ASUS G73JH-A1 with ATi Mobility Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 - Part 2

Ok thanks guys... I guess I'll be hopping on the X-1 Bandwangon.. I can always order an external Blue ray drive with it I suppose... Im a bit of a HD fanatic.. Thanks for the help

 

Ordered from Newegg at 2:50pm PST w/ overnight shipping. It's on the truck to my house right now and should be here when I get home from work.

I don't mean to be a jerk and I realize that the smaller shops got pretty dicked by Asus it sounds like but I remember one of the posters telling me I didn't know what I was talking about regarding who would get units in stock and that there was NO WAY Newegg and the like would get these before them.

Yes, I do understand that the "niche resellers" got a few units before Newegg but here's my hunch on what Asus was banking on:

1. Announce product at CES and promise it to be in the hands of resellers within 2 months.
2. Resellers continue to generate buzz and provide pre-orders to make people think this is some exclusive item that will be impossible to get.
3. Resellers get a few units to fulfill orders, users receive them and generate more buzz.
4. Resellers get news of further delays.
5. Newegg gets a massive shipment of units (slightly stripped down thus a lower price) and sells them like hotcakes at the expense of other resellers losing sales.
6. ???
7. Profit

It's almost like Asus used the niche resellers to chum the waters for Newegg so they could sell the whole shipment asap.

In the end I feel pretty bad for the resellers. Small business gets screwed over constantly by the bigger companies. It sucks and if I didn't need this thing THIS MONTH I probably would have waited for an A2 with a backpack and mouse.

I'm new to the forum so to pay you guys back I'll do my best to do a full review of the X1 for you guys. PM me questions that you want answered before 5pm PST and I'll do my best to include them in the review.

Off to the day-job!

 

I Don't Know What To Do, I Don't Want To Just Leave Xotic Hanging But Im Not Trying To Wait Till The End Of March

 

Anyone with one sync it with an iPhone/iPod touch yet?

I guess no one but me wants to force install the drivers :-/

If I do this, I'm leaning towards Gentech since I was impressed with the help they did with trying to get the G51j fixed. The store's a little weird though-how it goes to "1topc" or whatever when you actually buy, plus I don't want my new system manhandled

It's actually only 10,000 times on an MLC if I'm remembering it right. That's to each location on the drive though. The drive's controller should be able to take parts of the drive out of service if they fail.

Actually I am a little spooked by all the reviews on Newegg for the second gen Intel 160GB drive that say it died almost immediately :-/ Seems like maybe the whole category isn't quite ready yet.

 

Its true resellers got majorly screwed by ASUS. All the stock was given to Newegg. Your analysis is probably spot on.

If I was Xotic I would be furious.

 

same here ntg to do for me
pre-order it or not

 

If you preorder it you will get it end of march?

 

Do you guys realize that the margin on these notebooks are razor thin? It's a wonder the resellers make any money off laptops anymore. I can understand NE because they do volume...

 

Yeah, xotic and the like probably make $100 maybe.

 

I feel pretty bad to for cancelling my preorder but I have a small window in which I have to get it so I can preload and download all my games and what not before going back to Iraq. The internet here is on par with dial up...

 

So mine is on out for delivery but snow outside is.. just.... sigh.
you guys think I should be getting it or it will be delayed?

 

Oh, probably less than that...I think maybe...$20-50.

 

There are people that have been patiently waiting for their G73's on preorder for 1 1/2 months and you are complaining about ordering it yesterday and upset cause you wont get it today? Seriously???

 

35 left.............

 

Thank you for your service.

I appreciate it very much, as does my family.

I hope the laptop brings you relaxation and enjoyment during off hours over there.

Also I am watching stock drop at Newegg so someone is buying them still - grats on getting yours before today's inevitable sell out.

 

I'm pretty sure the X1's will be gone by later today.

 

I FEEL THE SAME WAY, ABOUT TO CANCEL MY ORDER, LOL, HOPE YOU ENJOY IRAQ AS MUCH AS I AM RIGHT NOW , NO BUT SERIOUSLY I HAVE A TOUCH (IPOD) ON THE WAY AND I WOULD LIKE MY WIFE TO SEND MY LAPTOP AND TOUCH TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME

 

im not going for the x1 though im going to go for the a2's which is the same as my order through xotic, except warranty, dead pixel, and wireless card

 

Hey bro, Jus doin my job.. I actually like being out here rather than in garrison. I feel like im making a difference here. Plus.. cant beat bootleg movies for $1 a peice.. although most of them are camcorder quality lol.

 

I'm pretty sure I won't be getting mine today. The 10:30AM Estimated delivery time just disappeared from my tracking page...and it still shows it as In Transit from Indianapolis, IN. :-( Stupid snow.

 

I am beginning to think being cheap paid off. With all this snow, the cheapest shipping was maybe the best option

And Fedex/UPS guarantees are void due to weather delays, so no money back either.

 

Why did I do 2nd day shipping?
FML.

 

Yeah, i'm thinking the same thing right about now....I mean, I guess I'll still get it sooner than I would if I had done Ground. Ground shipping from CA to VA would probably take a week or more, esp with these weather conditions.

 

The cheapest/slowest option on newegg was UPS 3 day. So that means 3 days from CA to VA.

lol

 

yeah so i've made up my im going to order this bad boy from newegg, asap

 

mine was from CA to NYC.. which would take longer, but still.
god damnit.

 

True, but 3, ordered on a Tuesday, (assuming they can't deliver today) would put the delivery, at the earliest, on Monday. Which is almost a week. If it can't come today, I SHOULD have it by no later than tomorrow.

 

My EDD with 3 day is Friday.

Storm supposed to be done by midnight tonight

 

I've talked to Xoticpc and they should have another round of A2's coming this week.

 

SO come to find the out a acutal A1 model comes with express card slot and usb 3.0, while the other models do not... actually did not find that out but it would be cool, just trying to inspire people to keep holding on to their reseller order, be strong im hanging in there as wel, i have a feeling we wont be disappointed with the wait, something crazy is gunna happen

 

I'm pulling for you man. I really hope you get it today! Mine hasn't even shipped yet, or even arrived to BE shipped to me...

 

This is nice and all, but until we hear it from Justin, we don't believe it.

During an intense time like this with Newegg getting ready to sell out, I would assume you are trolling.

 

Me too, been stuck on "Processing" for the past 24 hours. I guess they really really really want that $3.99 - cripes, I wish I'd known. Paid the big buck for fast shipping only to have it sit there because a few electrons have yet to fly between NewEgg and my CC headquarters. Actually probably a few flashes of light. SO costly... SO hard to do...

 

I can confirm this. This is Xotic's first shipment of A2's which gentech got on Monday. Not sure why they are coming in so late to Xotic. (maybe because they are located in Nebraska)

Those A2's are already allotted to people (like me) who pre-ordered way back when, so I doubt any of those will be available for new orders...

 

Thanks bro. It's just that I was expecting it today and it's snowing like crazy.
Kinda frustrating.. BRB.. Gotta go smoke. sigh

 

ROFL.

I do not understand why people are loyal to brands or companies. Do you think they would go out of their way to do something for you?

Like people who argue Intel vs. AMD/ATI vs. NVIDIA fanboy wars.

They are just companies. Do what is best for yourself.

On some computer forums you would think people owned ATI or NVIDIA the way the flame wars get going. I'll never understand it.

I just want the best product at the best price - let the best company fight to earn my dollars - I am not loyal to any of them.

 

I had talked to a Newegg sales rep using the live chat, he said that the ETA of 15/02 for the A2 still holds but is not a guarantee, but according to him they will get only 10 units. He was unaware of any other future shipments.

I'm guessing those 10 units will be sold out almost instantly thanks to the Auto-notify

 

Oh my.

It has started to snow and sleet here in Texas.

They say now that although my notebook will be delivered today due to the weather they can no longer guarantee 10:30AM CST.

At least I get it today, hopefully by lunch.

Oh yeah only 30 left on Newegg. 16 have sold in the last 2 hours.

So definite sell out today.

 

I dont understand how the A1 was the first model that was announced and will almost certainly be the last ones to get here. Are BR drives really that hard to get a hold of and install? I mean the X1 was only announced what 2 weeks ago max and people have them allready. sigh

 

Lucky. Just a question, did you downgrade from Blu-ray? Or did Xotic ask if you wanted to? I ordered the A1, and while Blu-ray would be nice, I don't care that much, and thought maybe if I downgraded I'd have a small, small chance of getting on that shipment, with all these people going over to newegg.

Edit:Just to be clear, I know the A2 doesn't have Blu-ray, I just wanted to know how you switched from A1 to A2...or maybe Xotic is putting in a drive for you..I don't know!

 

Depends on when you pre-ordered the A1. If you were in the first batch of A1 (bluray) orders, Justin will switch you over to A2 so that you can get in on the first batch of A2's (coming in today or tomorrow). I would CALL him asap and see if that is an option for you.

 

Well, I ordered Feb 2nd. That's why my hopes aren't too high.

 

Don't worry about it. With the amount of people who have ditched for the newegg model, I would say you still have a chance of switching over the the A2 coming in. Call them asap.

 

Same here.

 

Pulled the trigger on the X-1. Should I just order an external blue ray drive or is swapping out the DVD drive for a blueray drive easy?

 

Probably a little more than that. Looking at their pricing it looks like they make the majority of their money by providing upgrades....especially the hard drive upgrades.

The SSD upgrade costs as much as the same SSD on Newegg.....and then they keep the drive they replaced....probably to resell as an upgrade on another laptop. Brilliant tactic and it's probably what keeps them in business.

 

Swapping the drive is easy as cake. But finding a drive with the same mounting setup for the "bezel plate" is what's hard.

I have a handful of laptop drives, and every one of them have a different way that the bezel mounts onto the outside to match up with the exterior "look" of the laptop.

 

Are we going down there again? I've heard enough of that from UrPradhan.

They also get rebates for each laptop sold, if they are Asus partners.

 

So, should I talk to sales or customer support? Or just get Justin, cause he's awesome like that? 'cept I don't know his ext.

Wait..are they even open yet? I keep forgetting that they're west coast

 

They are open. It's 10:30 in Nebraska. Ask for Justin Nolte. There is also a Justin W from xotic that posts here that may be able to help. They are swamped right now, but make the call.

I'm confused...