G74, M18x, or wait?

I'm getting ready for college and my old Dell XPS M1710 is... well... insufficient one might say. I remember it being the holy grail at one point for gaming books but now it's just dead in the water. I have so many hardware problems it isn't even worth fixing.

The 6990M just came out. It's half the price of the 580M and supposedly faster too.
My problem is that I wanted to go ASUS rather than Alienware simply to change things up. I've always been a Dell fan, and lately I find that Dell has been pretty damn good with their prices, quality, and support as opposed to what they were several years back. I just wanted to try something different and even cheaper but, ASUS doesn't have a recent ROG that has a 580M or a 6990M.

Do I wait for a new ROG, will the G74 despite the outdated specs still be good, or should I shell out that extra $1.5k for a spec'd out M18x?

 

i would suggest m18 or even m17 with hd6990m, if you want to play BF3 as recommended requirements is hd 6850 or gtx 460, the gtx 560m is probably not going to cope with the game at 1920x1080.

Battlefield 3 PC system requirements revealed - Update

spec is there, not sure if you want to play it, or what games you are into

 

Tricky choice. I would say wait but your current setup is really aging.

The G74 will do the job and you wont have to splash out so much money for it. The models shown so far as long as they are 192bit are looking very well priced for the power they are producing. The SSD deal currently being offered is a very good offer and even I am tempted. The 560m will be a more than capable card for gaming and will be able to handle BC3 of that im sure but dont expect miracles at release remember BC2 at release BOOM! ouch it needed lots of updates. My 5870M better be able to handle it too or there will be trouble!

ASUS G74SX-A2 17.3" Notebook
Intel Sandy Bridge Quad Core i7-2630QM (2.0GHz) Processor, 17.3" Full HD (1920 x 1080) LED Display, 16GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory, 750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive + 160GB Solid-State Drive (SSD) , Blu-Ray DVD Combo Drive, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M 3GB GDDR5 Graphics Card, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, USB 3.0 & Illuminated Keyboard

No one here will recommend the M18x and they will be shoo'd off the forum if they tried

 

That is a tough call. ASUS doesn't seem to be a huge fan of ATI in the G series for their most recent round of machines, so it is hard to say if they will be releasing a unit with that 6990. It is unlikely that they will release a G series with anything better than the 560 on the NVidia side either since they stuck with the 460 in the previous generation. I think the G74 with the 560 should run it, but depending on its requirements it might struggle on the highest settings as hereticangel mentioned.

 

I'm currently doing the Windows Updates on a G74SX-3DE as I type, and so far I'm pretty impressed by the unit. I keep lol'ing at the nvidia drivers defaulting to using the "HD" screen resolution choices, as they limit it to 60Hz. Use the PC 1920x1080 and viola! 120Hz!

What's even more lol is that this unit was used in the gaming expo at Formula X, and they managed to fubar the install to the point where the touchpad was causing scanline flickers when the buttons were depressed, and SP1 refused to install. Nice job, guys!

I restored the machine to factory new, and all the issues went away. SP1 is now installed, and now I'm doing my WU's. Then I'll throw in 275.50 and then port my Steam directory over to it. As a FYI, Diablo II in windowed mode is like the best game ever for battery playability. The CPU and GPU is overkill, so they stay at idle speeds while gaming just fine.

I'm flying in to Fremont tomorrow for an interview with Asus for a Customer Care Specialist position, and I want to bring this baby with me so I can work on it while out and about. So wish me luck!

PS - Of note, no more Synaptic touchpads... this one has a Sentelic model.

 

I would suggest you to wait, next gens has all the hype to be way better than the current one under each aspect.

for Chastity

 

Feh... I was going to bring my JH battery with me, but it appears the G74 has a totally different battery config. Would have been nice traveling with 3 batteries. Steam is taking forever over ethernet...

 

Yeah I noticed that as well completely new battery pack. Asus do like to make sure nothing is reusable from old G series dont they! Have a word

 

Where is this SSD deal you speak of may I inquire?

And yes, while I know the 560M is a good card - my M1710 when I bought it went for like $3k~ for the setup I did. It was top of the line at the time, unbeatable. But within 3 months after, it really showed age. So I'm just kind of trying to be weary out of which one I choose.

 

EXTRA $1.5k?! that's like a few semester hours of tuition... must have deep pockets for a pending college student.

Honestly with the technology curve as quick as it's going... if you wait you'll get something newer/better, albeit with its' share of issues. If you get one now, well it's in hand. I remember when the 485m was all the rage, then 580m snuck in outta nowhere (I kinda feel bad for clevo owners but they can swap that stuff out).

What are you looking for? The latest and greatest or bang for your buck performance? IIRC you can get an older G73 with a 5870 or 460m and run a majority of games fluently @ 1080 (do you really need 16x AA or x4 AF?). Seen a few off CL run for $500-800.

 

You want gaming? Asus isn't it. They now only make midrange gaming laptops at best. If you want something with excellent gaming performance, your choice is limited to Clevo/Sager and Alienware. I'd recommend a Clevo/Sager with a 6990m (or 580m if you want 3D).

 

I haven't seen this yes that is just information I spotted on the Asus website. I assume it will be released after the initial A1 version might be an idea to hold on though and wait for bugs etc to be sorted and the A2 version are normally pretty smart in the upgrades department.

Disagree! I hate Asus but I game better than ever on my G73 so I cannot condone this information. Agreed Clevo/Sager have great hardware but they are ugly and if you are already ugly its a bad choice. Alienware costs more than a kidney unless you have a spare one you can sell.

 

rolf

how can I disagree?

beside joking, that the true, sager and clevo may be the next best thing between hardware and price, yet they really sucks at design, and I hear different stories about bios, vbios, overheating and poor support, which remind me of asus, not sure why...

Alienware are really great, but only if you have a really great wallet

 

too bad ASUS limit their gpu choices..

 

How is that a valid argument?

1) Looks are subjective. Sager looks fine for me.
2) This is not a beauty contest. We're talking about gaming laptops.
3) "if you are already ugly" Who are you referring to?

 

I've been drooling over the m18x lately and thinking about getting one.
Comparing the m18x to the g74 really isn't a fair comparison for either product except for the fact that they're the top offerings from the two companies. However, the two laptops are really in a different class from each other. The g74 is more comparable to the m17r3 than it is to the m18x. The only real comparison out there right now to the m18x is something from Clevo/Sager.

I believe that Dell/Alienware has gotten more aggressive with their pricing recently and the m18x is actually pretty good if you keep the component choices reasonable and check to see what discounts you can get.

Now keep in mind that I'm talking about US prices. DALLERS you're right the prices in UK are ridiculous. But that's true of both companies in some other countries.

Edit: Don't mean to criticize but this isn't really the best place for this topic and maybe should have been posted in the which laptop should I buy section to avoid bickering.

 

Pretty valid argument because you claim above ^^ that Asus is not for gaming on the Asus Gaming forum in which 99% of the people who are on here game quite comfortably with an Asus mid range gaming laptop.

In my case my laptop was high end at release and 18 months on still produces fantastic results. Asus may no longer produce high end or allow intense gaming at ultra settings but they do produce mobile gaming rigs that can handle games quite well and make up for it in the price they are offered at. If you want miracles then of course Alienware will score big point at a big price and the ugly ones will produce better results for the sake of well...looking ugly

 

It's not that Clevo laptops are ugly they just look very plain and in some ways even cheap on the exterior. This has to do with their barebones roots.
However, I agree with you Dallers. I realize that not everybody is as vain as myself but if I were to spend 3k-5k USD on a top of the line Clevo/Sager then part of the fun is to be able to show it off to my friends. I don't want it to look like a plain 500 dollar laptop instead of a 3000+ dollar beast.

When I first saw my G73jh I was immediately struck by the look and feel of the exterior. The stealth theme together with the soft smooth finish and quiet robust cooling system screamed not only style but also innovation.

If I were to get a Clevo then I would mod the exterior by covering it with carbon fiber vinyl the way quadzilla ans speedy did.

Edit: Clevo does a great job with interior components and their laptops are nearly unrivaled in power and cooling capability.

 

I am vain, very vain, far too vain. Immensely VAIN! It must look like a stealth bomber!

I had the same problem when I bought the G70s.

 

imho, all Clevo/Sager need to do is add some LED keyboard backlights. Voila. They'll get all the current Asus/Alienware in betweeners.

At the end of the day in this reality of scarcity, don't go for brand or model. Go for price/performance.

That's what the G73 was all about in its heyday. (Which I am proud to be part of.) Unparalleled price point and performance. But the G74 shat on this philosophy and shoved in an awful GPU. If I were you, I'd avoid it at all cost. It just isn't worth the money.

If you managed to sell your G73 for a decent return, splurge on an Alienware laptop with components that befit the price. Big honking Sandy Bridge 2720/820 a must with either a robust single or dual GPU solution. You already know you're spending a premium with AW, so you really can't complain when its price goes past 2.5k, but that's where the money from the sold G73 comes into play.

If I were in the market for a laptop now, I'd go for a Sager with a 2720 and an AMD 6970/90m. Or save up for another couple months and go all out on an Alienware. Until they revamp the G-series to its legendary G73 status of yore, Asus is dead to me.

 

Well said!

Unfortunately for me I can't yet bring myself to sell my beloved G73.
I'm still in love with the style and look of it. Even though I want a new laptop to satisfy my tech addiction I'm not yet willing to part with the G73 to pay for it.

@Dallers- here's a thread full of people who disagree with us and don't like laptops that "scream gamer"

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...-builds/578278-laptops-performance-looks.html

 

Agreed the G73 is still a great deal and with people selling them like hotcakes you cannot go wrong for price vs performance.

Sadly not only did they shove in an awful GPU they decided to solder it in as well I thought the days of Gotherboard's were long gone.

We can only hope and pray poor sales leads to them changing their minds because they are going the way of Final Fantasy when they released XIII, why change something that isn't broken. (I just bought FF XIII so probably a bad example)