
What in the world is the use of a gaming laptop if it doesn’t offer classy display? Thankfully, in this case, the Asus ROG GL552JX tries hard to fulfill the display demands. GL552JX sports a 15.6-inch LED display which translates into Full HD resolution of 1920 X 1080 pixels. It has got a 178-degree viewing angle, After playing a large number of games on the machine, we can assure that the display fared very well and did not hinder our gaming experience. Our team also watched some movies too on the laptop and the colour combination over the screen felt above average.
Hardware and Software Specifications
The Asus ROG GL552JX is powered by the Intel Core i7-4720HQ processor clocked at 2.6GHz (boosts up to 3.6 GHz). Having said that, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M with 2GB DDR3 graphics memory aims to fulfill the graphic demands of the games on the machine. It possesses 8GB DDR3 RAM which will come in handy while multi-tasking. The ROG GL552JX comes with 1TB HDD space, which is normal for a laptop with this price range. Intel HD Graphics 4600 also comes integrated inside the laptop. The said laptop sports an HD webcam while it is fuelled by a 48WHr 4-cell Li-ion battery.
Software wise, the ROG GL552JX comes with Microsoft Windows 8.1 pre-installed. We did not notice much of the bloatware in the laptop which is a creditable job done by Asus.
Performance
We used the Asus ROG GL552JX for a fairly reasonable amount of time for a wide range of activities such watching movies, photoshopping, internet surfing, office work and, of course, Gaming. The performance of the laptop wasn’t much of an issue in most cases. We never experienced lags or sluggishness while doing average tasks and playing basic games. However, the performance of the ROG GL552JX somewhat goes downhill while testing it with some truly graphic hungry games. There was a noticeable amount of frame drops here and there while playing GTA V to its full capacity. In order to get a smooth gaming experience, we had to reduce graphic settings of some games too.
Also, while playing games; the ROG GL552JX generates enough heat to make you uncomfortable if you have the machine placed directly on your body parts. Hence, it is highly recommended to keep the laptop on some kind of laptop stand to allow the air pass through machine freely.
Although it doesn’t feature state of the art hardware, the ROG GL552JX has enough capability to run most of the modern games with ease.
Review in a nutshell
For an asking price of 71,000 INR, the Asus ROG GL552JX is a basic entrant in the not-so-affordable gaming laptops category. But with an above average Intel i7 processor complemented with Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M GPU, the aforementioned laptop aims to provide an interactive gaming experience anything between moderate to best. While it may not be best in class, one can certainly fulfill his/her gaming and other computer needs with it. Our Verdict? Go for it if you want a laptop with great build, average specs, above average performance without wanting to loosen your purse strings.
