Just bought a G73JH-BST7 , now have doubts after using it. Screen and touch pad issues?

I had an Asus g71gx which I loved and it recently died (dropped it). So I stered looking for a new laptop. Budget was $1,000. I really liked the G73 series but couldn't afford them. Then I found the G73JH-BST7 for $1,199 at best buy. Don't need blue ray and I am an ocasional gamer and do some graphics and video editing.
Now after using it for internet browsing the screen looks graining and it seems like I can see rows of LED's or LCD's when there is a bright white background. Videos look great but web pages seemed to look better on my old G71gx. Also the touchpad isn't precise. It seems to "stick". Ill move my finger and the point will just stop. Performance is excellent though. Are these issues normal? Or is there something wrong with my laptop? Also it says this screen is LED but when I adjust the brightness/res it says LCD?

 

Well you need to do some updating to it first of all. There are a couple of threads that you can use to help you. I suggest you do that first. The screen is LED, and the reason it says LCD is because it is an LED backlit LCD.

You should really do all the updating to the bios, vbios, drivers etc before you make a conclusion.

Try ValkarieFire's turorial HERE


You can also get all of the drivers from Chastity's post HERE

The trackpad is kind of touchy, thats why I use a mouse 99% of the time, but I can handle it when I have to.

Anything else I can answer for you.

 

Your touchpad issues are driver issues, I had this problem with my acer.

LED and LCD are not the same - check it out on wikipedia or some such source. You'll notice they get used together - LED LCD are just LCDs that use LEDs as backlighting instead of CCFL tubes.

 

It is LCD, using LED-backlight technology.

I'm not very good about LCD quality but by the way you described the effect you see, I think your LCD not working as it should be. About the touchpad, try adjust the settings or upgrade the driver.

 

Thanks Omniscient. The performance is great. Still getting used to the new windows. My main issues are the screen and how it seems that I can see the actual LED's and the lines in them and the touch pad. Will these updates address that? Could I return the laptop even if I do the updates?

My touchpad on my g71gx rocked. I can't update anything now but I am definitly going to read all your links and update when I get home. I appreciate your quick reply.

Again thanks guys. Wish I could post a screen shot. It's not like a dead pixel or actual lines. It just looks to me like its not as clear or as sharp as it should be for a 1600 x 900 resolution. I almost looks too bright. Kind of like a plasma or LCD tv that needs to be adjust with a sharpness and brightness setting. I'll post a screen shot later.

thanks

 

The drivers will dramatically help the touchpad, but its not going to make it phenomenal. It definitely takes some getting used to.

As for your screen, without seeing it, there may be some issues. Like I said, just try updating everything first, and it it doesn't fix it, walk back in best buy and tell them you want a replacement. You can take it back after updating it because its the normal process of getting a computer.

Oh and if you decided that its NOT for you, then you will be able to not have to pay restocking fees, well because, they stopped the program!

 

I too have the grainy screen effect (I surprised so many are saying its defective - there was alot of talk about this in the BB thread), but am getting used to it. Though, at the same time, i am considering a DIY screen upgrade - at $150, its not TOO expensive, and could be fun..

But again, its no LEDs that you are seeing - your screen is LCD like any other. Its just that the backlight is LED, which is why the screen has no warm up time when you turn it on.

 

What you are seeing is called "screen-door effect". It is seen on most modern backlit LED/LCD screens. I have the AUO screen and have the same effect. It's a characteristic of the screen and doesn't mean your screen is defective. It's just a commonly used, cheap screen. Some of the LG screens are reported to be better and Alienware uses an RGB screen which is very good but also expensive. I hear the Hannstar screens are good too. But you can always pipe your output to a TV or external monitor. To me, it's not worth the expense and hassle to replace the screen.

But your screen isn't defective -- it's just not designed for optimal use for reading text... it's fine for graphics though. My games and movies look great. I don't know if the models that have the 1920x1080 screen have this effect or not. Maybe their higher resolution minimizes this effect. I wanted the 1600x900 screen because it's the perfect resolution for gaming in my opinion and that of many other gamers.. Better frame-rates and less work/heat on the GPU.

 

Thanks, that describes it perfectly. Looks like theres a "screen door" over everything. Its not only text put pictures too. I would expect better from a $1200 laptop. Now I just have to think do I want to take it back and shell out another 200 for a better g73 with high resolution.

 

Yeah, I read a lot of complain about the LCD quality on Asus notebooks. It depend on luck. Even on the same notebook's model, Asus tend to fitted different LCD brand/model.

 

Well, you may have the same effect on the higher resolution. The only solution would be to replace the screen with a better one. I'm not really that knowledgeable as to which screens are the best but I'm sure other members here can help you with that. As for doing the screen upgrade yourself... there's a good disassembly video for the G73 on YouTube and in-depth instructions with pictures here on this forum. Here's one, from a member who repasted his G73 with better thermal compound: Link to disassembly post

It doesn't look all that difficult to get the screen off. But I can't say for sure since I haven't done it myself.

I've seen this effect on notebooks from just about every manufacturer. It's definitely not just Asus. Most all of them will use the cheapest screens they can get on a volume purchase contract. If you want a good screen you usually have to go with Alienware, Apple or Sony. But you'll pay for it.

 

The Hannstar 1080p screen is quite good - but still not as nice as an MBP or Dell RBGLED screen ...

But they don't add ~200-300 to the price.

 

hey I have the EXACT same laptop, the bst7. LOVE it, and I know EXACTLY what your talking about on the screen, it has like a grainy filter but only at certain angles. Straight on its perfect, But if your to low or high (mainly lower) than the screen you see like a film grain. I am actually very used to it, and doesnt bother me (have had the bst7 for about 5ish weeks)

So id recommend keeping it, unless you REALLLY hate it, a new screen is pretty cheap and they have alot of tuts.

I just added more ram at 12gb now and added a 2nd 750gb HDD. LOVE it, runs crysis on max, and performance is great

 

I added a 2GB module to bring it up to 8GB. And my disk score is 7.8 because that's an Intel X25-M 120GB SSD. I put the 640GB in the 2nd bay for storage. Really fast now. I've been thinking about trying Crysis on this machine -- glad to hear it runs well. Which Crysis edition are you running?

 

well I played all through them all. if you mean which version, not exactly sure? I bought it on steam, and played crysis, crysis wars, and warhead. All on high and runs perfect. It has a setting higher,(cant remember name, its like ultra real or something) and it still runs great, but at insane moments with explosions and stuff got a little slow, so I just played it on HIGH on all, and of course still looks amazing and had a blast playing it.

Also make sure you update your drivers and stuff like everyone else is saying to get the best performance.

 

Yeah, no doubt about that.

Yeah, you're correct but my comment only specific to Asus notebooks. I have read a lot of post on the other forum, people complain about it. For example, my Asus notebook, there are a couple of people who owned same, identical notebook but they got AUO LCD while I got LG. So, I guess I'm lucky owner. Anyway, G73 notebook is considered the same level as Alienware notebooks, so I think Asus should fitted better LCD to it.

 

AW and Asus are different in many ways. AW has a metal chassis and they use the RGB-LED screen (very nice). But they're very expensive and they have their own set of problems... check out the Alienware sections on NBR, they seem to have more problems than we do with our G73s. I went with Asus because I get the same or better CPU and same GPU as the AW for a lot less money (and the G73 is quite a bit lighter). You can get dual 5870s in Crossfire with the AW, but that comes with cooling problems and some games get confused by the mobile Crossfire setup or aren't coded to use dual GPUs.

 

You are getting confused over the different G73 models. The one you have is a budget design, using a 1600x900 LCD panel. It's common knowledge that even the best AUO or LG 1600x900 panel are inferior to the Full HD panels. So, you get what you pay for.

 

I'm quite happy with my "inferior" 1600x900 screen. I get higher framerates in games since the GPU has a lot fewer pixels to push around. Helps with heat issues too... less load on the ATI card. Also, I never see the screendoor effect except on a white background and at certain angles and brightness levels. For gaming and movies this screen works just fine. Of course, I'd love to have the Macbook "retinal" screen or the AW RGB-LED, but they cost a fortune. Maybe in the next laptop. When I want better display, I pipe the video output to an external monitor or TV via HDMI.

It's been a month now with a lot of heavy gaming and my idle temp is still in the mid 40's (C) and it's yet to reach higher than 71°C even when playing Crysis on the highest settings. Hopefully I can put off re-pasting for a long time... but I'll probably sell it before that becomes necessary. I won't get concerned about it until it hits mid-90's or higher under load.

I don't have the touchpad driver installed and the touchpad is disabled in the BIOS. If this were a highly portable computer that I ran all over town with then I might be concerned about the touchpad. But it spends 90% of it's time at home on my desk and I always use a mouse. Who games with a touchpad?

 

Hi All, Looks like a great forum you guys have here. For my first post I have question about my G73JH-BST7 I just ordered and should be here on the 21st.
I went ahead and bought this model with the 1600x900 lcd knowing that I could upgrade at a later date to a 1920x1080 lcd for less than $200. But I just read on another forum that this model G73 from BB can not be upgraded do to the motherboard not being compatible with a high res lcd. Is this true? and has anyone here done this upgrade on the model?

Thanks guys,

 

Joester: That is entirely false

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...84-upgrading-g73jh-best-buy-screen-guide.html

 

Yes you can. Full HD LCD required 2-channel LVDS transmitter. Resolution start from 1440x900 required 2-channel LVDS transmitter. Since yours already have 1600x900 LCD, that means the motherboard or specifically the LVDS connector already support full HD LCD you want to upgrade to.