Just bought ASUS g74

Got an ASUS from newegg for black friday.
Newegg.com - ASUS G74 Series G74SX-XN1 Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 17.3" 12GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (Wanted the XC1 but sold out when it was in my shopping cart!!)
What do I need/should add?

Already have:
Mouse (MX518)
Mousepad (steelseries 4hd)
Earphones (Ultimate Ears Triple Fi)
Swiss Gear Pegasus backpack
Samsung 830 SSD

Looking for:
-notebook cooling pad, (a few great ones for this laptop)
-spare battery
-wifi network card (6230, 6300, or bigfoot? does it matter?
-matte screen protector
-small but great carrying case ?
-do i need any sort of cover for laptop?
-anything you think i'd need

removed: matte screen, thermal compound.

 

Honestly the only thing you "need" on that list is a carrying case, but if you have a backpack do you really even need a case?

I would stress test the GPU with furmark before investing in a cooling pad or ICD compound (it is the best, but the GPU on the G73 was hard to get to, if the 74 is similar, why do the work unless you have a temperature problem). As long as your furmark temp after 5 minutes is less than 90C you are good to go. You can repaste if you want to, but anything less than 90C is acceptable in my opinion. A cooling pad is also a waste unless your laptop gets hot.

Spare battery is if you need it, I don't, but you may.

WiFi card can be worth it. I have a Bigfoot 1102 I got from eBay for $45. The only real advantage of a 6230/6300/bigfoot over stock wifi is the use of 5ghz. Otherwise stock is mostly fine.

Matte screen, this would be a hard upgrade, may void your warranty, and would be of little resale value. I would just add a matte screen protector if it really bugs you.

Case, any 18" laptop case should do. I use this, it is simple but does the job. Anything by Everki is good. The Alienware Orion 17" is an ok case. Just make sure the reviews prove a large gaming laptop will fit.

Honestly already have all the good stuff, mouse, pad, headphones, SSD, etc.

Congrats on your new toy.

 

Thanks. I want a carrying case for the times when I don't need a backpack. I travel a lot and I realized I will most likely need one.

Per your recommendations I've decided not to bother with a thermal compound. The notebook cooler is just a precaution.

Changed request from matte to matte screen protector. How does it affect image quality, and how do they travel? I can't stand glare as I travel a lot and need to see the screen when working (which is also why I need a spare battery for extended trips)

 

Thanks for the questions...I have a lot of them for the yesterday-new g74- xc1 that I'm typing this reply on

You musta waited quite a bit...I saw it in NE's BF list Thurs-Sat and it still hadn't been labeled "SOLD OUT" (I ordered mine Friday noonish).

I'm not a huge gamer, but I seriously doubt you'll need the cooling pad; every pro/consumer review I've read mentions how this runs super-cool, even under severe stress. I'm with you in wanting a spare battery...are there any good aftermarket ones we can trust?

Again, my use (not much online/MMG, but I'll be getting more into games, like Arkham City when they fix the bugs), the wireless card is fine. Screen is shiny, and I wouldn't mind hearing how you/others like a matte overlay, but I'm worried that would make movies look fuzzy, be difficult to attach without a few bubbles (it's SOOO big) and/or scratch super easy. For me, I just tilt the screen to eliminate direct glare.

But I'm most interested in the carrying bag. I want it big enough for the AC brick, mouse phones & maybe a few files, but not a big honkin' backpack (which it sounds like you already have).

 

I had to make sure it was ok with my insurance (which was covering a part of it) and I had it in stock late sunday night and i put it in my cart and then it sold out. And then it went back in stock next day but 50 dollars more and i called customer service to see why and they said they would not lower price and i wanted to go home to buy it but sold out again. and then on tuesday apparently they went back in stock for 50 dollars less again before selling out. =(

I think my highest priorities are spare battery and wifi card. if i use wifi on university i feel download speeds would benefit greatly =)

 

Unless your university has an absurdly fast connection, your download speeds won't change. Usually the bottleneck is the incoming connection, not the LAN.

 

It is worth checking, some universities do have insanely fast internet connections. Don't jump the gun on a new adapter unless you have said insanely fast internet or are having network connection issues.

 

My friend's computer download is 8-10 mb's a second compared to my 1 mb a second = /. but i remember my laptop when i had it i only got 3-5 mb/s,,,so im pretty sure the card will help.

Also, found out the Swiss Gear pegasus doesn't fit asus g74 the hard way =(

 

I am looking at buying an Asus G74SX-NH71 with 12GB memory. What spec do I need to consider if I want to expand memory another 4GB?

 

Have you looked at MSI's yet? You can get one with a GTX 570 for the same price you would spend on that G74 and that only has a GTX 560. Also, you can't swap out the video card on the Asus if you decide you want to upgrade down the road.

 

I can't imagine a cooling pad to be of much use on a G-series laptop. I mean, the laptop doesn't have vents on the bottom. With a non-metallic case and finish, it shouldn't be too thermally conductive either.

 

Which MSI are you referring to?

 

MSI GT780DX and MSI 1761 (barebone). The cheaper of the two would be the 1761, but you'll have to configure in the SteelSeries keyboard.

MSI GT780DX-406US - XOTIC PC - MSI Ultimate Gaming Laptop
FORCE 1761 / MSI 1761
PowerPro R 12:17 Gaming Laptop

 

would the less amount of video RAM be an issue?

 

No, not all. 1.5GB is absolutely plenty for 1080p. Anything more would be pretty useless.

 

Nope, not one bit. 1.5gb is plenty for one monitor running at 1080. The 570m with 1.5gb still kills the 560m with 3gb. It also has better overclocking potential. You can easily overclock it to perform on par with the 580m. To put in in perspective, with the 560m, you can pay BF3 on medium settings. With the 570m, you can play BF3 on Ultra settings.

 

I just did a comparison at Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech and it doesn't appear to be that big of a difference.

I have been looking at getting http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Game...S6MO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328028922&sr=8-1 , but with your comment I am not sure.