ASUS G53SW 3D Gaming Notebook Review

When Intel launched their new Sandy Bridge processors I was very excited to review the desktop CPUs and was pleasantly surprised by their performance, especially considering their price. However, it wasn’t until recently that I got my hands on a mobile Sandy Bridge processor as ASUS provided us with their latest 15” gaming notebook, the G53SW.

The G53SW is designed after the famous F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft which shows the some stylish edges, a completely matt black finish devoid of any fancy LEDs. The two huge exhausts on the rear not only look cool, but these blow out hot air at full blast during intense gaming, or CPU number crunching sessions.  Like the F-117, the ASUS G53SW also packs a lot of power under the hood, thanks primarily due to the Sandy Bridge i7-2630QM CPU, Nvidia GTX 460M GPU and 8GB of ram. Full specs are on the next page, but it’s important to note that we received the 1366×768 120Hz 3D panel for our review machine.

As far as the external layout is concerned, one of the best things that I personally love about the G53SW is that the LCD doesn’t open up at the edge, like normal notebooks, but the rear vents actually extend beyond the normal length of the chassis, giving the LCD panel a base of sorts to sit against. Many people will probably hate this because the LCD panel doesn’t open out to 180°, but this being a desktop replacement notebook, I like the effective design that the G53SW brings. The extended base just gives the ASUS G53SW a very sturdy look; and it is, thanks to the 3.78 kilos.

On the outer edges we’ll find all the ports on the left and right side, including the power connector. The front bottom houses all the LED indicators. Moving inside, the glossy 15.6” display is surrounded by a thick bezel, thicker than I would like, but it’s not really off-putting. The keyboard is laid out in a very nice and comfortable Chiclet size with white backlights, adjustable up to 3 intensities. Since the keys are so raised, you will notice the backlight bleeding through the edges of the keys instead of being just under them. At full brightness this is actually a little distracting, but at the lowest level it’s hardly visible.  The rubberized hand rest surrounding the mouse pad was a very nice touch, but beware of the UAE dust that likes to stick everywhere!