Just placed order for a G73JW-3DE, was it a mistake?

Hello all,

I'm currently using a 7 year old Dell that I have upgraded all that is possible and performance is just not acceptable anymore. So I began looking for my next 5+ year laptop (I don't play games on the pc). I do allot of photoshopping (working with RAW format really taxes my current system) and video editing. I found the G73JW-3DE and all it goodies that it comes with and couldn't wait to order. Now that I placed my order I have been reading all the threads in this forum and am left with a sinking feeling that I am making a big mistake.

After reading about the keybord hit detection, lagging, touchpad (with no fix yet), sound problems I am second guessing my selection. What makes me the most uneasy is from all the responses I get the impression Asus does not care and will not fix these issues.

With all that is known, would you still get this model? I know no laptop is perfect, but this one seems to have problems with basic\essential components.

Since my laptop is not in stock yet I think I have a small window of opportunity to change my order (havent asked yet as store is not yet open for me to ask). At the very least it appears the seagate HDs have faulty firmware and I'd be better off getting another brand.

I been looking at the Sager brand and it seems I can get a very comparable laptop for only a little more money (not having an OS installed is not a problem, already have windows). The only dissapointing thing is no 3D and glossy screens, the matte finish screen of the G73JW-3DE was a HUGE selling point for me, I don't care for the glossy screens. Now I need to go check the Sager boards out to see if they have any show stoppers.

But I really wanted to hear from people that already own a G73JW series laptop and see if they regret the decision. If so, what would you have bought instead? I'm willing to go a little higher in price, but would love to still have 16 gigs of ram (I see allot capped at 8).

Thanks for any input.

 

Not a mistake but CES 2011 is next week buddy

G73SW and G53SW is coming

 

Pretty sure it's mostly fixed.

 

g73sw is not any better really than a g73jh with a 940qm....the benchmarks are he same especially when overclocked.

 

I understand, but I really need a new laptop and I'm sure every 2 months you could say model XXXX is coming soon. The waiting game will never end. G73JW-3DE has everything I need if it works the way it should and is a HUGE upgrade to my current system.

 

id say for for it, gaming wise the SW model will be the same, the new processors wont matter much at all

 

I'm going to have to remain neutral b/c my was problems out of the box and I'd end up giving you a biased opinion

You're right on Asus not caring much. A perfect example is the game freezes/lag bursts I called Asus, they said I had a faulty HD and told me to RMA it. Instead, a user on these forums found out what it was (power4gear) and adjusting a certain setting to stop the lag forever.

I called them many many times this month and it seems that 90% of them speak "ghetto-english" and I can't for the life of me understand this "type" of english. Hell, a Dell Indian rep is more clear than these guys.

But before I rant you to death, I'll say it's GOOD ...only if you have patience to take care of the problems on your own with no support. I'll let you guys know the BIOS update result when I end up doing it to see if it does infact fix the keys/touch. My phone support experience has pushed me away from asus over the month.

 

I just bought an ASUS G73JW-ROG which appears to be the G73JW-3DE with 8 GB more memory (16GB compared with 8GB) to replace my failed Dellware M17X R1. I'm not a big gamer (StarCraft II, WOW, World in Conflict, etc) but I'm a rabid photographer (Canon 10D and 7D) and use DPP, Adobe CS2, LightRoom 3, and Adobe Elements Premiere Elements 8 and so far the performance has been phenomenal.

The system has handled RAW conversions in both DPP and LR much better than my m17x did and the rendering times in Premiere has been so much faster I'm actually considering doing more video capture with my 7D (once it gets back from Canon) because it seems like its much less time intensive.

 

Heck yeah it's better, the $2500 price tag says it's better.

 

I would agree with this. Unless you are doing a ton of calculations or 3D/Image rendering on your CPU, or tons of encoding with x264 @ placebo preset, you're not going to notice any difference in performance in web browsing, gaming, basic video editing, photoshop etc.

 

i hope your not serious, look up the benchmarks on the SW, performance espeically in gaming is equal or even worse

 

Thanks for all the replies. TBO, I'm not really interest in the performance in other models (there is always something more powerful), the G73JW-3DE will do everything I need. I'm only interested in whether the G73JW-3DE will work problem free on the most basic of operations like typing and the touchpad as stated before.

 

Yup, generally speaking it's good.

 

The people with issues, fortunately for Asus, is less than it can appear here on the forums. While we do have a strong vocal minority, the majority of owners have no problems. I just asked a new owner if he had keyboard of trackpad issues, and he said no. I suspect that your unit should be fine.

However, if you do have a problem, you can swing by here or at asusrog.com (link in sig) forum for help. Both forums are being used for beta testing the issues with the G73 series, so you will likely see fixes here or there first.

I have a G53JW-3DE on the way here as well.

 

After reading the findings from people installing beta bios 3 I think I'm really regretting this decision. I'm definitely calling tomorrow to see if I can still change to something not Asus. I'm spending $2500 on a laptop, and for that price the keyboard and touchpad better work!

 

Congrats, Chas!

I'm excited to hear your impressions

Also, FTR, I've never had any of the keyboard or trackpad issues on my JH, the only problem was the standard higher than normal GPU temps that a repaste fixed and it's been trouble free since.

Now my M11x on the other hand.... (Let's just say Optimus is a disaster)

 

You mind telling me what setting you adjusted? I'm having a similar issue with SSD+ HDD lagg... its irritating.

Panther214

 

The beta BIOS is for the JH series

 

If you go with an AW M17x R2, you will not be dissappointed, I debated between the 3DE and the M17x, went with the M17x, and could not be happier, this thing is a beast out of the box, the keyboard is fantastic, RGB LED screen is incredible, and it feels like a 3k computer, after reading some of the customer service issues that others have had with Asus, I went with the AW.

You can get a great deal on the R2's right now too. Good luck

 

To be fair, the m17x isn't immune from its own annoying problems:
Alienware M17x laptop said to be suffering from power-related GPU issues -- Engadget
Dell issues Alienware M17x stuttering audio fix, will it stick? -- Engadget

I think the keyboard issue is all but done - the worst of my worries has been an oversensitive touchpad.. but nothing that makes it un-usable.

 

I don't know about 100 percent reliability but if you're going to keep a new laptop for 5 years then the fact that the g73 has four ram slots instead of 2 could become a big asset.
I don't know of any other laptop that has that many ram slots and that means that it has an advantage in terms of memory expandability.
That's assuming that future OS's and apps will benefit from more ram.