Hesistant about purchasing an Asus...

First, let me say hello as this is my first post here.

I've been a laptop enthusiast - particularly for games - since dedicated gfx cards first started making their way into "mainstream" offerings on a fairly regular basis... lets just say 10-ish years(?)

I am currently looking to update my household since both my wife and I have fallen behind the times and have been looking specifically at the Asus G53 as a possible replacement for our aging HP's.

Currently, Amazon has a very tempting offer for a new G53 here. I am aware it's not an i7, but honestly, I am more interested in the GT 460M and 4 RAM slots than I am the processor.

Having said that; I have read numerous horror stories concering the build quality of G-series notebooks. Astonishing as it is to me (Asus has been a trusted name in my household since the early 90's), the reports of issues seem to be frequent and varied: power button issues, pin/ plug issues, dead pixel/ bad screen issues, etc., etc.

Now, logic tells me that customers who experienced issues are far more likely to post on-line than those who've had no problems. My question to you good folks is this: in your experience, am I seeing the outcry of a vocal minority, or should I simply avoid these notebooks and move on to (possibly) greener pastures?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Will try and keep my opinion simple I love my G73 and the build quality is not a horror story and I have found it a very good gaming laptop and the style even better but yes like every notebook they do come with their own specific problems, mine being the G73JH I can assure you we have been the worst off in that department but since fixed I would also say we are now some of the best off in the price vs power ratio.

The G53 can have the pin problem I have read about and can run slightly hotter than the G73. Personally I really like the G53 and if I didnt need a 17 inch home desktop replacement I would have got it.

The I5 is fine and its more than enough for gaming.
460M 192bit is a good card.
As you say lots of space for RAM and two HDD.

People are going to give you their own opinion depending on if they own Asus or dont and we get a few people who pop on from the Alienware forum who seem to have got lost on their way to the toilet

The best thing you can do if breeze through a few posts about the G53SW on the G-series forum. The decision is yours my personal opinion is once bought you wont be facing any regret. I cant help you with price comparison im afraid. Post back and update what you decide on reviews of the G53SW seem few and far between.

 

I will have to say that I love my ASUS notebooks (I have 2 right now) one of which is a 15" G series model. They have been reliable for me in the past, and I would say that a majority of those I have seen with the G series have been pretty happy. They are built solidly, and for your usage I think they will be great machines.

 

i just recieved my xa1 from amazon and it was shipped to my wife who installed some programs for me then shipped it to Afghanistan and i recieved it with no issues! I did by the 90 degree plug just for convenience though. Other then that has been great and is awesome. I too did read all the reviews but then found this site and read in the owners lounge for the G53sw and thats what made me get mine, very informative in the owners lounge if you have any issues just read up there. But mine so far so good is great!

 

Heads up, the non-i7 versions don't always have 4 ram slots.

 

I appreciate the feedback thus far! It's really been down to this or a Dell XPS... I've always wanted a backlit keyboard and this time I will have one!

Thing is, I've actually cooked a GPU in the past (years ago in the fledgling days of gaming laptops), so the internal temps frequently reported on the XPS make me a bit uncomfortable.

Asus has the airflow, the price, the LCD and the performance card I want so I'm currently thinking I may just pull the trigger - as soon as the 'boss' gives the okay. It's heartening to hear from satisfied customers. =)

@ DCx : Appreciated. This one is specifically advertised as having 4 SODIMM sockets, so no worries there - that coupled with my recent realization that paired RAM is no longer a "must" makes this a VERY attractive system.

Cheers!

 

I bought and returned a Dell XPS 17 a few months ago. The backlit keyboard was DOA, in addition, I noticed two things that really turned me off: 1. the metal body gets HOT after long period of use (especially for gaming), so if you use ASDW keys for movement control, the palm rests may get uncomfortable; 2. the fan gets loud, much louder than the ASUS G series.

Other than those things, Dell XPS are wonderful and have much better customer service compared to ASUS.

 

Go for the G73 or G74 heres a link for the G74 alot cheaper then the G73JH-A2 that i have

Buy the ASUS G73SW-XT1 17.3 Black Laptop at TigerDirect.ca

 

Completly agreed with Dallers; and having so many ASUS products myself, all doing just fine, I wouldnt worry. And as someone else above mentioned, the right angle connector/converter should help with any worries concerning the power plug.

 

I wouldn't buy in too much to what you see here as far as threads. Naturally people with issues are going to come to a forum which clearly offers support, so you're inevitably going to see a lot of people with problems. This might make you worry, but don't fear, I strongly suspect the amount of satisfied users out there strongly strongly outnumber the ones with problems. Just remember, people are far more vocal about bad situations than they are about the good.

The G53 should suit you just fine.

 

Go ahead with the G53. It's a wonderful piece of machine.

 

i have the g53jw but with the i7, and my brother have the g73jh, mine runs perfectly stable and i have had 0 issues with it and 0 bsod/gsod, but my brother with the g73jh have random shutdowns and gsods even after applying the vbios to the video card. just saying that the g53 are more stable than the g73 especially with their awesome nvidia cards while the j73 have the ati , good luck with the purchase

 

^^ I wouldn't say that necessarily; just that the JH is in a lot more hands so the opportunity for something to go wrong or just little oddities is higher. Perhaps you should direct him to this forum??

 

If you have already ordered then disregard this post, otherwise look up on newegg for the XN1, it has i7 while being just $50 higher than yours XA2 (after rebate)

 

The JH can have as many problems as it likes in my eyes because line it up with the Asus releases a year later and it still owns them

Asus are a bit like an Irishman rowing backwards.

 

sorr this is a little off topic but since dallers in here i wanted to ask him a question, i found the 920xm for $280 on ebay and it is used is that good or bad ? also i found the new one for $325 which one you recommend to me ?

does it matter if the cpu is new or used ? XD

 

Any hardware is a risk if it is used but you have to decide on the reliability of the item and seller by looking at their personal feedback and/or how old how much the unit has been used etc...

Bit like my purchase at the moment for an SSD I just cant consider something that is used because you just dont know what has been done to it. I would personally only recommend new to you, and from my experience Laptop monkey have been the best hardware seller for me of cheap upgrades. All 3 purchases have arrived and work in pristine order and condition and I managed to save 100's off the retail price.

 

My vote goes to i7-equipped G53sw. Is what i bought and im really happy of the machine.
Im taking the habit to use it alot on battery and im impressed by the duration, coming from gaming laptops with 1 hour.
I managed to pull off 3 hours from a charged battery, this including browsing, playing, other things.
Power Gear profiles works good too.

 

Also remember that i5 machines are limited to 8GB RAM, and i7 can go to 32GB RAM. IMO, an i7 buy is worth it. Also note that W7 Home Premium is limited to 16GB.