G74SXRF-BBK8 vs G53SX-XR1

G74SXRF-BBK8 (Refurbished) $949.99
2nd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor
8GB DDR3 memory
17.3" LED-backlit high-definition widescreen display
1TB hard drive capacity (500GB x 2; 7200 rpm)
NVIDIA GTX 560M graphics

Asus - Refurbished Laptop - G74SXRF-BBK8

ASUS G53SX-XR1 $1,029.99
15.6" Notebook, Intel Core i7-2630QM (2.0GHz up to 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost), 8GB DDR3 Memory, 640GB HDD, DVDRW, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (2GB GDDR5), Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Buy.com - ASUS G53SX-XR1 15.6" Notebook, Intel Core i7-2630QM (2.0GHz up to 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost), 8GB DDR3 Memory, 640GB HDD, DVDRW, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (2GB GDDR5), Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

My budget is about $1000, and I am going to purchase laptops at the end of February or March. So I would like to know which one is better and if paying more to get G53SX is worth it. Tell me if you have any suggestions for other laptops too, (doesn't matter if it isn't asus, just need a good graphic card)

Thanks in advance

 

you are good to go with alienware m17x or g53 because you can upgrade gpu at later stages.

 

Of the two in your post, I would opt for the 53SX purely because of the 1080p screen. Also, I am wary of buying refurbished but that is just my opinion. In both the bbk g74 and the g53sx however, the gtx 560m (normally a 192-bit card) is limited to 128 bits. I'm not sure what the real-world performance hits this will give, but it should be worth knowing.

For your budget though you're in a strange price range. A little more (150-200$) will net you a nice laptop with a 460m, 560m, equivalent ati (high-end cards) or similiar, but most of the laptops around $1000 are Gtx 555m (high-medium cards) or less.

Here is a link to comparisons among laptop video cards:
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Edit: I meant the nonrefurb laptops around ~1000$ seem to predominantly use the 555m.

 

As said above, the G74SX BBK8 version and all versions of G53SX feature the gimped 560m with only a 128bit mem bus. If gaming performance is important for you, look for either a G73SW with a 1.5GB 460m or a G74SX with a 3GB 560m. The performance is very similar, around 10% difference.