ASUS Republic of Gamers GL752V Laptop Review: 17-inch mobile gaming powerhouse

ASUS Republic of Gamers GL752V Laptop First Impressions

[Editor’s note: this model has been replaced in 2017 by the GL753 which has an improved processor and numerous other enhancements!]

I recently reviewed the 15-inch ASUS ROG GL552VW gaming laptop. While that was a nice machine, the ROG GL752V makes an even more impressive “bang for the buck” statement.

It looks very much like the GL552VW, but it’s bigger. Impressively big. As in “my 13-inch laptop looks like a wee netbook” in comparison big. It has many of the same design cues, including the red painted cooling grills, glowing red ROG logo on the lid and that fantastically red backlit keyboard. It also has an easy access panel if you feel the urge to upgrade the RAM or storage.

But you won’t have to—at least not for a while—because once the you fire up the ROG GL752V, some of the other differences from its smaller sibling quickly become apparent. In particular, booting up is much faster because my tester was equipped with a 128GB SSD/ 1TB 72000 RPM drive combo. That’s a nice combination of ultra-fast access for system-level functions, plus mass storage at top hard drive speeds. If the model you pick lacks the SSD, there’s an easy access panel so you can pop one in. There’s also a full 16GB of DDR4 RAM installed, so the 6th generation quad-core Intel Core-i7 CPU has plenty to work with.

I really liked the fact that the 17.3-inch Full HD display has a matte finish—which significantly reduces glare—but also offers a very wide, 178-degree viewing angle. It looks great even if you aren’t able to sit directly in front of it.

Perhaps best of all, you get this very complete mobile gaming package at a very resonable price.

An Ultimate Gaming on the Go Machine

If you are crazy about PC gaming and you need a fix on the go, the ASUS Republic of Gamers GL752V has everything you need to frag your enemies no matter where you set up—a friend’s house, your dorm room, or even a coffee shop.

With the ROG GL752V you have a big, Full HD resolution with an anti-reflective coating and extra wide viewing angles. So even if you don’t have the perfect viewing location, you still have an excellent view of the action onscreen. You have a full-sized, responsive and backlit keyboard that’s optimized for gaming. There’s plenty of power on tap—both CPU and graphical—and you get the fastest possible network connection, whether that’s plugging in to a LAN or going wireless with Wi-Fi. And if you need to get up and take a break, the laptop is equipped with a Kensington lock, so you can secure it to a table.

There’s even a USB-C port for the next generation of ultr-fast peripherals and accessories.

You might want to bring a set of headphones, though …

Mobile Professionals, Too

The thing about this gaming laptop is that its specs make it a very attractive option for professionals who need a high-powered laptop with a big display.

If you’re happy with a 15-inch display, there are plenty of choices, but when you move up to a 17-inch display the pickings get slimmer. Frankly, it can be tough to find a 17-inch laptop that offers a high performance CPU, a Full HD display and a discrete graphics card—the kind of combination that professionals who crunch a lot of numbers, edit photos or videos, or deal with 3D rendering are looking for.

The ASUS Republic of Gamers GL752V actually does a good job of filling this niche. It also has the full array of ports to support peripherals and accessories and the backlit keyboard is excellent for accurate typing in low light situations. The primary downside is its weight and battery life, but the reality is there is no such thing as an ultra-light 17-inch performance laptop and I don’t know of anything this size that offers standout battery life …

So long as you don’t expect to go more than three or four hours without being able to plug in to a power outlet, the ROG GL752V would be able to take on anything a high-demand PC user would throw at it, even if it does seem like a shame somehow to be running Excel on a cool laptop like this one.

Who is the ASUS Republic of Gamers GL752V Laptop Aimed At?

On the surface, this one’s easy: gamers. From the big display to the GeForce GTX 960M graphics card to the optical drive and the gaming-optimized keyboard, this laptop has PC gamers firmly in its sights. If you’re a gamer and you want a mobile rig that lets you play without having to squint at a small screen or with all your settings dialled down to the lowest level, put the ROG GL752V on your list.

As I mentioned, it also has the specs to take on the PC needs of many professional and is well worth considering if you want a big, powerful laptop.

Naturally, students would be a big target demographic. This is a group that has many PC gamers in its midst, but in many cases would also benefit from having a laptop capable of running even the most demanding software needed for their courses. It also makes for a pretty sweet multimedia playback system, so the ASUS Republic of Gamers GL752V truly could be the ultimate all-in-one student computing solution.

[Editor’s note: this model has been replaced in 2017 by the GL753 which has an improved processor and numerous other enhancements!]