Asus ROG G752 review

A hefty, punchy mobile PC gaming powerhouse

Asus ROG G752VT

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

If you're looking for an all-out gaming laptop to replace an aging desktop PC, you could do little better than the Asus ROG G752. With top-end specs, impressive build quality and stand-out looks on offer, there are few alternatives that offer quite so much power for around £1,200 (around $1,700, AU$2,500). While there are slimmer and slightly more powerful alternatives available if money is no object, the G752 offers an awful lot for the money.

For alternatives, consider the Origin EVO15-S or the MSI G60 Ghost Pro. The EVO15-S is available for $2,294 (about £1,614, AU$3,278) and has a more compact 15-inch chassis that features some even more beefy specifications, including a 970M with 6GB of DDR5 video memory. On the other hand, the 15.6-inch G60 Ghost Pro is an almost identical machine on most other fronts, but is both slimmer and lighter.

We liked

The G752 combines the power of a brand-new Skylake Intel Core i7 processor with Nvidia's high-powered GTX 970M graphics chip to offer oodles of power on tap for even the most demanding gamer.

Plus, a distinguished design with angular aluminium lines and bronze accents make the latest Asus ROG laptop stand out from so many of the black matte alternatives out there. That is, at the next tournament you attend, not the coffee shop.

Finally, decent sound, a capable IPS display with Nvidia's G-Sync technology and a Blu-ray drive make this machine a multimedia powerhouse.

We disliked

While I appreciate that the design of this laptop is just what most gamers are looking for, there's no doubt it has a rather masculine appeal. The internal design isn't quite as clean as the outside, either.

Also, if you're looking for a gaming PC to take round a friend's house every weekend, you'll need some pretty meaty biceps to haul the G752 around – it's an incredibly heavy machine.

And lastly, the battery life was – at best – poor. There's a lot of power under the hood, but it's not asking much to get more than two hours of battery life before scrambling for a power socket.

Final verdict

Asus has become a brand of choice for many gamers, and deservedly so. The ROG G752 is a truly fantastic laptop in many regards: it's got more than enough power to run even the latest titles at the highest settings, it runs cool and quiet and it has a plethora of connections and multimedia features to ably replace your desktop.

OK, so it's an incredibly weighty beast, and I might have wished for a 4K screen, but these compromises are of less concern when you appreciate just how much power you're getting here for the money.