Going to buy a G73, help me decide....refirbished or new!

Ok I found a brand new G73 with core i7 740 and 5870m for $1099 with just a manufacturers warranty or the same model refirbished but iwth a core i7 720 for almost the same price AND has a 3 YEAR extended warranty. What do I do here? New or refirb. Help me!!! Thanks for all suggestions!

- Matt

 

How long is the manufacturers warranty?

 

I love my refurbished one. The way I look at it is, they have already fixed all of the problems that the machine had and it should be good to go, especially if you get a 3 year warranty. It also allows you to upgrade the ram/hdd/whatever you need/want to do. I saved nearly 400 bucks on mine and haven't fully decided what all I'm going to do.

 

Manufacturer's warranty is 1 year parts and labor. I'm on the fence. I think these models are the bst7 and rbbx05. Is the bst7 with the core i7 740 that much better?

 

No, BST ones are more gimp imo. Crappier screen for sure. I'd get the refurb with 3 year if it's an A1/A2/B1/B2/X1/X2 model. These have the higher speed ram and larger screen resolution.

 

The rbbxo5 and the bst7 have the same screen. Also the bst7 comes with 1333mhz ram and the i7-740qm.

 

Here's the skinny. I'm getting a G73 to replace my G51vx with a t9600 2.8ghz c2d processor. Is this a worthy upgrade? I bought it for 600 bux on ebay awhile back. So is the 1099 justified here or should I wait? Thanks for all the help.

- Matt

 

Well I had a gateway FX with a 8800m GTS and a X9000 @ 3.6 that died and best buy gave me the bst7 as a replacment. It was not a huge increase in performance but it is nice to now have a quad core and dx11 GPU. If you can wait I would try to get a machine with a 6970.

 

No, it's not a significant upgrade.

Honestly, it's a lot of money for a relatively small upgrade. Especially if you have a FHD screen now, and have to get a lower res one on the g73. I've had a g51vx, and I should have never returned it. I ended up paying almost 2x for my g73, and I regret it

 

As an option, here's a refurb at Best Buy, the Best Buy JH version for $829.99 with store pickup:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+...lack/1675468.p?id=1218278292533&skuId=1675468

 

What the hell how'd u find this? Only in your area or what? I've been searching all day but no luck finding a refurb in bestbuy. Still thinking getting the new this week. But still looking for a chance to get a decent refurb.

 

Glad to catch this thread. I'm also trying to decide which place to go for the laptop. Would you guys bank on Best buy or JR having better refurbished models?

 

Buy new for the little extra cash. Why would you want someone else's nightmare? they're refurbished for a reason. I know a few people who purchased refurb G73 from best buy and returned them and bought new. I just repurchased the newer G73JH-BST7 for the newer i7 and love love love it, don't think i need or want the sandy bridge model . Gave the Sony Vaio to the Mrs.

 

You are the only person who has said that. I have not seen a single person on here complain about there refurbished G73, unless they were to lazy to update.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with 99% of refurbished, just like "retail" pieces. I know for a fact that they aren't all "someone else's nightmare", but more along the lines of pull from the line because of a flaw/failure which is then fixed. I have not had a single breath of bad luck from my machine, but I've also taken the proper precautions.

 

I'm talking about best buy. Here's a little story I witnessed at best buy. I purchased the Samsung Galaxy tab (I'm a fanatic with my new stuff out of the box) anyway, the tab had scuff marks on the bottom case and 2 lit pixels. to make a long story short, the sales person only added a screen protector and placed it back in the inventory and re-sell it with the screen protector as a perk. Maybe someone else wont care?

 

That I can understand and should be reported to best buy corporate. My refurb came through their online store.

There are people who wont care/don't know, but that doesn't make that part of it ok.

I was saying that most refurbs are pulled before they are shipped and reconditioned and tested.

 

Where are you buying it from? A refurbished unit will be alright as long it is from a reputable company and the warranty is 100% intact.

 

I searched on ebay and came up with those two choices. When I asked the question initially I didn't know that the processor and the ram was better in the bst7. I have a 500gb 7200 rpm hard drive from the g51 i could use. I mean if i'm not really gonna notice the difference though then I'm not sure going to all the trouble here is really necessary. I just think that with hyper threading that there can be 8 threads of data going at once and I'm stuck with a c2d and just 2 measly threads. I hate making decisions.

 

No, you're not understanding how it works. You put the G73 in your online cart, you pay for it, and as part of the process, you can have it sent to your local Best Buy for pickup. They will send you an email letting you know when it will arrive. So you don't need to drive around or call your local Best Buy, just do it this way and you'll get your "decent refurb."

 

Well not to p!ss on your parade but here's a review I copied and paste from a buyer of a refurb G73 from best buy. He had pros and cons but I only copied the cons.



"The computer was far from being in an as new condition the way Best Buy describes a refurbished laptop. Here are the problems:
1. The keyboard was as dirty as it gets. It seemed to me that someone spilled some sort of liquid on it and never bothered to wipe it down.
2. The HDD still contained all the data from the previous owner, and I mean all of it: files, games, usernames, location - NY, widgets, clock settings on the EST.
3. Last but not least the computer would not boot unless IT wanted to. It was like a game. Press the power button and pray it will display the startup screen. Considering all the observed issues with the booting, and from what i've read online about this model on forums, me and one of my friends who is an electrical engineer and fellow geek "determined" - more like we are guessing - that the power source has/ had some issues.
The status of the unit is: RETURNED
Why? Unfortunately even with an extended warranty Best Buy's service department does not service these units. Which leaves you with a replacement unit if they still have it in stock online, and since they didn't they offered me any computer in the price range they had in the store or online. Let's be serious ... no computer comes close to the specs in $900.
Overall impression: I do not think there was any refurbishment done on the unit prior to selling it. I am not sure who's fault it is ASUS, Best Buy, or a third party who was supposed to do the refurbishment. Best Buy did wipe the HDD clean and offered me the restore CD with Windows through their Geek Squad and overall I am satisfied with what they tried to do. Unfortunately they do not service it so I had to return it.
ASUS will take 10-14 business days to return the computer to you if you decide to send it in for repairs so that would be more than the return time allowed by Best Buy.
Again, the status of the unit: Used for 12 days and RETURNED due to lack of options and flexibility from Best Buy and ASUS".

 

I understand that this does happen, but it is not usual. Go look at the other refurbished threads and look at how many of us have bought them and had 0 issues. I know how this goes though, 1000 people buy it and 2 have an issue and you only hear about those 2, and not the othre 998.

Again, I stand behind my machine and Asus/Best Buy. If you buy from reputable place, and spend a little time getting the machine ready, you'll have NO issues.

 

Don't go by what I reply, I'm an extremist when it comes to anything I buy. I've returned numerous products for the littlest defects like tiny scratches or blemishes caused on the production line and don't get me started on dead or lit pixels. I envy anyone who's nonchalant about these things as it is these things that make it a daunting task for me anytime I buy new tech, it has to be perfect no ifs or buts. That's just me.

 

I think you're missing one important point if someone does the refurb Best Buy thing and picks it up at their local Best Buy. You can go to your Best Buy when they notify you your unit is there, and inspect and boot up the machine to make sure everything is to your liking. If it passes your own inspection, great, if not, just reject the unit and they will send you another one. Inspecting the unit before you actually take it home is a huge advantage since one usually does not get to do this with a refurb unit. Purchasing a refurb unit online does not allow you do anything like this so in a way, this eliminates some of the risk.

 

A Core i7 isn't a significant upgrade from a Core 2 Duo? lol

 

Not really when you come from the high end core 2 duos. My old X9000 could keep up with my i7-740qm.

 

Get a new one, refurb doesn't have the same feeling of a brand new one