ASUS Refreshes ROG Laptops With G752 and Liquid Cooled GX700 Series

Today at IFA ASUS is announcing some of its fall laptop lineup. As with the other vendors, they have been waiting on Windows 10 which launched at the end of July, and Intel’s Skylake processors which launched just a few hours ago. The combination of new operating system and new processor is likely going to mean there are a lot of new products coming out in the next while.

Specifically in this announcement is the refresh of the Republic of Gamers laptops. The G752 is an upgrade to the G751 that we reviewed. New of course is Windows 10 installed by default, as well as Intel’s Skylake quad-core processor. There will be two options depending on the model purchased, with the Core i7-6700HQ processor as the base. This is a quad-core, eight-thread Core i7 with a 2.6 GHz base frequency and up to 3.5 GHz Turbo on a single core. On the top tier G752 you can get the Core i7-6820HK model, which is 2.7 GHz to 3.6 GHz and bumps the L3 cache from 6 MB to 8 MB. Being a K part, it means that it is overclockable as well which may let adventurous owners squeeze some extra performance out assuming they can keep the laptop cool. The G751 that we tested actually had a great cooling system so I don’t see that being a big issue. As is usual for a mobile quad-core, these are 45W CPUs.

The G752 also keeps what is great about the G751, with the NVIDIA GTX 980M GPU available to handle the graphics duties. One of the great features from the G751 was the introduction of NVIDIA’s G-Sync technology and I am pleased to say this has continued with the G752. The big difference though is that the G752 will be offered with a 1920×1080 panel as the base model, but the top version will be available with a 3840×2160 panel for the 17.3-inch laptop.

The G752 is not just a spec upgrade either. ASUS is rolling out a new chassis with a new design. It is not a huge departure from the outgoing G751 but it does clean up the lines and make the laptop a lot sleeker in my opinion. It will also be available in three colors, with plasma copper, armor titanium, and lava red options. The keyboard is a gaming keyboard with anti-ghosting 30-key rollover and 2.5 mm of travel in the keys. Thunderbolt 3 will also be available, and clearly Intel is pushing this quite heavily now that it can be piggybacked on a USB-C port.

I quite liked the G751 but I found the chassis to be a bit dated, so these updates make it a pretty compelling gaming laptop. It will be available in Q4 starting at $1499.

The big announcement from ASUS though is a completely new gaming laptop called the GX700 series. This is a new flagship gaming laptop from the company and they have tried to pack in quite a few unique features to differentiate from the competition. Someone can correct me if I am mistaken here, but I believe this is the first modern gaming laptop to be offered with a closed loop liquid cooling system. We have seen what a dramatic difference this can make under load on the recently launched AMD Fury X GPU, and ASUS is just teasing us for the moment and will release more details about this later. It will feature a 3840×2160 17.3-inch display, and a yet to be determined GeForce GTX graphics system. The GX700 will feature the mobile K-series Skylake processors much like the G752 and will therefore support overclocking. With the water cooling system, this could make for a pretty powerful laptop. The GX700 will be released in Q4 as well but the price is not final yet.

Source: ASUS

Lenovo Refreshes Ideapad Lineup With Windows 10, Skylake, and Carrizo

This week is the IFA conference, and while traditionally a mobile focused show, Microsoft’s recent launch of Windows 10 coupled with Intel’s launch of the new 6th generation Skylake architecture means that PC makers are taking the opportunity to refresh their PC lineup here. Lenovo has updated much of their lineup.

The Ideapad 100S is a new model to the lineup, which is going after the budget conscious consumer. We’ve actually seen quite a few laptops targeting this spot over the last year, driven by Microsoft’s free licensing for Windows on low cost devices coupled with competition from Chromebooks. Lenovo’s two models in the Ideapad 100S range are an 11.6-inch and 14-inch model. The 11.6-inch model leverages tablet class parts, including an Intel Atom Z3735F quad-core processor coupled with 32 GB of eMMC and up to 2 GB of DDR3L memory. The 14-inch model switches from a tablet class quad-core to the dual-core Celeron N3050 which is also based on the Atom cores, but this time the 14nm Airmont cores. The Celeron has more TDP to play with, and has a higher base and turbo frequency. The 14-inch is listed as either up to 64 GB of eMMC or 256 GB SSD possibly in some markets. The low resolution 1366×768 display is likely going to be TN on something this low cost.

Keeping with the “S” slim lineup, the ideapad 300S comes in both an 11.6 and 14-inch model. The smaller one will be powered by Braswell with the Pentium N3700. This is a quad-core processor based on Airmont cores. The 14-inch model will be offered with up to Core i7 though, and the larger display also comes with a 1920×1080 resolution. The small model sticks with integrated graphics but the 14-inch version will be offered with the GeForce 940M.

Next up in the slim line is the ideapad 500S which is a lineup of three sizes, with 13.3, 14, and 15.6-inch models  available in ebony black, platinum silver, or flamenco red. These are available with Skylake, and can be had with discrete graphics as well. The smaller 13.3-inch model can be had with the GeForce 920M GPU, and the larger 14 and 15.6-inch models offer the more powerful GeForce 940M. The displays on offer are up to 1920×1080, and storage is up to 256 GB of SSD or up to 1 TB of hard drive.

Moving down in price a bit is the ideapad 300 which is offered in 14, 15.6, or 17.3-inch sizes. The smaller two models are offered with the Pentium N3700 Braswell processor as a base option, or you can choose Intel’s more powerful Core as well. All are available with discrete GPUs, with the Braswell models being available with the GeForce 920M, and the Core models available with the Radeon R5 M330. System memory is up to 8 GB on Braswell, and 16 GB of DDR3L on Core. The display can be up to 1920×1080.

Next up is the ideapad 500 series, which is quite interesting because there will be versions with both AMD’s Carrizo CPU and versions with Intel’s Skylake processors. The AMD based on has a starting price of $100 less. There will be 14-inch and 15.6-inch models available with up to 1920×1080 resolution. The AMD based one can be had with the FX-8800P APU which is the top tier from AMD, and the AMD Radeon R5 M330. It will be available with up to 8 GB of memory, and both SSD and HDD storage options are available. The Intel version can be had with up to Core i7, and the GPU option is the AMD Radeon R7 M360 which has more stream processors than the R5 M330 available with Carrizo on this laptop.

Lenovo is also refreshing their All-in-One lineup with the ideacentre AOI 700 Series. There will be a 24-inch model and 27-inch model and both can be had with up to UHD 3840×2160 resolution. Skylake is available again, along with the NVIDIA GTX 950A GPU. These devices will support Windows Hello, with the Intel RealSense 3D Camera available on this AIO. The AIO also has stereo JBL speakers with a 2 x 3 watt amplifier.

The list just keeps going, and next up is a new tablet from Lenovo. The ideapad MIIX 700 is a 12-inch tablet with a 2160×1440 resolution, which you may notice is the same resolution and aspect ratio as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. The similarities don’t stop there, with the MIIX 700 available with a kickstand and folio case with keyboard dock. It is powered by up to Core i7 as well, and you can get it with 8 GB of LPDDR3 memory and 256 GB SSD. It also features the Intel RealSense 3D camera, and therefore supports facial recognition login with Windows Hello. For those that need to use it on the go, it can be outfitted with optional LTE support.

Finally, Lenovo is offering the Chromebook 100S, which is powered by the Intel Celeron N2840. This is two Silvermont cores, and is on the 22nm process. As is typical with a Chromebook, 16 GB of eMMC is available and up to 2 GB of RAM. Lenovo is claiming up to eight hours of battery life on this $179 Chromebook.

Clearly there has been some pent up designs waiting on the release of both Skylake and Windows 10, and Lenovo has an offering for much of the consumer space with these new models and refreshes. There are a couple of very interesting plays here, like the MIIX 700 tablet which is clearly a play at the Surface Pro 3, with the same screen size and resolution, but a $699 starting price. I’d be very interested in checking out the ideapad 500 with both the Carrizo and Skylake offerings to see how they stack up to each other, so we will have to try and get some for review.

Gallery: Lenovo IFA PC Refresh

Source: Lenovo