Asus G551JM / G551 review – a fair priced 15.6 inch gaming laptop

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Specs Sheet
Design and exterior
Keyboard and trackpad
Screen
Hardware and performance
Noise, heat and speakers
Battery life
Price and availability
Final thoughts
Comments

By Andrei GirbeaAsus G551JM / G551, last updated on November 15, 2016

Asus G551JM / G551

Summary: If you only have about $1300 to spend on a powerful multimedia/gaming computer with modern specs and features, the Asus G551JM should be towards the top of your list. This laptop isn't perfect, but its strong points clearly outweighs its numerous, but less important, flaws.

Our score: 4 / 5
Price when reviewed: $1100 - $1300

THE GOOD

looks nice and feels strong, comfortable keyboard, excellent display, performs properly, solid wi-fi performance, affordable price

THE BAD

annoying coil whine, some design decision, poor performance on battery, short battery life, shows smudges easily, clunky trackpad, gets hot under load

Table of Contents

Asus G551JM video review
The specs sheet for the Asus G551
Design and exterior
Keyboard and trackpad
Screen
Hardware, performance and upgrade options
Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers and others
Battery life
Price and availability
Wrap-up

Hi everyone, Mike here and this is my review of the Asus G551JM laptop.

It’s a 15.6 inch laptop, member of Asus’s ROG line of gaming machines. However, Asus offers a couple of different G551 versions across the world. The one we have here includes an IPS display and Nvidia GTX 860M 4GB graphics, but except for a few configuration options, most models are pretty much the same, so you should read the article even if you’re interested in any of the other variants.

At the time of this review, the G551 series is only available in a few areas around the world. Asus also offers a GL551JM model in the US, identical to the the G551JM, except for two important differences: that one comes with a TN display, this one with an IPS panel, and that one comes with Nvidia GTX 860M 2 GB graphics, while this one includes the Nvidia GTX 860M 4GB solution.

Anyway, go through the detailed article if you’re interested in this laptop and you’ll find how it performs, where it exceeds and where it falls short, or watch the video presentation below.

Asus G551JM video review

The specs sheet for the Asus G551

	Asus G551JM
Screen	15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080 px resolution, IPS, matte
Processor	Intel Haswell Core i7-4710HQ CPU
Chipset	Intel HM87
Video	integrated Intel 4600 HD + Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M 4GB GDDR5
Memory	16 GB DDR3
Storage	256 GB SSD (2.5″ 9.5 mm storage bay)
Connectivity	Wireless N, Bluetooth, Gigabit Lan
Ports	3xUSB 3.0, SD card reader, HDMI, mini-DisplayPort, RJ45, Kensington Lock
Battery	6 Cell 56 Wh 5200 mAh
Operating system	Windows 8.1
Size	383 mm or 15.07 in (L) x 255 mm or 10 in (W) x 31.5 mm or 1.24 in (H)
Weight	about 2.7 kg (5.95 pounds)
Extras	red backlit keyboard, stereo speakers, Blu-Ray combo

Design and exterior

Aesthetically, the G551 is a mix of black and red elements. The hood is covered in a sheet of brushed aluminum, the interior is cast from a single piece of metal, while the underbelly is made from plastic. All these pieces are black, and the metallic parts will show smudges and finger oil extremely easy and will be a big pain to keep clean.

The case is decorated with a few red details sprinkled here and there, like the chamfered edge around the laptop’s interior, the Republic of Gamers engraving on top of the keyboard, the cooling system’s fins, visible through the exhaust grill on the left side, the red bordered WASD keys, and last but not least, the ROG logo on the hood, which is backlit, but not too bright, so it won’t bother you or anyone around, if you’re using the computer in a dim room.

So overall, while it lacks the aggressive lines of the higher-end Asus G series laptops (and their ergonomics, for that matter), the G551 is a fairly nice looking laptop as well. And it’s also sturdy built, but at the same time rather massive and heavy (32 mm thick and weighs 2.7 kilos), which might be a problem for those of you looking for something easy to lug around every day.

These aside though, I mostly enjoyed using the G551. It comes with a spacious trackpad, the two hinges are stiff and can hold the screen in place exactly how you set it up, there’s a removable battery on the back and a quick tray that lets you access the memory and the storage drive, and you also get a fair selection of ports on the sides, with 3 USBs, HDMI and mini-DisplayPort, Ethernet and an optical drive, plus a Kensington Lock that should come in handy at LAN parties or at school.

I’m not a big fan of all the ports crammed towards the front on the left edge, which will lead to a rather cluttered side if you’ll connect many peripherals. And at the same time, the laptop’s tall front lip can get a bit uncomfortable when having it on a desk, but at least it’s not sharp and won’t cut into your wrist. Last but not least, Asus put a few status LEDs on the front lip, just beneath the trackpad, and they are just too bright and annoying when trying to watch a video with the lights turned off.

Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard sits in the middle on this device and I found it mostly comfortable to use. The keys travel deep inside the frame and offer proper feedback. They are also rigid, so will register commands even if you’ll press them in the corners.

At the same time, the layout needs tweaking. The directional keys and the entire NumPad Area is cramped, with rectangular keys that are narrower than the others, and on top of that, the top-right key is actually the power button, which you’ll surely end up pressing by mistake at least a few times and thus put the computer to sleep.

The keyboard is backlit and the Red illumination on black keys looks nice. However, using black keys on a black background is perhaps not the smartest decision (Contrast, Asus!) and means that you’ll have to keep the illumination activated pretty much all the time if you want to distinguish anything on the keys (thus eat through the battery faster).

The trackpad isn’t bad either and it responded accurately to my swipes, taps and gestures. However, performing actual physical clicks is awkward, as the surface is stiff and clunky. But since the G551 is a gaming machine and you’re probably going to use it with a mouse anyway, these particular aspects shouldn’t bother you much.

Screen

Moving on, let’s turn our attention onto the screen. There’s a Samsung made IPS panel on this particular model, with 1920 x 1080 px resolution. And that translates is sharp content, solid contrast, accurate color reproduction and excellent viewing angles.

However, you should know that out of the box, the laptop comes with the Vivid mode pre-checked in Asus’s Splendid Utility, and that will cause colors to look blown out, over-saturated. Make sure you switch to Normal.

The display is matte and lacks touch. It’s also not very bright, just shy of 300 nits, which is adequate for indoor use, but might not be enough for very bright environments. The panel has a cool tint (Blueish) out of the box, so you might want to calibrate it if you’re planning on using this computer for color-dependent work.

Panel HardwareID: Samsung SDC324C;
Coverage: 100% sRGB, 72% NTSC, 77% Adobe RGB;
measured gamma: 2.4 ;
max brightness in the middle of the screen: 299 cd/m2;
contrast at max brightness: 740:1;
white point: 8200 K;
black on max brightness: 0.41 cd/m2;
average DeltaE: 5.59 uncalibrated, 2.22 calibrated .

Hardware, performance and upgrade options

With all these out of the way, let’s see what this laptop can do for you. I have a top-tier G551JM configuration here, with an Intel Core i7-4710HQ processor, 16 GB of RAM, Nvidia GTX 860M graphics with 4 GB of video memory, and last but not least, a 256 GB SSD (fast, but not as fast as the modern PCIe storage solutions).

All these allow the laptop to fly in any basic everyday tasks, but also deal with demanding activities quite well. It can play all sort of video content, including 4K, it can run software like Photoshop or Eclipse and it can handle games.

I’ve tested a few of them and most managed to run smoothly on the default Full HD resolutions with Very High details. Certain titles did require me to drop the details a bit, but that was somewhat expected, as the GTX 860M is not a high-end chip right now. You can find the exact numbers in the following table.

	19 x 10 Medium	19 x 10 Medium on battery	19 x 10 Ultra / Very High
Dirt 3	91 fps	–	44 fps
Grid 2	94 fps	–	47 fps
Tomb Raider	60 fps	–	44 fps
NFS Most Wanted	59 fps	–	35 fps
Bioshock Infinite	71 fps	39 fps	42 fps
Metro Last Light	52 fps	26 fps	30 fps

The good part is I haven’t encountered any stuttering, any lag, not even when playing some of these titles for hours. And that’s because the hardware implementation is not as aggressively thermal limited as the one inside the G771 I reviewed a while ago. In other words, the hardware is allowed to reach higher temperatures. And that has a positive impact on performance. More about that in a sec.

Let’s talk about the stress tests.

stress testing the CPU for 15 minutes with Prime95 results in an average CPU frequency of about 2900 Mhz, with low spikes of 2700 Mhz. The Core temperatures rise to about 90-95 C.
stress testing the GPU for 15 minutes with Furmark results in an average GPU Core Clock frequency of 1100 Mhz, with temperatures of about 70 C.
Stress testing both with Prime and Furmark for 15 minutes causes the CPU to average about 2.5 Mhz, with occasional drops to 800 Mhz (throttling). CPU temperatures reach 94-96 C. The GPU averages a frequency of 1000 Mhz, with occasional dips to 300 Mhz and temperatures of 0ver 80 C.

That translates in some throttling at maximum load, but the CPU’s frequency remains mostly above the nominal rate of 2.5 GHz. On the other hand, throttling is not an issue in daily use, not even when running demanding games and apps.

The performance drops significantly when using the laptop on battery, as both the CPU and GPU run below their nominal frequencies in this case. The pictures below show you the difference between running the same game with the computer plugged in and on battery (BTW, make sure the Nvidia GeForce Experience is not affecting your gaming performance on battery, by default is set to cap everything to 30 fps).

I also ran a few benchmarks on this G551, and here’s how it scored.

3DMark 11: P4964;
3DMark 13: Ice Storm – 98468, Cloud Gate –15672, Sky Driver – 11231, Fire Strike – 3594;
PCMark 08: Home Conventional – 3226;
CineBench 11.5: OpenGL 58.35 fps, CPU 6.94 pts;
CineBench R15: OpenGL 97.35 fps, CPU 638 cb.

All these were performed with Nvidia’s 333.37 driver installed.

You should know that the memory and the storage drive are easily upgradeable on this computer (make sure to disconnect the battery before proceeding). You need to take apart the tray on the belly, hold in place by two standard Philips screws, and you’ll be able to access the two RAM modules (can take an up-to 8 GB DIMM each) and the 2.5 inch bay, able to accommodate 9.5 mm drives. Unlike the G771 though, the G551 no longer boosts a M.2 slot, so you can’t easily create an SSD + HDD combo if you need both the speed and the storage space.

However, there is an mSATA port on this laptop, but it can only take half-size mSATA sticks which are rather slow and expensive. Plus, in order to get to the slot, you’ll have to take apart the laptop’s entire back panel and that’s not as easy as it might sound.

Software wise, the G551 runs Windows 8.1, with a few Asus preinstalled applications, like the Audio Wizard, their Cloud storage app, the Splendid Utility, the McAfeee antivirus, a trial version of Office and a few others. The Audio Wizard might be somewhat useful, as it allows to tweaks the sound coming out of the speakers, but I find all the other pretty much useless.

Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers and others

Ok, so performance wise, this G551 no longer throttles as badly as the G771 did, and that’s because the internals are allowed to run hotter. Inner components reach temperatures of 95 degrees Celsius (the CPU, 80+ for the GPU) under heavy load and you’ll feel the heat on the outside as well, especially when running games for hours and other demanding programs. Check out the images below for details.

*Daily Use – 1080p Youtube video in IE for 30 minutes;
*Load – Prime 95 + Furmark for 30 minutes

There’s a fan inside this laptop, placed towards the top-left side, where you’ll also find the exhaust grill. Hot air is pushed trough it, so you’d better not have anything heat-sensitive nearby when forging this thing. With light use, the cooling system runs quiet. The fan does not switch completely OFF, but you’ll barely hear it at the normal use distance. However, you’ll hear an occasional Coil Whine coming from the laptop’s same top-right corner and I for one found it very annoying. It’s present even when the computer lies idle and it’s more intense if you keep the laptop on the High Performance mode.

Besides that, the device gets fairly loud under load (47 dB at 50 cm), but that was expected and the fan’s noise will be mostly covered by the speakers. Those are placed on top of the keyboard, facing up, and are loud and punchy, but they do lack bass ( and an external subwoofer is not included with this series. If you want it, you’ll have to check out the multimedia version of this laptop, the Asus N551 series). Connecting a pair of proper headphones will fix both the noise and the tiny sound issues and that’s probably what most gamers will do anyway.

Asus put a Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 wireless module on this laptop, which lacks support for AC speeds, but proved a solid performer. It easily maximized my connection near the router and was able to deliver fast-enough download and upload speeds even at 30 feet away with 3 walls in between. So nothing to complain here, unless you really need the faster speeds potentially provided by WiFi AC modules. In which case, you can actually replace the Wi-Fi card with a different one, it’s easily accessible through that same tray on the laptop’s belly that hides the memory and the storage bay. Or you can just use the wired Gigabit Lan connection.

Battery life

Asus only put a 56 Wh 5200 mAh battery on this computer, so there’s no surprise the autonomy is rather poor. Here’s what to expect:

7 Wh (~8 h of use) – idle, Power Saving Mode, screen at 0%, Wi-Fi ON, keyboard’s back-lightning OFF;
11 Wh (~5 h of use) – browsing, Balanced Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON, keyboard’s back-lightning ON;
12 Wh (~4 h 40 min of use) – 1080p video on Youtube in Internet Explorer, Balanced Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON, keyboard’s back-lightning OFF;
15 Wh (~3 h 45 min of use) – 1080p .mkv video on VLC Player, Balanced Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON, keyboard’s back-lightning OFF;
46 Wh (~1 h 10 min of use) – Gaming, High Performance Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON, keyboard’s back-lightning ON.

Setting the screen’s brightness at 40% equals roughly 120 nits, which is imh adequate for indoors use. It’s worth noting that browsing and streaming from Youtube in Chrome eats through the battery significantly faster, that’s why I’m running my tests in IE.

That aside, the battery is easily removable, for those of you that like to take it out when having the computer plugged in. The laptop comes with a 120 W power brick and requires about 2 hours and 15 minutes for a full recharge (10 to 100%).

The removable battery and the 120W power brick

Price and availability

The Asus G551JM already sells for between 1000 and 1300 euro here in Europe, based on configuration.

In the US, Asus offers the GL551JM version and a similar config to the one tested here, but with a TN FHD display and a slightly slower Nvidia GTX 860M 2GB graphics chip, sells for around $1200. See this link for more details and potential discounts.

I can’t say for sure whether the G551JM model will also reach the States, but I will update this section once/if it does.

Wrap-up

Ok, so the wrap this up, is the Asus G551JM worth the 1300 euro Asus asks for the configuration tested here? Well, I’d say yes, mostly because there’s nothing majorly wrong with this computer. It looks alright and it feels well built, it packs a good screen, keyboard and trackpad, and on top of these, it performs well.

I should also mention that the G551JM is not primarily a gaming machine, despite getting the ROG branding. The mid-level Nvidia graphics and even the cooling system are not exactly what you’d expecting from a top gaming rig. As an all-round performer and multimedia laptop, still capable of handling games fairly well when needed, the G551 excels though and that’s what you should expect from it if you decide to get it.

On the other hand, it is nonetheless far from perfect. There are minor aspects to complain about its keyboard, trackpad, ports placement, noise, temperatures and even overall size and weight. But there’s no such thing as the perfect laptop, and with this one, the pros outweigh the issues.

While not without flaws, the G551JM is one of the most interesting 15.6 inch gaming laptops available right now

The G551 is not without rivals though and those include the Asus N551 and Zenbook GX500 models, the Lenovo Y50 or the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro. And then you get the bigger 17 inch machines, like the Asus G771 (a larger version of the unit tested here, which I reviewed a while ago) or the G751 series, but also the much sleeker gaming ultrabooks, including the MSI GS60 Ghost Pro, for instance. Make sure to check them out before deciding what’s best for you.

Anyway, this wraps it up for now, those were my impressions of the Asus G551JM gaming laptop. If you have anything to add or any questions, the comments section below is open and I’m around to reply.

Disclaimer: Our content is reader-supported. If you buy through some of the links on our site, we may earn a commission. Terms.

Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com. I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.

60 Comments

ergterte

December 19, 2014 at 7:26 pm

do you know how to the coil whine? I also found it very annoying

Reply
- ergterte
  
  December 19, 2014 at 7:27 pm
  
  fix*
  
  Reply
Roman

December 21, 2014 at 9:33 am

Hi! Thanks for the cool review.
I want to buy this laptop but I can’t find the model with IPS screen anywhere. Tell me please where can I get the same configuration as you had in your review!

Reply
- NOJ
  
  February 18, 2015 at 1:42 am
  
  To get exact you want got to Asus directly, in Taiwan, will get 2 year factory warranty plus option to purchase an extended 2 year warranty. Cosiderable cost saving on purchase price versus retail in other country, The warranty also covers ware and tear, shipping. I live in Australia my wife is from Taiwan. she only runs either ASUS or ?? sorry forgot other brand. Her last lappy is HP nothing but trouble with major overheating, failed optics drive x 3, ram, cpu and fans. Today we ordered our new lappy with top specs and IPS. With extended warranty AU$1600.00 (AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR).
  
  Reply
oll_40

December 21, 2014 at 4:37 pm

Hi. nice review. I was wondering there are lots of different ram types. Which type of ram did they install to this laptop. Is there a specific ram for it? Like low woltage ones 1.35v or the 1.50v ones. Will PC3 12800 8 gb 204 pin work? Thanks in advence

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  December 23, 2014 at 1:17 pm
  
  Low voltage RAM is usually the main pick for Asus laptops. There’s a HwInfo pic in the hardware section, should show you the exact model number for the memory modules installed
  
  Reply
nanny

December 31, 2014 at 2:58 pm

if anyone has a strange noise when you come your ear to keyboard like “bzzzzzzz” is hearable if you are near to keyboard or touchpad it is normal?

Reply
- sankar
  
  March 2, 2015 at 12:25 am
  
  i do found any fix?
  
  Reply
ashween

January 1, 2015 at 9:14 am

Which laptop do you suggest between this 2, asus g551-jm and MSI ge70-2pe?

Reply
- omid
  
  February 17, 2015 at 9:05 pm
  
  i try both of them and also have g551jm
  this is the best laptop in the world
  better than all othe gaming laptop
  
  Reply
Rick

January 10, 2015 at 10:21 am

Hi there, thx for the awesome review, I think I might just get this laptop but before I do can you help explain to me more about the “Coil Whine” on this device? I’d would really help me out alot thx.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  January 11, 2015 at 5:19 pm
  
  Rick, do a Google search on Coil Whine. It’s a specific kind of sound caused by certain components (usually CPU or GPU) under load. Hard to get in depth in a comment, but there are plenty of articles out there on this topic
  
  Reply
Maria

January 10, 2015 at 7:17 pm

Nice review, almost convinced me to get this laptop if my mind wouldn`t be stuck on the thinkpad w530 ( it`s not available anymore in stores, I`ve only found one for 4000 lei but it`s a lower version, with only hd+ display that probably has only 60% adobergb, quadro k1000m 2Gb graphics, i7-3740QM, up to 32gb ram). I was wondering if you know anything about it, how would it compare to g551jm even if it`s an older laptop. Display seems to be better on the asus wich is very important, the weight is similar, the thinkpad keyboard I love, but I just can`t make a decision.
I will only use it for some 3ds max, autocad, graphic design….a little photo/video editing (not at a professional level), no games at all :D
Thank you.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  January 11, 2015 at 9:14 pm
  
  Well, that Lenovo is old and can’t stand next to the GL551 in terms of performance. However, Lenovo has a W540 (released in 2014) and I’ve heard rumors of a future W550 that should be unveiled sometime this year, with Broadwell hardware.
  
  The W550 will definitely offer a modern screen plus all the known Thinkpad goodies (build quality, keyboard, warranty, post sale services). I’m pretty sure it won’t be cheap though. In fact, it will surely cost a lot more than the GL551.
  
  In other words, the GL551 should do fine for what you need. Not sure if you’ll fully benefit from the graphics though, I’m not up-to-date with 3ds, maya, autocad, etc and don’t know how well they handle these Nvidia chips these days. Maybe you should dig a bit on this matter, cause if these apps don’t put the GPU to work, you could also consider the Asus N551, which is a slightly different and cheaper model, with somewhat poorer graphics.
  
  Reply
  - Maria
    
    January 12, 2015 at 10:02 am
    
    Yes, w550 is coming soon ( youtube.com/watch?v=OHnkmGxCnaQ min. 2:57; actually w550s and w541).
    From what i`ve red they put the gpu to work but the ones in the w series are more adequate for cad work. Anyway, I found yesterday a better version of the w530 ( quadro k2000m and fhd screen with calibrator, but sh with warranty) for less than I can get the asus so I can use the extra money for more ram and an ssd. And a new w540 would be way out of my budget.
    Anyway, thank you for your answer and keep on with the good reviews!
John

February 1, 2015 at 9:18 am

Is anyone able to tell what’s the exact make and model of ram memory on this model G551JM ?

Reply
- oll_40
  
  February 1, 2015 at 3:09 pm
  
  It is SAMSUN 8 GB 2RX8 PC3L-12800-11-13-F3 on my laptop
  
  Reply
  - John
    
    February 2, 2015 at 9:48 am
    
    Thanks mate. I’ll have a look on mine and see if it’s the same. Just want to upgrade to 16GB.
- omid
  
  February 17, 2015 at 9:03 pm
  
  16 gb ddr3 1600
  
  Reply
Nickson

February 15, 2015 at 6:56 pm

What screwdrivers do I need to access 2.5 inch bay and optical disc drive ?
PH00, PH0 or PH1 ?

Reply
omid

February 17, 2015 at 9:02 pm

hello
i have this laptop
i have a problem
my g551jm turns off with out do somthing special (sometimes on gaming mode.sometimes when watching a movie.somtimes when i dont do anyyyy thing)
no shut down
all the power of the laptop goes off in one second
.
heeeeeeeelp

Reply
Nickson

February 18, 2015 at 11:02 am

Andrei Girbea, can you tell me, please, what screwdrivers do you use to disassemble this notebook ?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  February 18, 2015 at 11:27 am
  
  standard Philips screwdriver
  
  Reply
  - Nickson
    
    February 18, 2015 at 1:47 pm
    
    There are four basic sizes of Phillips screwdriver — from #0 to #4 — #0 being the smallest. The most common sizes are #2 and #1.
    What exact size do you mean by saying ‘standard Philips screwdriver’ ?
    Is it #2, #1 or something else ?
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    February 18, 2015 at 6:19 pm
    
    You’re right but I actually don’t have the laptop around anymore and I don’t remember which one was it. It’s the #2, but I’m only 50% sure of that. I have a set with different heads and I just pick the one most appropriate in each situation. Sry I can’t be of more help.
ole

February 26, 2015 at 3:11 pm

I have just bought the asus G551 gaming laptop, but the mic is not really working. I have tried to fix it, but i can’t skype with friends or anything. Do you know how to fix the mic?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  February 26, 2015 at 7:37 pm
  
  Have you tried other apps? Like Sound Recorder in Windows? do they work with that? I haven’t heard of this problem, so you’ll probably have to ask Asus about it
  
  Reply
Ramesh

March 5, 2015 at 1:07 am

Asus G551jm or Acer Aspire v 15 nitro .Which one has better battery life ?
Also please tell overall which one is better for college .

Reply
Cypher

March 11, 2015 at 7:39 am

Hi there. Thanks for a really impressive review.
Just want to ask your opinion: I’m about to buy myself a new laptop, so I’m split between Asus G551JM and Dell Inspiron 15 7537. so which would you suggest? Price is definitely an issue, but I’m willing to spend more if it’s worth it. I’m not much of a gamer (since I own gaming consoles) but I do use my laptop for softwares like Photoshop, Sony Vegas, Solidwork, etc. I’m also looking for a laptop that tends not to slow down (lagging) on long usage or high load.
Your opinion is very much appreciated. Thank you!

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  March 12, 2015 at 12:14 pm
  
  Well, I haven’t tested that Dell, so can’t really comment on it. This Asus has good user reviews and should handle that kind of software well. Also consider which company offers better support and post-sale services (including warranty) in your country, that could be decisive when trying to decide between similar devices.
  
  Reply
isa

March 12, 2015 at 4:40 am

it is too important for us how to calibrate laptop…could you know tell me how you calirate?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  March 12, 2015 at 12:23 pm
  
  I’m using a Spyder4Elite, but other similar colorimeter will work as well.
  
  Reply
isa katirci

March 12, 2015 at 10:18 am

du you know how to calibre this laptop?

Reply
Owen Bagley-Freer

March 16, 2015 at 9:51 pm

Just wondering how the screen size can be 15.6″ and the overall size is 15.06″??

Reply
- Alex
  
  March 27, 2015 at 9:17 pm
  
  15.6″ is the diagonal size while 15.06″ is the length
  
  Reply
isa katirci

March 17, 2015 at 8:29 am

you said that I’m using a Spyder4Elite, but other similar colorimeter will work as well. so then please share your Calibrated Settings….Brightness,Contrast,Preset mode,RGB,luminance (cd/m2),Black Point (cd/m2),Contrast Ratio….

if you share Calibrated Settings , i will buy this laptop immediately in a short time….Lastly the most important thing is that it is flicker free…. youtube.com/watch?v=QMXYfi2lRdA this video explain how to test flicker free…

Reply
owen Bagley-Freer

March 17, 2015 at 9:29 pm

I have this lapotop and can share with you the calibration .ICC profile if you like.
I used an Xrite i1 display Pro. Just remeber that no 2 screens are exactly the same!

If you are to buy this laptop try and get the Maxwell, 4gb version of the GTX860M. there are also 2 gb models and ones based on the older Kepler architecture.

Reply
- isa katırcı
  
  March 18, 2015 at 8:55 am
  
  i cant see anything about the calibration :( where did you share on web site?
  and i will buy laptop with 4gb version of the GTX860M…thanks your comment..
  
  Reply
isa katirci

March 19, 2015 at 8:47 pm

i have just 1 350 $ which is equal to 3500 Turkish Liras….I have been waiting your calibrating setting for two weeks…please help me…i have no time i must to code java dissertation…i wanna particularly to buy this laptop because of good diplay.. :)

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  March 22, 2015 at 8:49 pm
  
  I don’t have those settings, sry.
  
  Reply
Zentteng

March 22, 2015 at 1:32 pm

Im was interested with this model too soon will get one for myself..
But im wondering how can i determine the type of graphic that inside the notebook is Maxwell or Kepler?
Since i read a lot of the article all the information they provided didnt show the type of graphic..

Reply
Owen Bagley-Freer

March 23, 2015 at 7:06 pm

I’m pretty sure that all of the G551 versions on sale now use Maxwell architecture.

I bought one last week and it has GTX 860M 4GB Maxwell.

If you can then run GPU-Z in the store, you want the GPU to be GM 107.

Reply
Joshua

March 24, 2015 at 12:50 am

Hi,
What would you recommend? The G551JM or the G551? Is the G551 better due to the dual fan cooling system?

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Alex

March 27, 2015 at 5:46 am

Hello!
i just got the g551jm and i can’t find drivers for him, any help please!

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Eric

April 15, 2015 at 6:14 pm

How did you remove the optical drive? The screw on the bottom holds the drive in I assume, but I can’t find a way to pull it out. Thanks

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AGUSTIN

June 6, 2015 at 12:41 am

a este laptop se puede instalar un ssd de 512 GB O UN SSD DE 500 gb, agradecere si alguien sabe ????

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SILVA

June 10, 2015 at 3:21 pm

Install a laptop esta UN 512GB SSD OR SSD 500GB can , agradecere if anyone knows ????

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yihtorng

June 21, 2015 at 2:08 am

how your calibrated the display for G551jm to make it better ? from intel hd software ??

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  June 22, 2015 at 8:32 pm
  
  I’m using a Spyder 4 Elite
  
  Reply
  - yihtorng
    
    June 23, 2015 at 12:24 am
    
    appreciate if you could provide your icc profile
    by the way the g551jm u calibrate is TN panel ?
Ilse

July 22, 2015 at 11:51 am

Hi!
First and foremost, thank you for the review.

I’m actually looking for a new laptop that needs to perform both at gaming and the full Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Premiere Pro etc..).
I was thinking about either this laptop or the Lenovo y50 or the Acer v15 Nitro. But I’m a bit bothered by the missing optical drive on the latter two models.

Is there any reccomendation you would make between these 3 for the use of photo and video editing?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  July 22, 2015 at 1:15 pm
  
  Hardware wise they are mostly similar. The Acer is available in several options, but I’d reckon you’re looking at the Black edition with the quad-core CPU.
  
  Anyway, if you plan to use them for photo/video editing, I’d be careful about the Lenovo. Most models come with pretty poor TN panels and you’ll need a great screen for accurate color work.
  
  That leaves you with the Acer and the Asus and both have their pros and cons. You’d have to balance them yourself and decide which one is better suited for what you need.
  
  PS: don’t worry much about the lack of an optical drive. You can find USB ones for under $50 and without such an unit, manufacturers are able to create slimmer and lighter bodies, or squeeze larger batteries inside. I’d say that’s a win.
  
  Reply
vinz

August 8, 2015 at 3:45 am

if you have to choose between this product, the Asus ROG G551JM-DM052H and Lenovo Y50-70-8993, which one will you choose? and why?

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Shahbaz

August 20, 2015 at 2:35 am

Hello there , i am thinking of buying this particular model, here in Qatar, we are getting Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M (4 GB) graphics pre-installed in the laptop along with 12gb RAM, would this be enough for gaming?
you views plz
Thank you

Asus ROG G551JW, Laptop, Intel Core i7-4720HQ, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M (4 GB), 12 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 1 TB HDD, 15.6″, Windows 8.1

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  August 20, 2015 at 7:25 am
  
  If you want the latest titles on the Highest details, you shoudl AIM for Nbvidia 970M graphics or higher. If you’re willing to trim down the details here and there, this should do.
  
  Reply
baldeep

November 16, 2015 at 11:12 am

mm totally confused i have planned to buy a new laptop would u recommend me a laptop between asus 551 and asus 771

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Evan

November 20, 2015 at 6:44 pm

Hey, about the MSATA MINI drive mentioned. How difficult is it to remove the back plate? I know this voids the warranty, as i read somewhere else online. Also is there a MAX capacity that it can be?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  November 20, 2015 at 8:29 pm
  
  Hi Even. Unfortunately I can’t remember, it’s been too long since I reviewed this product. I suggest you head over to the forums on notebookreview.com and try to find an Owner’s Thread for this laptop, then ask these questions there. You should get help. Sry I can’t do more for you.
  
  BTW< taking the entire back panel apart shouldn't be very hard, just make sure you take care of all the screws. If you're careful and don't break any plastic pins, this should not void warranty. Still, I'm not entirely sure you can use the mSATA slot as a boot drive, if that's what you intend. It's mostly used for a small caching SSD with most configurations, but on some laptops the UEFI allows it to be bootable.
  
  Reply
Vei

December 1, 2015 at 4:59 am

I have never ending problems with this rog laptop. Too much problems to even list it down here

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Costa

February 9, 2016 at 7:00 pm

How did you get that temps on that review my gl551jm same cpu 16gb ram and 860m 4gb bios 204 start throttle around 84ºC

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Asus G551JM / G551 review – a fair priced 15.6 inch gaming laptop

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