Asus G73SW

I am looking to replace my Dell E1505, which is going on 5 years old. Was in a store yesterday and found the G73SW at a great price...P67 chipset and the i7 2360 with Nvidia 460M. I like all the specs of this machine...and have spoken with Asus numerous times about the Sandy Bridge issue. They are confident that I should have NO issues with Sandy Bridge with the way the machine is set up. If I do...then Asus backs the machine with a total replacement guarantee....

Would you purchase the machine in those conditions?

2.0 GHZ Processor
P67 Chipset
500 GB WD Caviar Black
Atheros Wireless
Realtek LAN
Blu Ray / DVD+-R combo
Win 7 64 Bit
17.3" Screen
The works...

$1499.00

Thoughts???

 

IMO no way, why take a chance? As you can see here there have been a few issues with many models in the G7 series. Also a few horror stories about RMA's gone wrong,,send in for 1 issue, coming back scratched or worse.
I would definitely try the machine out in store, (not the demo the one you purchase) before leaving. BTW is the store Best buy??
If you buy online have the etailer test B4 shipping also. Sorry if I am pointing out the obvious.
Specs and price look good for the money.
If you can afford it Get SSD, makes a nice performance bump!

 

CompUSA is here back in Texas. If I turn on the machine...what should I look for? The demo was rockin...and I know that machine to machine...things can change...How long does it take. What can I do to force the issue???

 

off topic: The prices in the us are simply unbeliveble.Where i am now in Germany a g73Jw, is about 1600 euros, which is in us dollars 2170 dolars, and it is the old chipset.
On topic: if i ware you i would buy it. I don't think you will have any problems.

 

That would be a good price for the g73sw.

 

I am very satisfied with my G73SW, but I bought it right before the Intel chipset issue was revealed. I am happy I got it then, because I would not get it now knowing the problem (aside from the fact that it is very scarce).

I would be frustrated with getting a machine I know is already obsolete (a non-sandy bridge G73) but also unwilling to knowingly buy a flawed product that is going to have a return procedure. It's a no win, but I feel better off having happily gotten in before the chipset problem surfaced.

Crappy, because there is nothing "new" on the market right now given the sandy bridge chipset total recall.

 

Sorry for the slighty OT post but @Nater maybe its just how I read your post, but you do know that your SW would be affected too right?

 

Of course. They all are, and I know I will have to swap. I'm just saying I already had it by the time I found out (and I needed it to replace my only other work laptop which died abruptly) so it was a different situation than if I needed a replacement right now.

 

Oh ok lol just making sure (couldnt tell by the way you had worded it...perhaps im too tired )

Anyways to the OP Id go for it, especially since they said they would back you with a complete replacement

 

I got it late in the afternoon on Monday. G73SW-XT1 WOW! This machine is fast and after clearing out most of the crapware...I am about 90% installed. I updated the 460M drivers to the latest 266.58 with no issues. Now to find some driver updates...but all in all...this machine has a very nice feel to it. The screen is beautiful! Registered it with Asus...the Two Year warranty is in effect with one year accidental damage coverage. BTW...go to the Asus website and read the conditions of the Sandy Bridge recall. It is in black and white that one can apply for a total replacement.

Also

As with the motherboards...the workaround is already half in effect. Seems that the SATA 6 (Sata 0 and Sata 1) are fine and not effected by the issue. Well the main hard drive is on SATA 0 and even if you add another HDD...it will take SATA 1...so the hard drives should never have the problem. The Blu Ray / DVD drive is on SATA 2...if there is a 5% degradation of performance over the years...how much could it effect an 8X DVD burn??? Basically Intel stated that the chipset had issues in extreme heat conditions...keep the air flowing through it and maybe never an issue...have to keep fingers crossed.

All in all...what is the worst thing that can happen. Have to send the machine in and receive a new motherboard...that is the other option...

 

Congrats for the new achizition.It is a very good deal at this price.

 

Microcenter had this same laptop for $1300 before they pulled them due to the chipset issue.

 

Funny what issues can come up in a very short time. The Sandy Bridge chipset was not the issue...the 460M was! Seems that I upgraded to the latest Nvidia Drivers 266.58. Then I ran 3dMark 11 and went find. Machine benched at close to 1900...guess for laptop that is OK. Noticed that my wireless and bluetooth got messed up...so rebooted...things were then fine...except the video in 2d would blink! Every three or four minutes would just blink...drop out and back in. So I installed the Asus drivers back in and same thing. I see no reason why one cannot use the most updated drivers for this bad boy. Anyways...long story short...Asus tech support is convinced a bad video card. So taking it back this evening for a refund. All they have left in stock is the G73JW-XTI...same specs as the SW except the P55 chipset and the i7 750M

 

That's what I've been trying to tell people. Both HDDs on the G73SW use the Sata 6Gb/s connectors and those will not degrade. Only the Bluray/DVD-Drive port will degrade, and when do you ever use the drive? Even when you do, how often do you use it. The comparison of CD-ROM usage vs HDD is like 1 to 10000000000000000000000000000000000, so it will become slow enough for you to notice in one human's life-time (long after the laptop's expected life).