ASUS GX700 Water-cooled Laptop

[My Life Is Tech]

Okay seriously? This is ridiculous and can not be considered a laptop. And for the price it'll be, you're much better off building a desktop. First off, liquid in a laptop is a terrible idea, as it is generally moved much more frequently than a desktop, and the dock is always losing coolant every time it's plugged/unplugged, and it has to be sent to ASUS to refill it....

NO! I absolutely refuse to send a watercooler back to the manufacturer to have them refill it. I won't ever be getting this computer, but if someone does, could you please tell me if you have tried to crack into the watercooler to see if it can be refilled? And even if I were to consider it, I would be cracking that thing open and finding some coolant that works.

Also I forgot to mention, the water not being flushed out of the laptop when undocked.... bad idea. And if it's put into storage for years, guess what? Rust! Yay! Everyone should go out and buy this as soon as it's available! Cheers!


P.S. Also in the 752 and the "thermal chamber" heatsinks. Wouldn't the coolant in the chamber evaporate or go bad within several years? e.g. 5+ years. I keep my PCs a long time. My G73JH is 5 years old and still going strong.

 

[boarder2k7]

It seems like a pretty cool idea to me. According to PC world's video here http/www.pcworld.com/article/2991413/computers/asus-gx700-deep-dive-heres-whats-inside-the-worlds-first-water-cooled-gaming-laptop.html the connections don't leak much if at all when unplugged.

It is definitely refillable if you want to crack it open and do it yourself, Asus themselves have to fill it somehow. It'll just void any warranty you have on the thing.

As for the water causing any rust issues, well it's fairly difficult to rust a system that doesn't have any steel or iron in it so I don't think that will be a problem either.

If they use a good biocide in the coolant, I don't think they'll have any issue with longevity of the system. I'd just use BMW antifreeze myself, its good for a multi-metal system, has biocides and anti-corrosive agents in it, and its a cool blue color!!

Also the video I linked makes me miss my Asus G2s so much! You can see one in the background peeking out from behind his arm.

 

[My Life Is Tech]

Hmm, seems alright if it can be refilled, and so long as it can run at full throttle without the dock and overclocking then that's pretty nice. I generally don't overclock as I prefer longevity of the system rather than pushing it past its limits.

According to them they couldn't get any coolant to leak, however they did state that Asus themselves said that they expect it to need maintenance at some point. While it may not leak, water obviously evaporates, which is why I'm also concerned about the thermal chambers in the 752, and somehow refilling those, unless it would run alright without the liquid.

And finding replacement parts for when the cooler fails might be difficult until the unit really gets up in age.

Another thing that bothers me though is how they say that Asus is using some sort of proprietary thermal interface to mount the water pipes to the heatsink. I'd need to know if I could easily replace the thermal interface. Like is it thermal paste, pads, or something else entirely?

P.S. That G2S looks pretty neat, and about 8 years old by this point isn't it? Man, wonder how it runs compared to modern mid-range PCs. A lot of my machines are 9+ years old. I just like old technology.

EDIT
At about 1:12 onward in the video, he says like I mentioned, that there is a possibility for a small leakage, but Asus says it shouldn't need service "for a few years." Well, "in a few years," I wouldn't be sending it to Asus, I'm more of a DIY type person.

 

[g-unit1111]

I accidentally hit the "closed button" by mistake. I saw this the other day and it's quite possibly one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen aside from MSI's attempt to put desktop graphics on a laptop which requires a dock that huge and its' own power supply.

The thing is that you can't put liquid cooling on a laptop and overclock it and expect that it's going to reach the same plateau of performance as a desktop. That will never happen. Even the highest high end laptop CPU is still a laptop CPU. You can put a 3930K on it as Sager / Clevo have tried, or you can put a 5960X on it like Falcon Northwest did on theirs. Does that mean it's viable? No. On a laptop and a small form factor one at that, you trade power for portability. Or you trade portability for battery life. You can't have one without the other, and putting crazy contraptions on them to make them mimic desktop functions can't be done, and will be far prone to failure. This is quite possibly one of the most absurd things I've ever seen and I remember back in the 90s when some company tried to make a PC case that was literally a refridgerator. :lol:

 

[jimmysmitty]

Okay seriously? This is ridiculous and can not be considered a laptop. And for the price it'll be, you're much better off building a desktop. First off, liquid in a laptop is a terrible idea, as it is generally moved much more frequently than a desktop, and the dock is always losing coolant every time it's plugged/unplugged, and it has to be sent to ASUS to refill it....

NO! I absolutely refuse to send a watercooler back to the manufacturer to have them refill it. I won't ever be getting this computer, but if someone does, could you please tell me if you have tried to crack into the watercooler to see if it can be refilled? And even if I were to consider it, I would be cracking that thing open and finding some coolant that works.

Also I forgot to mention, the water not being flushed out of the laptop when undocked.... bad idea. And if it's put into storage for years, guess what? Rust! Yay! Everyone should go out and buy this as soon as it's available! Cheers!


P.S. Also in the 752 and the "thermal chamber" heatsinks. Wouldn't the coolant in the chamber evaporate or go bad within several years? e.g. 5+ years. I keep my PCs a long time. My G73JH is 5 years old and still going strong.

While I would never buy a laptop, you do realize that they do R&D and test these things? Plus the people who will buy it tend to have tons of money and don't care, much like the people who instead of building a PC over pay for a prebuilt one.

 

[My Life Is Tech]

While I would never buy a laptop, you do realize that they do R&D and test these things? Plus the people who will buy it tend to have tons of money and don't care, much like the people who instead of building a PC over pay for a prebuilt one.

Yeah, I know, still doesn't mean I don't want to try to get around their proprietary crap and refill/repair these machines myself. It makes for a nice challenge, but I really wish companies would just loosen up and give more people options to make DIY repairs. And extended warranty? Why do I care to spend $100 more for another year of crappy repair service when I could fix the problem myself. It's cheaper that way given that you know what you're doing.

If I had to go for one of the latest ROG lines, I might go for one of the 752 models, however I'd need more information on the thermal chambers, possible evaporation, and refilling the chambers first. Otherwise, the old 751. Or, better yet, build a desktop.

 

[My Life Is Tech]

I accidentally hit the "closed button" by mistake. I saw this the other day and it's quite possibly one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen aside from MSI's attempt to put desktop graphics on a laptop which requires a dock that huge and its' own power supply.

The thing is that you can't put liquid cooling on a laptop and overclock it and expect that it's going to reach the same plateau of performance as a desktop. That will never happen. Even the highest high end laptop CPU is still a laptop CPU. You can put a 3930K on it as Sager / Clevo have tried, or you can put a 5960X on it like Falcon Northwest did on theirs. Does that mean it's viable? No. On a laptop and a small form factor one at that, you trade power for portability. Or you trade portability for battery life. You can't have one without the other, and putting crazy contraptions on them to make them mimic desktop functions can't be done, and will be far prone to failure. This is quite possibly one of the most absurd things I've ever seen and I remember back in the 90s when some company tried to make a PC case that was literally a refridgerator. :lol:

I agree, laptops will never match the performance of a high-end desktop unless some revolutionary technology comes out for mobile PCs, however by that time they'll probably be able to implement that into the desktop and still the desktop will be more powerful.

And I tell you what. All these people complaining about battery life these days because their laptops don't last for 4-6 hours. Boo hoo. Try living back when laptops were something new and you barely got an hour of battery, maybe an hour and fifteen if you're lucky. People are just spoiled by new technology these days.

 

[g-unit1111]

I agree, laptops will never match the performance of a high-end desktop unless some revolutionary technology comes out for mobile PCs, however by that time they'll probably be able to implement that into the desktop and still the desktop will be more powerful.

And I tell you what. All these people complaining about battery life these days because their laptops don't last for 4-6 hours. Boo hoo. Try living back when laptops were something new and you barely got an hour of battery, maybe an hour and fifteen if you're lucky. People are just spoiled by new technology these days.

Yeah that's one thing where I'd really be tempted to post the Weird Al "First World Problems" song. :lol:

My Lenovo right now I've gone through about three different batteries since I've owned it and I'm getting ready to replace it with an MSI GS60 relatively soon. If I'm paying that much for a laptop, it had better be portable and have all the latest features on them. I don't want to pay $5K for a laptop the size of a small car with a desktop processor that only gets 56 minutes of battery life. No way! :lol:

But the thing is some of this stuff is getting really ridiculous. Sager tried putting high end CPUs in their laptops, MSI has that crazy $2500 one with a mechanical keyboard and the external GPU dock, liquid cooling on laptops, madness. Here's the thing - let laptops be laptops! They're made to run on a battery! You'll never get the same performance as you would on a desktop! So what? I'm OK with that.

 

[jimmysmitty]

While I would never buy a laptop, you do realize that they do R&D and test these things? Plus the people who will buy it tend to have tons of money and don't care, much like the people who instead of building a PC over pay for a prebuilt one.

Yeah, I know, still doesn't mean I don't want to try to get around their proprietary crap and refill/repair these machines myself. It makes for a nice challenge, but I really wish companies would just loosen up and give more people options to make DIY repairs. And extended warranty? Why do I care to spend $100 more for another year of crappy repair service when I could fix the problem myself. It's cheaper that way given that you know what you're doing.

If I had to go for one of the latest ROG lines, I might go for one of the 752 models, however I'd need more information on the thermal chambers, possible evaporation, and refilling the chambers first. Otherwise, the old 751. Or, better yet, build a desktop.

I would assume that any refill would be done via the dock, the dock itself has a reservoir, radiator and pump to allow for better cooling. As for the chambers, I would assume they are much like the heatpipes and vapor chambers on a GPU, and when it is undocked they are sealed as to prevent the chambers from leaking. This is all just speculation.

As for repairs and such, you have to remember any company will protect itself. If you try to repair something without knowledge and cause more damage they can't be held liable. That is why I always suggest using the warranty until it is done. And Asus tends to have a pretty good laptop warranty. They almost all include a 1 year accidental damage warranty.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

The thing is that you can't put liquid cooling on a laptop and overclock it and expect that it's going to reach the same plateau of performance as a desktop. That will never happen. Even the highest high end laptop CPU is still a laptop CPU.

Remember that the high-end laptop chips are the same die as desktop i7s, just underclocked and in a different package. Heat dissipation is probably going to be easier because there's no IHS, the only difficulty is getting VRMs and actually getting the power into it. Reaching the clocks shouldn't be an issue.

GPU is a different matter. You might need to do something like put a desktop GPU chip on there and put all the auxiliaries on there instead of a separate add-in board.

 

[g-unit1111]

The thing is that you can't put liquid cooling on a laptop and overclock it and expect that it's going to reach the same plateau of performance as a desktop. That will never happen. Even the highest high end laptop CPU is still a laptop CPU.

Remember that the high-end laptop chips are the same die as desktop i7s, just underclocked and in a different package. Heat dissipation is probably going to be easier because there's no IHS, the only difficulty is getting VRMs and actually getting the power into it. Reaching the clocks shouldn't be an issue.

GPU is a different matter. You might need to do something like put a desktop GPU chip on there and put all the auxiliaries on there instead of a separate add-in board.

But could you overclock a laptop without frying it in the process? I would think messing with the voltage levels on something that's supposed to run on a battery could potentially be catastrophic. I guess you could have two different profiles - one on electric, one on battery. That might work. But the key word is "might".

 

[My Life Is Tech]

I would assume that any refill would be done via the dock, the dock itself has a reservoir, radiator and pump to allow for better cooling. As for the chambers, I would assume they are much like the heatpipes and vapor chambers on a GPU, and when it is undocked they are sealed as to prevent the chambers from leaking. This is all just speculation.

As for repairs and such, you have to remember any company will protect itself. If you try to repair something without knowledge and cause more damage they can't be held liable. That is why I always suggest using the warranty until it is done. And Asus tends to have a pretty good laptop warranty. They almost all include a 1 year accidental damage warranty.

I was referring to the "3D Vapor Chambers" in the new G752 which does not have a dock. And I would assume the liquid is in the pipes/heatsinks themselves. Therefore, might be a bit difficult to refill.

Yeah warranty can be good for the length that it's free, but I wouldn't be paying for a longer warranty when I'll more than likely repair it myself. I guess the way I see it most of the time, is if I can't fix it myself, there's no sense in owning it and having to rely on the company to support it until they decide it's obsolete and won't repair it. I repair laptops and desktops often, I've even built a vintage desktop for older games.

Yeah that's one thing where I'd really be tempted to post the Weird Al "First World Problems" song. :lol:

My Lenovo right now I've gone through about three different batteries since I've owned it and I'm getting ready to replace it with an MSI GS60 relatively soon. If I'm paying that much for a laptop, it had better be portable and have all the latest features on them. I don't want to pay $5K for a laptop the size of a small car with a desktop processor that only gets 56 minutes of battery life. No way! :lol:

But the thing is some of this stuff is getting really ridiculous. Sager tried putting high end CPUs in their laptops, MSI has that crazy $2500 one with a mechanical keyboard and the external GPU dock, liquid cooling on laptops, madness. Here's the thing - let laptops be laptops! They're made to run on a battery! You'll never get the same performance as you would on a desktop! So what? I'm OK with that.

My G73JH is actually still my primary PC, it gets about an hour of battery life, maybe an extra 5-10 minutes if you're lucky, and depending on the task.

 

[jimmysmitty]

I would assume that any refill would be done via the dock, the dock itself has a reservoir, radiator and pump to allow for better cooling. As for the chambers, I would assume they are much like the heatpipes and vapor chambers on a GPU, and when it is undocked they are sealed as to prevent the chambers from leaking. This is all just speculation.

As for repairs and such, you have to remember any company will protect itself. If you try to repair something without knowledge and cause more damage they can't be held liable. That is why I always suggest using the warranty until it is done. And Asus tends to have a pretty good laptop warranty. They almost all include a 1 year accidental damage warranty.

I was referring to the "3D Vapor Chambers" in the new G752 which does not have a dock. And I would assume the liquid is in the pipes/heatsinks themselves. Therefore, might be a bit difficult to refill.

Yeah warranty can be good for the length that it's free, but I wouldn't be paying for a longer warranty when I'll more than likely repair it myself. I guess the way I see it most of the time, is if I can't fix it myself, there's no sense in owning it and having to rely on the company to support it until they decide it's obsolete and won't repair it. I repair laptops and desktops often, I've even built a vintage desktop for older games.

Yeah that's one thing where I'd really be tempted to post the Weird Al "First World Problems" song. :lol:

My Lenovo right now I've gone through about three different batteries since I've owned it and I'm getting ready to replace it with an MSI GS60 relatively soon. If I'm paying that much for a laptop, it had better be portable and have all the latest features on them. I don't want to pay $5K for a laptop the size of a small car with a desktop processor that only gets 56 minutes of battery life. No way! :lol:

But the thing is some of this stuff is getting really ridiculous. Sager tried putting high end CPUs in their laptops, MSI has that crazy $2500 one with a mechanical keyboard and the external GPU dock, liquid cooling on laptops, madness. Here's the thing - let laptops be laptops! They're made to run on a battery! You'll never get the same performance as you would on a desktop! So what? I'm OK with that.

My G73JH is actually still my primary PC, it gets about an hour of battery life, maybe an extra 5-10 minutes if you're lucky, and depending on the task.

Pretty much any desktop GPU and decent CPU cooler also use heatpipes which have liquid in them and are permanently sealed. I would highly doubt the liquid could escape in any form and they normally do not need refilling. I have a almost 5 year old GPU that has them and still cools as well as it did new.

 

[My Life Is Tech]

Pretty much any desktop GPU and decent CPU cooler also use heatpipes which have liquid in them and are permanently sealed. I would highly doubt the liquid could escape in any form and they normally do not need refilling. I have a almost 5 year old GPU that has them and still cools as well as it did new.

Thanks for the responses, yeah I just wanted to be more certain. I would typically go for a high-end PC that will last for many years on end, (5+) sure it would still require maintenance once in a while, but at least it would last. (Hopefully.) They used to make them like tanks, but these days you have so many cheap plastic pieces of crap that need to be replaced yearly....

 

[Someone Somewhere]

But could you overclock a laptop without frying it in the process? I would think messing with the voltage levels on something that's supposed to run on a battery could potentially be catastrophic. I guess you could have two different profiles - one on electric, one on battery. That might work. But the key word is "might".

You'd definitely need different profile, but I'd expect it to be for thermal reasons not power.

The battery will be able to provide the extra power for a short time, but also not long term without overheating. VRMs would need to be overspecced, but they have to be anyway.