Asus G46 and Steam Sales

Asus G46 Laptop


I've been wanting a laptop for some time to play some older and indie games plus Phase Shift which is a Rockband like game on the PC that I will hook up to my drums. I've tried to play Planescape Torment a couple of times now but the PC hooked up to my TV isn't the best for this situation since there is a half a million lines of text and a small interface plus reading on a TV is not comfortable. I had an older MacBook Pro that I put windows 7 on awhile back but for some reason I couldn't get the fans to come on so the laptop got extremely hot, also I had problems with the battery so I started looking for a new laptop.

I spent a lot of time looking at different machines and all of them had Windows 8. I have it on one of my PC's and I'm getting used to it, it is really made for a touch screen though. Most of the new PC's use integrated graphics and for most indie games that would work fine but just to future proof a little I wanted one with a dedicated graphics card.

I first settled on an Samsung laptop that was around $380, it had an AMD A8 Processor and a Radeon 7000 series. I wasn't sure about the AMD processor, but at that price range is was the only laptop that had an integrated graphics processor and it was rated as decent for playing games. The laptop was pretty good, it weighed around 5lbs so not too heavy and I liked the way the keyboard and track pad felt. It did play almost all of the indie games I threw at it, I did notice a little chugging on CubeWorld and heavily 3D games I had to turn down the settings to low. The other downside was the screen, you had to be just about center to get a good picture and I didn't like that.

I then tried an Asus that had the new haswell processor, a touchscreen, Geforce 745M, and from the reviews an outstanding screen. I picked up that laptop and got it home and sure enough the screen was outstanding, it was clear and had great colors, and it was glossy. If you aren't aware glossy screens look great but they also have a ton of glare. If there is any light in the room you will more than likely see your reflection in the screen especially when the screen goes black. I really did like the colors it produced, but the reflections really annoyed me plus I read they do cause eye fatigue. The touchscreen was nice and did make moving around Windows much easier but then again you had to worry about fingerprints. The game performance was good but not too much better than the previouse laptop which was disappointing.

I had really wanted the Asus G46 as it was classified as a gaming machine and it was on sale, but every time I checked it said it wasn't available in the store. I finally called the store in Benton and they had one so I went an picked it up. They had the new G75 in stock which is a real powerhouse and I was a little tempted until I saw the weight, 9 pounds, that really isn't a laptop at that weight. I got the G46 home and I liked everything about it. The design was smooth and professional looking and the matte screen looked great. The game performance was outstanding, I was able to play Crysis 2 and Fallout New Vegas at high settings at 720P which is the screen's default resolution, so it should be able to handle older and indie games. It has two fans on the back that dissipate heat well. On the other laptops you could hear the fans on every game you played, graphic intensive or not, but on this one I could barely hear it at all on any game. I was really impressed with the performance and do recommend this laptop if you are looking for a gaming laptop at a reasonable price.

Steam Haul - I thought there wasn't much for me to buy but luckily I was wrong.

Full Games
Afterfall InSanity Extended Edition
Cart Life
Caster
Castle Crashers
Critical Mass
Duke Nukem 3D
Everyday Shooter
Expeditions: Conquistador
Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes
Kairo
Kentucky Route Zero
Lone Survivor
Lunar Pack
McPixel
Retro/Grade
Shadow Warrior Classic Redux
Shadowrun Returns
Strike Suit Infinity
The Book of Unwritten Tales: The Critter Chronicles Standard Edition
The Walking Dead: 400 Days
Thomas Was Alone
Toki Tori 2+
Trackmania Canyon
Trials Evolution Gold
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution

DLC
Borderlands 2 Psycho Pack
Borderlands 2: Assassin Madness Pack
Castle Crashers Blacksmith
Castle Crashers Pink Knight
Dishonored - The Knife Of Dunwall DLC
Sleeping Dogs - The Year of the Snake
Sleeping Dogs - Zodiac Tournament

New Releases

PC
Citadels (download)
Expander (download - $2.49)
Shadowrun Returns (download - $19.99)
Teleglitch: Die More Edition (download - $12.99)
The Raven - Legacy of a Master Thief (download - $24.99)

Xbox 360
Mars: War Logs (XBLA - $15)
The Smurfs 2
Vintage Hero (XBLIG - $1)

PlayStation 3
Do Not Fall (PSN - $10)
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (PSN - $20)
Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark (PSN - $10)
The Smurfs 2
Zeno Clash II (PSN)

Wii U
Kid Icarus (Virtual Console - $5)
The Smurfs 2

Wii
The Smurfs 2

Vita
Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark (PSN - $10)

Nintendo 3DS
Picross E2 (eShop - $6)

Nintendo DS
The Smurfs 2