Best Buy G73JH-BST7 + Seagate Momentus XT = Nice

Noticed a slight hitch in certain titles while gaming...knew that the weak link had to be the 5400rpm hard drive that comes standard with the newest G73 model from BB.

Did a bit of research and decided on the 500gb Seagate Momentus XT...a hybrid 7200rpm solid state drive. Has 32mb cache and a 4gb area that basically operates like flash memory.

Really impressed so far with complete laptop performance now. Running the same drivers as before, all games are now like butter. Night and day difference.

I got the drive for $149...great drive to consider if you aren't ready to throw down big bucks on a solid state drive at this point.

 

How simple was the install process? Did you replace the old one it came with or put it in the spare HD bay? I'm looking to update to an SSD after I get the asus since I don't want to plunk down more money when buying it, and just want to see what kind of potential issues I should expect.

 

Very simple. If you add it as the second drive you will need to buy the drive cage or use a piece of folded cardboard to keep it from moving.

Cheers,

 

Agreed. Install couldn't have been easier. Removed 2 screws on the bottom of the chassis to get at the hard drive mount. Removed 2 screws holding hard drive caddy...then removed the 4 screws holding the old drive into the mount.

Whole process took maybe 15 minutes.

Turns out the drive that comes with the BST7 is a 5400rpm Seagate Momentus.

Haven't had the privilege of working with a solid state drive...but this is definitely the fastest 7200rpm drive I've ever had. Couldn't be happier with the upgrade.

 

did your windows score change??

 

No, still 5.9 for me.

Cheers,

 

WEI is capped to 5.9 for non-SSD's.. Yeah, I know, shortsighted.

 

Good point. Real world performance is where you will tell the difference.

 

Is there any thread on this topic? I'm thinking about buying the Momentus XT but I want to know exactly what I should do to install it. How does that cardboard workaround work? Is the drive cage worth it?

 

I used the cardboard or some foam like the g50vt has in it's second bay for awhile and eventually bought the drive bracket just because I wanted it. Cardboard worked fine. The trays are cheap at asusparts.eu but the shipping to the US is crazy. I bought 3 and sold the other 2 to make it worthwhile. I've regularly suggested BB owners get together and split the shipping. If it's too much trouble stick w the work arounds.

Cheers,

 

Here is my "high-tech bracket". It is patented so I expect you to paypal me if you decide to use it!

 

Haha nice job.

 

Brilliant. I happen to have a couple of Amazon.com boxes lying around. I'll give this a try.

I think someone on the forums had done something similar using memory foam...

 

I've got a Corsair Nova 128GB in my current laptop. WEI drive score is 7.4. That's what I'll put into my G73JH-BST7 and put the stock drive in the other bay. The Nova is a good value if you're looking to get an SSD. $219 on Newegg and they are super fast. They're especially good at large sequential reads and writes which is just what you want for loading game maps and saving.

The local BB has the current G73JH in stock and I'm seriously thinking of getting one tomorrow.

@ValkyrieFire: Thanks for the pics... that's what I'll do. Except I might use folded-up & rolled-up strips of aluminum foil since aluminum is a good conductor of heat. I doubt I'll get the cage... too much trouble and expense.

 

What would be a fair price to sell one of these brackets in the U.S.? $15 US plus $3-$4 shipping in a small bubble pak? I'm thinking of just ordering 20 of these and posting them in the marketplace so all the BB owners don't have to pay the crazy shipping. The exchange rate stinks right now but $15 would cover the shipping and exchange rate.

What do you think?

Cheers,

 

Too bad this is late for me, but nice offer panzer06. I ordered mine from Asus.eu on Oct 6 and i got the shipping confirmation Nov 16, so it takes a while from Asus Taiwan to ship this items, probably another week more to arrive to the US.

 

panzer06, make a thread in the nbr marketplace (when you actually get them, since you need to prove ownership with a pic and a sheet of paper with your username) or use PMs, it is unacceptable to buy and sell or discuss deals outside the marketplace. Thanks.

I have deleted some posts. Any further posts about this will be deleted. Please get back on topic.

 

if I got something like that I'd be tempted to reinstall os on it to.. you thinking about it, or wouldn't bother, you just use that drive to put your games on?

 

ValkerieFire, nice job. hows it holding up?

 

Here's the much asked for pic of my memory foam earplug solution. Yes, that is also a stack of mini post-its. I'm pretty sure they serve no purpose, since the earplugs do all the work, and work VERY well.

 

These workarounds sound pretty interesting and unique. Great job, if I do get this laptop, then I'll definitely get a 7200RPM HDD upgrade and use one of these ideas.

 

Really? Night and day difference??? I was looking at exactly that hybrid drive. There is no way im willing to spend 1500$ for a 500gb SSD. But im curious to know if there is a major difference in boot time...im really really interested in buying this, im just asking myself how could 4gb of flash memory really make that much of a difference...not that my G73 is slow or anyhting, but i think there is improvement in boot time. Please tell me more

 

I didn't find such a difference as some of the other posters note, my boot time is 20+ seconds with a pretty clean boot (not too much crap).

What I have noticed is that as soon as I get the taskbar up on boot I can start doing stuff, opening Chrome, etc: the boot is not misleading

 

the boot files on windows 7 are less than 2 gb. so 4gb is more than enough.

it improves boot time by at least 10 seconds.

other than that its a great deal like most 7200 500 gb hds. I havent noticed speed increases other than boot time

 

Do all BST7 models have the same type of monitor and HDD models. Does it have 1333mhz RAM or 1066?

 

They all have 1600x900 LED Screens its either LG or AUO.