Just ordered an G73 had a few questions...

First off I want to know if I got a good deal. I ordered it from power notebooks. Here are the specs and tag.

ASUS G73JH-S1 Gaming Laptop

17.3" Full HD (1920x1080) LED backlit Widescreen LCD - IN STOCK READY TO BUILD & SHIP
ASUS 30 Day Zero Bright Dot Guarantee
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5870 w/1GB GDDR5
Intel® Core™ i7-720QM (1.6~2.8GHz, 45W) w/6M L3 Cache - 4 Cores, 8 Threads
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU FREE w/CPU Upgrade
8GB (4 SODIMMS) DDR3/1333 Memory
Intel® X25-M 80GB SATA II Solid-State Drive
500GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive
4x Blu-Ray Read/8x Super Multi Combo Drive
Internal 8-in-1 Card Reader: MMC/SD/Mini-SD/XD/Memory Stick/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo
Built-in Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 Wireless Card
Built-in Bluetooth Wireless 2.0+EDR
Smart Li-ion Battery 8-Cell
Windows 7 Premium - 64-Bit Pre-installed w/Recovery Partition + Drivers & Utilities CD
ASUS OS Recovery DVD
Full Range Auto Switching AC Adapter
ASUS Gaming Mouse by Razer
ASUS Gaming Backpack
Global Two Year Warranty + 1 Year ADP + 24/7 ASUS Support

$1,994.00

Any information I should know about this notebook. I haven't purchased a cpu in about 5 years and this is my first laptop. When I receive my G73 is there any updates I should know about, I been reading a lot on this site about driver and BIOS updates, but I am still clueless. I keep seeing a lot of problems after upgrades. What I really want to know is what I need to do to this machine when I first receive it. Thanks in advance, you guys are very knowledgeable, many of your posts convinced me to purchase an Asus.

-Frankie

 

I tend to clone the original config to an external drive and put the copy away. If you don't have an external drive lying about, create the recovery DVDs.

Make sure creative bass boost is turned off in the control panel, get rid of the Anti-Virus it came with and get the free Microsoft Security Essentials or one of the other free options recommended here.

Once that's done, use the machine. Load some games and try it out. If it works and you enjoy it don't update anything other than the std MS updates. If you don't have any issues and all your games work you don't need BIOS or driver updates.

If you insist on installing new video drivers, trying to get the creative stuff working or updating your bios, there are many thread here that will help you. Just proceed with caution and at your own risk.

Cheers,

 

Do a fresh Windows install if you dont want all the bloat that comes slowing the system down (as people claim 77 processes running on the install that comes with the laptop).
There are threads how to do a fresh install on the g73jh, just look them up.

 

Uninstalling any of the "bloat" you do not want has nearly the same effect as a fresh install with none of the hassles.

I have 75 process on my laptop right now but that is with all my programs installed so about 30+ of them are things I added.

But here is the key thing of those 75 processes its using between 0 and 1% of my cpu at any given time and 25% of my RAM. (edit 1% with my media player running, turned it off and it wont even go to 1% lol and RAM dropped to 22%, the rest is taken up by large things like Photoshop loaded up @ start)

In other words its not slowing anything down, and even if you got it down to the bare essentials windows needs to run the system would still be the same speed.

Too many myths about clean installs running about and how processes are slowing things down. Just look at the hard data and stop going by what other people say.

 

Look this thread It will answer all your questions.

 

Also. This one.

 

And of course This One

I'll look over your individual threads later and add them to the master list of useful threads if they look good.

 

thanks guys for all the insight. Time to start researching and reading. Can't wait to receive my G73!

 

First, doing a clean install is not a hassle. In writing the guide I did several and I never considered it difficult or time consuming. Second, "nearly" does not equal the "same", so it appears that you would agree that a clean install would be better if given the choice. Third, a clean install could eliminate issues later on. Forth, we both know how good of a job uninstalling does, so if you have, lets say a 80GB SSD, the last thing you want is orphaned anything left to rot on the hard drive. Fifth, it's comforting to know that you built your house on a good solid foundation and not one you scraped clean.

I see I already made it to your user supplied links area, thanks.

 

First - If it is a hassle or not is an opinion, I for one consider it to be a hassle I only do it if needed.

Second - Nearly meaning about the only difference is a few registry entries are left behind that do absolutely nothing. So I cant say its the same since its not the same, but its functionally the same. 30 seconds with a registry cleaner can make it exactly the same.

Third - A clean isntall can also create many issues later on. I cant even count the number of "help me" threads where people had issues after doing a clean install. Missing drivers, driver conflicts. You name it, and I defintily know I have seen more of those "help me" threads from somebody doing a clean isntall on a system than from somebody that just uninstalled a few things they did not need.

One can create a problem, the other really cant so I think you have it totally backwards on your third point.

Fourth - Again back to some of the prior points and even prior thread postings, uninstalling takes away everything, rarely it may leave behind a registry entry or something like a configuration file. Even if it left behind every bit of Asus stock bloatware on the machine during uninstall that would be like 1GB max of stuff? I can just got into C: and delete it pretty easy at any time as well.

But it does not leave that stuff behind, it may leave behind a .cfg file or something that takes up like 10kb of space. Nothing that would effect your 80GB SSD, and that is only if you had a 80GB SSD.. it comes with 500GB HDD's TWO of them! (A1 & A2 Asus Models) Plus if you had a new SSD you would be doing a new install anyways wouldnt you? We are talking about people who just got the machine in its default state.

Fifth - This is the same as your point #3 just applied from a different standpoint. You can actually do more harm than good with a clean install if you mess up. If you just uninstall stuff your not risking anything.

There is nothing wrong with a clean install, but dont go about giving wrong and false ideas about how necessary it is or advantages it gives. its merely an alternative to uninstalling the bloatware nothing more, nothing less.

The time for a clean install is after a machine has been in use for a long time and has collected a large amount of installs/uninstalls/malware/virus/codecs/drivers.

This is when a clean isntall make sense as often times repair of a OS in that bad of a shape is not 100% but a factory fresh system with a few extra programs on it is totally not the same situations. Its taking the long way around for no reason. Its like going all the way around the block to visit your neighbors rather than just walking across the yard. You can make up any reasons you want as to why the long way is better but it does not make it true.

Hard data is the only thing that makes it true, not your placebo driven beliefs.

 

When I talked to powernotebooks.com this morning they said they will take care of any excess 'bloat' that is unnecessary and will update drivers, BIOS, etc. before shipping, can I take their word for it. They're also including recovery discs. The guy Tim on the phone was very helpful, and patient with my numerous questions... I thought I knew about computers, but obviously I'm a newb to what you guys know lol. Did I make the right choice going with Power Notebooks?

 

@ViciousXUSMC

Very well said!! I've never done a clean install on a brand new system.

Cheers,

 

If you leave it in its factory state (don't update drivers, don't update bios, don't do a clean install), then the only issue you may have is with creative audio until they make an update.

However, the ati updates are nice.... real nice but most probably don't even care or need it. If you update drivers, you may or may not experience the gsod, bsod problems. If you do, just ask away and you will get help

also, I doubt you need the thermal compound unless u plan to overclock your gpu. I overclocked mine to 800/1100 before with out upgrading my thermal compound and it stays under 75c.

I love this laptop

 

yes you did. I bought mine from powernotebooks and they are some awesome peps everything is tested before it is shipped to you.

 

I didn't do a clean install on the G73JH system as per Vicious's reasoning.

But, when I do get an SSD, I have that warm fuzzy feeling knowing that Kalim has got me covered with a comprehensive tutorial.

There. Conflict resolution.

 

Yup. More or less. Unless knowing exactly what's installed on your computer is important to you. Although I do run A/V, I like to be able to scan the registry for inconsistencies, in case something gets by the A/V. And if I don't do a fresh install, I don't know what all the programs are (by sight .. there is always google, I suppose).

Also, a fresh install is only 20-30 minutes with windows 7. Even faster if it's on a USB key, and I'd rather do that ... then use the "uninstall" bloatware step by step that takes just as long.

 

I <3 that reply! Going to have to save this for the rampant Kalimisms about.