Help with laptop purchase

Hi, I am planing on getting a new Asus laptop and am not very good with the technical aspects. So far I've narrowed it down to two,

G53sw-xn1 from newegg
Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G53SW-XN1 Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M

or

G73jh_bt8 from btotech
g73jh-bt8-refurbished www.BTOtech.com

I was mainly wondering if anyone has ordered a refurbished laptop before and what their experience with it is.

With the money I save on the refurbished one I could have them upgrade it. What upgrades would you recommend?

I would like the laptop to be able to play modern games with relatively high settings.
Thanks for the help

 

The asus G series isn't that upgradeable aside from the usual RAM and HDD. There's no way to upgrade the video card (that we know of) and the only CPU upgrade worth it in a JH would be getting an i7-920/940xm which will cost you over $500 or getting a 1080p LCD which will bring the price around that of the G53SW which already has a 1080p display.

Moral of the story: get the G53SW or a G73SW.

 

I say go with the G53SW for sure, it uses the new second gen core i cpu so you're getting the latest technology. When looking at the G73JH you're already two models behind. The JH was phased out and replaced by the G73JW, then that was replaced by the G73SW.

With the money you save you can have them upgrade it but only to a first gen core i. The 2630QM in the G53SW outperforms all first gen mobile cpus.

 

SW is the better choice but you are spending a lot more for a few fixes, a better resolution and a sandy bridge. The Sandy may be the dogs but the 460 is slightly inferior to the JH 5870M at the cost of a few issues that need fixing.

The 460 will outdate the Sandy very quickly not worth the cost imo. Hold on for a G74 if you are looking to spend out the full price.

My setup sig was 3 months out of the 3 months Best Buy warranty when I got it and that cost me only 500GBP or $800 second hand. Few fixes, a repaste and it runs like a dream. Bargain.

 

I think Asus eliminated most 'problems' with the last revision of JH.

 

Of course they did. For me you are a frustrated spammer.

 

Most yes but not all some problems are just so hard to diagnose and what works for one person does not work for another. I fixed my touchpad before my hard drive failed and since reinstalling with W7 ultimate I have tried every fix in the book and nothing worked.

Then all of a sudden it stops sticking and lagging for no reason at all, the JH has one thing and thats character

With the latest BIOS/VBIOS/Repaste and drivers it provides fantastic performance and for half the price of a SW its a worthy choice. I would never look back since I got mine.

 

+1 agreed.

 

I would say they did.

 

I'd get the JH and have BTO add a HDD. A 5400 RPM is a bit slow for a boot drive. A SSD, or Momentus XT would be nice for the quick boot times. Use the other drive for storage.

 

Yep, not everything is perfect, but there's nothing preventing the laptop from functioning either. Gaming: get a JH, if you need more juice out of your CPU: SW.

 

Thanks for all the input. It seems right now the g53sw is a very good machine for what I need. I wasn't looking to spend to much more then 1300 so it fits that price too.

So I think the next time newegg gets them in stock I will purchase one.

One last question. Could some one point me in the direction of a good blue ray optical drive that I can install into the G53sw. I don't need to be able to burn blue rays just watch em. Thank you.