Help selecting a G73 variant

My mom just passed last month and I am now a dual resident of NJ and now PA. I thought lugging the P7805 would be fine along with lugging my U81 too but this is a PITA. So I want to stay 1920 and can live with 1080 so the G73 seems to fit the bill.

I am tring to decide between the G73jh-b1 and the G73jw-a1. Primary differnce I can see is the video card and ram speed. The ram speed does not hinder me between the two, so long as an easy upgrade to 16GB, but the video may.

So the question, while I prefer ATI, is what benchmarks are you guys getting stock on say 3DMark06 and Vantage and when you OC what settings are stable and the speed increases you see?

I am not a gamer right now but I will be retiring in 2/2011 and will maybe have some time to start playing some games then. So to those who own and use these what are your experiences..........

 

jw. my heat hasnt gone bast 68 degrees while playing Arcania, meanwhile my gtx260m in my g71gx hit 91 degrees

EDIT: the jh has (allegedly) slightly more graphical power, but it runs hotter, and theres a number of problems you'll need to have fixed right away. the jw also has a usb 3.0 port.

my bad, pretty bad mistake. the jh runs hotter.

 

there's lot of diffefrences between two.. yes u right on the GPU... ati has 1gb while nvidia has 1.5.... im not sure, but some says that ati is a little powerful than the nvidia.. based on the benchmarks.... also.. he's right that nvidia gets hotter than ati... and even ati, right now, for some owners, are getting overheat problem so they do repasting and/or RMA it... some also said that cooling on jw is better than jh... on ram... there's not that much increase on power between the two... so eithier of them is fine.... it is really your choice... both of them works perfectly... and really rock all the games out there..

 

The JH runs about 10 degrees hotter than the JW. Pretty standard for ATI vs. Nvidia. Other than that ... *shrugs* ... I'd get the cheaper one, because they're isn't a huge difference.

 

I didn't realize the JW has Usb 3.0, but does it also cure the close quaters of the two USB ports on the right side? Since I'm primarily looking at desktop usage the USB 3.0 is a boon...............

 

the ports are directly next to each other on the right hand side. and on the left hand side theres on in the front and one in the back of the side.

 

the JH has 2 ports close to each other on right hand side.. personally , i got the JH due to better ATI card basically.. i've got not faith in their overheating products...if u don't need USB3.0 or HDMI 1.4 , G73JH is perfect.

 

comming from the guy whos signature is
"1GB GDDR5 ATI Mobility HD 5870(Best GPU in World)"

 

I think the ATI is slightly faster than the nVidia, at least at stock clocks. I just am slightly disapointed with nVidia since the solder debackle. This is why I would have prefered ATI.

The cooler temps of the jw though and more importantly USB 3.0 may sway me. looking at the video from xotic the ports are still on top of one another on the right hand side. It would have been nice to see that addressed.

The 460 at stock clocks is a bit faster than my 9800m GTS is overclocked, at least that is nice too see. Not by a huge amount though........

 

If it was my choice I'd go with the JW. Pretty much the same price ($1450 at amazon), and you get a cooler running gpu and a single USB 3.0 port.

However! There are more people here who have JH's and if you buy a JW you will not have as many people to talk to on this board

 

jw has been out for one month, jh has been out for many. trust me, more jw owners are on their way since im pretty sure that the g73jh is being discontinued now.

 

I agree the JH has had longer to get a fanbase going, but I think the reason there are so many JH owners here is because it has had so many issues. Now since the JW doesn't have those issues, there are fewer reasons for a JW owner to come to this forum. If my JH hadn't overheated, I probably never would have come here. I do agree that more JW owners are on the way though and that the JH is on the way out.

 

If my G73JH does not come with 2x Momentus XT and a Blu Ray Writer, i'll take G73JW any day.

I find nVidia drivers are better and more frequently updated. Modded nVidia laptop drivers are easy to get.

Go for G73JH if you could get a good deal, as it's an older model now and the prices are dropping.

 

If you're going to get the JW wait until next month/holidays to get the 3D version. Not for the 3D, but for the potential of much superior PQ in the 120hz display needed for 3D.

Another reason to consider the JW (and I say this as a JH-A1 owner) is the possibility of more games using Nvidia's "PhysX" if it manages to become more prevalent. Though the only place where it seemed to really shine and be noticeable for me was in Batman:AA

If you get the JW, wait for the 3D version and a potentially superior display than any of the G73's currently available.

If/when the reviews come out and show that the panel is any better than the current one (I have the Hannstar and I love it. Incredible PQ. My ISF certified HT calibrater for my Pioneer Kuro was even remarking at the notebook's superior PQ)

If this 120hz panel is any better than what I already, I'll be either picking it up and throw this one to my wife or use for backup, or move this machine to get into that one.

I'm also waiting to see how much drivers can push performance on the 460m compared to the 5870m once they get some proper driver updates going and see what she can do.

My vote is to wait to see how the 3D JW specs out compared to the current models. It's only 4-8 weeks away before it's available for purchase

 

Actually I was looking at the video's of the games running on the JH and JW, non overclocked. The JH seems to trounce the JW pretty badly in alot of them. Crysis 1920x1080 4xAA is a big example. Doesn't matter how cool it runs, if the game is unplayable at the eye candy level then it will run even cooler when the game isn't being played at all.

I would love the USB 3.0 but looking at those video's has me leaning heavily to a G73jh-B1. I don't care about the single bar as I always use a mouse. Video bios flash isn't a hessitation either. I'm not crazy about redoing the GPU with ICD but nothing I'm not fully capable of doing.

 

Guys, I'd like in on this conversation please. I just came from best buy and looked at the following:
G73JH-B5T7 with
i7, 740, 1.73Ghz
650GB drive at 5400 rpm
6GB
Radeon HD5870 at 1GB

For $1199.

First, is this a good price?

Second, can I get it cheaper somewhere else?

Third, is the Warranty 2 years? BB only lists 1 year but I think it's 'cause they're too damn stupid to know what they're doing.

Is the keyboard backlit?

Can I change the backlighting colors myself?

I've seen that you can you put a HD instead of the optical drive. Is this hard and can you swap back and forth or do you have to open the puter every time?

What about the rubber coating on the puter. Isn't that gonna look bad after some time? I mean, unless you armor all the hell outta it, how do you keep it nice?

I'm getting an HP dv7t with similar specs at a similar price but I'm intrigued by the Asus.

Also, I have a poor experience with their support on a graphic card I have. I could never get them, left messages and no one ever called me back.
How IS their support?

Thanks

George