Asus G51VX-RX05 Gaming Notebook Review

Recently, we've seen the meteoric rise of netbooks in the mobile space. Their ultra portability in conjunction with the global economic climate seems to have led consumers to think twice about spending large amounts of cash on mobile devices. This is especially true when netbooks offer the same basic services (word processing, internet surfing, email) for a considerably smaller investment than most other models. But with netbooks, problems surface when users want to do more than just the basic tasks. While no one can argue against their usability, size, and price point, netbooks don't have the processing power to play the latest games or handle significant multimedia workloads, which are key to meeting the demands of gamers and enthusiasts.

With their Eee PC line of products, Asus has been at the forefront of the netbook revolution. But they've also got an extensive line-up of full-sized notebooks and laptops that was recently expanded with the new gaming machine aimed at mainstream consumers, that combines strong graphics performance and surprising affordability. The G51VX-RX05 is a member of the Asus Republic of Gamers line targeted at the performance enthusiast market and features a Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of DDR2 memory, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M GPU, a 15.6" LCD display, a spacious 320GB hard drive, and Windows Vista 64-bit operating system. While those specs are appealing, the most attractive feature we can list is the competitive asking price, which currently sits at about $1049. With the new school year just around the corner, we know consumers are in the market for notebooks that provide the best performance for their dollar, so let's take a closer look at what the G51VX has to offer.

Asus G51VX-RX05 Gaming Notebook Review

Marco Chiappetta

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com