G73JH-X3 Discussion thread

So viewing angles are still mediocre on this model? Is the screen better than the 1600x900? I am considering this tigerdirect model, and returning the bb model for this one if the screen is that much better. LMK.

 

Well, to be fair, you'll have to wait for someone with both to post pictures. So far I'm loving the 1080p screen, but considering I havent had or seen the BB model. I can not say how much better it is.

 

I should be getting my Tigerdirect model here in the next week and I will do a direct screen comparison with pictures before I send back my BB model.

 

I'm thinking about getting this model over the MC one for the warranty.. 2nd HD caddy isn't a big deal to me, but by getting free ground I get it next day. But the state of Illinois has it's hand out for sales tax though.

How easy/hard is TD to deal with on returns if this turns out to be a real lemon of a unit that I would receive? I know I wouldn't be interested in having asus rma a brand new laptop that's for sure.

 

Where do you guys see this Microcenter Asus G73JH? I can't seem to find it

 

well, if you search and the store you have selected is OOS, it will act like you searched for a non-existent item. I google 'asus g73jh-x2 microcenter' and it is usually the the one that says 'matte black' (2nd or 3rd result).

 

I've never had to do an RMA at Tiger Direct before but heard quite a few bad words about RMA's at TD. It did make me scared, and sorta still does since probs can still arise on my laptop.

So far though, just about been 24hrs since I got it. No major flaws, been running 3dmark06, Furmark, etc test. Temps are ok, but I am sitting in a 80f room through most of the test.

Games, so far so good. Played Trackmania Nations Forever last night on it, and was better than I expected performance at 1080p. Along with Grid, Grid really pushed it though, at least it was the first time I ever heard the fans go to its fastest.

I also have noticed some top and bottom light bleed. It's a little annoying considering how picky I am, but, still its truly not that bad. So unless anything else goes wrong, there is no reason to try to get better.

Overall, I dont seem to have any keyboard issues,and while I have noticed now in a dead silent room, you can audibly hear the fan going. It is at a constant though, so this doesnt bother me as much as if it were spooling up and down all the time. Also, the fans dont realy get high pitched, something I really liked, the past laptops did, and because of that even with in-ear headphones, it was impossible to drown the sound out.

 

Hey I got two questions for you, how is the sound system on this and how is the webcam?

 

Sound system is reasonable. Volume loudness can also get reasonable.

I liked my i9300 a little better but oh well, I use headphones anyway.

 

Yah, I'm afraid to go TD on a purchase like this, due to RMA. I feel like got a good unit at Best Buy even though it does have that auo v.3 screen. It seems acceptable to me. Viewing angles are not a problem since I don't view my monitor at an angle, and honestly, even at an angle it's not bad IMO. Also my 5870m overclocks to 800/1100 with no issues, so I think I got a good one. Think I'm set on just keeping mine.

 

you'd RMA with ASUS anyway if it didn't fail immediately

 

True, but at least if it did fail immediately...I could just get another one right away.

 

K, I just wanted to go ahead and post my Stressed Temps, Used Prime 95 all 8 threads to stress CPU.

While used Furmark 1.8.2 to stress my GPU.

Ran for almost 20min on both at the same time, these were my temps in a 75f room. I assume thats about average right?

 

Honestly, those are fantastic temperatures from what I have been reading. Esp. after 20 mins with both running.

 

Yah, I wouldn't recommend running stress tests for that long. It's unecessary stress on the system, as no program or application will put your system under 100% load for that long of a period. Plus it's a good way to brick a perfectly good unit. I'd just run game benchmarks to make sure your laptop is up to par, and performing well.

 

Just finished a fresh Windows 7 install. No problems, driver disc worked fine, and now up and running without all that extra stuff.

One question, though: I reformatted the second hard drive so that it's just one partition instead of two. I wanted to do the same with the first drive so that it was just drive C (plus that hidden recovery partition), but it wouldn't let me get rid of the other partition (I'll call it D for now). It says D is an extended partition, and deleting it would make it so I couldn't access it again. That doesn't mean I wouldn't be able to use that space ever, does it?

At this point I assume it's not possible to just combine that space from D with the C partition, but I'd like to make it its own partition again (it just calls it Free Space now) so I can still use the space, but now it won't even let me do that. No matter what I enter for the size when I try to create a new volume, it throws an error saying there isn't enough room to continue. Any ideas?

Otherwise, everything's working great. I'm going to try to actually stress it a little this weekend and see what I can see there.

 

Did TigerDirect ask you for the last 4 ssn when you guys bought this? >_>

 

I've seen that happen on large purchases from Tigerdirect. (It's your CC company, not them)

 

Is the Keyboard on A1/A2 the same as the one on X3? I want to know this cause I'm wondering if a A1/A2 Keyboard Protector would fit.

 

AFAIK it's the same on any G73

 

well I have my BB an TD models sitting right next to each other and I have to say the 1080p screen is the way to go. The sharpness on the TD makes the BB screen look like the graphics drivers arent installed also there isnt a screen door affect like there is on the BB version. As far as the color its really close. Also the BB screen seems overly bright plus the dot pitch it terribad on it. Mine came with 8gb of 1333ram not the 1066 as advertised.

 

no. I used paypal for bing cashback reasons.

 

I did too, but it still asked me for it. I didn't give them it though and it turned out just fine. Shipping right now!

Can we get some pictures for side to side comparison?

 

well I'm waiting for UPS to deliver my brand new G73 X3, from TD in a couple of days. But god damn! after doing a lot of reading on the forum's threads relating to the G73, Im feeling pretty worried right now.

First the Creative drivers issue, and now the graphics drivers incompatibility / GPU failure and GSOD.....

The whole point of getting this laptop was for gaming. If the GPU has hardware failures, or (stock) drivers that can't be updated without havin stability issues does it not defeat its purpose? N since new drivers optimize performance for new (and future games)...how are we supposed to play them....on a machine, which has been billed, for all intents and purposes, as a laptop gaming system.

N finally, the not so good experience from many of the users with respect to Asus's after sales service quality.

Does anyone know exactly what percentage of users are having GPU failure/ update problems?

 

Wouldn't GPU failure be ATI's fault and not Asus'?

 

guys i have this problem with realtek audio.
i only activate the 2.0 stereo instead the 2.1 stereo....
how must i do to fix this??
and also when i tried to run SRS premium sound control panel, it gives error says "unable to find a compatible SRS audio device"
please help, thanks in advance.

 

Well it would be ATi's fault partially for supplying faulty components. You won't get any arguments contrary to that.

However, I would like to point out two reasons why I do believe Asus should take responsibility for this.

Should Asus not be held accountable for the hardware theyre selling to people under their own brand name? Is it not their responsibility to test the most crucial components of their machines (i.e. like the processor, the GPU etc), before they ship it out to retailers?

"There is still significant debate about whether the driver issue is due to faulty GPU, or ATI providing poorly compaitible drivers" - either ways, Asus should've checked this before deciding to ship a million units worldwide.

And secondly, given their spotty record of refusing to fix / replace faulty hardware, and often long waiting times to get ur laptop back, does this not aggrevate the problem of having faulty hardware in the first place?

It's Asus job, to ensure a fully functioning unit, passing the blame to component suppliers will only take the focus away from the real problem.

 

The mixing is done automatically on most cards. It's 2.0, and the low frequencies are redirected to the subwoofer. Only 5-6-7.1 have dedicated channels.

test:
Tone Generator Software Download
run a 100Hz tone and listen to the subwoofer (it actually vibrates the entire laptop which is kind of cool.)

 

Ah...okay. I get your argument.
Never had a problem with Asus so I dunno. Hopefully I never will =P

 

**(Double knocks on wood)**

 

I thought I read where Asus actually builds the graphics card under license from ATI, and they build it with a non-standard connector that makes it difficult to swap video cards...

 

my x3 from TD has none of those problems but a touchpad which is going deaf in the middle of the pad.. I put the newest realtek drivers on it, and the latest 10.3 from ati and nary a problem.

 

So does dat mean that user's who are havin problems with the 10.3 drivers is due to the hardware, and not the software?

Also, thanks DDA, it gives me a flicker of hope!

 

it must be due to the hardware since i havent had issues with either my BB or TD G73jh with 10.3 drivers, none at all. Also I would like to edit my post about the LCD screen differences between the 2 now that ive done some more testing. The TD 1080p screen blows away the BB 16x9 screen. The blacks are actually black and the definition is outstanding on the TD 1080p screen after I threw some 1080p content on it, it really shined.

 

Do you see backlight bleed Jukens? Like upon boot, u'll notice it most. Its on the top(most noticeable for me) and the other sides too.

I'm just really curious, I do love the blacks, and the colors though, everything seems good and really sharp.

If it werent the this damned backlight bleed I'd be super happy with the screen.

 

Ya i noticed it at the top middle but the rest of the screen looked ok to me, and like u said its most noticable upon boot but does that really matter?

 

Personally, I've found the screen to be pretty amazing, although I'm coming from a nearly-six-year-old screen. I find myself occasionally just stopping whatever I'm doing and staring at it. Definitely a noticeable improvement over the RBBX05s I saw at Best Buy.

As for problems, I haven't run into any in the week I've had mine. There was a poll somewhere around here about it, and the clear majority of G73 owners reported no problems, so keep that hope alive.

 

hey guys ..
does the x3 model from tiger direct come with 1 year accidental damage protection?

 

yup, sure does.

 

hey thanks for that .. the reason i asked was it is not mentioned anywhere in the tigerdirect site .as it was mentioned in other retailers.

Box Contents: ASUS G73JH-A2 Notebook, AC Adapter, 8-cell Battery Gaming Backpack and Mouse; Software: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, ASUS Utility, 2-Year Limited Global Warranty, 1-Year Accidental Damage Warranty

this was from jr.com

correct me if i am wrong and please inspire me to buy this apart from the spcs.
i already returned A2 model due to the battery issue.

 

If you keep scrolling down past the comments, You'll see it. This is the SS from their site.



And Hrm, I guess other than the backlight bleed, I love the laptop. I've had no issues at all with it, so if you really want a G73, the X3 model seems to be a pretty safe bet as far as I can tell.

 

thanks for the vote of confidence capn!

 

Nice. So it's basically the same as the A3 minus the lesser hard drive space, backpack, and mouse.

 

Fixed that for ya'.

So, $1600 up front, w/ ~$200 Bing Cash Back up to 60 days later, vs. ~$1600 ($1645 w/ 3% cash discount) to get the A1 w/ BluRay, 2 500 GB HDDs instead of 2 320GB HDDs, backpack and mouse. Of course, the X3 is available right now, and the A1 is still in very short supply, so patience also plays a role in the decision...

 

Used enough screen real estate?

 

Made it a bit smaller now

 

Yeah, that's much better and easier to read. Thanks.

On a side note, I was going to say, "Think ya used enough screen real estate there, Butch?". However, I thought maybe the humor from the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" might get lost in translation.

 

the screen is just flat awesome on the td one.

 

Damn TD is so fast . Placed the order at 10 Am and they shipped it already .

I got 12.3% BCB

 

Just have to get through the credit verify process , every time I seem to get caught there for a while until I call in. WTH I've made how many orders from them now?