ASUS G Series 15.6" Intel Core i7-720QM 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit G51JX-X1

Pros: 1920x1080 screen in a <16" footprint + i7 + GTS360 video card all in one laptop = instant winner. High powered, portable, and Asus quality to boot.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Contrary to the other review posted, I immediately opened mine after reading on another forum that Asus may have changed the memory mid-manufacturing. While the specs may say it is DDR3 1066 ram, I opened mine to find a pair of Kingston 2gb DDR3 1333 chips inside.

Obvious flaw in the usual bloatware installed, but nothing a wipe, repartition and reload of Win7 can't fix. For the money, I'm not sure there's a better laptop out there.

Pros: i7 processor, +1; 1920x1080, +1; DDR3 1333 upgrade, +1; 4GB RAM +1; lighted keyboard, +1; eSATA, +1; 500GB 7200RPM drive, +1; NVIDIA GTS360M GPU, +2

Cons: USB ports at the front instead of the rear of the sides, -1; no Blu-ray for the price, -1; White bleed on the display is the worst I've ever seen on a laptop, -2; EFI hosed by a restore (see other thoughts), -2.

Overall Review: My first ASUS laptop was a M70XA-X2 (bought from NewEgg), and it was the most perfect laptop I've ever had. So, I had high hopes for this second ASUS, but I was rather disappointed.

The white bleed on the display equates to difficult viewing angles while you're using it. I never experienced this with the M70, being comfortably viewable from any angle.

I was in the process of getting used to the machine, and my review may have been better had it not been for what appears to be a bad implementation of the machine's EFI. After backing up the system using Acronis 2010, I needed to restore that backup one day. After the restore, my machine will no longer power off or sleep. You have to hold the power key for 4 seconds to shut it down after Windows itself has shutdown. A Google search shows that this is a common problem, that ASUS knows about it, and doesn't appear to be in a hurry to address it.

For the price, I cannot recommend this machine.